"Home" by Ellie Goulding, DS9 AMV

 

The IT Crowd - A Fire at Sea Parks

 

The Clout Hustlers, Pt I

So there's this island. Small. Tropical. Corrupt. The tourists come in through the airport. They enjoy the shows, the beaches, and the casinos. Visitors from nearby islands come in through the dock, and they're not particularly welcome.

So a guy arrives at the dock early in the morning and the two customs agents take the basket he's carrying and look inside. They see a bunch of rocks.

Protestors have been throwing rocks at police, so rocks of a certain size aren't allowed in the country. The customs agents measure the guy's rocks by length, they weigh them, and they put them in a special pan full of water to test their displacement. They check them for subversive messages and even crack a few in half to check inside. It's a long and ridiculous process, but all of the rocks are fine.

So they tell the guy to put the rocks back into his basket and go about his business.

That evening, they see the guy leave on the last boat out of the dock.

The next day, the guy is at the dock. Early in the morning. Unfazed by his experience yesterday. But, instead of rocks the customs agents find his basket is half full of poker chips. They aren't labeled with the name of any casino, but the casinos pay a lot of money to keep counterfeit chips off of the island.

The two agents scan each chip for fake RFID chips. They break a few in half and check inside. They use a UV light to check them for barcodes. They measure them against a diagram showing casino chip sizes and they're different from all the other chips on the island.

After forty-five minutes of every other arrival staring holes in the back of the guy's head, the customs agents tell him to put his chips back in his basket and go about his business.

That evening, they see the guy leave on the last boat out of the dock.

The next morning, he's back, sweating with a basket full of plastic water bottles. There's no law against bringing water onto the island, but the government has a sole license to sell alcohol and rioters have been using molotov cocktails.

So they have to check every bottle to see if the contents are flammable. They open them, sniff them, pour out some drops and try to light them on fire. They peel off every label and search them for anti-government propaganda. This process goes on a while so they even drink one each.

But it's all water. So they tell the guy to wipe down their counter, take his water bottles, and go.

He does, and that evening they see the guy leave on the last boat out of the dock.

This goes on for several months until the rioters become revolutionaries, recruit a majority of the citizens to their cause, and overthrow the government. Government control is relaxed, relations with neighboring islands are improved, and the customs agents are let go and find different jobs.

"Last Friday Night" by Katie Pery, DS9 AMV

 

Movie Notes: Superman (2025)

I take notes when I watch movies and after the movies, I post those notes on the internet. These are my notes for Superman. Notes made after the movie are made in <<>>'s.

Previews

Naked Gun 2025 - Okay

 

Smurfs - Are we still doing "that's gonna leave a mark"? Are we still doing it or did we go all the way around and the back to "that's gonna leave a mark"?

 

The Odyssey - Initially thought this was "The Return" with Ralph Fiennes. But it's The Odyssey with Tom Holland. I've seen hotter Telemechai. 

<<Discussion has since been consumed by the *horror* of a dark-skinned Helen and a transgender Achilles. Which is a shame.>>

 

Wicked II - Okay. It's a part three? Can't even guess about the arc of this series.

 

Treason and Truth - Again; GUNS are our most powerful weapon. The truth is up there, but guns are very powerful. And apache attack helicopters. They've got guns and missiles.

 

Project: Hail Mary - Obvious mix of Interstellar and The Martian. Written by the The Martian guy. No kiddin'.

 

Fantastic Four - Looks good. Interesting to put together context clue from the Thunderbolts and the last mini trailer. [Man, I was wrong about most of that.]

 

Cat & The Hat - Bill Hader? "A new world." Yeah, let's make the Seuss-iverse happen. ::(

 

Welcome Back - Is that the The Last of Us woman?

 

One Battle After Another - Very different from the first trailer.

Halo 3: Believe

 

"Shake It Out" by Florence and the Machine, DS9 AMV

 

Bore of a Canon

Growing up, people told me they'd read The Bible and I never thought too much of it. I assumed it was something everyone got around to doing. Like having sex or getting a driver's license. As an adult, I now realize not everyone has sex in their lives. And also, fewer have read The Bible.

I should specify: the Christian Bible, not the Star Trek: The Next Generation series bible.

Personally, I think it's more important that Doctor Crusher can diagnose diseases at a glance, than יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ שְׁלֹמֹה, whatever that means.

The Bible is just a collection of books written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. It's a collection of books and scrolls. Accounts and even just collections of letters from a couple of guys.

What collections of turn-of-the-Anno Domini writings are and aren't in The Bible isn't a matter of some unified history with one authority over them. It was a system of shared, hand-written texts that would have yearned for the anarchic underground zine resources of the late 20th Century.

A Bible–the bible most of us think of as The Bible–wasn't formed until, I think 1546 and the Council of Trent . And look, Orthodox Christians, Mormons, and Latter Day saints all have their own take. Mostly because those later two–or should I say "Latter Two"--didn't see anything particularly unique or magical about 1546. As long as their god may deign to speak, The Bible is a living document.

Senile Scribbles: Skyrim

 

Everybody to the Limit by StrongBad

 

The New Fuhrer

 

Movie Trailers July 2026

I know it's been a while, but let's do a movie roundup for July. 

Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 24th)

Looks good. The Punisher/Hulk elements seem to be supporting elements as they should be. I don't know why we need to make biological web shooters or immediately undo the last movie. I don't know why Spider-Man is fighting The Hand and...I wanna say, Denzel Washington from the movie Fallen, but I'm willing to go with it.

Has nothing to do with the comics, AFAIK, but I think we're good with that.

Hot Shit by Tom Cardy

 

Debunking Fake Videos

 

It's Not A Fashion Statement; It's a Deathwish by My Chemical Romance

 

Wilfred Mott (Bernard Cribbins)