Tom's Top 3: March 18, 2025
"Life is like that"
Hi everyone! Welcome to this week’s installment of Tom’s Top 3 Tuesdays, where I highlight three pieces of content (Podcasts/Shows/Songs/Articles/etc.) that I found interesting or noteworthy from the prior week.
[Deal] Gainful 40% Off Sitewide
Looking to stock up on some supplements? No? You don’t want to get absolutely jacked?
Gainful has more than just muscle building supplements. And they currently have a sitewide sale for 40% off! In addition, if you have an American Express credit card, you should check out your Amex offers to see if you have the “Spend $50, Get $25 Back” offer for Gainful.
A perfect use case is the Gainful Starter Kit bundle, which includes their customizable Whey protein powder with flavor packs, hydration packs, greens powder, and a blender bottle. With the bundle, the items are already discounted from $85 to $76. Shipping is free on orders over $75, so you’re good there. The 40% off promo saves you an extra $30. With taxes your total should be just over $50. If you activate the Amex offer, you’re now getting $85 of supplements for $25.
Not too shabby.
I also used Rakuten, which gave me 3x Amex MR points on top of the 1x points I received from my card.
The Star Wars prequel producer, Rick McCallum, recently divulged that he and George Lucas had roughly 60 nearly completed scripts for a TV show before the franchise was sold to Disney in 2012.
Covering the period between the prequels and original trilogy, “Star Wars: Underworld” was dark and violent, with each episode “bigger than the films.”
THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I’VE ALWAYS WANTED.
Ever since the 8-year-old me exited the theater after seeing Revenge of the Sith, I’ve yearned for a movie/show/anything that showed us Vader’s prime. We got a taste of it in Rogue One, Rebels, and Kenobi, but it’s never enough!
I’m so sad that this project is just going to die in a filing cabinet somewhere. But hey, $40M an episode is a lot to ask for.
Lucas ultimately decided to sell his beloved franchise to spend time raising his daughter (worthwhile), which also meant his plans for a sequel trilogy were scrapped (another tragedy). In a 2020 interview, he summed up his bittersweet feelings as such:
“I’ve spent my life creating ‘Star Wars’ — 40 years — and giving it up was very, very painful… But it was the right thing to do. I thought I was going to have a little bit more to say about the next three because I’d already started them, but they decided they wanted to do something else. Things don’t always work out the way you want. Life is like that.”
[YouTube] InCinematic - When the greatest film opening is actually a remake
If you couldn’t piece it together from the thumbnail, Luke from InCinematic compares the similarities between the introductions of Angel Eyes from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds.
While Sergio Leone’s influence on Quentin Tarantino is apparent, I like how Luke highlights that, while Leone uses silence and space, Tarantino relies on his strength with dialogue to build tension.
It all goes to show how great artists steal—they are inspired by others and bring that inspiration into their own work.
That wraps up this edition of Tom’s Top 3 Tuesdays. If you made it to this point, please drop a 1️⃣, 2️⃣, or 3️⃣ in the comments to let me know what you found most interesting/useful. And as always, please like and consider sharing with a friend who you think would enjoy! I’ll be back next week. ✌️
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