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.

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 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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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..

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.

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...