HBO... also known as "Home Box Office" to people like me who grew up with it... started as a premium channel that you could add to your cable subscription package for an additional fee. It offered movies, specials, and other stuff at a time before VHS video tapes existed. The concept was hugely successful, and so other premium channels followed... Showtime... Cinemax... The Movie Channel... and more.

Over the years HBO has kept up with the times by having a streaming on-demand channel, which was originally called "HBO Now." They also had a version of this for their cable subscribers called "HBO Go." But, in the end, no matter where you went to consume their content, it was still HBO.

But then everything got rolled together and became "HBO Max."

And then something remarkable happened.

HBO, one of the most recognized brands in existence, decided to call themselves "Max."

I have no idea what dumbfuck came up with the idea to bury such a well-known brand by dropping the actual branding from the brand... but it was one of the stupidest advertising decisions I've ever seen. Companies would kill for the brand recognition that HBO had developed over the past 50+ years. They'd kill for it.

And HBO just threw it away.

When I got back from vacation on Saturday I saw a news story which said that "Max" was going to rebrand as "HBO Max" again, because people didn't seem to know what the fuck "Max" was. Which is why I never referred to it as "Max" ever. I always called it "HBO Max" because that way people actually know what the fuck I'm talking about.

I understand better than most that sometimes difficult decisions have to be made and the people in charge have to bite the bullet and make it for better or worse. But you'd think... you'd really think... that they would at least try to educate themselves about the decisions they make to keep from having a painfully obvious fuck-up. Especially when millions of dollars are at stake. "Brand recognition" is not some abstract concept. And anybody who's in charge of making decisions for a company at such a high level as HBO branding should fucking understand that concept.

But they didn't, and HBO paid the price.

Now they're trying to roll back this laughably catastrophic decision in an attempt to salvage the brand that they tossed in the trash.

Well, good luck with that.

Fortunately for them there were people like me who were ignoring their whole "Max" fiasco and keep the brand alive on their behalf (and I'm not alone... a lot of people and media outlets continued to call it "HBO" long after it had been rebranded). The problem for HBO (or, more accurately, their owner, Warner Bros. Discovery) are people during the past two years who don't know what the fuck "HBO" is because they've ever known the service as "Max."

And don't even get me started on the fifty buckets of stupid that is the name "Warner Bros. Discovery." Jesus. Who the fuck gives a shit about Discovery? Why rename your entire company to add something that has ridiculously poor brand recognition? The channel is still "Discovery" so what the fuck does that have to do with Warner Bros.?!? God... I just... HEY, DUMBASSES, I CAN CONSULT WITH YOUR BRANDING FOR FAR LESS MONEY THAT YOU'RE LOSING WITH ALL THESE SHITTY DECISIONS! CALL ME!

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know that's I'm a massive, massive Pee-Wee Herman fan. I fell in love with him after seeing Pee-Wee's Playhouse playing off VHS tape in the student lounge at college on repeat. It was just so brilliantly creative and fun to watch.

So of course I've paid homage to Pee-Wee numerous times on this here blog...

I was gutted when Paul Reubens died, and his passing sent me on a Pee-Wee renaissance. I watched all his old shows and movies for the hundredth time.

Then this week I watched the Pee-Wee as Himself documentary, and now I want to watch all his old shows and movies for the hundred-and-first time...

I was very much shocked that the documentary was fairly complete and didn't leave much out. His indecent exposure incident in Sarasota (which was fucking bullshit)... it was there. His "child pornography" charges (which were beyond fucking bullshit, it was outright lies)... it was there too. And I'm really grateful, because it puts the truth out there for people who may not be aware of it.

But, more importantly, the two-part documentary shines a light on Paul's incredible creativity and genius. It covers the development of the Pee-Wee show on the stage... all the way through the TV show and films... and talks about his private life along the way.

Highest possible recommendation whether you're a fan or not. You can watch it on HBO Max.

Happy Pride Month to all my LGBTQ+ friends out there! The world is better because you're in it! Soon I'll be watching a movie themed to this month's topic, but that will have to wait... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• BEES! NEWSFLASH: Millions of bees escape, start stinging after crash in Whatcom County. The first thing I did was go running to Maps to find out how far away these 250 million bees are from my house. Answer? About 3-1/2 hours, minimum. So no need to panic. Yet.

   
• Disney Be Expensive, Yo! “No we’re not going to Disneyland. We’ve got Disneyland at home!”

Absolutely classic.

   
• Sloppy! Peacock TV should just renew Poker Face for ten new seasons to be filmed twice a year. The latest episode Sloppy Joseph is phenomenal, as usual. But it leaps ahead of the pack for one reason. The child actor leads they got for this episode are amazing. AMAZING... and also, in one case, amazingly disturbing. Whomever cast them deserves a raise...

Plus it was deftly directed by ADAM ARKIN? And is that DAVID KRUMHOLTZ?!? Sweet! — I wish they could clone Natasha Lyonne so she could appear in more stuff. Then make a second clone and put her into suspended animation so we have a spare in case we lose the original two.

   
• Wes! If anybody has $400 that they're trying to get rid of... give it to The Trevor Project or Trans Lifeline. But if you have $400 more that you need to get rid of, you could always buy this for me...

Sure I already own all these movies in digital format (and more than a few on DVD and Blu-Ray), but 4K off of Blu-Ray is a considerably different experience than "4K" off of digital streaming.

   
• Linguistically Yours! I love this...

Language is ever-changing and ever-evolving. This is just the latest thing.

   
• Cursed! Sage, sage wisdom being dropped here...

I wish I could reclaim all the time I wasted trying to please people who don't care about me.

   
• Yummy! This video came up in my Facebook memories. So much more clever than Baby Shark...

CHEESE! CHEESE! CHEESE!

   
• Drag News Hour! Yet another drag queen endangering our children! Oh... wait a second... nope! Not a drag queen... color me un-shocked! NEWSFLASH: MAGA Influencer And Fox News Guest Indicted On Child Sex Abuse Charges.

   
And, on that note, it's time for me to make dinner. Until next Sunday...

I may be broiling in the Summer heat, but I must be good to blog... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Stranger, Newer! Look, let's just get this out of the way... it is highly unlikely that ANY show is going to eclipse Andor, The Residence, and Poker Face in my #1, #2, and #3 spots for the best television of 2025. They're just too phenomenal. But if any show has a shot at it, that would be Strange New Worlds. It managed to eclipse the original series as my favorite Trek, and the third season looks like more of the awesome I've come to expect...

   
• Cricket! GAH! I've been replacing some of the outlets in my home with Eve smart outlets. This morning I was replacing the outlet for all my television devices because I want to know how much electricity I'm drawing to be sure I'm not overloading the breaker. The outlet ended up having dual black & white wires, which meant the wire nuts that came with the switch were too small. I quickly ran to the electrical kit to get bigger ones while my Uninterruptible Power Supply was beeping angrily because it had no power. As I was running through the garage, I saw a clump of dirt that must have fallen off the gardening tools I was using this morning. I kicked it under the car so I could sweep it up later. BUT THE CLUMP OF DIRT CRAWLED BACK FROM UNDER THE CAR! BECAUSE IT WASN'T A CLUMP OF DIRT, IT WAS THE LARGEST CRICKET I'VE EVER SEEN! After screaming GAAAAAH! I ran into the house for a paper cup to drop over the insect while I wired the outlet so I could get power back to my UPS. Then I slid a piece of board under the cup and took the cricket out to a nice shady spot in the rock wall behind my home. Sorry, cricket, but I don't want you chirping in my home.

   
• Dip! A friend called and asked what I'm up to. After telling her the killer cricket story, I told her I was making my grandmother's chip dip recipe... except I'm using vegan cream cheese instead of regular cream cheese, vegan mayo instead of regular mayo, tamari sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce, and nutritional yeast instead of cheese. Then I add a little ground black pepper and chili powder to help make the taste of the veggie mayo more palatable. She said "If you're changing all the ingredients, you're not really making your grandmother's recipe tho..." And I was like "Well, the lemon juice in it is still lemon juice... I just substitute vegan ingredients for the non-vegan ingredients. Which is most of them, I guess. Which is to say that I'm not actually making my grandma's recipe after all. Except... I totally am, I think.

   
• Big, Bold, and Beautiful! Well this looks wonderful. A movie that's right up my alley...

Doesn't hurt that the cast is so good.

   
• a-ha! I've never understood the one-hit-wonder status for a-ha. Their debut album and lead single Take on Me are great. Love it. Definitely a hit. But they created a lot of amazing music after. Including Holyground, a beautiful song that defies description...

Lead singer Morten Harket has announced he has Parkinson’s disease.

I flew to New York to see the band on their farewell Ending on a High Note Tour (they were only playing NYC and Los Angeles in the USA). After that they slowed down, but I was so happy they actually kept going.

   
• Pick Me! Lock company sues McNally for showing how easy their locks are to pick. They claim that he "altered" their lock. McNally orders a fresh lock and films himself retrieving the lock from an Amazon locker, opening the sealed box of the lock, cutting an aluminum can to make a pick for the lock, then picks the lock... all without the filming being interrupted. The entire video is two minutes and thirteen seconds long...

I laughed and laughed and laughed. Because this lock company just made things far, far worse for their reputation. He should pick one of their locks live during the trial, assuming the lock company is stupid enough to go through with it.

   
• VARIETY NEWS: ‘Andor’ Creator Says Disney Spent ‘$650 Million for 24 Episodes’ and ‘We Fought Hard’ for Money After Being Told in Season 2: ‘Streaming Is Dead. We Don’t Have the Money We Had Before’ — And every fucking cent is on the screen. This is budget filmmaking. Disney should be thrilled that Tony Gilroy handed them 8 feature films at a budget of only $80 million each. Because every three episodes IS the equivalent. And who makes feature films for only $80 million any more that are this fully-realized and have the talent and dazzling special effects that made them this great? Andor is easily one of the best TV series ever made. It’s the best thing to come out of Star Wars period...

Disney should be begging the guy to do more Star Wars. They should be filling a dump truck with money and backing it up into Gilroy’s driveway to get him to do more Star Wars. This series was an absolute gift to Disney, Star Wars fans, and people who relish great storytelling. Fuck the Empire.

   
And now I'm off! Off the internet Because I'm trying to free up space in my garage.

Holy cow is it hot out today. I didn't even stay out as long as I did yesterday morning! But enough of my heatstroke woes... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• SAVE THE BEEEEES! I see bees around my home... sometimes honey bees, but there's been plenty of bumblebees around too (which are my favorite, because they always look so adorable being all fluffy like they are). In an effort to help them, I always let the clover overgrow my lawn where it feels like it. And now that I've got some new plants out that they seem to like, I decided to make some watering stations for them. I bought shallow trays, filled them with water and rocks so they don't drown, then placed them in some shady spaces where they will fill up when the sprinklers run. I made two different heights of rocks to see if it makes a difference...

I've heard that bees can smell water. I might set some cameras outside to see if they come visit. And, if they do, then I'll have to make some more.

   
• AI EVERYWHERE! It is darn-right scary how good AI video generators have gotten recently. I mean just look at this scary-ass nightmare of people who don't exist!

There are a lot of people who are going to be completely fooled... and it's just going to get worse.

   
• Hilarity Ensues! Oh no. Oh no no no no no... BWAH HA HA HAAA! Lying to CONGRESS?!? This is GOLD. GOLLLLLLD!!!

Unfortunately, nobody seems to give a crap when these fucking assholes lie to the American people like this.

   
• ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Will End With a Fifth and Final Season. Well fuck. How typical. Strange New Worlds is hands-down my favorite Star Trek and I've been loving every episode in a way that even The Original Series never took me. I guess I should be grateful that we're getting two new seasons after the upcoming one (even though the fifth is "truncated")... but, dammit, I'm still bitter. The writers have proven over and over that they get the franchise and know creative ways to keep it moving forward. — Next Generation got seven seasons. Deep Space Nine got seven seasons. Voyager got seven seasons. Then again, Enterprise only got four. But still... all those shows were getting around 26 episodes each season, and Strange New Worlds only gets TEN?!? Insanity. It's just insanity. Well, unless the Starfleet Academy blows me away, there's no reason for me to keep Paramount+ after the best Trek ever is over.

   
• Read Your Bible? "This will not be a newsflash for anyone with the capacity for critical thought..." This 16-minute burn is delicious, and just gets better as it goes on. Dan usually doesn't get this fired up.

How is it that the people who profess to live their life by The Bible... love to use The Bible as a tool to persecute people... and act like they know The Bible... actually don't know shit? Cherrypicking?!? Pot meet kettle.

   
• SPACE NEWS: NASA's Voyager Spacecraft Found A 30,000-50,000 Kelvin "Wall" At The Edge Of Our Solar System. Obviously God put this barrier there to contain our nonsense to our own solar system and not allow us to fuck up the entire galaxy with our bullshit. Humanity ain’t it. We never were. And, at this rate, we never will be.

   
• Money Well Spent! Look, I don't give a shit if the President wants to embarrass himself. I'm used to it. But I think it's fucking reprehensible to embarrass our military like what happened with his $45 million dollar vanity birthday parade. Our military isn't trained for pageantry. They're just not. So to force them into a situation they weren't prepared for is embarrassing to the country... and the men and women who serve this nation. They absolutely didn't deserve that. You know what they do deserve? The benefits that come from risking your life to fight and die for their country. You know, the benefits that keep getting cut so we can have a pathetic parade that barely any people attended...

I'm so sick of this shit I could vomit. Give our military the respect they've fucking earned. Give our country the respect it deserves.

   
And now... I'd go back out into the heat so I can work in the yard some more, but that ain't happening. Guess my Sunday is going to be a day of rest after all..

As I've mentioned more times than I can count, my most watched media source is YouTube. I watch a lot of it. So much so that I pay for the ad-free YouTube Premium, because it's easily worthwhile given the amount of time it saves me watching crap ads.

Recently I've been watching more YouTube than usual because so many of the shows I'm into are on Summer hiatus and won't return until September or so (though there are exceptions... Poker Face is running hot right now).

But anyway...

Not only do I get my entertainment from YouTube, that's also where I get the bulk of my news. There's content creators there that have very good takes on what's happening in the world, yes, but there's also major media outlets who post to YouTube as well.

Except I just had to turn off the "Breaking News" category on my home page because things are just so monumentally shitty right now that I feel as though my head might explode if I try and keep up with all the bullshit that's going on.

But anyway, again...

I've been watching a heck of a lot of old television. It's just so wild. Not because the world has changed so radically (though that's part of it) but because so many things that were said back then couldn't easily be said in today's world.

And absolutely nowhere is that more apparent than those awesome Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts. And they aired on network television! I've been watching quite a few of them and have found myself surprised more than a couple times. But the biggest surprise? Despite my love of all things Betty White, I don't think I have ever seen her roast! It's pretty epic. If you have some time, I absolutely recommend watching it...

In most ways, these roasts are quite a bit more tame than what we got on the Comedy Central Roasts (which I miss a lot, the last one having been held in 2019). But in some ways? Yikes. All I can say about it is that despite some of the charged topics, none of it seemed malicious. It was all in good fun, which really can't be said for the Comedy Central shows. They were mostly in good fun... but some had a mean streak that was very apparent.

And, on that note, I leave you with this compilation of many hilarious moments from those glorious golden years of celebrity roasting...

Have a good weekend, everybody.

Hey, the US dollar may be in the tank, the economy is fucked, our benefits are being trashed, the government is toying with legalizing cancer-causing asbestos again, and we're now at war, but everything's just going great... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Sick Sad Escape! Where did The Ballad of Wallis Island come from? I never knew that Tim Key had this level of talent. His performance is all at once hilarious (expected) and incredibly touching and sweet...

Highest possible recommendation if you need an escape from this sad, cruel world. A lovely little film on Peacock TV.

   
• He'll Save Every One of Us! This morning while working I watched Flash Gordon for the hundredth time because a video about the film ended up on my YouTube feed. It's incredible no matter how many times I watch it. I own this original movie poster...

And here's that video, which is darn interesting...

It's always gutting to me how we never got a sequel. So few movies deserve one as bad as Flash Gordon does.

   
• Pool Shark! I don't know how she recovered. I wouldn't have been able to!

Talk about a Pool Sharknado!

   
• HIs Name is Earl! I'm not a big fan of spiders. However...

Not saying I want to become friends with one though.

   
• ENTERTAINMENT NEWS: Out of the Ashes of Comixology, a New Digital Comics Platform Rises. — So let me get this straight. You want me to buy comics from you again at "Neon Ichiban" so that you can eventually sell out to Amazon.com (again)... at which point Amazon will kill the app only to leave me with their shitty fucking Amazon Kindle app which is a steaming pile of shit that completely ruins the entire reason I bought digital comics in the first place? Nah... you can fuck right off with your bullshit. I am never buying digital comics from you again. Amazon utterly destroyed what you built... lesson learned.

   
• We All Scream! This is a converdation I'm not ashamed to have had...
"What would you do for a Klondike Bar?"
"I dunno... go to the register and pay for it? Ask me what I'd do for a HEATH Klondike Bar..."
"What would you do for a Heath Klondike Bar?"
"Straight up murder. I would murder for a Heath Klondike Bar."
"Um. Damn. That's dark."
"Have you HAD a Heath Klondike Bar tho?"

   
• Bob Reads! Jesus Christ. These people really are fucking brainwashedand clueless...

She really thought she did something with that smug attitude, but it does beg the question... why are the people guilty of assaulting children infinitely more likely to be priests, pastors, Conservatives, or Republicans than drag queens? Can she explain that?

"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn to live together in peace by killing each other's children." — President Jimmy Carter

   
Hope you're enjoying your Summer before World War III starts.

It seems highly unlikely that any television show will eclipse Andor as my favorite of 2025. It phenomenal on every possible level, and the fact that it's a Star Wars show is neither here nor there. It's just incredible television in any genre.

But a big part of what makes Andor so special is its star, Diego Luna. I am a huge, huge fan. He is a remarkable actor, sure, but it's his humanity that makes him truly remarkable. And that was on full display in his opening monologue on his first night of guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live...

And he wasn't done. Here was his second night...

Diego has always been charming and funny in his interviews... but who knew he was this funny?

I'm a massive fan of television programs and movies. I "watch" a lot of them. And by "watch" I mean that I am doing work (or blogging!) while they run in the background. My mind is pretty good at multi-tasking, so I can fairly easily follow whatever is on my television while banging away on my laptop.

The nice thing about watching stuff this way is that I can ignore all the idiotic shit that draves me crazy when it pops up.

Take for example the Wilhelm Scream.

I fucking hate it. The sound effect is so overused and offensive that it immediately takes me out of what I'm watching...

=shudder=

And then there's the fucking "Tarzan yell" which annoys me for the same reason...

Yeah, fuck Richard Marquand and George Lucas forever for that bit of dumbassery ruining an already disastrous Return of the Jedi (the heinous followup to the amazing The Empire Strikes Back). Lord.

If I had the time, I'd edit the sound mix of every movie I enjoy to rip this dumbassery out of them so I can enjoy them without distraction.

But why stop there?

There's a lot of shows and films which need some more exstensive editing than just a sound clip.

I've been re-watching the James Bond movies and cringing at the appearances of the Sheriff J.W. Pepper character, which I loathe...

Not that this frickin' idiot is the only bad thing in a James Bond movie. Many of the films have moments that are beyond stupid and are begging to be modified or cut.

Take, for example, that incredible car jump stunt that had the misfortune of being sabotaged not just by an appearance by Seargent J.W. Pepper, but with the stupid-ass slide whistle they played over the top of this magnificent stunt, which effectively sabotages it...

Who the fuck makes a choice like that?

I feel like I'm picking on James Bond and Star Wars movies, but there's precious few movies that I wouldn't change at all. Most films have something I'd change... even if it's something very small.

Hollywood should just save themselves the trouble and consult me on the final edit.

The impending heatwave is cause for concern, but there's a shady spot just for you... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• I May Die of Unshock! NEWSFLASH: Senate GOP budget bill has little-noticed provision that could hurt your Wi-Fi. All they had to do was put "Ted Cruz" in the headline and they could have saved me from reading the article. Then I'd automatically know something stupid and fucked up that's not in the best interest of the American people was being discussed.

   
• It Could Happen to You! "Please don't cut our Medicaid... those benefits are a safety net for everybody because you never know what might happen!" — FUCK YOU! NOW DRAG THEM THE HELL OUT OF HERE!

There we go. There it is. Eugenics in action. And, yes, I understand that disabilities are not necessarily genetic. But try explaining that to people who have no empathy. Try to explain to them that life can turn on a dime. Try to tell them that they could easily end up in a wheelchair because of a million reasons. I dare you to try and explain what ableism looks like by holding up a mirror. Because EVERY. TIME. I try to explain this to people who want people with disabilities to be discriminated against and lose benefits... they all feel that it could never happen to them, their family, or people they care about. Nope. Never. It's only these leeches who should be cared for by their families instead of taxpayers. My God this is the absolute worst. Well, a lot of people will find out the hard way that this actually does affect them when something awful happens that cannot be anticipated.

   
• Q! A shoe-in for my Best of 2025 Television List...

I was prepared to not care for it, because I thought for sure it was going to be one of those "damaged person makes everybody miserable" shows that we've seen a million times. This was nothing like that. It was smart, well-written, exceptionally-performed, and had a fresh take on the genre that I loved. Recommended.

   
• AKRAM! I just... Alexej Manvelov's character of "Akram" in Netflix's Dept. Q above leaves you wanting more in absolutely every scene he appears. In this short interview clip, they discuss how amazing it would be to have a prequel series which tells his store and how he came to the U.K., and I am totally on-board...

If they have the correct script, it could even eclipse the original series (which I very, very much hope gets future seasons). One episode left to go!

   
• United Parcel! Dear UPS... if you're going to charge me $104 to get a 2-lb. package half-way across the country via 2nd Day Air... YOU COULD AT LEAST MAKE IT SO THAT MACINTOSH USERS CAN PRINT YOUR SHIPPING LABLES! — Having to copy and paste the label into a second app so I can print to a PDF that I can place in a THIRD app is bullshit. — FIX YOUR WEBSITE!!! — If you leave the label instructions "on" for the label... you'll get no label at all. If you tell the system to leave instructions "off," you'll get a label you can't print... but you can drag your cursor over it and copy it. ASSUMING YOU CAN GET INSTRUCTIONS TO TURN OFF IN THE FIRST PLACE. Does nobody test you crap out on a Mac so your customers can actually use your service? Doubtful.

   
• Disgusting. Fuck this fucking piece of shit for all eternity: Kennedy says US is pulling funding from global vaccine group Gavi — From Doctors Without Borders: "When we vaccinate in the community, parents line up for hours to give their children a chance to be protected from these deadly diseases. For these children, vaccination programs such as those supported through Gavi are a matter of life and death." — I am disgusted to my very core that RFK, an ignorant asshole who peddles disinformation as fact, could even be considered for a position which makes decisions about public health. He doesn't know shit. He's a grifter who doesn't believe in science, and we're stuck with his bullshit... no matter how many times he's been caught outright lying.

   
• Paper! Fearmongering assholes spreading bullshit for clicks is a plague on society. Fuck this asshole and everybody like him who spreads misinformation they don't even fucking bother to understand...

Meanwhile, serious shit that's actually a danger is ignored because people are focusing on this stupid misinformation crap.

   
And now back to our regularly-scheduled extreme hotness.

After my horrific disappointment with The Old Guard 2 on Netflix last night, I was more than a little nervous to tune into the second season of The Sandman today.

Turns out there was no reason to worry. It's every bit as amazing as the first season, and they've done a phenomenal job of adapting this phenomenal story...

The problem remains, of course, the piece of shit responsible for this phenomenal story. Neil Gaiman may be a creative genius, but he's also an asshole with decades of sexual assault in his history.

Which is to say that after every episode, I feel like screaming. Cursing its creator for inventing something so wonderful then turning out to be a sack of shit who makes it impossible for me to view his work the same way that I used to.

On July 24th there's five more episodes to complete this adaptation of The Sandman.

On July 31st there's a single episode adapting Death: The High Cost of Living, one of my most favorite comic book series of all time and something I've been dying to see. Especially once we got to see Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death in The Sandman.

After that we have Colleen Doran's lovely adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet's Good Omens that I pre-ordered ages ago.

And after that we have the Good Omens Netflix wrap-up movie (in lieu of a third season that got canceled after Gaiman's misconduct surfaced).

And after that?

I can finally put Gaiman and his bullshit behind me and try to be glad that I got to enjoy his work for as long as I did.

The other day I happened upon a series that I thought had long since been canceled: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. It's a show where Jonathan Frakes introduces these outlandish stories, then you have to decide whether they are true or not. Then they tell you what stories were true. I actually remember James Brolin being the host before Frakes did it.

Apparently it was canceled back in 2002, then revived in 2021 because it's popular in Germany. And it's still going, or was as of last year.

But anyway...

When I Googled to see how it was still being made, I came across this...

It's weird how things have a completely different vibe when taken out of context like this.

Which is true about a lot of things in life, I suppose.

I may be laying here dying of a sunburn, but never you fear about this blog... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• The Life List! If you too are laying on the couch trying not to move so your sunburn won't give you grief and you're looking for a rom-com to watch, here you go...

Ever since I lost Hallmark Channel, my consumption of rom-coms has been dangerously low. Fortunately they are in endless supply.

   
• Melancholy! There's a new Google commercial showing how you can use your phone's camera to get help via a photo AI search. The song they have in the background is very clearly On Melancholy Hill by Gorillaz. Then, at the very end, the tune takes enough of a turn that you know it's not...

It's a bummer, because every time it comes on, I'm thinking that Google licensed the track from Damon Albarn, who has crafted some of my favorite music of all time (lead by Silent Running which remains one of the most achingly beautiful songs I've heard (link in comments).

   
• Correlation? And yet you see it on social media practically every day. Multiple times a day...

Which is bad enough, except you see it in the news as well. Politicians just love this shit.

   
• Cancelation Rage! One of my favorite shows of 2025 has been The Residence on Netflix. The character of Cordelia Cupp is amazing, the story they came up with for her is fantastic, and the mystery in the show is pretty great. Which is why I was hoping so badly we'd get a sequel. But of course Netflix canceled the show...

It's beyond frustrating that good shows get canceled before their time. And I guess I'll just add this to the pile of shows I'm mad about losing.

   
• Immortal Cat Tales! Matt Damon has more than a few stories which make me like him as a person. And here's one more...

Cats are such mythical creatures. Maybe that's what I like about them.

   
• NEWSFLASH: ‘Sinners’ on Max Will Include a Black American Sign Language Version. The fact that there is a laugh-react to this enrages me to the point of meltdown. Adding accessibility for a group of people DOES NOT TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM YOU. The Black Deaf Community has developed a language to better communicate their shared-experience. Everybody should be thrilled to know that HBO Max is putting in the work and money necessary to make sure that this masterpiece film has the best experience possible for everybody. But no. The fact that BASL is an option is somehow hilarious. Get fucked. Go back to your bigot bubble where absolutely everything is just designed exclusively for you and leave those who advocate for their inclusion alone.

   
• Make it Sparkle! LET'S GO TO THE MALL EVERYBODY!

I've been rewatching How I Met Your Mother, but the number of times I've watched this episode go way beyond the number of times I've watched the series.

   
And now back to nursing my sunburn.

I'm entirely too tired to blog because I'm working on four hours sleep, but that's no excuse for missing new bullets... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Emmy! It is un-fucking-believable to me that Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, and Genevieve O'Reilly didn't get nominated for their roles in Andor. It's likewise unbelievable that Denise Gough and Kyle Soller didn't get nominated. The only actor getting a nod is Forest Whitaker (who absolutely deserved it)? I don't even know what the fuck to say here. At least Andor managed to get some writing love, directing love, and a drama series nom, which ain't nothing. But it's also not enough. — In other news, I really hope that Uzo Aduba wins for The Residence. No shade to the other talented actors, but she was next level. And it would be a nice cherry on top of the Netflix cancelation sundae.

   
• The Puppy List! I find it incredibly difficult to argue with this list...

Except to say... my order would be different and I'd probably drop Scooby Doo and Courage in favor of Pluto, Zero (The Nightmare Before Christmas), Sam (Sam & Max: Freelance Police), Ren (Ren & Stimpy), Jake (Adventure Time), Seymour (Futurama), and Brain (Inspector Gadget)...

1. Snoopy (Peanuts)
2. Gromit (Wallace & Gromit)
3. Dug (Up)
4. Pluto (Disney)
5. Zero (The Nightmare Before Christmas)
6. Seymour (Futurama)
7. Bluey (Bluey)
8. Sam (Sam & Max: Freelance Police)
9. Jake (Adventure Time)
10. Blue (Blue's Clues)
11. Santa's Little Helper (The Simpsons)
12. Brain (Inspector Gadget)
13. Tramp (Lady and the Tramp)
14. Clifford (The Big Red Dog)
15. Ren (Ren & Stimpy)

   
• Spite House! To explain how crazy the Seattle housing market is... this tiny house (in two stories!) just sold for $745,000. The first part of the video repeats, but it's worth watching to the end, because this is a truly remarkable house!

Perfectly livable. And very cool.

   
• imperson-AI-tion! People getting impersonated by shitty AI slop is not surprising. What's surprising is that people are falling for it. Now. But all too soon AI will likely be impossible to spot... even for a discerning eye...

One can only hope that AI detection tools get better at a faster rate.

   
• That Took a Turn! When it comes to up-and-coming comedy talent, there's quite a lot making the rounds in social media. One of my favorites at the moment is the crowd-work by Will Burkart...

How he was quick enough to roll with those punches is a mystery!

   
• Maladapted! Lord how I loathe Apple TV's Foundation... as an adaptation. As a TV show it's fine. I just wish they would have left Asimov's book out of it and done their own thing, since they're doing that anyway.

In the books, The Mule is an amazing plot device because Hari Seldon is dead. All that's left of him are recordings. So when The Mule comes along to throw a wrench in absolutely everything, both the First and Second Foundations were in a total panic. The Universe is falling and there seems that there's nothing they can do. They have to come up with a plan that will get the universe back on track.

But in the show Hari Seldon is kept alive. He's actively working on a way to stop The Mule. This completely defeats the entire premise of the book because the Foundations have lost their agency. But the book is ruined anyway, because they keep dragging the same fucking characters back again and again over hundreds of years... either through suspended animation or cloning. This sabotages the entire concept of a story which must pass through the generations to be told. What makes the story in the books unique is that they don't focus on a single set of characters. Humanity lives and dies and history marches on so that new characters can find their own way to deal with the crises at hand.

It drives me crazy what a missed opportunity this show was. They could have followed the book and had a series of guest stars come each season to play a character... then die. That would have been so cool. But, alas...

   
• Cancelation! This video is over an hour long. It's frickin' amazing. The more it went on, the more you see exactly how these disingenuous assholes manipulate a narrative to force their awful values on society... and kids. They're "Christians" and yet they outright lie because of a faux persecution complex to get people on their side....

Keep in mind that this is the same asshole who used the modern banana as definitive proof of God because it had angles to conform to the human hand, had an easy-open tab, and was curved towards the mouth. Except bananas have been cultivated by man and wild "bananas" have zero resemblance to his "proof." Not to mention the fact that the human hand conforms to four sides, not the five on a banana... bananas are actually easier to open from the bottom... and the magical curve disappears after two or three bites. It takes all of two minutes of rational thought to debunk this nonsense, but they don't give a shit because they have a series of videotapes to sell. This time it's children's books, but the idea is the exact same.

   
And now it's time for me to say an early good night.

Running across an unexpectedly good television show is about as it gets now-a-days in this toxic shithole we call life.

As a huge David Mitchell fan, I was curious when I saw an ad for the series Ludwig on "BritBox."

It's already been renewed for a second season. I can't wait. And if you enjoy good television, you can't wait either.