Good Sunday Stack January 4th
Third wheeling and Thomas Frank
Good evening and greetings from Dalston.
I’ll be writing about two different topics in this week’s Good Sunday Stack: third wheeling and why Tottenham shouldn’t sack Thomas Frank. If I end up coming up with a slick transition, I’ll delete this opening. Otherwise, prepare yourself for a hard left turn at some point.
I’ve been third wheeling a lot since moving to London. I did plenty in Brooklyn too, but here almost all my closest friends are in relationships. Tell you the truth, I don’t mind it. It’s just like hanging out with my single guy friends only their apartments are way cleaner and better decorated.
I closed out the last two nights of 2024 with Graeme and Sophie at their flat getting treated to Sophie’s lasagna soup and watching Steve before repaying the favor on the 31st by making Katsu Curry (with Graeme’s help) and having some gin-prosecco-San Pellegrino cocktails.
Then I opened 2025 going to see Sentimental Value again with Lydia and Tom at their local theater before getting a plate of black rice with miso, brussel sprouts, and chili peanuts with a fennel citrus salad. Their company enlightened me to bits in the movie I hadn’t noticed in that or my previous watch. Classics majors – good at picking on up themes!
Directly after Christmas too, I was along with my parents in Oxfordshire, the original third wheeling if you will. With them I also had delicious meals and watched movies and had a grand time. Maybe that’s all there is to it.
Okay, now on to Tottenham.
Back-to-back draws ending in choruses of boos reigning down on Spurs manager Thomas Frank. A nil-nil draw away to his previous club Brentford isn’t the worst result in the world, but today’s 80th minute equalizer from Sunderland’s Brian Brobbey was harder to swallow. If my Spurs group chat had its way, Frank would be out of a job.
On the one hand, we’ve crossed the hallway mark of the season and Spurs sit a paltry 13th in the table. On the other hand, they’re only four points out of the European places and seven back from Liverpool in fourth.
It’s worth noting that Frank is off to a blazing start in North London compared to Brentford where he won just once in first ten matches. Also worth noting are the absences of Dominic Solanke, Dejan Kulusevski, and James Maddison - nearly 200 million dollars’ worth of attacking talent. They’ve been missed throughout the season, but these past two games especially cried out for any of these three, arguably the best three finishers employed by the club.
Don’t overlook the fact that Spurs are off to a decent start in the Champions League, with automatic qualification to the knockouts a real possibility and a spot in the qualifiers near-guaranteed.
Premier league football, and really professional sports writ large have gotten too quick with the axe for coaches. Too often they’re gone before they were even given a real chance.
The Europa league victory temporarily paved over a lot of cracks that he’s now charged with repairing. Yes, it hurts that Arsenal is the odd-on favorite to win the league. Yes, Ange’s personality on and off the pitch was more exciting than his replacement. but the change was made and Tottenham’s got a good, proven manager in Thomas Frank. He deserves at a full season at the very least and barring a disaster I wouldn’t even consider letting him go until the start of the 2026-27 season.
What I’m Watching (spoiler alert)
25th Hour @ Airbnb
Spike Lee’s post 9/11 movie starring Ed Norton, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, and Brian Cox. Watched it on a tv that might have been from 2001 itself which helped set the mood. A tough hang given that how well reflects an anxious, grieving New York City through Monty’s (Ed Norton) embittered and vulnerable last day free before going to prison for selling drugs.
I can’t stop thinking about how the two friends from high school Monty reunites with played by Pepper and PSH are Jeffrey Epstein in their composite, a fact that makes 25th Hour’s examination of New York City’s underbelly chillingly relevant.
Steve @ Graeme and Sophie’s
The second consecutive collaboration between actor / producer Cillian Murphy and director Tim Mielants after adapting Small Things Like These, the pair once return to a school for forgotten youth. This time it’s in England where Murphy plays the head teacher (Steve) at an experimental school for troubled boys. Also a bit of a tough watch but there was some exhilarating filmmaking in capturing the chaos Steve and his colleagues endure.
Michael Clayton @ Home
Came home from my New Year’s party and immediately put this on. No other way to start the year. Watched the first forty-five minutes or so before dozing off to sleep than finished it first thing in the morning. Perfect movie. The final cut to Clooney after Tilda Swinton’s character walks out of the board meeting is *chef’s kiss*.
Marty Supreme @ The Rio
Started New Year’s Day with a bagman and ended with a hustler. So much to see this in a packed Rio theater where the only open seats were in the front row.
I don’t want to say too much about this one as it’s only been out a week outside of New York (curse all of you who saw it in 70mm before Christmas), but this was an absolute romp. I love when a main character can maintain a singular energy while revealing distinct sides to themselves playing off the supporting cast. Timmy achives this opposite knockout performances from Kevin O’Leary, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Tyler the Creator. Inspired casting on all those fronts because those three plus Timothee are all clearly playing versions of themselves.
Last thing I’ll say, insane opening credit sequence. I could barely believe it.
Sentimental Value @ The Lexi Cinema
As I said two weeks ago, this was one I was going to see again. I’m glad I did. For one, I got to visit the Lexi, a cozy two-screen theater in Kilburn where the average patron age was probably twice that of the Rio’s in hipster East London.
This second viewing I came away more appreciative of the Agnes character played by Inga Insdotter Lilleaas. A younger sibling who takes on responsibility when the elder cannot, she’s almost never at rest when she’s on screen – always bussing dishes, washing up, looking after her son.
Rockers @ Home
I believe this was my first ever Jamaican movie. It has the nonchalance of a stoner hangout movie with the plot of a heist movie. The reggae score makes it a great listen and sucks you into the world of 1970s Kingston as the Horseface, the main character makes his way through the city hustling.
Finally, as an addendum to last week’s piece on My Favorite Movie Experiences of 2025, I put together a list of my favorite needle drops of the year.
“Punkrocker” feat. Iggy Pop – Teddy Bears – Superman
“5 Years Time” Noah and the Whale – Superman
“Call On Me” – Eric Prydz - Warfare
“Beware of Darkness” – George Harrison – Weapons
“Will Ye Go, Lassie Go” – all the Irish Vampires – Sinners
“I Lied to You” – Miles Caton – Sinners
“Firework” – Katy Perry – Eddington
“Dirty Work” – Steely Dan – One Battle After Another
“American Girl” – Tom Petty – One Battle After Another
“Bad As I Used to Be” – Chris Stapleton – F1
Honorable mentions for needle drops from movies I saw last year but didn’t come out in 2025 but absolutely blew my mind, The Pixies’ “Where is My Mind” in Fight Club, The Kinks’ "This Time Tomorrow” and Joe Dessin’s “Les Champs-Elyssés” in The Darjeeling Limited, and finally Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me” in The Big Lebowski.