As what happens every year when I wish my gay friends "Happy Pride," people crawl out of the woodwork with their panties in a bunch for absolutely no reason. Or, to be more accurate this year, a person crawled out of the woodwork because there was only one of them.
And for the life of me I just don't get it. Your life isn't being affected by their existence at all. The Gays are out there living their best life at zero cost to you, so why do you give a shit? Focus on making your own miserable life better instead of harshing other people's mellow. But, whatever... comments are easy to delete.
If only everybody could be as well-adjusted as this guy is about it all...
He's not wrong. June is when gay gets sprinkled all over everything by Corporate America who's (mostly) only interested in cashing in... then their "support" evaporates like a fart in the wind. Until next June. But it does get acceptance out in the mainstream for a month, which is better than nothing, I suppose. More and more LGBTQ+ persons are being subject to escalating levels of hate, bigotry, and discrimination just for existing, and seeing even faux-acceptance might be nice for a change.
Even when you're seeing it for what it actually is.
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...
Well... not much to say for this week's Caturday.
Because you have to have cats in order to have Caturday.
And my cats are out in the catio all the time now that I was forced to turn the air conditioning on because I can't handle my home being 80º inside...
And so... in lieu of Jake and Jenny news, I'm reproducing this comic from Reza Farazmand at Poorly Drawn Lines, which might as well be Jake and Jenny...
Any day now the cats will be staying inside because it's too hot outside. Then the catio will be a rare event (and mostly at night or the early morning) until Fall arrives.
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.
It feels like it's been an eternity, but a new Banksy was released on his Instagram feed today (UPDATE: ultimately the work was revealed to have been painted in Marseille).
For any fans of his works, this is a monumental event... and though they're always good, this time it's particularly good...
Important to note... the shadow of the pole is casting the shadow lighthouse on the wall. The shadow on the sidewalk is painted there.
Genius.
So I received an email reply which was "Thanks, David!"
And the Apple "Intelligence" short summary in my mail window was "Gratitude was expressed." I mean, holy shit... THE AI SHORT SUMMARY WAS LONGER THAN THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE!!! How is this AI bullshit in any way helpful? So many times the AI summaries I get out of Apple are stupid as shit. Is anybody testing this crap? Anybody at all?
I am beyond sick of companies just shitting AI on top of everything whether it's made better by it or not.
Because, spoiler alert, most of the time it just makes everything worse.
All these tech demos being unleashed where AI is actually useful and helpful... yet when it comes to actual Raal Life? Not so much.
A couple months ago I bought some smart outlets... power outlets that can turn on and off remotely, without some kind of big dongle plug popped on top of it. All of my lights are controlled with smart switches, but I've never really seen a need for smart outlets. Usually the device plugged into the outlet is "smart" so it's not needed.
But what happens when a smart device stops responding?
Being able to cycle the outlet power off and then back on again to reset it can be quite handy. Especially when I am traveling and am not home to unplug/plug-in the device to get it running again. Then it's handy to do it via my phone.
But anyway...
As I mentioned yesterday, I took my holiday day-off to install the outlets.
The hardest part of installing the outlet isn't the job itself... I can practically do that in my sleep because I have all the right tools... it's getting down on my hands and knees in order to install the outlet (though it's made a lot more difficult because my home was wired in a nonsensical manner and my electrical panel makes no sense).
Time to get my electrical power meter and get these installed. The first one was in my entry closet where I have a Litter-Robot for the cats...
These outlets are deeper than regular outlets, so you have to be pretty aggressive when you pack those wires back into the box, but once installed, it's easy to add them to Apple Home...
And there you have it. First outlet (of six) has been installed...
Here's a photo I took when I first added the odor barrier so my closet. The Litter-Robot itself doesn't allow much of a smell at all, but every once in a while Jake will take a nasty dump before I need to close the door, so I wanted to make sure my jackets didn't absorb that. This is before I bought the stairs to help my cats get in and out...
When company comes over, I can fold up the stairs and hide everything away by closing the closet door...
The remaining five were a bit easier to install because I wasn't stuffed into a closet to do it.
Just like I watch Once Upon a Time in Mexico every Cinco de Mayo and listen to I have a Dream every Martin Luther King Jr. Day... I've decided to watch Taking Chance every Memorial Day. It's one of those works where you can't help but tie it to an event in your mind. In the film, Kevin Bacon plays a Marine entrusted with taking the remains of a fellow Marine killed in battle to the soldier's home for burial. It's a well-made movie which isn't worried about embellishing events as much as it is telling a respectful story that's based on something which actually happened...
I knew today was Memorial Day. It was on my calendar and everything. But after my morning meeting (the rest of the world is still running), I somehow forgot. I just started in on work. Then, just before I was going to take a shower and head into the office, one of my foreign colleagues texted "Enjoy your holiday" and I remembered again.
So instead of microwaving my morning veggie burger, I took the time to fry it and harvest some lettuce to go on top. Then I set out my SourJo starter to make bread. And then I decided to play electrician and install the smart outlets I've had sitting in my garage for way too long.
Then it was time for dinner and Taking Chance and my Memorial Day holiday was over.
I only spent about three hours working, so it actually was a holiday. At least as far as I'm concerned.
I was working outside, decided it was way too hot, then decided it was a great excuse to come knock out some bullets... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• New Marriott! New James Marriott is here! Weird video, as usual, but the song is one of my favorites he's ever done. It's always a pleasant surprise when musical artists keep pushing forward like this...
His previous release was darn good too...
His new album, Don't Tell the Dog, will be released on June 13th.
• Holiday Road! Even if Rogue One sucked (spoiler alert, it most definitely does not suck), we'd still have one of the most terrifying scenes to come out of Star Wars. And it loses none of its impact no matter what you do to it...
That's Darth Vader unleashed as you'd always imagine him. And, hey, isn't Holidy Road a great song? Makes me want to rewatch Christmas Vacation for the hundredth time. But here's an interesting factoid... Holiday Road was played in all the National Lampoon's Vacation movies EXCEPT Christmas Vacation. And, here's another one for you... did you know that Kesha covered the song last year?
I always love it when somebody decides to make a cover song their own by putting some kind of spin on it that's different from the original.
• Justice for Luko! Mickey 17 came to HBO Max and it's surprisingly good, which I wasn't expecting given how it failed hard at the box office, not even making back the money it cost before marketing. I didn't know much about it other than I wanted to see it because Bong Jo Hoon is a genius...
It's a great story that's expertly told (which I did expect). It's also got something to say. Worth a look if you're into thoughtful sci-fi.
• 5+5=10!
Well this is interesting...
"That'll be five dollars, mate.'
"Do you have change for a tenner?"
"I do not."
"No worries, mate!"
RIIIIIIP!
You really do learn something new every day.
• New Fraser? I kinda lost track of Man Can Cook because while it was fun at first, it ended up being always the same thing... a guy cooking while his dog (Fraser!) sat there. But the other day Facebook had this video in my feed...
Dan is likely not planning on trading in Fraser permanently, but it's nice that he realizes he needs to try different things from time to time.
• Young Hotness! Nothing quite like running across an old driver's license to make you realize how old you've gotten!
Dang. so hot back then. No idea what happened. I'm talking about my signature, of course. I'm just as hot as I've always been! My signature is a complete mess now.
• Feed. Hungry. Kids! I'm going to put this riiiiight here...
The fact that lunch programs in schools aren't free to any child, regardless of money or paperwork, is abhorrent. The fact that there are people who are perfectly happy to let children starve says all you need to know about where humanity is at right now. These kids have absolutely no control over their circumstances, and people need to stop acting as if they've somehow done something wrong just by existing.
And now back to our regularly-scheduled nonsense.
Leaving my cats for even a small amount of time is traumatic for all involved. I'm worrying about what's happening back home... my cats are wondering where I'm at... and Jake is wandering around crying while he looks for me. It's an ordeal.
I try to make things easier on them by having the television turn on and off... and making sure I leave my bed a mess so they can nest in the covers.
And of course I still check in on them via the security system. Make sure they're still eating and getting along okay. When I was on the plane I had nothing to do, so I decided to take a look. The camera in my room was off, so when I turned it back on I woke them up...
I was home four hours later, which made all of us happy.
And speaking of cats, this popped up and was an immediate hit with me...
My cats don't fight much. But it does happen. And when it does it often looks something like this.
Atom Entries Feed Comments Feed
