My love of movies and television cause me to get obsessive over them in ways that are probably not healthy. And one expression of that would be watching YouTube videos that are deep dives into them. I watch these videos for shows I don't even like particularly much. But for shows I do?

Well...

They don't even have to go that deep for me to be all in. They just have to remind me of why I liked the show or movie so much. And here's some that I've watched recently if you've got time to kill. And I mean a lot of time, because they're all over one hour in length.

Good Karma: A My Name is Earl Retrospective (1:12:32)
My Name is Earl is one of my favorite television shows of all time. It was just so... wonderful... to see. It had a good message and the cast was amazing (though I honestly think Ethan Suplee as Earl's brother Randy outshined every other actor). And somebody did a deep dive on a show that deserves it...

   
Scrubs: My Retrospective (1:38:08)
If the above retrospective of My Name is Earl was a good watch for you, then you might want to watch this retrospective of another show I love, Scrubs, by the same guy. This show was consistently funny while tackling subjects that run the gammut from devastating to heart-warming. But it was always smart and entertaining while riding that line, and this takes a look at all of it...

Jason Sudeikis on Becoming Ted Lasso: "I didn't want to snark out anymore" (1:12:59)
When it comes to shows that deserve infinite comprehensive deep dives, number one on my list is Ted Lasso. It's simply the best television show I have ever seen. We're not there yet... but I did run across this interview with Jason Sudeikis which has a great look at his career up to a lengthy discussion on Ted...

Breaking Bad: Full Series Retrospective (1:20:24)
Landing in many critics' Top Ten List (and with good reason) is Breaking Bad. It was an exceptionally well-written show that gave us the spin-off Better Call Saul, which is a genius all its own. There's many lines crossed and, by the end of the series, the consequences of it all is what makes the show so great (along with some incredible performances). If you like deep dives, here's one for you...

Better Call Saul: Full Series Retrospective (1:31:05)
The fact that Vince Gilligan managed to follow-up one of the greatest shows of all time... with another one of the greatest shows of all time... is often called a "Television Miracle." And they're not wrong. Because in some ways, I actually prefer the prequel sequel to the original show. A lot of why that is can be found in this video...

Better Call Saul Did It Better (19:42)
Now, I know that this video isn't over an hour, so consider it a bonus addiion to the previous video. One of my all-time favorite deep divers gives his insight into Better Call Saul which manages to say more about the series in under 20 minutes than most people could offer in an hour...

The ENTIRE Story of Adventure Time in 86 Minutes (1:26:53)
One of the most incredible things to ever come out of animated television is Adventure Time. It's so beautifully imaginative that I was properly gutted when it ended. But then we got some great continuations (like Adventure Time: Distant Lands and the new Adventure Time: Fiona and Cake), but this is the complete story of the original show where it all began...

The ENTIRE Story of We Bare Bears in 109 Minutes (1:49:28)
Another retrospective by JarToon is a retrospective of the horribly underrated We Bare Bears. I cannot for the life of me understand why this cartoon wasn't a massive hit that was talked about endlessly. It's such a fantastic show that I am almost reluctant to recommend watching this video because it would be so much better if you just watched the original show. It's that good...

And that's probably enough deep dives this time around. If you watch them all, that's over 10 hours of content, then you might just have as big a problem as me!

Don't mind the mess... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Forty-Nine! Even if you don't care about baseball, this short video will tell you why Tim Wakefield's passing is such a blow to Red Sox Nation. He was an absolute inspiration, on and off the field, and I loved watching the guy play...

And this video goes into a little more depth on his remarkable career and that incredible knuckleball...

Rest in peace, sir.

   
• Swiftly! The ongoing saga of the (possible!) romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is something to behold. First he tells the world that he was bummed she didn't want to talk to him after her show that he went to because she's saving her voice. Apparently he had a friendship bracelet he wanted to give her with his number on it (friendship bracelets are a very Taylor Swift thing now, apparently). This was discussed on the podcast he has with his brother Jason. Which I've queued up here:

Adorable. But, I mean, it's Taylor Swift. There's no man on earth who woldn't want to take a shot. AND THEN... Taylor Swift broke the internet when she showed up at a Chiefs/Bears game... sitting in the Kelce box with Travis's mom!

Suddenly Kelce jersey's were sold out everywhere as Taylor Swift fans snapped them up at a record pace. But this could have just been a publicity stunt. At least until she showed up at the Jets/Chiefs game (with Sophie Turner, Blake Lively, AND RYAN REYNOLDS...

So now? Well... let's just say that this tweet pretty much sums it up...

"British Colonialism" being a not-so-thinly-veiled reference to Taylor's previous brief relationship with The 1975's lead singer Matty Healy.

   
• If Karma Was My Boyfriend... The entirety of that last bullet was to set up my sharing Young Jeffrey's latest song parody (of Swift's Karma, here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

I don't know how Young Jeffrey pulls this off week after week. But it keeps me tuning in to KQMV Seattle, so whatever keeps him going, it's definitely getting listeners.

   
• Karma! If you're unfamiliar with the original song being parodied, this one's for you...

The video is a whole other bit of drama because it features the Ice Spice remix instead of the album version. Many speculate this was damage control for an insult that Matty Healy made towards Ice Spice (he being the previous Swift beau, aren't you keeping up?).

   
• Twilight! Meanwhile... back to the Kelce Brothers... I listen to their podcast every once in a while, and this is the madness that was the last one I heard...

When I looked this up to see if it was on YouTube, I wasn't aware that there was a video of Travis reacting. His pain is palpable. This is how I look when somebody talks to me about Harry Potter.

   
• Underwater! Map Men has another fascinating video out. This time talking about the internet...

I admit that the line from Texas to Louisiana got me. It doesn't seem like the best route for that would be underwater.

   
• NEWSFLASH! Conspiracy theories about FEMA’s Oct. 4 emergency alert test spread online. Uh huh. I just knew I wouldn't be able to get the latest COVID vaccination in peace. There's always people telling me I'm "going to die." Every. Fucking. Time. And this time it's from a FEMA Alert tone. The same damn test tone that they've been using since the 60's... but now is when they will be activating secret nanobots that have been introduced into vaccines? Jesus. It's a wonder that these conspiracy nut jobs have the brain power to breathe and tie their shoelaces. I mean, come on, I'm on COVID vaccination No. 6 AND STILL HAVEN'T DIED YET. But any day now, I'm sure.

   
And there's your bullets, my fellow Swifties.

My cats are psychotic killers who just love to torture small creatures for fun because they just can't help themselves... which means birds hanging out in the catio are not safe from being brought into the house. What's weird is that they never actually hurt the birds, they just bring them inside to play with them.

Last Sunday I came downstairs only to find feathers on the floor. So then I spent a while searching for the bird. Dead or Alive. And of course the frightened little guy was alive. I tried to shoo him out the guest room window, but he got scared and flew into the wall that's torn out in my guest bathroom!

And so I used lights to draw him out of the walls... then used lights to lure him back into the guest room... then tried to shoo him out. Again. But he kept hiding out under the bed because he couldn't fly through the bottom window which cannot open. So finally I blocked the bottom window and then... five hours after I spotted feathers... the bird flew out...

My cats... watching me frantically trying to remove a bird from my home...

Apparently looking at me like I've ruined their fun isn't good enough... Jake had to sit on my work papers so I couldn't get to them as well.

Cats. What can you do?

Yesterday the boxes came to return my old Apple Watch and iPhone.

And I just spent nearly two hours trying to follow the instructions on how to prepare the devices for return. Because of course the instructions I received didn't reflect reality. Log out of the App Store? Out of iCloud? How? You've greyed out all options that allow me to get anywhere near my account. It's insanely fucking stupid how Apple doesn't ever seem to know what the hell is happening with their own shit. Absolutely nothing I was given for my watch or phone was as they said. And even when I got to the screen which (maybe?) allowed me to log out and de-register my devices, I kept getting error screens popping up telling me that my iCloud account and my iMessage account didn't match so nothing would work. I finally clicked the "do it" button fast enough that the mismatch error didn't have a chance to display, and I think everything it removed. Maybe. I mean, the "hello!" welcome message is showing now, so I guess I'm good?

For the love of God, how fucking difficult is it for the people who write the fucking instructions to actually give them a try before posting them? If it were my job to write the shit, that's what I'd do.

But apparently Apple doesn't give a fuck, because they're perfectly happy posting bad information... regardless of whether or not it makes their customers want to take a sledgehammer to their shit.

MacOS Sonoma has released. The bad news is that it hasn't done jack-shit to solve my biggest problems (like fixing fucking AirDrop, which never works at work and is unreliable everywhere else). But anyway... let's get on with it...

Caps Lock indicator. I have no idea why this hasn't been done before, because it's frickin' fantastic. A little indicator pops up under your cursor where you'll actually see it. Nice.

Screen Sharing. Apple's screen sharing "solution" has always been pretty basic and unworthy. It's clutzy and janky and feels very much like an afterthought. So much so that I have been using a third party app for years. Well... Sonoma changes that. Their high-speed connect mode is very, very good (and available only on Macs with Apple Silicon). You can literally watch high-res video at full speed with only an occasional rare stutter. I love it. I haven't tried using it over the internet yet... but the "standard mode" is probably capable. I'm just not sure if I want to risk it.

Screensavers & Desktops. There's some beautiful new screensavers that have cool motion to them... much in the vein of the AppleTV screensavers... then when you pop into your computer, the screensaver freezes and becomes your desktop photo. There's this new feature where when you click on your desktop to send all your windows flying and you can see whatever's on your desktop, but I don't know if I'm keeping it or turning it off yet. It's both handy and annoying in equal measure. UPDATE: Yeah, I turned it off. It's far more annoying than helpful.

Widgets. There was a time that Apple gifted us widgets... then took them away. And now they're back. For a while, I'm guessing. You can post widgets to your desktop... whether they be from your Mac apps or your iPhone/iPad apps (if supported). I've got my Fantastical widget with my upcoming events, my Autosleep widget to remind me of how little sleep I'm getting, my Ecobee thermostat app so I can see what the settings/status is, my Tempest widget to let me know what my weather station is reading, my Weather forecast widget, and my Parcel widget with any deliveries I've got coming up. All handy.

Spotlight Search. When it works, I'm a huge fan of Apple's internal search tool that works for finding just about anything on your Mac... or even across the web. The problem is that every once in a while my various Macs cannot search through my files. No idea why. It seems to happen at random and come back at random. And sometimes it will return results... but when you click on the file to open it, some other entirely different file will open! Hopefully this has been cleared up, but who knows? In any event, it's apparently supposed to be better now.

Predictive Text. Mac now suggests words as you type. It's a feature which is most welcome on a phone screen, but it's kinda bonkers on a machine with a physical keyboard. Maybe if you're a really slow typist it would be helpful... but most times I can out-type the suggestions, which is to say that by the time it's registered that I could have just hit return to finish typing a word, I've already finished typing it. So, yeah. Not a great feature for me.

Web Apps. When the iPhone first debuted, there were no apps. Everything was done with "web apps" that were pretty much shit. Well, now you can bring those shitty web apps of yesteryear to your Mac! And put them into your dock! Except they actually are kinda useful in that you can have frequently-used websites that are essentially their own apps anyway within easy reach. I've got a few I'm trying... like YouTube... which I'm kinda digging.

Lockdown Mode. If you're browsing the dark web (or whatever) and need added protections, you can slap all your Apple devices into Lockdown Mode and be far more secure. It offers a host of safeguards that are pretty strong and severely limit your normal operations, but if you need it... you need it.

Problem...

No idea what's going on... but today I lost over three hours work when all of a sudden the files just evaporated. They were still showing in my "recent files" but any attempt to load them would give "File Not Found." Fortunately my computer is constantly backing itself up, so I was able to recover most everything and only spent 10 minutes making updates that were lost. No clue what went wrong. But this is a scary-ass thing to have happen. It's like the system just trashed them or lost them for no reason. One minute they were there... the next they didn't exist! I hope this isn't a regular occurrance, because yikes.

Still Missing...

Email Search That's Worth a Shit. Ever search for a word within a long, long email chain, then get disgusted because, unlike Safari, you can't jump between those highlighted words or phrases but instead have to scroll endlessly and pore over everything until you find what you're looking for... AND THEN DO IT OVER AND OVER BECAUSE YOU KEEP MISSING IT? This is just next-level idiotic and I cannot believe that Apple hasn't done shit to fix it.

AirDrop. As I said... nothing has been fixed. Still a fucking pile of shit. This is enraging because Apple keeps promoting it. Meanwhile I can't send a photo from my iPhone to my work Mac unless I text it to myself.

Photos. Lord. It's like... give us a fucking manual sync already. It's maddening because you know that the files have been uploaded to iCloud for an hour, but you still can't sync them because there's no way to force it.

Printing. I know that Apple is embracing the digital future now, but there are times we still need to fucking print shit. It would be nice if ANY EFFORT AT ALL would be put into making this happen. But instead I am still clicking on an ignore button because every fucking time I print to 12×18-inch paper I am told that sorting is not supported. No way to permanently dismiss because Apple don't give a fuck.

Preferences Mayhem. Last time around, Apple did a radical reimagining of the System Preferences pane. And it's absolute and total shit. Alas, they're clinging to it like a boat anchor, and we're still stuck with this idiotic shit that makes it difficult to find absolutely anything. Despite it having a search box.

Icon Arrangement. You can never fucking get your icons to sit where you want them to when "Snap to Grid" is enabled. Well, you can, but that one time you can't drives me so fucking crazy that I fantasize about burning my fucking Mac to the ground. If a grid square is open, THEN FUCKING LET THE ICON SIT THERE AND DON'T FLOAT IT ACROSS THE SCREEN FOR NO FUCKING REASON.

Hard Drive Alive. Since the wide adoption of Solid State Drives throughout Apple's offerings, they've removed the ability to keep older hard drives spinning. Instead they power up and down and up and down and up and down. Which is terrible. I thought that turning off the power-down in Energy Saver settings would work, but nope. So I use a third party app called "Amphetamine" but it doesn't automatically start at login even when I add it to login items. I wish Apple would just let you go back to how it used to work.

And in Conclusion...

Meh.

My fellow Americans... I have my pick for President of the United States in 2024.

Representative Jeff Jackson of North Carolina's 14th District is everything right now. His TikTok is mind blowing. He’s effectively the anti-politician, and for this he’s respected on both sides of the aisle. He’s a Democrat, but Republicans regularly comment about how he would get their vote. And that's what we need.

Brutal honesty, transparency, and accountability is what EVERY AMERICAN WANTS and the political party is incidental.

This guy does not give a single fuck about party affiliation when it comes to calling out wrongdoing. He made that abundantly clear in his latest (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

Why can't more politicians be like this? We've got Democrats propping up straight-up asshole criminals like Nancy Pelosi whose husband clearly manipulates stocks based on insider knowledge (she denies it, of course, but come on... how many fucking coincidences do you need?). Republicans won't end their adulation of Twice-Impeached Former-President Trump despite the mountains of evidence that he's very clearly a fucking criminal (seriously... have you read his indictments and NINETY-ONE CRIMINAL COUNTS? Jesus! It's all right there! How can anybody think he's innocent?). And that's the way it goes. Asshole criminal politicians everywhere you look. They spend more time covering their asses than they ever do being concerned about the citizens who elect them.

Except my guy.

Who I fully admit I'm suspicious of. Because he's just too good to be true. The more I research the more I like him (Wikipedia has a nice summary). The guy works hard. He's very smart. He tirelessly crusades for government transparency. He wants people to support him not because of any party affiliation he has, but what he does. He's in the National Guard reserve and was called to duty at the end of his very close Senate race. He didn't defer. He went. Despite the fact that it might cost him the election. He still won.

I wish every American would take the time to go to his TikTok and really listen to what he's saying. At least while you still can. Because of course the fucking piece of shit dark money advocates are trying to silence him.

Of course they are!

He's a threat to absolutely everything these assholes stand for: OWNING THE GOVERNMENT. And they don't want you to know how the government works and what they're doing (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

I mean, don't you think that the American people should know when the government is spending THIRTY BILLION DOLLARS of our money? Well, weapons manufacturers obviously don't want that. And the politicians they pay for definitely doesn't want that. But here's Rep. Jeff, letting you know the score.

And you should definitely understand what's going on with Team Outrage (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

So, yeah... this is my guy. If I were any kind of power in the Democratic Party, I'd encourage Vice President Harris to retire, slide Rep. Jeff Jackson in the spot, then see what happens. Because... HOLY SHIT WOULDN'T YOU LOVE TO SEE THIS KIND OF TRANSPARENCY COMING FROM THE PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL?!? I know I sure would. My God... he's even willing to wade into the whole ARE ALIENS AMONG US? debate (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

"It was kinda great."

As we really maybe actually could be. If only we have more people like this in our government.

Every year I tell myself that I won't turn the heat on until October 1st. It's a noble goal that I fully intend to honor despite the fact that I always fail.

Year after year I'm turning the heat on at the end of September because it's just too darn cold in the mornings and evenings to go without. Bundling up in hoodies and blankets is not the same as actually being comfortable.

Just ask my cats.

I generally factor them out of the equation because they're walking around with fur coats on. And they still go outside in the catio, where it's far colder than in the house. Plus I put out kitty warming pads that they lay on to keep warm. So... whatever.

But, as I mentioned on Caturday, Jenny has started squeezing behind me on the couch... pushing and pushing until she makes a hole behind my back, then turns around and sits there to glom off my body heat...

It's cute... but it ain't comfortable.

Then this morning I woke up cold, which is never a good thing, so I finally relented and everybody is happy.

Well, my cats are never truly happy... but they're happier than they were yesterday.

My favorite comic strip of all time, hands-down, is Calvin and Hobbes. It's a joyous, imaginative, beautiful look at life through the eyes of a child and his imaginary tiger buddy. It hits in a way that's far different from the other strips I love... like Peanuts and The Far Side. Thanks to The Complete Calvin and Hobbes book set, I've re-read these strips dozens upon dozens of times. They never get old. And the minute I reach the final strip I have to resist the urge to go back and re-read all of them again.

I mean... just look at this genius...

Anyway...

The massive volumes of The Complete Calvin and Hobbes are really tough to lug around. So now the strips are being collected into small paperback sets that are easy to toss in your backpack or read on a train or whatever. Set 1, Volume 1 of The Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium was released back in August (Set 2 releases next March). They're fantastic...

It was while looking to see when Set 2 was being released that I waded through the massive number of illegal Calvin and Hobbes merchandise that Amazon allows on their site. And when I found this video...

My opinion of Calvin and Hobbes is always stratospheric. There's really no way it could be any higher. But I do enjoy hearing other people's take on why they love it.

Maybe one day a strip will come along that I end up liking better, but it seems to doubtful because it would have to be better than perfection.

Summer is gone. Fall is here. But not everything is getting colder... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Sloth! Maybe the sweetest thing you'll see all day...

Now that's a grateful mom.

   
• Name! Maybe the coolest thing you'll see all day...

   
• Death Cab for Postal Service! The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie are on tour... which I already would love to see. AND THEN...

Depeche Mode's influence is a joyful thing to see. If only old Depeche Mode was more influential on new Depech Mode.

   
• And Cake! I knew that Fiona and Cake was going to be glorious... the bizarre, weird, wonderful world of Adventure Time couldn't HELP but be glorious... but it's so much more than that...

I honestly don't understand how they come up with this stuff. Every detail is sweated to a ridiculous degree. Cake the Cat is more like a cat than a real cat.

   
• YAS, QUEEN! I need to start carrying one around in my pocket! (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

That could never be me. But I find Bee TikTok to be fascinating.

   
• Swim Creative! He looks so happy. But I’d probably look that happy if I were going to be gettin’ some too! (here's a link in case TikTok is being a dick)...

Good fishy.

   
• Still Disgusting! Good job Michigan on banning child marriage! They've done more than Washington State has. If you want to marry a child in this state that's 17, all you have to do is get parental permission. ANY AGE LESS THAN THAT just requires a redneck judge to sign off on it. ANY. AGE. Want to marry a 10 year old? You can in Washington State if you find the right judge! 5 year old? Cool beans if you find the right judge! — This is categorically fucking disgusting. And if you read into this, it goes much deeper than the creep factor of an adult being able to marry a child. Children often cannot get support for domestic violence from a spouse... they get turned away at shelters because they can be "unsafe for children." WAY TO GO WASHINGTON STATE! Any of our legislators want to fucking DO something about this? Nah. They got lobbyist dicks to suck for cash. Fucking assholes. Not only should every last one of these mother fuckers who aren't ACTIVELY WORKING TO CHANGE THIS be removed from office... they should be thrown in fucking jail. I am NOT kidding. This is gross negligence and party to child sexual abuse of a minor.

   
And now I'm off to clean my kitchen.

How I know that it's time to haul out the electric blanket and the heating pads for the cats?

They start using me as an electric blanket. I mean Jake usually sleeps with me...

but when it gets colder he's on top of me...

And if he can't squeeze between my feet, he'll sleep on top of them...

As for Jenny? She's been squeezing beside me on the couch when I'm sitting length-wise on it. But now? She will dig behind me even if there's no room to use me as a heating pad...

And so... I put out the warming pads for them...

And so... I guess they've got their favorite place to sit for the next five months.