Various and Sundry

A Moment of Closure, Star Trek Style

A new short film, using CGI technology that would make Forrest Gump blush, is making the rounds amongst the various Trek groups I frequent. It’s called 765874 – Unification. It packs in more references to more iterations of Star Trek than you might expect, involves a lot of old Trek hands, and is very emotional for a lot of Trekkers. Take 11 minutes on the biggest screen you can find and see what you think.

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Producing Various and Sundry

When the Video Toaster was Punk AF

There’s a meme going around that generations should now be divided by “Too old to know Homestar Runner/at the right age to know and love Homestar Runner/too young to know Homestar Runner.” Admittedly, this is rather prejudiced towards knowing Homestar Runner, but seeing as I do (and seriously Stwong Bad, he’s the bee’s knees!), I don’t find this a problem. In part, because I think anyone at any age can discover the sparkling majesty of…

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Various and Sundry

Leif Erikson Day 2024

It’s October 9th, which means it’s Leif Erikson Day here in the United States, which you’ll be forgiven for not knowing exists, unless you, say, grew up in a household full of history buffs with Scandinavian heritage. Then, you bite your thumb, sir, at Columbus Day. It’s a Viking thing. But is it, really? Enter Cat Jarman to give us all some much needed Viking Support:

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Various and Sundry

John Oliver’s Evolution as a Non-Journalist

I’ve been a fan of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver pretty much since it’s inception, as my regular readers may have guessed. Last Week Tonight is funny, insightful, enraging, and understands that sight gags, especially those involving mascots, are comedy gold. Like Jon Stewart and The Daily Show before him, Oliver pushes back at the label of “journalist,” even as he delivers information that might otherwise be called news. (Considering Oliver started as a…

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Various and Sundry

Let’s Talk About Pirates

On this, International Talk Like a Pirate Day, it is only just and right that we talk about pirates not simply like them. Now, I’ve posted about pirates before, and you should definitely check out Isli Lawrence’s video which I linked to before. She also has this piece specifically about famous pirates: But why confine yourself to just one pirate historian? Enter Rebecca Simon, who has a whole host of insights to give you that’ll…

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Acting Various and Sundry

Star Wars: In a Language Not so Far Away…

Since I was recently speaking about cinematic joy, this is a story that absolutely gives The Force “the feels.” There’s a brand new language dub of the original Star Wars in the Ojibwe language. The group can be found across the northern United States and Canada, so, when digging for more news, I found many a local report, as they appear to have sought speakers from all over to bring this latest version of the…

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Various and Sundry

A.I., Being Online, & Finding Your Tribe

Somewhat derailed by yesterday’s news, I pushed this post until today, but I wanted to offer a counter-balance to last’s week’s video tearing apart the tech industry mania of about AI with a thoughtful one from a different Adam. The video could be divided into two parts, one about AI and the other about connecting with people online (or the difficulty therein). And while there may not be a through-line at first glance, it flows…

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Various and Sundry

“DALL-E: make me a tech bubble in the shape of AI.”

This isn’t the first post I’ve done about artificial intelligence. It isn’t even the first AI post involving Adam Conover, but given last week’s post about the future of TV and tech companies’ hand in it all, it felt right to revisit AI. Also, I posted about the possible tech bubble of AI all the way back in February, so it feels right to revisit. Enter Adam Conover and this interview with Ed Zitron from…

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