• Solo Funtime Gaming! If you've taken a look at my game collection at Board Game Geek, you'll have seen that there's only one game which gets a perfect 10 ("Outstanding. Always want to play and expect this will never change")... and it's called Puzzle Dungeon. It's essentially a more fun version of Solitaire. I originally had it as a "print-and-play" game, where you pay for a file that you can print out and play with. I fell in love with it immediately. Until my cards were lost and I couldn't find the file to reprint them. I tried to buy a printed set but, wisely, there were none available on eBay because people don't want to part with them. Except I recently found out that the designer, Brian Garber, has reprinted the game and is selling it on his Etsy shop...

And, let me tell you, I snapped up the Deluxe Box, the Expansion Set, and the Play Mat SO fast. I haven't played in years, and October 19th (the ship date) can't come soon enough. I really hope that his Puzzle Dungeon: Pets expansion gets printed one day. And that his other game, To The Death eventually gets reprinted, because I'd love to play that.

   
• Not Helping! One of the most classic of the classic BritComs is That Mitchell and Webb Look. There's been a hit of controversy over this 20-year-old show lately because the BBC cut out some sketches which were deemed "insensitive to modern audiences" or something like that. But the situation is a bit more complicated than that. One of the sketches was cut because Mitchell and Webb were in blackface. But the sketch was pointing out that the white people were able to overlook that the blackface was racist until the situation escalated, and it was the escalation which convinced them to stop and not the actual blackface. The ignorance is the entire point of the sketch. So maybe it's not that modern audiences are "sensitive" to it... it's more likely that modern audiences wouldn't understand it. I don't know. Since I'm white, it's really not my place to say whether it's racist, so I trust that the BBC looked into it by consulting those who can make that call. But in any event, Mitchell and Webb have been back for a few months with a new YouTube series called Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping. I've been enjoying it...

I hope they keep going with the series, because their humor has had more than a few bits that were highly insightful and relevant even today, with this being their most famous...

Though there's talk that the BBC wanted to cut that sketch as well, so maybe I'm completely out of the loop? I wonder if this one was considered...

AND THEN... the state of inoffensive comedy gets a comment...

A new classic.

   
• Perfect! Verbi can be brutal. But always hilarious...

I've used Verbi to try and expand my vocabulary, and the app is never completely happy with your performance.

   
• Cash! A dollar is a dollar...

LOL. As insane as it sounds, I'm sure there are plenty of people wearing a band shirt who can't name any of their songs.

   
• The Mighty Thor! For the longest time, I'd see a guy named "Thoren Bradley" pop up on my social media. His entire deal was grabbing an axe and splitting big chunks of wood. And a lot of women shared his posts, which is why he was everywhere. But I never thought to follow him until he started sharing his thoughts on anything and everything. And it turns out he's a very smart thinker who can enunciate his takes on things very well indeed. Which really seems to piss off the "alpha male" contingent...

Whatever his sexuality may be, he's never going to stop having female fans, that's for sure...

And about that...

   
• Feeeemales! It's fucking incredible that this country is content to treat half the population as nothing more than birthing machines, undeserving of proper care when something goes terribly wrong...

This country hates women. Hates them.

   
• SERIOUSLY HATES THEM! A 20-year-old Cornell student says she was pressured into snorting ketamine at the Chi Phi house in Ithaca on the night of October 19, 2024. At 1:42am, according to her lawsuit, a fraternity member posted two words in the frat’s Snapchat group chat, Chi Phi Actives: "Free pussy.” The complaint says Johnathan Newell sent it. More men came upstairs after that. She says the assault went on until about 5:45 in the morning. More than four hours. These seven men are named in the lawsuit:
      • Matthew Ingalls
      • Johnathan Newell
      • Winston Lee
      • Gillio Lopes
      • Diego Sarabia
      • Scott Norris
      • Scott Kretzschmar
She reported it to campus police on November 8, 2024. The fraternity was suspended, and so were those seven men, temporarily. Then, according to the lawsuit, Cornell offered them a way to “mitigate” what they’d done. Write an essay... yes, an essay. Those named deny any wrongdoing. This information was taken from a Facebook post, but reported in The Cornell Daily Sun.

   
And, on that entirely depressing note, I'm off to prepare for the busy week ahead.

I was surprised when I searched my blog and couldn't find where I had posted any videos by Philip Mershon. He does short-form videos about historical curiosities called Mid-Century Vault.

Surprised, because I always find his topics to be entertaining.

Here he is talking about Highlights magazine, a staple of waiting rooms when I was a kid...

And SPAM!!!

The origin of Shrinky Dinks...

And a scandal I had never heard of before...

If you like to bathe in nostalgia, I highly recommend his channel.

I have contemplated quitting blogging more times than I can count. Now-a-days, it's because it just feels like a dead media. My blog proper is getting loads of traffic even today (mostly thanks to having 23 years of entries indexed by Google), but the interactivity which made the blogosphere such a fun place has been replaced by shitty fucking "social media."

But there was a day that the reason I wanted to quit was the negative comments.

People can be real assholes. For whatever reason. And it wears on you no matter how hard you try to not let it.

And I know it's because it's easier to be an asshole behind a computer than it is in real-life. And when there's zero chance for being confronted by the shitty stuff you say, being mean has high entertainment value. At least I'm assuming. Because I used to get a lot of nasty comments. And my way of dealing with it was to just delete them. And after people realized that I wasn't going to engage, the hate-comments went from a flood to a trickle.

Now I'm kinda indifferent to blogging... doing it more out of habit than anything else.

But I was reminded of The Dark Times as I've been revisiting all the old William Osman videos and saw this...

When I saw this years ago, I was going through yet another blogging crisis because my WordPress installation was randomly failing. As I was trying to navigate that hot mess, Blogography was under attack for something I said (likely something political, though I don't remember) and I was trying to deal with that as well. And at the forefront of my head was Why not fucking quit? Is any of this really worth it? Why am I even blogging anymore to begin with? And the video got me to thinking If somebody as awesome and cool as Big Willy is giving up, I would be a total dumbass to keep going... wouldn't I?

But William kept going and so did I. Don't ask me why.

And boy am I glad that William kept going.

I swear... I almost like his second channel more because he's just hanging out on his "farm" and doing crazy stuff instead of when he was just inventing things all the time. He's such a fascinating, interesting, talented, smart, hilarious, entertaining guy.

I mean...

These videos are just so... nothing. I mean he's doing stuff, but it's rarely anything of any consequence. He's just doing stuff because it seems fun to him...

His original channel is mostly dead. It hasn't been updated in 9 months and didn't get any significant updates in three years. But he did post a retrospective that's kinda fun...

This is not to say that Big Willy is without controversy. He's not always big on thinking things through before he says them... but you get the sense that he doesn't mean anything bad by it.

Which, of course, just makes me like him more.

If you're not getting in a little bit of trouble, you're probably not having much fun.

Blogging is dead though, so how much trouble can I actually get in?

As I've mentioned an insufferable number of times, I watch more YouTube than any other media source. It's playing 90% of the time on my television while I'm working, and it runs the gamut when it comes to topics.

Here's the previous five videos which are in my watch history for you to enjoy when you can't find anything good on TV.

First is this trailer for an upcoming movie about... SHEEP DETECTIVES?!?...

A 30 second video where The Good Liars ask a very good question...

Sigourney Weaver breaks down some of her most famous roles...

Thomas Flight picked his favorite films of 2025...

And, lastly, this glorious two hour video takedown of a notorious scammer and fraudster...

You're welcome!

The thing about being on YouTube more than any other streaming service is the sheer variety of things I get to watch. The algorithm there is very, very good at knowing what I like to watch and feeding me a steady diet of content that's right up my alley.

My latest obsession is cooking videos.

It all started when I wanted some better Japanese bread recipes. The milk bread that I'm making now isn't quite what I'm looking for, so I decided to find a new one. But first I found this, which I very much want to try...

Then I found a new milk bread recipe...

Which lead to this garlic toast and egg recipe that looks incredible...

And then this (which I would make without the bacon...

American breakfast needed to be represented, which is how I got this one I am hoping lives up to the hype...

Plus some Americanized French bread...

And then YouTube was all "fuck it" and apparently served me this one because it knows I love hummus somehow...

Once I got to popcorn, I knew I was done...

P.S. There was also a recipe for Air Fryer Ciabatta, Another Easy Recipe Everyone Is Making Now, which isn't able to be embedded for some reason, but sounds intriguing.

Now if I could only find the time to try cooking some of this stuff.

I'm not a car guy, but I love watching entertaining people on YouTube, and some of the most entertaining were the guys at Donut. Then the channel started breaking up and I ended up following my favorites to their new channels... which included James Pumphrey to his channel, Speeed. And I actually prefer his new channel because he covers a bunch of stuff and not just cars.

Yesterday he dropped a video called 42 Things Everyone Should Learn How to Do and it goes in a few directions I didn't anticipate. I liked it...

First of all... I have that Yokohama Hard Rock T-shirt!

1. Fix a toilet. Thanks to having a piece of shit Kohler that cost me a fortune but is stupidly designed and needs tweaking all the time. I regret this purchase SO much.
2. How to reset a circuit breaker. Given my love of working with power tools, I'd be in sorry shape if I didn't know how.
3. Remount a bike chain. I haven't ridden a bike in decades, but I can probably remember how to do this from when I was a kid!
4. Learn CPR and when and how to use it. I do know, and am incredibly thankful I've never had to use it.
5. Jump-start a battery. DPLPLMDM... Dead Plus Live Plus Live Minus Dead Minus. I've rescued more than a couple people!
6. How to change a flat tire. Yes. And I would add to this... learn how to put on tire chains.
7. How to drive stick. That was all I drove for decades. I can probably remember how.
8. Exercise alone without any equipment. I know how... I just don't want to.
9. Learn and appreciate the power of compound interest. And I would add to this... learn about how absolutely deadly credit card interest can be and how to stay out of credit card debt whenever possible.
10. Have a basic understanding of how taxes work. It's shitty that this is even a fucking requirement because taxes should be simple as hell. But... we got all those loopholes to save millionaires and billionaires money, so we have to make taxes difficult for everybody so they might end up spending more than they should!
11. How to sew a button. Or, you know, how to sew period. And if you can use a sewing machine, you're much better off than not knowing how. Sewing machines are cheap and repairing clothes can save loads of money. My grandmother taught me, and it's been so important that I've always own a good sewing machine.
12. How to iron a shirt. My mom did her best to teach me, and I'm okay at it. But, largely, I end up ironing in more wrinkles than I end up ironing out.
13. Restart a water heater. When I moved into my place and mine was failing, I learned this skill to avoid taking cold showers.
14. Ride a motorcycle. Why yes, and I loved it. Except it wasn't something my body was physically able to do any more, so I sold my bike and admire them from afar now.
15. How to cook a good steak and grill a good burger. I'm a vegetarian, so I think I'll skip this one.
16. Dice an onion. I know how they want you to dice an onion, but I am happier not doing it that way. I halve an onion, cut into the cut-edge both ways, then pop it on its side and cut the dices off. I am told this is not the safe way to do it, but if you have very sharp knives it's just fine.
17. Cook rice. I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS wash my rice. And I prefer to use a rice cooker. But I know how to use a pot too.
18. How to read a map. I haven't held a paper map since iPhones were invented, but I still remember how to read one, yes.
19. How to find north without a compass. My Apple Watch has a compass built-in, but it's a watch, not a compass, so does that count?
20. How to start and tend a good campfire. Thanks to endless episodes of Survivor, I know how to do that. But if I don't have matches or a lighter I'm probably screwed.
21. One solid party trick. I am entertaining enough that I can talk my way out of knowing a party trick. I've also been a lot of places and know a lot of things, which is probably more useful at an actual party.
22. One song on any instrument. I used to be able to play a little keyboard and piano. I am very, very rusty. But could probably manage Chopsticks.
23. One actually good long joke. I have stories that are probably better than any joke. Which I think is better because it's something personal.
24. Bowline knot. Noted.
25. Butterfly loop. Noted.
26. Sheet bend. Noted.
27. Taut line hitch. Noted.
28. Trucker's hitch. Noted.
29. How to give constructive feedback. Kinda my job(s) for the past 30 years or so.
30. How to give a good toast or speech. Did speeches for 18 years with the charity, so I got that.
31. How to memorize names. The three time memorization thing doesn't work for me and I'm terrible at this.
32. How to introduce two people. Something I've also done for 18 years with the charity.
33. How to politely decline offers. I am a little more tactful than saying "I don't want to do it," but yes... cosigned... I also tell the truth. Lying never works out for me!
34. How to put out a grease fire. Didn't everybody get told how to smother the flames with a lid or toss baking soda on it in school? I've got a massive bag of baking soda (and a fire extinguisher!) in my kitchen just for this purpose!
35. How to dress for a wedding. I wear a suit with open collar shirt every time... unless it specifically says "casual" or there's a request. And I never wear a tie unless suit and tie are requested.
36. How to dress for a job interview. As somebody who has hired numerous employees, this is entirely contextual and depends on the job you're interviewing for. When I was hiring designers, I didn't give two shits what they were wearing, all I cared about was that they were clean, for example.
37. How to dress for as an adult. Dressing like an adult is nothing more than dressing appropriately for the occasion. But, to be honest, I care more about comfort than fashion.
38. How to talk to strangers. If there's one thing I'd consider myself an expert on... it's this. I've always had this as a natural talent, and am so good at it that people hire me or request me to do it all the time!
39. How to lift things without hurting your back. Well, this is easier said than done for me. Especially now that I'm older and I once threw my back out when I turned to lock the front door of my house. Suffice to say that I've had back problems since forever, and "lifting with my legs" is not always something I can do.
40. How to disagree with others in a civil manner. Another part of my job and, in a professional setting, I'm quite good at it. This is a little tougher with dumbfucks on the internet or in social settings were people are ignorant and abusive. Then? I don't give a shit. I'm too old to care now.
41. How to receive compliments. I hate having to do this, but I've learned how to do it because it makes people uncomfortable when you can't.
42. How to learn how to do new things. Not tough to learn something that you love to do, and learning new stuff is one of my favorite things.

And if you enjoyed that, here's another recent one that I really liked. It's such a good idea for a video!

James, Zach, and Jesse also did crypto, which is hilarious... because this is what happens to the vast majority of people, all of whom think that they're going to be one of the very, very, very few who makes serious money at it...

I gotta learn how to do a good ol' pump and dump and get rich! Just like our president did with $TRUMP Coin!

It seems as though my weekend is ending just as it began, which makes me want to crawl under the covers and cry for a bit. But I won't abandon you in your hour of need... because here's an all new Bullet Sunday starting... now...

   
• Cozy! It's pouring rain outside tonight. YouTube knows this somehow, so it recommended this lovely video. It's wonderful and charming from start to finish. They're Turkish, but there's English subtitles. Not that it matters... this is the very definition of "cozy" and the only way I'd want to do camping...

And this one is amazing. They decorate their campsite for Christmas. And I don't mean decorate a little bit...

Welp. Guess I know what I'll be doing obsessively for the next week. Watching RambleSoul.

   
• Polissya! That video lead me to a Ukranian guy building natural shelters and foraging for food in the forests of Polissya. His builds are very impressive. Like this one, where he creates an underground bunker...

Unlike so many videos that use primitive construction, you see nearly the entire process (albeit sped up) so you know that he built everything himself.

   
• Must-See TV! HOLY CRAP! THE ENGLISH TEACHER GOT A SECOND SEASON?!??

I haven't seen this advertised anywhere. Ran across it by dumb luck on my news feed because somebody mentioned it.

   
• Tig! Need a laugh? I'm a huge fan of Tig Notaro and have been finding her early specials available on YouTube...

It's amazing how her comedy was so fully formed from those early days. Her latest special from last year, Hello Again, was just as hilarious as ever, and can be seen on Amazon Prime Video.

   
• Logic! Here's my latest thrilling adventure with insurance...

PHARMACIST: Your insurance will only pay for 1/2 a tablet per day. We'll need to have your doctor re-write the prescription or you'll have to pay the cost or you can take it up with your insurance.
   
ME: Okay, I guess I'll pay for it.
   
MEDICATION INSTRUCTIONS: DO NOT BREAK THE TABLETS. THEY MUST BE TAKEN WHOLE.

I wrote to my insurance and asked exactly how I was supposed to take a half-pill for a pill that can't be broken. They wrote back and essentially said "Oops!" and decided they would pay 50%. Which is better than nothing, for which I'm grateful. But it's just beyond bizarre how insurance works. Or doesn't.

   
• Mitch! I'm not even going to pretend to give a shit about a man who spent his entire political career not giving a crap about the people he represents. As recently as JUNE he said that "Americans will get over Medicaid cuts." And it's like, gee, Mitch... not everybody has spent their entire adult life fucking over the country for cash, so they're going to need to rely on the Medicaid that their taxes paid for after retirement...

Good Lord is McConnell a gaping asshole.

   
And on that note, it's time for me to try and get some sleep.

When you're having to lay on a heating pad from the time you get back from work to the time you wake up because you don't want to have to dig into the muscle relaxer pills for your back, you end up watching a lot of television.

Or, as in my case, YouTube videos.

Here's what occupied my time laying around last night...

First of all, this video right here is everything I love about YouTube. Clever, funny people doing clever, funny things. I've seen Isaac Carlton videos before (and probably shared them), but this one is a great example of what he does so well...

Next up... As much as I loved the original The Matrix, I loathed the sequels. They were outright shitty excuses for stories because they were so far up their asses trying to be esoteric and cerebral and "smart" between the action that they forgot to be entertaining (then we got The Matrix Resurrections, which was somehow even worse). But every once in a while I run across a sequence from the sequels that almost makes me want to watch them again. The highway chase from Reloaded being at the top of the list. Sure, some of the effects are badly dated (the Agent jumping on cars is hilariously bad), but it doesn't change what a cool action sequence it was. Especially for the day. It's just such a shame that it was sandwiched between such shit...

And lastly (because I've got stuff I need to get to, not because I only watched three videos)... I honestly do not understand how Josh Johnson can be this brilliant every time. He never seems to run out of material. Most comics would recycle the same routines over and over and over. With Josh he's just on to the next hilarious bit...

And there you have it. Hope you didn't fall into and Isaac Carlton or The Matrix or Josh Johnson rabbit hole from this post.

But there are certainly worse ways to spend your time.

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.

This video is something so powerful, so informational, and so needed, that everybody should watch it. Everybody. I love that it doesn't talk down to you... it just gives you the information you need. And a warning that could save your life...

It does, however, make me want to try heroin... but just once.