The Hoddle of Coffee: Tottenham Hotspur news and links for Friday, January 3

Hello, Hoddlers!

It’s been a journey keeping track of what day it is to start this new year, hasn’t it?

Ramble of the Day

For the most part, I’m not entirely motivated by actors when opting to watch films or television. There are plenty of actors I like and respect, and as a result, I pay some attention to their latest career moves, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll watch their next. There are a lot of normal matters of taste that go into selection, none of it particularly significant. The truth is, I’m more motivated by the (assumed) sum than its parts, which I imagine makes me like most other people in that way. Taking all that into consideration, I’ve somehow accidentally familiarized myself with Pedro Pascal’s filmography from 2015 on.

To his credit, Pascal ended up in a lot of popular productions in that time. With Narcos came his obvious big break, and he just ended up in things that I ended up watching. I’ve seen Kingsman: The Golden Circle several times now because it seems to be on television at that exact hour on a Sunday when the day’s football is over and you’ve also finished whatever else you planned on doing that day, but before dinner time. I checked out If Beale Street Could Talk, motivated by the actual story (and being interested in it as Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight follow-up). I even checked out Triple Frontier a couple of months ago on a night I had nothing else to do and enjoyed it, but again was not motivated by Pascal’s casting. A few weeks later, I turned on The Mandalorian because everyone was talking about it, and then learned midway through the first or second episode that it was Pascal underneath that helmet.

If I combine my sisters, both who have seen Game of Thrones and one who has seen Graceland, we can stretch the Pascal filmography back to 2013. From then to now, it looks like all we’re missing is The Great Wall and The Equalizer 2, both which I want to give a hard pass to but wonder if I need to see now because I accidentally committed to this. I should probably commit to his future projects, while I’m at it. (Taking a quick look at what’s coming, I might actually watch some of it.)

It’s pretty funny, but it’s all good because I’ve been entertained by everything I’ve seen Pascal in. I suppose I don’t mind committing to watching everything he acts in from now to eternity.

tl;dr: I have accidentally watched almost everything Pedro Pascal has made since 2015 (but I’m not complaining).

Links of the Day

Former Cardiff defender Chris Barker died aged 39.

Three fans were arrested for racist and homophobic abuse during Brighton’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea on New Year’s Day.

Arsenal’s Calum Chambers will miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL.

Transfer updates: Juventus signed Dejan Kulusevski from Atalanta

Today’s longer read: Rory Smith on VAR and the true culprit for the armpit-based calls — the offside rule — for The New York Times