It's Always Personal

The IAP film review of Tyler Perry's latest Netflix film STRAW. Other topics include the 2025 NBA Finals, the 2025 French Open champion Coco Gauff, Angel Reese being named B.E.T.'s Female Athlete of the Year and more current sports and entertainment headlines.

This episode is all about a newer series streaming on Netflix, FOREVER, and Wood's reaction to the 8 episodes of Season 1. Tap in and help celebrate the efforts and performances of creator Mara Brock Akil and wonderful cast including Michael Cooper Jr, Lovie Simone, Wood Harris & Karen Pittman. With FOREVER, Black storytelling and love/romance - both young ad old - are in very skillful and caring hands.

TV veteran Mara Brock Akil's latest series, FOREVER, started streaming on May 8, 2025 and Wood thought you should know. This episode lightly covers episodes 1-3. Other episode topics include Wood's experience with a couple sessions of therapy as he continues to work through grief, the continuous choice of digesting the anger of others, and some thoughts on the WNBA's Aliyah Boston - recognizing a real Queen.

Wood discusses online and soc media's "Black Fatigue" thing, questioning if it's really a rejection of certain aspects of Black culture. A good, informative interview of Lanny Smith, the founder of the Actively Black apparel brand, on Jemele Hill's Spolitics podcast changed Wood's stance "wearing Black." A few series have been getting pushed through the IAP queue of late with AppleTV+ dominating the rotation. Wood shares some thoughts on two seasons of Shrinking, Dope Thief, Jon Hamm's Your Friends & Neighbors, plus shares his final praises on the series finale of Bosch Legacy (Prime Video).

Wood speaks on Shedeur Sanders' 2025 NFL Draft experience being a matter of a combination of bad advice and "others" looking at street culture for what it is. And then, just when the NBA gets the majority of the daily talking points to being favorable, the conclusion of the Eastern Conference's Pacers vs Bucks series had a pretty disturbing moment.

Host Wood just dealing with random headlines, soc media posts, comment section exchanges, topics, culture & gender wars etc etc

No sense in really bothering with a full-on review of director/creator Ryan Coogler's popular new motion picture SINNERS, as Google can get to one in podcast or article format in just a few seconds. However, Wood revisits a few more details and themes from the film by building off of RogerEbert.com contributor Robert Daniels' polarizing review - 2.5 out of 4 stars - of the Jim Crow era-based horror film. Another segment of the show takes a look at some of the recent behavior of Higher Learning podcast co-host Van Lathan. Over a couple recent episodes Lathan made a biting take about his rival Kanye West, and then had an interview with author Jason Wilson where he broke down into tears after seemingly dealing with being pressed by some in his circle. The podcast, or content, game can just be a very awkward space at times.

IAP might have a different, and very likely unpopular, opinion about Ryan Coogler's new highly acclaimed film SINNERS. For this episode host Wood asks three major questions about details that the bigger, more popular podcasts seemingly overlooked. Overall, salute to Coogler, lead actor Michael B. Jordan, Wunmi Mosaku, Omar Benson Miller, Delroy Lindo and Hailee Stanfeld. However, I dig the movie but hold onto some degree of objectivity to question why some choices were made with character development, as well as historical accuracy when it comes to the dialogue. So let's talk about the hottest movie of 2025. And if you don't dig the opinions and views shared here - well, It's Always Personal.

The ReidOut has been canceled, so let's talk a little bit about Joy Reid's MSNBC show being canceled. A recent bike ride's playlist left Wood with an epiphany: MARGA. Other topics include some thoughts on learning about the concept of Capacity according to the Instagram profile for therapist Raquel Hopkins the Capacity Expert. Hopkins' Capacity-based therapy style dovetailed into Wood's expectation for consistency and commitment from his friends.

Wood shares more thoughts on Detroit, MI author Jason Wilson's illuminating book The Man The Moment Demands: Master The 10 Characteristics Of The Comprehensive Man. In a recent episode Wood explained that he couldn't find a podcast on Spousal Grief that "fed" his needs - during his difficult moment of mourning and loss. So he revisits the recent passing of his wife, finding respite on the Reddit r/widowers board and delves into the versions of a man he's needed to be in his early foray into his current journey. ALL of the podcasters and media folk JUST unconditionally loved Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime performance. Okay. Well, this presents the next hill that Wood apparently has to die on, alone, in order to take a slightly different look at K Dot's 13-minute history making set.

Wood reacts to random sports and entertainment topics or observations. This C.L.I.P.S. episode features reactions to Cam Newton vs old Carolina Panthers teammates, a bumpy start for rapper Ransom's new podcast, personal fitness goals & progress report, observations on (Black) dating apps, and a friend's recent switch from gambling apps to stock buying apps.

Wow... I'm just gonna throw this out here: I don't have any problems with being Black. Not to where these new "leaders" can just unconditionally receive my unwavering support. This episode we're talking talking about author Jason Wilson's new book The Man The Moment Demands: Master the 10 Characteristics of the Comprehensive Man. Besides that Wood reacts to hearing about new Black leader 19 Keys and the latest therapy from Dr. Cheyenne Bryant. If we've got to turn to these individuals to help us through our respective journeys... Well, let's just focus on brother Wilson's helpful new book. Whaddup doe! On a personal note, while searching the podcast app I use for podcasts on SPOUSAL GRIEF, I found the offerings to be pretty mid. So, I courageously tried to share some personal victories and hurdles that I've experienced over the third month since my wife passed away three months ago. WIDOWS/WIDOWERS - the world is not going to allow you to step away for the time and space you desperately need to grieve and get yourself together. Current couples - there are a couple tasks you really need to take care of ASAP in case you or your spouse was to die today. Death is a part of life, so you might as well plan for it fully while you're both living. The surviving spouse, family members, and especially children will thank you for taking care of your business while you were here.

The IAP house lost its most cherished, valued and trusted person. The valiant and year-long battle of Wood's wife was recurring topic through much 2024, and her last week in this world prompted an immediate halt to the podcast. Wood reflects on his 21-year marriage, and shares what can be shared because this ordeal was the epitome of personal - and what IAP is all about. Over the rest of the podcast Wood attempts to get back to the scope of IAP. Let's just get the unyielding fixation on 'Blackness' out of the way for the start of 2025. This episode's mentions are John Hope Bryant's empowering messaging on Jemele Hill's new podcast Spolitics, Hill's flawed 'racism' angle about the Lamar Jackson-Josh Allen NFL MVP race, Black America vs Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman, Blackness relevance in the 2024 NFL Playoffs and Black TV/streaming (50 Cent vs Omari Hardwick).

Happy weekend!

Wood is just going to sit back and let the people of today learn about love - Black and/or otherwise - and its challenges through today's soulless music and episodes of young queen Angel Reese's podcast. This episode is talking about a Black married couple, and their example, that the people of today just can't scroll on Tik Tok and find. And then musically, Wood revisits David Hollister's R 'n B masterclass Chicago '85... The Movie because the week's objective has been about a reminder to "Take Care of Home." Good luck out there people.

If young Queen Angel Reese & her esteemed panel of experts can curate a conversation on Black love... Wood surely can, right? The question didn't get posed, I completely know LL's "I Need Love" is a classic, but have you even aware of Robin Thicke's "I Need Love" ballad? It's kind of the unofficial featured song of this episode.

Wood had already been overcome with a curiosity about the dictionary definition of 'narrative", and had found one genuinely harrowing definition. A couple of hours later he heard the popular song "Ain't No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None)" as the shoulder music for TNT's broadcast of the NBA opening night T-wolves versus Lakers game... and well a C.L.I.P.S. topic was hatched. A Tribe Called Quest and its "work" was back on the table, personal accountability, peoples' taste in "music", and then a hilariously thoughtful joke from The Daily Show's Josh Johnson helped to serve up these thoughts on our long-time comfort with either the rape or sexual assault of Black women. Why do we continue to live and behave like "sucka n****s" family?

Election talk with two weeks to go... we're laughing at cock references now? Angle Reese's podcast welcomes Kayla Nicole, the ex-girlfriend of Kansas Chiefs TE Travis Kelce - Taylor Swift's boyfriend. What productive conversation could these Black women possibly have about Black love? Wood also reacts to Foolish host Jason Whitlock's Shark Tank worthy pitch for a new pro basketball league formed around Caitlin Clark. How exactly do you prefer your idolatry? This is in light of the truly embarrassing W's Finals Game 5 combined shooting performance by Whitlock's new favorite "white girl problem" the opinionated sportscaster veteran spent two hours raving about. And somehow he never talked about how Sabrina Ionescu's "all-time iconic sports moment" logo three was her only made basket of the entire game. And lastly, A Tribe Called Quest's RnRHOF induction moment had to be talked about by a devoted Tribe fan.

This 2024 election cycle hasn't been pretty, it's been historically eventful, but Kamala Harris is going into the championship rounds showing her mettle. She's not exactly Barack Obama 2.0, but she became the candidate for this moment, and it may pay off for her. Wood talks about VP Harris' Big Stand by taking a look at the commentary of Rod and Karen from the popular The Black Guy Who Tips podcast. Other topics include thoughts on this weekend's Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame induction of the greatest rap group of all time A Tribe Called Quest, first listen reaction to Benny the Butcher & 38 Spesh's new album Stabbed & Shot 2, De La Soul's touching brand new video for its 90s record "Oodles of O's" (LL Dave), a few highlights of Slow Horses S5 and its season finale, and more.

Wood shares some thoughts on "listening" to a couple of brothers with different approaches to politics. Other topics include Today's Moment with The Teachings of Jason Whitlock's Fearless, soc med & podcast snitchin' featuring Drink Champs and Sway in the Morning, how could Nike slip so badly, and new music on the way in Stabbed & Shot 2 and The Lotus Child.

Everyone should do what they believe they need to do on November 5. That includes sitting out the election altogether. Currently, a discussion about acceptable ways to communicate with Black men is underway, as well as a warning being given that Black men's support for former President Donald Trump needs to be respected. Moreover, a blame game is going on, preemptively, just in case VP Kamala Harris fails to win the election. Wood just spends some time trying to understand where the "Vote Trump brothers" are really coming from. The 45th President really has better policies and solutions than the VP? Other topics include Cam Newton joining Stephen A. on First Take, forthcoming drama Exhibiting Forgiveness, and Tubi's big bet on Deion Sanders.

Wood sets the table for the IAP review of new romantic-drama She Taught Love, and Andscape-produced fim streaming on HULU. The episode became too long and had to be split into two episodes so some earlier topics include the NFL, TV Talk about Slow Horses S4 & Bad Monkey, troubling family relationships during tough times and the silence about San Jose St Univ. Women's volleyball player Blaire Fleming. The She Taught Love review gets into Wood's reaction to the new romantic-drama, as well as thoughts about director Nate Edwards, Darrell Britt-Gibson's debut as writer and lead, Arsema Thomas, and the important relationships Britt-Gibson's writing highlighted.

Wood sets the table for the IAP review of new romantic-drama She Taught Love, and Andscape-produced fim streaming on HULU. The episode became too long and had to be split into two episodes so some earlier topics include the NFL, TV Talk about Slow Horses S4 & Bad Monkey, troubling family relationships during tough times and the silence about San Jose St Univ. Women's volleyball player Blaire Fleming.

Wood is still saluting HULU's UnPrisoned comedy-drama and its creator Tracy McMillan, leads Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo, and Marque Richardson for attempting to truly do meaningful work. Salute to HULU for investing in the telling of Black stories. At least with UnPrisoned we get to look at working through our ish from multiple perspectives, whereas on soc med apps we often rush to jump in our Team Uniforms and demean each other for bad behavior.

The premise of this C.L.I.P.S. installment is to take a look the UnPrisoned character "Mal" with the respect to our community's penchant to outright lionize strong Black leads like James St. Patrick (I said Sinclair), Franklin Saint, Nino Brown, Menace's O-Dog or Sugar Hill's Romello. Or maybe we laughed way too hard at Boomerang's Marcus while in our head replaying some of our own "doggish footage" from years ago. Are we, as Black men, too far gone to pay any attention to the love lessons learned by Darius Lovehall, or even Savon Garrison, in 1997's Love Jones? Big discussion to have, but Wood wastes some time looking closer at the example of Marque Richardson's "Mal" through two seasons of UnPrisoned. Wood couldn't think of the right word that many of us struggle with as young men, but the best of us succumb to an insatiable appetite for sexual exploits with women - and many a "bills" have come due for such decisions.

How'd HULU's UnPrisoned do for its sophomore season? The Kerry Washington-led comedy is creator Tracy McMillan attempt to share her pain to help others in "the community" to begin to work through theirs. Hey, it features some drug trafficking! Other topics include hateful Indiana Fever fans and the censuring of Alyssa Thomas (and other WNBAers), Baker Mayfield tried to sack Tom Brady, whether the SCOTUS served Marcellus Williams up to Missouri, and random TV/entertainment notes.

Wood rambles on about rookie Washington Commander Jayden Daniels triumphant Monday Night Football debut, highly addictive Lays potato chips, more details on Peacock's limited series Fight Night, Talib Kweli & J Rawls' new album The Confidence of Knowing, and filtering social media commentary to identify real opportunity and individuals with problem-solving skills.

Wood discusses Will Packer and Kevin Hart's popular new mini-series on Peacock - Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist. Music just doesn't stand much of a chance nowadays, but Tyrese really created some real RnB magic with a new record on his Beautiful Pain album. Gospel singer Le'Andria Johnson "steals the album" with her fierce performance on "Don't Think You Ever Loved Me", which also features Lenny Kravitz.

Wood discusses the reality that running a professional sports team, as the franchise QB or guard is extremely difficult. As commentators, pundits, podcasters etc there is more than one way to skin a cat with regards to how we identify the root cause of a growing problem, and then to discuss it as if we want sports to disappear or continue to flourish.

Wood had a lot of takes... POTUS Election 2024 (and New Jack City), Donald Trump's unhinged rhetoric, Jason Whitlock provides the perfect example of why his own commentary is essentially hatred compared to Kirk Herbstreit's analysis on NFL challenges, Ransom enlists Conway the Machine to drop off Chaos is My Ladder 2, cycling and its costliness, as well as some reaction to Netflix's new First Blood with drama/action movie Rebel Ridge.

Two topics had to be revisited from the previous episode. Wood, Mr. Indecisive When it Comes to Favorites, talks more in-depth about actually being able to call Maze featuring Frankie Beverly's song "Happy Feelin's" his absolute favorite song of all time. Additionally, while Wood has become a devout believer in the importance of being right is severely overrated, he had to share how a high school math teacher's impromptu lesson about personal savings tools is a talk that he remembers, vividly, 31 years later. And such an experience, or lesson, is exactly what Gilbert Arenas' NBA prospect son Alijah could possibly be missing if he follows his old man's advise. Of course there's some POTUS election 2024 talk on both candidates former President Donald Trump and VP Kamala Harris.

Wood reacts to former NBA star Gilbert Arenas... doing what he does with his content. In the clip in question Arenas boldly states his opinion that his son Alijah's time would be wasted being spent on anyone's college campus. Instead Arenas says two hours can be spent dribbling, working out and activities geared to get him closer to his goal of being a NBA player. Cool! Wood reacts to the clip, as well as catching some mixed flak in the vid's comments from a few IG users. Arenas is free to do whatever he wants to with his son, but are we focusing on ownership or not?

Isn't this Presidential election cycle fun? The highly anticipated showdown between nominees VP Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump went down a couple of nights ago. Wood hopes you're going to bat for your candidate. A more pressing issue for US is how on earth Jay-Z chose Kendrick Lamar over hometown product Lil Wayne for this season's Super Bowl that's being held in the Big Easy. Wood didn't even know this was really ever up for debate. But, we are, surprisingly, back at Jay-Z's neck for yet another offense against the culture.

Just another episode providing no-brainer examples of why it should be known, by now, that Black people are not a monolith. Tyreek Hill almost f****** up a good Sunday of NFL football with his own BS. Wood expresses some thoughts on the passing of Mr. Frankie Beverly, and offers a heartfelt thanks for the types of songs he seemed genuinely committed to sharing with the world.

Still figuring out some work flow issues created by the change in tools on the app used to create podcasts. However, let me get into something about soc med/content/podcasts/vlogs that the recent Marlon Wayans vs Vlad TV conflict, on X, revealed that everyone should take into consideration. This episode also includes a few thoughts on Lee Daniels' latest film on Netflix, The Deliverance, that is really more of a reaction than a full-on review. My thoughts are with stars Andra Day, Mo'Nique, Glenn Close, Caleb McLaughlin and even Omar Epps. Wood also tackles another Club Shay Shay guest in Tyrese's current interview, but so many other things overshadowed his newly released "love" music RnB album Beautiful Pain. However, the Marlon & Vlad topic sheds some light on why.

The IAP review, and reaction, to Prime Video's new drama/comedy THE SUPREMES AT EARL'S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT. The movie stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Sanaa Lathan, Uzo Aduba, Mekhi Phifer, Russell Hornsby, and Vondie Curtis-Hall.

Wood discusses the 2024 Tour de France (Tadej Pogacar vs Jonas Vingegaard & Biniam Girmay), Bronny James' Summer League action, Common & Pete Rock cement their mastery status with their new joint album The Auditorium Vol. 1, and then his own cycling training being disrupted by a bigot on a recent group ride.

Wood discusses some of today's myopic views of manhood, manliness, masculinity etc. Some of the loudest speakers have such glaring blind spots, yet claim they want to lead Black people in our collective healing. One example discussed is former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch's handling of a mother who disapproved of his usage of profanity to coach her young son at his football camp. Right on time, overwhelmingly the men commenting on the Instagram video of the recorded exchange believed profanity was necessary to make young boys stronger. Sounds like some spiritual warfare going on.

Huge salute to Pastor Jonathan R. Miller who provides content on Instagram with his @pastorypj account. Aye, this is just more of the realest ish I've ever observed and/or pondered. I sincerely hope you all try to be happy, and that you find a way to 1) truly love yourself and 2) allow others to truly love you. But, if all you do is cough and sneeze on others…

Wood reacts to Rich Paul's interview, or appearance, on the popular THE PIVOT podcast. In light of it being NBA Draft week, and living in Bronny James' universe the past couple months, Wood took exception with a couple of interesting Paul defenses of the James Family Business portfolio expanding.

This past Sunday's FEVER @ SKY solidifies the WNBA's Rookie of the Year battle is no foregone conclusion. Wood takes some shots at weighing stats, season averages and factoring in popularity - to get to a ‘black and white' likely winner. Keyshawn Johnson attempts to solve the paucity of Black American players in MLB in the modern era. This really isn't a pro sports whodunit! WE could do something about this besides accuse others for doing us dirty on the diamond.

All there is to say is that people have made “the multiverse” very real. And we're losing ourselves because of it. Also, MLB is obligated to spending millions of dollars to get Black American youth to continue to ignore America's favorite pastime? Seriously?

Wood recaps his second half marathon as he battles on in his late-40s fitness journey. And, a much needed full day of recovery, after said half marathon, gets spent with the third game between the WNBA's Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky. Let's discuss what the third installment of Caitlin Clark vs Angel Reese was all about in the CHI.

I know in today's world a lot of brothers quest to embody “RNS.” Cool! Ahead of a FOX Sports MLB game played at Rickwood Stadium as tribute to the impact on baseball of Black players, HoF player Reggie Jackson joined the pre-game desk and unexpectedly spoke on some ‘Real Negro Shit.' And real still recognizes real!

During Bill Maher's REAL TIME interview of TBC's Charlemagne the God, Maher's anti-woke denials really don't apply to WNBA superstar A'ja Wilson's views about her delayed commercial appeal and acceptance by today's most powerful brands.

The ordeal at the origins of Juneteenth is real - there was some two-plus year delay for the emancipation of slaves in Galveston, Texas. Certainly, that was a travesty for those affected Black men, women and children. Fast forward to 2024, and information, even if it's fake or half truth, is readily available for the majority of Americans. So what's the excuse for falling behind year after year after year after year. Every damn body's talking - but who is truly listening?

Too many people nowadays are impossible to please or satisfy.

Wood discusses new domestic violence allegations against boxing star Deontay Wilder by his fiancée Telli Swift. Boxer Adrien Broner just cracked some jokes on his opponent, this weekend, for “DV” and “beatin' on b****es” during their final press conference. That's similar to the “b****es” Broner boastfully gives “two minutes” when he has the urge to please himself. This episode focuses on the reaction of online Black men as these incidents became OUR fodder for the day.

Wood takes a look at the scrutiny ESPN personality received for talking WNBA with Stephen A. Smith on FIRST TAKE. Of course FEARLESS host Jason Whitlock and contributor Delano Squires took exception with everything McNutt had to say - and how she said it. Imagine not being able to freely debate on a sports debate show. I guess women speaking on a woman's sports league isn't entertaining. Conversely, boxer Adrien Broner lit up the press conference for his fight this weekend versus Blair Cobbs, and no men are criticizing the former four-division champion for threatening gun violence and boasting of his burgeoning drug trafficking operation - at a press conference.

Wood finds himself without access to his bike, and thus seeing more troubling content - primarily in the sports world. Some thoughts get shared, and leads back to Marlo's famous quote from The Wire: You want it to be one way……… but, it's the other.”

Wood in his bag just trying to encourage and help others.