Watch the original Gone in 60 Seconds, from 1974. The car stunts are absolutely insane, to the extent that they probably shouldn’t have been allowed to make the movie the way they did, but it happened and I’m glad that cameras were rolling. The Nic Cage remake was trying to make a movie safer, slicker, and more coherently, but there’s no replacement for a bunch of insane stunt drivers risking their lives and the lives of everyone around them.

You know, without any prompting, I heard this guy’s voice in a Russian accent.

My kid got into Lady and the Tramp, so I watched it about a dozen times in a row, and Holeee shiiit is that thing beautifully animated. The backgrounds are needlessly lavish, and look at this…

I’m in awe of the work done on Tramp’s ears. The expressiveness, and the subtle balance of flexibility and internal structure is exquisite. You can find other examples of masterfully-done materials all throughout the movie.

Other movies might get more attention, but Lady and the Tramp is worth looking at for some peak Disney animation.

Unironically Desmond Morris’ theory as to why human boobs look like that.

Check out his close friend and confidant, Johnny Aloha!

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3137:_Cursed_Number

It’s like a metaphor for our whole relationship.

Speak for yourself. I’ve got two brother cats and I refer to both of them as little kitty cat mans.

What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets.

I actually think the “it’s soulless… FOR NOW” panel is pretty important.

People who believe in the value of human creativity have been pretty casual about saying that AI generated work isn’t as good as work created by a person, but what happens if in another iteration or two it actually CAN produce “good” “art”? Like, what happens if it’s cranking out screenplays and paintings that DO pass muster? We’ve got to be prepared for that possibility, and try to act now to make sure that our world is structured around preserving human dignity on its own merits. The existence of a faster work-doing machine shouldn’t necessitate that all human workers must now starve.

Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra, On the Town, 1949

I didn’t get a slow cooker until I was an adult, and it was a life changer. I love a recipe that consists of “ingredients, plus 6-8 hours.”

Aww, my suffrage. :(

I did my best. Do I get to vote?

She meant Jewish.

A pastor, a priest, and a rabbit walk into a blood donation clinic.

The rabbit says “I think I’m a type O.”

I think originality is overrated. Hear me out.

Example 1: Star Wars should plagiarize more. Original Star Wars is Hidden Fortress in space, plus a bit of WW2 dogfighting and some car culture flavor. Late period Star Wars has been taking original Star Wars, blending it up, and pouring it back out again. Not enough plagiarism. Top Gun, but make it Star Wars and call it Rogue Squadron. Three Musketeers, but make it Star Wars and call it Three Jedi. Take your pick of old detective noir stories, set it on Coruscant, and call it the The Dantooine Falcon. Stop ripping off Star Wars in Star Wars, and go back to ripping off other properties, and it’s a license to print money.

Example 2: Stop trying to make movie franchises progress forward in time; continuity and originality are overrated. James Bond has been making virtually the same movie for over sixty years, and people still love it! Bond goes to exotic locale meets and beds some number of beautiful women, engages in a bit of extreme sports, foils the plan of some flamboyant villain. The actors are regularly changed without comment. The movie is always set “right now.” Bond has (almost) always been 007 for “a while.” Continuity virtually never spans more than a couple of movies until it gets reset to zero again. And it’s still going strong as a franchise! Pirates of the Caribbean could have used this pattern and just kept making crazy pirate adventure movies forever, but they got wrapped around the axle trying to keep a continuous plot going forward. Should have gone the James Bond route.

Stop trying to make original movies that advance an overarching plot across a franchise. Make movies that have already been made and that don’t take the franchise anywhere. You can’t go wrong.

You Made It Weird, with Pete Holmes. Really fucking funny comedian Pete has had lots of interesting guests. Usually starts with relatively normal stuff, but usually by the end of any given episode he gets into “Do you believe in God?”, “What do you think happens when we die?”, and “You ever do ayahuasca?” territory. Pete is SMART and has been going on his own spiritual and philosophical journey for a while, and it feels like every guest is another step on that journey. Look up the episode list and find someone you like and listen to their conversation.

unless we have a major nuclear exchange

I was going to say, it really depends on just how hard we go on the “let’s kill everyone” vibe.

Under a blanket. In any weather. I have cold urticaria, where if my skin feels even the slight chill of cool sheets, it assumes I must be under attack and deploys just enough histamines to make me feel itchy and keep me from sleeping. It fucking sucks. I’ve just barely learned to cope with it.