№46: Partnering with Now Serving (by SeriousMD) | Player Spotlight: Samaki Walker | My Book Recommendations
January 11, 2023
Welcome to the tedi.substack.com newsletter! This newsletter will touch on any number of entertaining, informative, or (possibly) useful topics.
The focus of my first newsletter for 2023 will be on my latest partnership, a couple of my Book Recommendations, and Player’ Spotlight on 10-year NBA veteran power forward Samaki Walker.
More after the jump.
Comments and Feedback
As we move further into 2023, your comments and feedback will also be of immense help in shaping the direction of the newsletter.
Thank you in advance for your time and constructive feedback. Read away!
Questions?
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Ramon Eduardo Villasor, Ph.D. X Now Serving
Last January 5, 2023, I partnered up with Now Serving (by SeriousMD) and in the process opened up another way wherein potential patients can link up with me. I am really looking forward to what opportunities this new partnership will bring in 2023.
To schedule, you can scan the QR code below or email me here.
The concept behind my Player Spotlight segment was inspired by the writings of the late Zander Hollander (Sportswriter, archivist, and author of the ever informative The Complete Handbook of Pro Basketball) wherein he would write short and insightful entries on—then 20 something—NBA teams and their players for that particular season. With over 30 years of basketball knowledge under my belt, I decided to come up with my own short, free flowing, and non-linear/viewpoint narrative on a featured player.
Samaki Walker
During the infancy of the NBA.com website in January of 1997, I decided to send a couple of questions for that week’s featured rookie—Samaki Ijuma Walker. Fortunately, my question was among those selected and Samaki answered it with a lot of confidence.
Twenty-six years later, that’s probably what I remember most about the interaction: The confidence behind Samaki’s reply and the thrill that my question was among those that were answered.
In his 10-year NBA career, I remember Samaki the most as a member of the Dallas Mavericks, San Antonio Spurs, and Los Angeles Lakers. His tenure with the Lakers was further solidified in my mind after I read Jeff Pearlman’s Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty (2020).
In his prologue, Pearlman starts off his book with a great anecdote featuring Bryant and Walker aboard the Lakers team bus. Basically, Bryant sucker punched Walker. Walker asked for the team bus to pull over so that the two could settle things outside. Walker then asked Bryant, “you wanna step off and and take care of this?” What followed was “palpable” silence on the part of Bryant.
No one messes with Samaki!
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Below are photos of that January 2-8, 1997 Rookie Spotlight in its entirety. When it first came out, I immediately printed the feature, stored it, and subsequently forgot where a placed it.
But as they say in Uncharted, “If something’s lost, it can be found.”
So here it is.
Book Recommendations
If there was any series that would sum up the early part of the pandemic for me, it would be Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’ crime noir graphic novel series entitled Reckless. With the pandemic shutting down the world in 2020, Brubaker and Phillips focused on an original graphic novel (OGN) format [estimated 140 pages] and released three books in the unheard of 10-month span (12/22/2020 to 10/26/2021).
Reckless focuses on the life of investigator/vigilante Ethan Reckless: His pink-haired assistant Anna Keller; a 70’s Dodge Van; and what is arguably the best idea for a secret headquarters (I’m so jealous that I didn’t think about it first), an old abandoned Movie Theater called The El Ricardo.
For an in-depth take on Reckless, here is a great piece by the LA Times’ Jim Ruland.
For transparency, I only got into the series after third book, Destroy All Monsters, was released but quickly backtracked and finished Reckless (Book 1) and Friend of the Devil (Book 2) in record time.
On April 19, 2022, Brubaker and Phillips released the fourth installment of the Reckless series with The Ghost in You followed by Follow Me Down in October 2022. Set in 1989, the events of the latter two books happen concurrently and feature Ethan Reckless’ assistant Anna in The Ghost in You and Ethan’s adventure out-of-town in Follow Me Down.
The creative team of Brubaker and Phillips have moved on another project called Night Fever (estimated date of release is on June 20, 2023) but I do hope the eventually go back and add to their Reckless series.
Here are the Amazon links to the Reckless books:
Friend of the Devil (04/27/2021)
Destroy All Monsters (10/26/2021)
Reading age: 16 years and above. ■
About
Tedi Gustilo Villasor, Ph.D. is a former columnist for Baby Magazine (Philippines) as well as a past contributor to NBA.com/Philippines. His other works include the indie comic books Lindol and OBIsessions.
Click here for more information on his work as a psychologist.
Official Website | Instagram | Pinterest | YouTube | Twitter | Facebook | Books
Click here to order Lindol (with artist and co-creator Randy Valiente) from our online partner Secret HQ.
Click here to order OBIsessions (with artist and co-creator Jann Galino) from our online partner Secret HQ.
Click on the following links to order Issue #1, Issue #2, and Issue #3 of Lindol (with artist and co-creator Randy Valiente) from our online partner Mervstore.com.
Click here to find issues of Lindol with our newest online partner Libreriangelo.
If you happen to drop by Comic Odyssey’s Robinson’s Galleria, the branch is stocked with copies of Lindol #1.
For local collectors who are looking for the limited edition Lindol #1 Blank Cover variant, you can find them in my Carousell.ph page.
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