Blogography

Dungeons Redux

2026-06-08T15:18:35Z

I had a post I started writing last night which I was intending to post today.

That will just have to wait.

Because I awoke to the most glorious news… there is a new trailer for Minecraft Dungeons II and a release date of September 29th…

I have never made a pre-order so fast.

Especially since, unlike the new LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight game, which is coming out months behind other platforms… it’s coming out day-and-date with the rest!

The first Minecraft Dungeons is easily the game I’ve played the most in my life. I can’t get enough of it. I’m still playing it. So getting a sequel is like a dream come true.

What a way to start my week!

Bullet Sunday 956

2026-06-08T03:19:57Z

Happy pre-WWDC to all who celebrate! You may think that I’d be taking the day off to prepare myself, but that’s just not true… because an all new Bullet Sunday starts…now…

• Don’t Fuck with the Babysitter! I had no idea that Disney re-made Adventures in Babysitting! I was scrolling though the Disney+ app and there it was… ten years ago…

I cannot fathom it being even remotely as good as the original. And, to be honest, I have no desire to find out. The first go-around was lightning in a bottle.

• IT’S MY BIRTHDAY! I had to Google “Glitter Dumpling Reveal” because I had no fucking clue what that meant. Now I wish I still didn’t know. Lord.

@nosismobilio Ranking The Best Squishy Dumpling Unboxing #ranking #trend #top #viral #dumplings ♬ original sound – nosismobilio

I mean, this kind of thing has been around forever. For me it was Baseball Cards and Magic The Gathering Cards. It’s the reactions which feel as though they’ve changed. Kids see performative “reveals” on social media and feel the need to act the same way. Like their life depends on them getting the “right” toy or card or whatever.

• Happy Gay Month! This is pretty great…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Luke Hayes (@lukas_cain_hayes)

I’m not a coffee drinker, so I don’t know what “gay iced coffee” is, but this still seems a nice thing to do.

• Umbrella! Am I the only one who cannot hear Rihanna’s Umbrella without thinking of one of the most amazing lip-sync performances of all time?

Not hard to see why Zendaya fell in love with him after that! She got beat in a lip-sync battle because he went all-in. If he’s even half as dedicated to a relationship, he’s gold.

• Authentication Method! This is darn clever, and it surprises me that I never heard of it before…

I love interesting stuff like this.

• Dick! A video looking back at the Warren Beatty Dick Tracy movie hit my YouTube feed, and I was bored enough that I watched it. I actually went to the movie on opening night back in 1990 (and got a free premiere T-shirt that had a big movie ticket for the film printed on it). I remembered nothing about the story. All I remember about it is that it starred Charlie Korsmo, Glenne Headly, Al Pacino, and Madonna… and that it was one of the most visually striking films I’d ever seen…

After the video, I grabbed my copy of the DVD and re-watched the movie. Which was kinda funny, because I bought it from a bargain bin ages ago for $5 and it was still in the wrapper because I never watched it. And now I remember why I remembered nothing about the story and why I never watched the DVD… it’s kinda boring. Fantastic cinematography, phenomenal makeup, but the story was weak. And Warren Beatty was too old at 55 for the part. Because they didn’t have advanced CGI back then, the movie was hugely expensive to produce. They could probably make it cheaper now (adjusted for inflation) but I don’t know that it would carry the weight of having shot everything without computer graphics. Probably not.

• Super! I tell you what… I will probably end up going to the theater for the first time in years because Supergirl just looks too good to not to. The final trailer and clips look fantastic…

It doesn’t hurt that the screenplay is based on one of my favorite comic book stories.

See you at the WWDC live-stream tomorrow! Unless, unlike myself, you have a life.

Caturday 456

2026-06-08T00:06:39Z

Odd weather lately here in Redneckistan.

This afternoon rain started pouring down and I heard Jake hop off the bed upstairs and run down the stairs crying all the way. After he jumped on my lap, I distracted him with a Cheez-It. Usually he loves them, but he was so nervous he just made it wet.

Jenny never made an appearance. My guess is that she ran and hid in the closet.

Though she did come out for belly rubs when I went up to check in on her. Though she did end up falling asleep, trapping me there…

Soon enough she got hungry enough to head back down for her lunch that dispensed from the auto-feeder while she was hiding out.

Eating Out. Or Not.

2026-06-07T23:50:29Z

Given how the price of everything has skyrocketed, you can’t fault restaurants for having to raise their prices.

Except… it really, really seems disproportionate to the rate of inflation in this heinous Trump economy. Because while they’ve raised their prices, they’ve also slashed the amount of food you get WHILE slashing the quality of what they’re serving! And when people complain? Restaurants blame the consumer!

As if that wasn’t bad enough… now we’ve got restaurants and servers saying that if you can’t tip 25%, don’t go out to eat? That’s a bold statement given that half the time you eat out the service is ass. I ain’t tipping 25% for shitty service. It’s not an entitlement, it’s a tip. I never know if it’s a bad day for a server, so I rarely tip under 15% even when service is subpar… but 20%-30% gets reserved for exemplary service.

And since most all of the ingredients are just cheap Sysco crap that’s not as good as what you can get at your grocery store, how is eating out even an option now-a-days? $16 for a grilled American cheese sandwich and fries made from frozen potatoes? Seriously? For that kind of money, I could buy an entire loaf of bread, better cheese, and a bag of frozen fries to make a better meal.

The only time I eat out any more is if it’s social… I’m meeting up with friends and we need a place to gather. Or I’m traveling and don’t have any choice.

Though it’s beginning to feel like “not having any choice” is just making expensive excuses. A half-gallon of ice cream and a bag of potato chips from a nearby grocery store is probably half the cost and is a more tasty meal.

Nerf War, Exploding iPhone

2026-06-06T04:23:38Z

Today I took a couple photos with my iPhone, as I do almost every day. It all went well, the photos were nice, and I went on with my life. Then, about an hour later, I picked up my iPhone and it was hot to the touch. That’s when I noticed the camera was still running. I exited out of it, assuming it was hot because I accidentally left the camera going. But when I picked up the phone to go home for the day, it was still hot to the touch. So I rebooted it thinking that something was stuck running and off I went.

The reboot did nothing. Furthermore, I saw that my battery level was almost zero. So I ran upstairs and put it on my wireless charger. But when I finally went to bed, I saw that it would charge enough to turn on, run out of charge immediately, then turn off and repeat the cycle over and over and over.

Multiple resets did nothing, probably because it ran out of charge before it could register the reset. So I finally hooked it up (wired) to the most powerful charger I own. This got it charged quickly enough that I was able to shut it down completely before it ran out of power. And when I woke up, it was back to normal.

At which point I realized that I left a malfunctioning phone plugged in all night.

I’m lucky it didn’t explode.

In other news, I think I’m too susceptible to social media marketing.

There’s a content creator who operates under What the F Show who has been making some Nerf War skits that have been making me regret giving away my Nerf gun…

And so I spent a whole $7 to order a new one. Just to have on-hand, because sometimes I like shooting random visitors to my house with a Nerf dart.

Plus I’ll feel safer at night knowing that I’m armed.

Fricks & MiniBigs

2026-06-04T03:57:57Z

Nothing surprises me any more. Government can’t afford to provide food to hungry kids… but government can afford millions of dollars to gold-plate some statues of horses. Government can’t afford Social Security benefits that seniors have earned from a life of work… but government can afford to start a war to distract from its head being in the Epstein Files over 38,000 times. It goes on and on.

This kind of bullshit from the highest levels of government makes everything else seem trite.

But that’s not to say there aren’t surprising things out there that are giving the government a run for their money.

Because this is the craziest shit I’ve seen in a minute…

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE… SHIT GETS CRAZIER!

And, I gotta say, the lies coming out of the corporate offices for “Bricks & Minifigs” isn’t garnering any sympathy from people. Though I do feel bad for is the franchise owners who are being lied to by corporate and suffering the brunt of the fucked-up bullshit that corporate has enabled…

The original owners of the store are revealing shit about the corporate offices of “Bricks & Minifigs” that’s making things far, far worse for this asshole company. There is no doubt what-so-ever that “Bricks & MiniFigs” is a fucking nightmare, and patronizing these poor franchise locations who are blameless feels like a terrible solution, but since they have to send money to corporate, it’s pretty much the only solution until corporate is made to pay for what they’ve done. What absolute fucking monsters.

From top to bottom, this company has done a horrible job of dealing with this situation. The CEO outright lying on tape certainly didn’t help.

Whatever happened to right and wrong? It’s all shades of grey now, and society is shittier because of it.

Kitty Litter and Ice Cream

2026-06-03T14:30:17Z

Good news, everyone! I have water again! Sunday the pressure was so low as to be non-existent, but I put a pot under the spout and turned the water on all day. Then around dinner time I had just enough water collected to boil pasta so I could have be some butternut squash ravioli in browned butter with crispy-fried sage. Something I’ve been wanting since I bought everything for it the previous Sunday.

It was pretty delicious…

Today I had to get my car serviced. Before I could even sit down, I had a text providing me a link to tracking the progress on my car. That’s nice, I thought.

It sat in the shop for FORTY-FIVE MINUTES before they got around to it. My appointment was at 2:15. They finally started at 3:00…

Then they managed to get the inspection and oil change done in fifteen minutes, which means their time estimate of “about an hour” was correct in the end. But… dang…

The wait was made worse by a guy in the waiting room watching videos on his phone… WITHOUT USING HEADPHONES… which made the entire wait a horrific experience. Why are assholes so rude like this in public? Because they’re assholes, I guess.

After that blight on my day, I went grocery shopping, picked up kitty litter at Petco, and grabbed an ice cream cone at the drive-through before heading home.

Where I had water again, thank heavens. Pasta for everyone!

Happy Pride 2026

2026-06-02T14:49:59Z

Happy Pride Month to LGBTQ+ persons across the country and everywhere! I see you. I appreciate you. I want you to be happy, safe, and authentically you, always. You contribute to society in meaningful, fabulous ways, and I’m proud to stand with you as you celebrate your culture and history.

And, don’t worry haters, I see you too! Every year there’s a segment of society living in ignorance which feels the need to shit all over Pride by saying things like “WHAT ABOUT THE MILITARY? WHY DO GAYS GET A MONTH BUT OUR MILITARY GETS NOTHING? I’M UNREASONABLY MAD ABOUT THAT, AND BEING MAD SHOWS EVERYBODY I’M A REAL AMERICAN PATRIOT!!”

So here we go…

May was National Military Appreciation Month.
November is Veterans and Military Families Month.
Which is to say that Pride Month isn’t taking away anything from our troops being recognized.
If you really want to recognize our troops in June, nobody is stopping you. I used to collect foods and snacks so I could send care packages to soldiers every month. The site I used for this was AnySoldier.com, which shut down last year. So now I donate to the USO Care Package Program and Operation Gratitude.
Which is to say that if you need a “recognition month” in order to recognize our troops, that’s on you. You can do something to support and recognize troops every month if you want. So attacking an important time for LGBTQ+ persons “for the troops” is just performative nonsense.

And for religious haters who find joy in condemning Pride Month as celebrating sin… go right ahead. This is America, after all. But you should know that your highly selective reading of the Bible and your non-contextual interpretation of those passages which you weaponize against LGBTQ+ persons is an incredibly sad way to live as a “Christian,” and you really need to read deeper into your Bible for the ultimate message Jesus was trying to teach us. I’m not a Christian, but have been in a Bible study group for the past 22 years. Studying historical context, language translation context, and the different interpretations of Scripture has been an eye-opening experience I highly recommend.

But anyway…

Happy Pride to all who celebrate!

Bullet Sunday 955

2026-06-01T01:29:42Z

Don’t think that life without water pressure will hold me back… because an all new Bullet Sunday starts…now…

• Take a Look, It’s In a Book! When it comes to video games, I’m a creature of habit. I mostly play Minecraft Dungeons, which is such a relaxing way to wind down when I’ve had a particularly challenging day. I don’t generally look for other games to play, but sometimes they find me. The latest of which I can’t even play because it’s not available for iPad or Mac! It’s a weird concept to be sure. A fairy has ripped 3,072 books off the shelves of a magical library. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to put every last one of them back on the shelves where they belong…

The reviews are pretty stellar. People love it so much that even when they earn magical abilities to allow them to complete the game faster, they don’t. Instead they put each book back manually. Because it’s relaxing. I can’t imagine a bigger endorsement than that. I really, really hope it comes to a platform I have available one day soon!

• Priorities! Take a look at this nonsense that greets you when you login to Facebook…

Facebook now prioritizes their shitty AI slop bullshit over your friends. Which speaks volumes. The reason they want you to use their product is not to communicate with those who mean something to you… it’s to generate stupid AI crap. And I honestly don’t get it. What do they gain by de-prioritizing your friends? Running AI nonsense is expensive. Having you engage with your friends is relatively cheap. Which is why it seems insane that you have to skip past TWO AI products before even getting to your friends. I don’t fucking understand any of this. Probably too old.

• I’m on a Float! This past week I happened upon a discussion about how “stupid” water beds were, yet they were everywhere anyway. They didn’t offer much support for sleep, they were impossible to move, they could have serious problems when it came to the water getting slimy, and they required a heating pad under or else the water would be freezing to sleep on. It was totally a messy idea that made no sense. And yet… I liked my water bed! It was comfortable enough (when warm) that I was able to fall asleep easily. Not sure it did much for sleep after I nodded off, but for the five years it was functional, I enjoyed sleeping on it. But then the heater had to be replaced for the second time, which requires you to completely drain the bladder, at which point my parents told me it was time to be rid of it. I kept the bed frame though, because it had a padded edge I liked, and just threw a regular mattress inside. So… stupid? Yes. Very. But not insanely so. Sometimes I miss flopping down on a squishy, sloshy bed at night.

• Full Disclosure! I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed a Steven Spielberg movie since Minority Report in 2002. Before that there were quite a few. Despite it all, I never stop rooting for him out of pure nostalgia. His latest, Disclosure Day looks like he may break his 24-year dry spell for me…

At least I sure hope so.

• NEWSFLASH: Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter to plead guilty in child sexual abuse case, adding to pattern. “Once is an anomaly, twice is a trend.” This is the sixth… SIXTH!… January 6th insurrectionist arrested for being a child predator? And that doesn’t even touch the number of sex crimes and other criminal acts from the January 6 mob. All pardoned by the president. The so-called “law and order president.” What a fucking joke.

• Inhumane! Years ago, a woman tossed a cat looking for affection into a trash bin. The cat was rescued, but the woman was caught on video and (rightfully) became a total pariah of society. People (rightfully) loathed her. She (rightfully) became one of the most infamous people in Britain. Her response made things even worse. If you hadn’t heard about the story, here you go…

This morning a news story hit my feed with the headline ‘Cat Bin Lady’ Mary Bale still lives in Midlands – and doesn’t feel forgiven. And I was like. Good. Fuck that piece of shit. This is all I could possibly want for her. Anybody who would cause suffering to an animal which did nothing but show them affection deserves to be an unforgiven outcast. People like this have no place in society.

• Talk About Performative! Good Lord am I exhausted over this stupid shit. It burns. IT BURNS!

@matteo_il_pazzeo Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) wore a head scarf during a visit at a Bronx mosque and Islamic Center during the celebration of Eid al-Aldha. She did so out of respect, but some people, including @Chloe ♬ original sound – The Justice Guy

When you are invited somewhere which has different traditions than you hold, it’s merely being polite to be respectful to these traditions. People like this need to get out of the house and fucking travel more. I’ve been to countless places where I was respectful to my host by doing something I wouldn’t usually do. What always, always, gets me is how these same people will totally lose their shit if somebody were to disrespect their traditions. Get a fucking life, asshole.

And now back to my regularly-scheduled water outage.

Caturday 455

2026-05-31T17:01:50Z

Jenny has pretty much recovered from my being gone for vacation. She’s back to her demanding self and only gets clingy when it suits her.

But Jake? He’s still clingy any time I’m home.

I wake up in the morning, and this is what I see…

Needless to say, any time I’m laying on the couch, he’s going to be on top of me…

The only time I get a break is when there’s something new to explore. Like the tray I bought to put my little INSTAX photos in on top of the coffee table…

Guess the tray is his now. If I buy a second one for my photo books, will Jenny take that one?