Will Turkey and Pakistan Help?

Saudi preps for renewed war against Houthis. 

The Hollywood Bowl

Is right next to the dump we know as Hollywood. And yet, when you're there, it's one of the nicest, most pleasant civic experiences one can have in LA.

This means to me that LA is capable of having nice civic places. So why isn't more of LA like the Hollywood Bowl?

Robot Olympics

Like the rest of you, I'm enjoying a few clipped videos of robots doing crazy shit. But I gotta say: I don't get this whole thing. They created a robot that runs faster than Usain Bolt? Who gives a shit? An ebike goes faster than him too. Just because the robot is shaped human-ish this becomes a proper comparison? Why not just put the robot up against a Honda?

What goes on in China is so bizarre to me. Here's an interesting little clip on the broader Chinese perspective and what's happening with their economy over the past 25 years. They shifted from manufacturing into real estate development post 2008. That lead to this huge property bubble and many Chinese folks were completely wiped out of their savings/retirement because they had invested in real estate. And this bubble was popped by the government, and now they are shifting all resources into AI, EVs, and robotics. Hence, the Robot Olympics. So I guess I see all this as similar to the real estate thing...when I was in China, I saw these huge massive buildings in the middle of nowhere with no one living in them. No grocery stores around, no schools, no one had money to buy the apartments. I asked, who owns these places? They say "people in Beijing," This would be like someone in DC owning a luxury apartment in rural Tennessee, but with no infrastructure around it as an investment. Do people do this? How would it ever pay off? Now, with the robots shaped like humans. Does anyone want this?

I saw someone saying they'd play tennis with one of these robots. Really? How much would one cost? Would you pay 100K to play tennis with one? 10K? Rent for $50 a hour? How about hitting with a 15-year old from JV team and pay them $15 a hour if you have no other options...

Logging

Book: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George RR Martin

I think it might be his best. 

As highly rated as he is, he's still underrated. 

Film: The Odyssey

I foolishly saw this in 70mm non-IMAX, only realizing it when I got to the theater and was like, "WTF is up with this normal-ass movie screen."  

The film had some incredible sequences. While watching the Cyclops section, I couldn't stop thinking, "why weren't people talking about this portion of the film?" I thought it was incredible. Finale sequence with the suitors is terrific as well. The sack of Troy. But when strung all together, the film suffers from repetition. Too many sequences of - guys arrive on shore, find problem, run back to boats. Too much Odysseus and Calypso discussing his memory loss and return home. Too much repetitive dialogue across different scenes of characters banging home certain thematic messages. And finally, I didn't vibe with the idea of Odysseus's guilt about using the Trojan Horse. Bro, you were at war. You fight to win. It just didn't feel like either the world of the Greeks or the world of today, if you get down to it. It feels to me like the attitude and thoughts of a person who spends too much time sitting in a chair. 

The movie needed a Harvey Weinstein pair of eyes. There were sections in the middle where I felt myself wanting to sleep. I don't understand 3 hour films. I don't want my legs to feel stiff or to need to pee during a movie. A 3 hour film guarantees these things. This film could've easily been 2 hours and probably would've been better for it. If The Searchers could do it, Nolan could do it. 

I wanted to write more on this, including commentary on the crazy Emily Wilson review but...

I Believe This

20 million Americans still watched Seinfeld on Netflix in the first half of 2026.

That means the reason folks aren't watching Hollywood films and TV has nothing to do with video games, the internet, or anything else -- it's all content quality.

If I were in charge of Hollywood, I'd fire every executive in town tomorrow and hire random people from the street. They couldn't do worse. 

Start Investing In Ourselves Again

In my perception, the US stopped investing in ourselves a long time ago and thought we could succeed by consuming instead of building.   

All one needs to do is look at what fields our "top" graduates go into. Hardly any of them build anything except software; Silicon Valley, and that's just one narrow type of thing we use in this world.

Weird Shit

A lot of weird stuff is happening -- women supporting Lindsay Clancy and throwing ice in tubs -- all the psychologists must be sleeping on the job.

The Leftovers

These women supporting the child murderer seem straight out of The Leftovers. 

I might need to move.

Nice Kid

Details on this Karmelo Anthony kid...

If you listen, people tell you who they are.

I'm So Confused

Is this really a thing- women filming themselves throwing ice into bathtubs and posting it online?

True, Evidence Can Be Found on Reddit 

If Lindsay Clancy had methodically strangled and killed three puppies, instead of her own children, almost all of the women defending her now would instead be calling for her execution.

Dreams

I'd like to be more like the people who just write 4 or 5 stars on letterboxd for all the movies they watch. I think that's an achievable goal. 

Liberals

I'd be more sympathetic to liberal social and legal positions if the vast majority didn't always turn out to be lies and misrepresentations.

For instance - remember that guy, Kimar Abrego Garcia? The MS-13 guy? Well, the above link tells us why they thought he was a human trafficker. In other words, he was.

This Cofnas Clown

Now, everyone wants to discredit Cofnas...  Polite suggestion: maybe catch Arday's lies before the clown does? 

When the institutions behave like fools, we become reliant on the kooks to speak the truth. Another case in point: Royce White and Enis Kanter. 

Logging

TV: Silo S1

Pretty good, actually.