There have been few people in the world of Star Wars which have been more divisive than Kathleen Kennedy, and today it was announced that she is stepping down as the head of LucasFilm. An event which has been a long time coming, because most of the stuff she oversaw didn't really give us anything truly worthy of the franchise.
Most but not all, which we'll get to in a minute.
I'm really hoping that new boss Dave Filoni finds ways of making Star Wars exciting and fresh again.
But anyway... Kennedy took over from George Lucas after his terrible prequel trilogy, and and I thought I'd take a look at all the projects that she was overseeing. Except The Madalorian and Grogu and Star Wars: Starfighter, because they haven't come out yet.
THE PHENOMENAL
THE GOOD
THE MEH
THE BAD
THE GUT-WRENCHINGLY AWFUL
THE MISSING IN ACTION
Don't fear the reaper... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Cardio! For somebody whose on the internet way more than he would ever admit, it's genuinely shocking that I somehow missed this viral video from last year...
Poor thing. She nearly had a heart attack. And can you really blame her?
• Pet Heaven! Oh man. I need to get Jake & Jenny baptized so they can get into Pet Heaven! Never even thought of it!
@derick.daniel11 Even Boo Bear was confused #prank #gay #gaytiktok ♬ original sound - Derick & Loren
A friend sent me this video because they call their cat Boo-Bear, just like I call Jake Boo-Bear. Or "Bubair" if you'd rather.
• That Mitchell & Webb Look! The fact that you know what's coming just makes it all the funnier...
David Mitchell is phenomenal in the BritBox series Ludwig, if you're looking for something good to watch.
• Fart Patio! I miss Portlandia...
There's something about scathing satire which speak truth in a way you love to see.
• I'm Donut! I look forward to this event every Christmas, but didn't find it last year. But they did reenact it, so I must have somehow missed it...
@colinfield8 Happy 10 year anniversary! 💜🍩 #fyp ♬ original sound - Colin Field
Some traditions should never die. Especially when donuts are involved.
• Gain? I've been in a lot of smelly situations. I've had some smelly jobs. But there is nothing... NOTHING... that I've experienced which is worse than the horrific stench of Swiffer "Fresh-Scent with Gain" mop pads. I accidentally purchased them instead of the usual Swiffer I get (the boxes look almost identical) and have been trying to use them every once in a while because it's wasteful to throw them in the trash. Especially given how expensive they are. Tonight I spilled spaghetti sauce in my kitchen and grabbed the Swiffer. And now, in the middle of winter, I have all the doors and windows open because my house smells like total ass. I do not understand how people want their house to smell like this shit. I regret using them every time, and I really, really need to suck it up, take the L, and toss them... because this is awful awful awful.
• Greenland? Maybe I'm cynical in that I think this whole load of nonsense about Greenland being taken by the USA is just another bullshit distraction from the Epstein Files. But if it's not? Two things. 1) In 1917, the Virgin Islands were sold to the USA to become a US territory by Denmark, and part of the agreement is that the USA recognize full Danish control over Greenland. In other words, we signed up for this. And, 2) Somebody out of NATO has already said "If you take Greenland, we take every single base of the Americans from Aviano to Ramstein, from Romania, to all the other military bases will be confiscated, and you will lose it, and the whole position of American power since World War II, if you take Greenland, you have to leave." Which is to say that we would be in seriously deep shit. I cannot fathom how incredibly fucking stupid it would be if somebody... ANYBODY... doesn't explain that there are consequences to being a complete moron in this situation.
And now? Time to wash another load of clothes.
It's not just another day in hell... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms! I really liked the Dunk and Egg trilogy of books, but was wary of the HBO/HBO Max adaptation because I feared that they would fuck it up like they fucked up Game of Thrones after they ran out of books. But the showrunners say that they will not adapt stories that don't exist, so there's that...
I will say that Dunk and Egg are both flawlessly cast and the first episode is promising. Charming even. I really hope they nail it this time.
• DRAMA! Lord only knows I need a cute distraction from the horrors of the day, and here it is...
I don't know how dog groomers don't end up kidnapping a dozen clients a day.
• NEWSFLASH: Washington state lawmakers consider 10-cent bottle fee to boost recycling. Christ. Everybody has a recycle container that's bigger than their garbage can now... we already have incentive to recycle. Recycle bins are EVERYWHERE! This isn't the 1970's! This is just going to make shit even more expensive because now you can't use your recycle bin because you don't get your money back unless you make another trip to the store. Get fucked. This stupid shit is driving me insane. Is this going to make such a massive difference as to be worth the trouble for everybody involved? Are stores going to have to raise prices again to cover the labor of having to be a recycling center? This is performative politics, and I really hope that voters ACTUALLY THINK FOR TWO FUCKING MINUTES and shoot this idiocy down. INFURIATING.
• Seafarer! My latest YouTube obsession is Joe Franta talking about his life as a U.S. merchant mariner. It's all interesting and fascinating stuff. The first one I watched was when he was working on a cruise ship instead of the cargo ships he usually works on...
He's a fairly level-headed and pragmatic guy, giving you both the good...
And the bad...
My favorite videos are the behind-the-scenes stuff where he talks about what life is actually like and how he gets by when on the job...
If you want a great channel to watch, here's the one for you.
• Pengo! This story from years ago is going around again. Some documentarians rescued some penguins... and were roundly criticized for interfering in "natures plan" or whatever...
Yeah... you could not stop me from helping creatures in need. I care more about these penguins than I do 99.9% of the people on this planet, and I am not a part of the United Federation of Planets, so the Prime Directive doesn't apply to me!
• He-Him-Man! I gotta say, the new trailer for Masters of the Universe looks darn good...
And of course dipshits across the internet are losing their shit because of the frame where Adam has his pronouns under his name tag. Except ADAM IS HE-MAN... THAT'S THE JOKE! So who is it that's ruining everything? Dipshits like this who just want to complain about how "pronouns" are destroying the American way of life, I'm guessing. Gawd. We truly are living in the stupidest timeline.
• Alex Pretti. The right to protest is baked into the First Amendment. It literally guarantees citizens "...peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances..." The State of Minnesota allows open and concealed carry of firearms with a permit. The narrative of Alex Pretti approached officers brandishing a handgun has been proven false. Video evidence shows exactly what happened. Alex Pretti was pepper-sprayed while protecting women and then murdered. Executed. Shot 10 times. The only time his weapon was unholstered was when it was removed from him. The only thing in his hand was a camera at the time of his murder...

I've seen video analysis saying that he was reaching for his gun. It's absurd. The actual analysis is clear to anybody who doesn't buy into a bullshit narrative they cling to. Yes, this video is by partisan MS NOW, but the analysis is on-point...
Alex Pretti worked on curing cancer before becoming an ICU nurse at a VA hospital. He dedicated his life to helping others. He died helping a woman who had been shoved to the ground. Witnesses have testified that he was no threat to anybody... he did not brandish a weapon... he did not reach for a weapon... he did not attack anybody... he was just trying to help when he was executed. Alex's parents released this statement...
"We are heartbroken but also very angry. Alex was a kindhearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for as an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA hospital. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately he will not be with us to see his impact. I do not throw around the hero term lightly. However his last thought and act was to protect a woman. The sickening lies told about our son by the administration are reprehensible and disgusting. Alex is clearly not holding a gun when attacked by Trump's murdering and cowardly ICE thugs. He has his phone in his right hand and his empty left hand is raised above his head while trying to protect the woman ICE just pushed down all while being pepper sprayed. Please get the truth out about our son. He was a good man."
Done and done. It's the very least I can do.

American citizens are being executed in broad daylight by government action while legally filming at a legal protest. And you know it's problematic when even the NRA is chiming in for a full investigation. It's painfully obvious that this country has taken a horrific turn. I cannot help but wonder how history will view this period of our country. I suppose it depends on whether the government or the people are the ones left standing at the end of it all.
And now... back to our shared nightmare.
This is my third attempt at writing this post. I just can't seem to find the words. I keep using too many of them.
There are just ten actors that become an obsession for me. Betty White, Michael Clarke Duncan, Eloise Mumford, Alan Rickman, Angela Bassett, Sigourney Weaver, Samuel L. Jackson, Ryan Gosling, Charlize Theron... and Catherine O'Hara.
She's such a brilliant character actor. Everything she's ever done has been interesting. Just look at her IMDB page.
I loved her from her SCTV days. Then she just kept popping up. And every time she was as brilliant as I had come to expect. She could do anything.
But it was Moira on Schitt's Creek which sealed the deal for me...
I was extremely saddened to hear of her passing.
I'm absolutely gutted. I was really holding out for a Schitt's Creek movie or special or something. So many incredible roles by such a phenomenal talent.
You will be missed. Your works will live on.
I am on the brink of exhaustion, but that's not going to stop the bullets... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Legotype! I never cease to be amazed at what people are able to build out of LEGO. This blows my mind...
It makes me want to get my LEGOs out of the garage and see what I can dream up. Ezcept I know that's going to do nothing but set me up for disappointment because I will never do anything as cool as create a fully-functional LEGO typewriter.
• He's a Wonder! I have mixed feelings on Wonder Man, the latest Marvel Studios series on Disney+. The concept is good and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley are sublime. But it also drags badly as it attempts to deconstruct the mindset of somebody with super-powers wanting to be normal who's striving for an acting career. Had they split the runtime between psychoanalysis and action, this could have been a home-run. But this is a Wonder Man series without any actual Wonder Man, and it's a problem...
They even cheaped out on the psychoanalysis by bringing up obstacles with a former girlfriend and a brother which just... fizzle (though the brother is a character from the comics who may make for an interesting second season character). One minute it's a huge worry (and even a cliffhanger!) and the next minute there's just a wet fart of a resolution which means nothing and earns nothing. Nobody learns anything. The conflict was artificial and banal. But, hey, the performances are a master-class and that's not nothing.
• Divorce! Instagram has been really pissing me off, because I'll copy a link... post it... then have Instagram show people a completely different video. So who the fuck knows what you're going to see below. Hopefully something funny, as I intended...
• A Toast! And if Instagram is feeling like showing you this video as intended, you'll see a skit set in Australia. But it really could be the USA, and I'm rather proud about that...
• It's the GOAT! Of all the rabbit holes to fall down... I fell down a baby goat hole...
@karyna5600 #Duo avec @alexisrubykeller #babygoat ♬ Monkeyshine-JP - Lt FitzGibbons Men
Why are baby animals always so darn adorable? Are there any ugly baby animals? There's plenty of ugly babies, so I'm guessing there must be. Somewhere. But I'll bet they're so ugly they circle back around to being cute again.
• Truthiness! This is so infinitely relatable as to be frightening...
@mkiwi980 Facts! #whoselineisitanyway #jonathanmangum #facts #news #this ♬ original sound - MKiwi
Or rather... more frightening than the state of the world already is.
• So Cold! Bobby Broccoli's Cold Fusion video series has been compiled into a single video. It's absolutely fascinating (as all his videos are). As a science geek, I remember very well when the Pons/Fleischmann experiment blew up... and ultimately collapsed. But I never really knew much past the headlines. Is this video 3 hours? Yes. But the time flies by, because it's got it all...
The very end of the video has snippets of an interview with Pons/Fleischmann that makes me really, really despise them. They are scummy "scientists" who betrayed scientific principles, lied to the scientific community, and wasted millions of dollars... but they were the victims? Lord. — Cold Fusion is a holy grail of science because the implications are so far-reaching for all humanity on this planet. I don't know if I want to live to see it... or if I'll be better off dead when it happens.
And now? Time for a nap.
Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks! You may be thinking that Bullet Sunday will be canceled because of the Superb Owl (I am not calling it by its real name because you can be sued for that), but you would be wrong... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Loot! This is not a Superb Owl commercial. It's a fake commercial from the television show Loot. And yet, it really should be a real commercial, because...
Can Maya Rudolph do any wrong? A completely serious question here.
• Doggy! If there's anything that will get me to go to the theater to see Supergirl, it's Baby Krypto...
I'm sure the rest of the movie is nice too.
• Daddy! I sure hope that Instagram is fucking working again and the right video is here, because damn!
Nothing beats a good joke before having to go back to work in the morning!
• Unreality. Watch this and be unshocked that this is how the world works...
Nobody and nothing matters more than corporate profits.
• Unreality: Part Two! Lest you think that the USA government is alone for being one of the most horrifically corrupt pile of shit on the face of the earth, here's a video for you. I swear, governments just don't seem like the ever operate in the best interest of the people they are supposed to be serving...
And now is where you fall down a Boy Boy rabbit hole like I did, because they have some phenomenal videos about things that will make you think. Assuming you have an open mind to do so.
• Together! I like it when content creators put some creativity in their stuff. This is pretty funny...
There's so many shitty content "creators" who just play other people's content and react to it. They don't even try. Yet they probably get gabillions more followers than people who put the effort in.
• NEWSFLASH: Trump wanted Dulles Airport, Penn Station named after him — in exchange for releasing federal funds. CAN YOU FOR EVEN FOR ONE SECOND IMAGINE WHAT THE REACTION WOULD HAVE BEEN IF OBAMA HAD TRIED SOMETHING LIKE THIS? CAN YOU? I MEAN, SERIOUSLY... CAN YOU JUST FUCKING IMAGINE???
And there you go. If you'll excuse me, I'm back to not watching the Superb Owl.
For the life of me, I cannot wrap my head around the Bad Bunny hate that's ongoing.
I've been a fan of his music since I first heard Yo Hago Lo Que Me Da La Gana (YHLQMDLG), which was the album of 2020 during the pandemic. But I've been a fan of Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio since his appearance in Bullet Train where he was fantastic. They wrote his character a good backstory and gave him an awesome fight scene.
He appeared on Carpool Karaaoke which was fun. Just look at James Cordon having a blast here...
And he hosted SNL twice where he was charming and funny from beginning to end...
His Jeopardy sketch was so good...
But I think my favorite sketch of his was this one...
Or maybe this one...
But when it comes to the Superb Owl halftime show... what more could you fucking want? He's from Puerto Rico, which makes him all-American. He's a multi-platinum artist whose music is popular around the world. He's a phenomenally talented performer, in any language. And he has good videos for his songs...
I thought his halftime set was amazing. He put on a fantastic show. And it was nice to have something different. On top of all that, if anybody would take two minutes to Google it, he told a story which is special to him.
But he sings in Spanish, so everybody unloads, like this xenophobic racist piece of shit...
And, as usual, it's Jon Stewart who had the perfect perspective on it all...
The United States of America is a MELTING POT. We are a mix of cultures and faiths and backgrounds and beliefs and languages which make us stronger together. Bad Bunny's show was an opportunity to let loose and have fun with a guy giving it his all to entertain us. You didn't need to understand the lyrics, everybody could just enjoy the vibe. Join in and celebrate what was handed to us. But oh no. If it's not somebody singing about beer, pickup trucks, and shooting guns, it's "UnAmerican."
How fucking sad.
Could somebody refresh my memory... was there this kind of faux-outrage when the Macarena by Los Del Río was topping the music charts? This has to be the stupidest manufactured outrage I've ever seen. There's serious shit going on, but let's all be distracted by the music at a fucking football game. Okay.
Jesus.
Fortunately the voice of reason came from fucking Elmo, of all people... errr... Muppets...

Amen to that, little monster.
I worked a very long day, but after arriving home I couldn't help but feel as though it was Sunday and the end of my weekend. No idea why. Maybe it's because I traveled all day Sunday, and Monday was a holiday for me? Whatever the case, all my plans to clean house, unpack my suitcase, and wash clothes went out the window because I felt displaced and exhausted.
So I caught up on A Knight of The Seven Kingdoms instead.
I wish I remembered more about the book, but that was 25 years ago. From what little I do remember, the series is faithful to the source material. I don't remember the flashbacks in the fifth episode, but I appreciate that they tried to flesh out Ser Duncan as a character with a backstory which fit nicely into the battle.
With one episode left to go, I am hopeful that they don't fuck it up at the end. The awful taste of the final season of Game of Thrones is still in my mouth, so you can forgive me having doubts.
One thing I can't get over is just how impeccably cast the leads are. Peter Claffey as Dunk and Dexter Sol Ansell as Egg are just too good to be true...

With each episode they do not falter. The show could have so very easily collapsed under a shitty child lead, but dang is he good. Duncan the Tall is a character that could have gone badly wrong if the actor didn't have a subtlety that felt authentic, but Claffey feels like he's inhabiting the character in a way that works for the series every minute he's on-screen. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms makes you appreciate brilliant casting at a level many shows can only hope to reach.
And, on that note, I guess I'll try to get some sleep.
Something which, understandably, hasn't been easy for me after my sojourn to Kansas City.
I've been plagued by a looming sense of dread all week. No idea what that's all about... other than the usual news cycle... but Im really ready for it to be over. Maybe I need a distraction?
After Jury Duty changed everything about a reality television series, it's hard to believe that anybody would fall for it again, but here we go...
I am hopeful.
Jury Duty was phenomenal entertainment, and if Company Retreat is even half as good, I'll be thrilled to tune in for it.
And, to be honest, being "thrilled" to be doing anything now-a-days is a nice change.
