It's My Mind in Beta

Michael Franzese on the NBA betting scandal arrests

2025-10-25T12:29:00.002-05:00

[VIDEO] Former Columbo crime family captain discusses how the mob operates when it comes to athletes (college or professional) involvement in sports gambling. He illustrates how the mafia (perhaps any organized criminal organizations) are able to sink their teeth into these athletes.

Chicago Tribune: NBA’s Terry Rozier and Chauncey Billups charged in sprawling sports betting and Mafia-backed poker schemes

OTOY: Creating Kubrick's Space Odyssey

2025-10-19T15:56:00.000-05:00

[VIDEO] 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my all-time favorite movies.

When I first saw it on cable in about 1995, I couldn't believe that something like this could be produced & released in 1968. I thought I was watching something that had premiered in the 1980s.

Also the movie was closer in time to 2001 and I also knew there was no way we were going to launch a Jupiter mission. We haven't even gone to Mars and the Apollo lunar program was over in the early 1970s, thus we don't even have moon bases there in 1995.

Oh and we didn't even have flights into Earth orbit. PanAm wasn't flying anywhere because they had closed down in 1991. If someone could revive the brand for flights into Earth orbit and to the moon that would be very cool.

And in this almost hour long documentary we see the thought put into this movie by Stanley Kubrick and his crew. This is one of his many masterpieces.

So far I've only seen Paths of Glory, Spartacus, 2001, and a Clockwork Orange. He didn't make that many movies during his career and when he does make movies he puts a lot of time and energy in them. I'd say that works for him. Basically quality of output more than quantity.

Also OTOY is also know for some of their own Star Trek projects, so look out for them also.

Isaac Asimov: The Last Question

2025-10-13T11:43:00.002-05:00

I found a video of this last month on YouTube which I will share with you, however, if you prefer to read it here's a link that I found to this short story. Can't believe it's publicly available. Perhaps this is something worth saving to your hard-drive before it's taken off the internet due to copyright.

Upon finding out the story, I just see it as an instant favorite. Seems to combine A.I., questions about the universe with even a biblical origin story. I've been using A.I. to ponder the fate of the universe - don't worry much about it though it's trillions or more in the future, not imminent.

This is of course a sci-fi story taking place in the future. Who knows what mankind's fate will be after thousands of years let alone millions of years.

Here's the video that discusses The Last Question [VIDEO]

Ted Turner's Doomsday Video

2025-10-03T23:57:00.001-05:00

Go see it if you want

I won't embed that video here. It's basically put me in negative spirits. Besides who wants to think about the end of the world?

As it turned out Ted Turner did (or as I like to refer to him Billionaire Ted). He started CNN (Cable News Network) back in 1980 and it was the first 24/7 cable news channel. He sold CNN to Time Warner (now Warner Discovery) in 1996.

He was eccentric enough to believe that there might be a CNN left at the end of the world, whenever that might be. You can read more about the story behind this video at Jalopnik.

And let's start with what could happen. In the 1980s we were concerned about a nuclear war with the Soviets and thankfully that never came to pass. Though somehow I think that humanity might survive that horrible event, although who's to say how many nuclear exchanges might end the world as we know it.

I could also consider the possibility of something cosmic ending the world. An asteroid strike, the sun emitting life killing radiation or even the sun becoming a red giant evaporating our oceans or even peeling away at our atmosphere if not cooking all life on Earth with increased luminosity.

Regardless the planned video to be the last thing that aired on Earth at the end of the world is a military band playing "Nearer My God To Thee"

Either way hopefully I won't see the end of the world in my life time. As for CNN well with the changing cable news business and the fact that they've been bleeding viewers within the past decade thanks to their biased political coverage, I doubt CNN will last to play this rather creepy video.

Jim Crockett sells to Turner

2025-07-01T11:32:00.004-05:00

[VIDEO] Jim Crockett sold his company Jim Crocket Promotions to Ted Turner. As Crockett explains Turner wanted to keep wrestling on his networks and wasn't going to do business with Vince McMahon so he went about to buy out JCP - that company ultimately became what we now refer to as World Championship Wrestling or WCW.

It's amazing to see this clip of this interview with Conrad Thompson and not too long after this Crockett would pass away. At least we got some of his thoughts on his time in the business.

The JCP brand would be revived for Ric Flair's last match, hopefully more to come with that brand in the future. Flair's one-time match hopefully is a one-time deal as he's a legend but he's in his 70s now and he was recently diagnosed with skin cancer.

Grounded Life Travel: Amtrak's 10 Best Train Routes And The 2 Worst

2025-03-21T09:54:00.006-05:00

[VIDEO] A few surprises especially among the two worst.

The Cardinal is a train I was on briefly but only as a last minute means to get home. I've never traveled on it to get to either Washington, DC or New York where it finishes it's journey. Watch the video to see why they consider it the worst.

And then of course the best among the 10 best is the Floridian - which essentially replaced the Capitol Limited and is intended to be temporary. The Floridian is Chicago's Florida connection and before it entered service late last year when you leave Chicago you have to change trains in Washington, D.C. to take a train into Florida. As the couple above may say this is the perfect way to get down to a cruise that departs Florida.

And then they mention my favorite standby, the Southwest Chief from Chicago to Los Angeles.

For me, I like trains because I like the journey. And it's not often I get to ride through the southwestern United States and see the deserts, buttes, mountains, etc.

The Overview Effekt: Location of Deep Space 9 and other Sci-Fi stars

2025-02-12T00:55:00.000-06:00

[VIDEO] I've gotten into space videos lately. For example: terraforming Mars, why is Venus so hot with high atmospheric pressure, or even exoplanets - that is those planets that orbits other stars outside of our own solar system.

However, the worlds that Star Trek visits or even the star where Babylon 5 is located (and yes the universes of Star Trek and Babylon 5 are totally different. Vulcan has their own star - 40 Eridani - which is known to us and of course we don't really know if Vulcan exists. Wolf 359 is a real star, not just the star where Starfleet suffered a massive defeat at the hands of the Borg.

Also Babylon 5 is located by a real star Epsilon Eridana. Also our closest star is ~~Proxima~~ Alpha Centauri and that was the setting for the film Avatar.

It's interesting to know some of these many stars that we see in sci-fi TV programs and movies are in fact real though whether or not they may be home to various fictional alien or humanoid extraterrestrial species is whole other issue.

Ascension Presents: Do Catholics Believe in 'Signs from the Dead'?

2025-01-26T11:41:00.001-06:00

[VIDEO] This message is for those who have experienced grief from Father Mike Schmitz.

John Campea: Seven money principles he lives by

2025-01-12T09:22:00.003-06:00

[VIDEO] The movie guy who often likes to talk about genre films - comic books, sci-fi, etc. - delves into a different topic which is managing your money. He's right about a lot of these principles.

Of course that said, don't take financial advice from anyone you don't feel comfortable with. Also your money situation is YOUR money situation. Everyone has their own situation.

Regardless live below your means, if you can't pay in cash you can't afford it, avoid debt at all costs. Those are the easy takeaways.

fpt: Theft, Death, and Steve Jobs

2024-12-15T09:32:00.002-06:00

[VIDEO] The interesting story of how Steve Jobs, the late legendary Apple founder and CEO, handled the leak of an prototype electronic device which ultimately became the iPhone 4. Jobs didn't have great respect for tech bloggers and I'm sure it was a bit of a humiliation for this device to get leaked.

At about the 40 minute mark you find out how serious this story became - consider this a trigger warning.

Architectural Digest: Inside a Modern Moving Home On Railroad Tracks

2024-11-23T11:42:00.003-06:00

[VIDEO] This house is located in the Pacific Northwest and it's very unique. A part of this house you can actually move on railroad tracks.

Not my thing but then again I like the design of the stationary home.

Time travel hoax

2024-10-13T12:46:00.001-05:00

[VIDEO] While I have been on the internet since the 2000s or a tad earlier, this is the first time hearing about John Titor.

John Titor arrived in 2000 and disappeared by 2001. He made some predictions which came true, however, he gave himself some pretty good excuses for the fact that it either came true or why they didn't.

Also the theory of time travel is interesting. We seem to get descriptions of as opposed to going backwards in our time, we the time traveler could instead be traveling to parellel universes or alternate timelines as opposed to one timeline.

This man bought a Philadelphia row house

2024-09-05T22:11:00.005-05:00

[VIDEO] Well it's not an old mansion, but just as interesting. A rowhouse is a house for everybody of course everybody can't afford a house that's old. I wonder how much money this man will spend on it.

Inside a $49,500,000 NYC Gilded-Age Manhattan Mansion

2024-07-26T11:38:00.003-05:00

[VIDEO] I really liked this video. As you see Erik Van Conover say basically they don't make 'em like they used to.

Basically a huge mansion or really two row houses combined into one, which was at one point used as offices for a financial company that merged into Bank of America. Treasures like this exists in many cities and this one was largely untouched.

If only I had just about $50 million and then some to make it habitable. Could anyone replicated it today?

Hopefully something like this won't be seen on McMansion Hell...

Wrestlelamia: Real Reason Why Drew McIntyre LOST Championship in 5 Mins at WWE #Wrestlemania 40

2024-04-08T10:47:00.002-05:00

SPOILER ALERT: If you've yet to watch this match or WrestleMania 40, DON'T watch this video. Of course this video is only regarding the story around the WWE World Heavyweight Championship bout between Champion Seth Rollins & challenger Drew McIntyre. No other spoilers beyond that.

[VIDEO] WrestleMania 40 is in the books and overall a new general direction for the WWE or the World Wrestling Federation. I want to see the future rammifications of this story what's next for Seth Rollins, Drew, and ultimately Damian Priest....

Junkball on 'Star Trek Borg'

2024-02-19T12:11:00.000-06:00

[VIDEO] The Junkball YouTube channel talks about all things Trek. In this most recent video is a review of the interactive 1990s game Star Trek Borg, although I wish there was an episode or a movie with this title.

This game came out in 1996 and these days there are no such thing as CD-Roms. You have to download everything and possibly have to pay a monthly fee to continue using it. The 1990s were so simple!

In 1996, there were two Star Trek series that were airing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek:Voyager. Also in the holiday season of '96 was perhaps the best installment of features that star the crew of The Next Generation Star Trek: First Contact which actually featured the Borg.

I'd have to play the game in order to really give it a review though someone who is technically gifted gave it an update. Surely it was never intended to be played on today's high definition screens. It's cool to see one familiar character in Q played by John De Lancie and in a much younger iteration than we we would see him in the 2020s during Star Trek Picard.

Resurrected Garage: 1972 GMC TDH3302 New Look Bus - The Cold Hard Truth

2024-02-05T01:42:00.004-06:00

[VIDEO] For some reason I have been looking at videos of people who work on their own buses. Perhaps they own a former Greyhound bus or they own an old transit bus.

However, I like this idea of this GMC New Look short bus. These buses are the ones I grew up with in Chicago and then suddenly they were no longer in service. Of course the bus you see here is a shorter length from what I recall in service on CTA.

Perhaps a short bus like this is an easier drive that a regular length bus. Also I wouldn't mind owning a piece of nostalgia and wouldn't mind taking it on the road. Of course I'd have to do a conversion and treat it as a home away from home.

If I could afford this particular bus when it goes on sale, I'd go for it. Of course if I did, perhaps it's important to think about a budget for customization and maintenance.

Former WWE Wrestler Breaks Down the Royal Rumble Match

2024-01-28T10:47:00.003-06:00

Last nite was the Royal Rumble where - OK no spoilers - there were a few surprised some we knew were probably on their way back. The end results were not that surprising in both the women's & men's rumble.

I wanted to share with you the first WWF Tough Enough winner...oh sorry I still haven't gotten used to saying WWE....anyway the first Tough Enough Winner is Maven Huffman. He's got a YouTube channel where he talks a lot about his wrestling career. The five or so years he was in WWE and then he got released.

Anyway in his most recent video - and sorry to not have shared this sooner - he discusses the booking for the Royal Rumble. He discusses the mechanics of such a match where 30 wrestlers are participating.

How does one know when they're being eliminated? He answers that question and more [VIDEO]

WrestleTalk: What happened to The Iron Claw wrestlers?

2023-12-23T08:57:00.006-06:00

[VIDEO] I've yet to see the film "The Iron Claw" but I do hope to do so in the near future. From the YouTube channel WrestleTalk they talk about the faith of the people portrayed in that film. And not featured in the movie such as brother Chris Von Erich.

I think it's interesting to look at the real life fates of those who were featured in this film.

CM Punk to WWE confirmed #SurvivorSeries

2023-11-26T23:03:00.003-06:00

Count me in as one of those people who just didn't think CM Punk would return to WWE. Earlier this year, Punk had left AEW due to some ongoing backstage conflict. Well actually Tony Khan who runs AEW released Punk from his contract.

Punk had developed a reputation for being a difficult person to work with and in fact this was not his first incident of backstage drama in AEW. He got into it with Kenny Omega and the Young Buck just as he had won the AEW world title - which as a result of a suspension he was forced to vacate.

He had bad blood in WWE as well with Vince McMahon and Triple H, however, since WWE has a new corporate owner perhaps things have changed. And not that long ago Vince probably would be the one who'd say OH HELL NO to Punk's WWE return.

As you might see in the below video from Wrestlelamia we see video of at least two superstars who reacted to Punk's surprise return at Survivor Series in his hometown AllState Arena. Oh and just thing when he first signed with AEW and appeared on the first edition of Rampage he was debuting at the United Center offering everyone in attendance a free ice cream bar! [VIDEO]

Other WWE reactions to his return might include a friendly wave from a returning Randy Orton who participated in the closing WarGames match. And Rhea Ripley who was out there to facilitate Damian Priest's attempted Money in the Bank cashin who greeted Punk with a middle finger and seemed very uninterested and dismissive.

The main reaction was Seth Rollins' meltdown where he was restrained by commentators Michael Cole and Corey Graves. And then another video emerged for Drew McIntyre hurriedly returning to the back and leaving the arena. The question to ask is whether or not both were works and part of an angle, or this was genuine reaction to Punk's WWE return?

'Dumb Money'

2023-10-28T11:49:00.003-05:00

In writing this review of sorts I won't even attempt to explain the financial terms that are used in this film.

This film was first released in Sept 2023 and finally had a chance to see it last weekend. It attempts to tell the story of Keith Gill who through his social media following was able to persuade them to buy stock in Game Stop because he liked the stock.

And then Keith Gill finds himself going up against Wall Street firms who had been "short-selling stock". I got a kick out of Nick Offerman playing Citadel CEO Ken Griffin as I had no idea he had been part of this story.

Ken Griffin you might know placed his own bet on an Illinois mayor to become the Republican nominee for Governor. That man floundered and Griffin before the 2022 GOP primary announced that he was moving Citadel out of Chicago and to Florida citing high crime.

Either way Gill's social media following aggressively starts buying the Game Stop stock and helps to drive up the price of those shares and causes these investment firms such as Gabe Plotkin's Melvin Capital to lose money. So the gambit of "short-selling" was not working as as we learn near the end of the film is that now investment firms have to pay attention to social media to see which stocks "dumb money" or consumer investors are buying.

Gill hasn't posted to his YouTube channel since 2021 and not too long after he had testified in front of a Congressional Committee. And I get that he lost his job as a result of the publicity surround this situation, I only wonder what he's up to these days and if he's still got his shares of Game Stop.

Also if you can't relate to Gabe Plotkin or Griffin you can relate to some of his Gill's followers. Two college students who are all in on Game Stop one of whom suffered some form of financial setbacks from her parents. Then an actual worker at Game Stop who is all in on shares and doesn't appear that happy with his job. And then a single mother who's a nurse at a hospital.

Another part of this is RobinHood which as a result of their own role in this scandal their IPO didn't start off as well as they had hope. The founders of RobinHood were no longer billionaires. One thing I do remember from back then - two years ago - is that they stopped purchase of Game Stop shares. What I didn't know is that Griffin was involved with this.

Back when this actually happened perhaps one a new administration took over in Washington I was a bit fascinated by this story and heard the news. At the same time I was too late once it became a story.

I also heard that there were dumb money buying shares of AMC Theatres in 2021 which would've been game for me because I'd like that stock.

This movie isn't quite up there with The Big Short, however, when it comes to movies explaining financial news stories this is a worthwhile watch if you go to the theater and certainly if you can find it on streaming in the near future.

Here's a trailer [VIDEO]

Curated blogs

2023-10-10T21:57:00.002-05:00

Are most of my blogs curated?

Just a collection of things that catch my eyes. News stories or just things that I like.

You see on this blog more creative-related content. One of the last posts was about a building that "changed filmmaking". I scroll down another post about Timberland.

Perhaps this blog is all about curation. Perhaps a lot of blogs that still exist out there are about curation.

In fact social media - Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc. - are all about curation.

The question: is there anything that I curated that is of great interest to everyone?

How One Building Changed Filmmaking

2023-09-29T09:24:00.005-05:00

[VIDEO] 368 Broadway in Manhattan is home to Casey Neistat. He is one of many creative people who's resided here in this building's history. It was home to fashion designers, filmmakers, printers, etc from the time it was built.

It's history is even interesting the architect wasn't even an Ivy League educated architect, he - John B. Snook - learned how to design buildings on his own. And when you think about it, if Snook essentially was DIY that marks the creative style of Casey Neistat.

I consider myself a Neistat fan - how many times have I stated this - and he didn't go to some fancy film school he was self taught. Even twenty years I ago I didn't appreciate that with computers digital filmmaking or digital videomaking was more accessible to every day folks.

Of course it's not just that it seems this so-called Diane Fink School of Filmmaking had it's own style and some of those pupils have been successful in Hollywood. While the creatives in Hollywood in my mind is limited, one easy name that comes to mind in recent memory is Greta Gerwig who comes from this school and has her blockbuster hit with Barbie.

Again DIY - do it yourself - if you're creative and want to share it with the world don't ask permission. Just do it and make your mark. I like this theme.

September

2023-09-04T10:29:00.004-05:00

[VIDEO] Happy Labor Day as I post this, and therefore this music video from Earth, Wind & Fire of the song September. Hopefully something for you to enjoy as we head in the last quarter of the year. It moved way too fast didn't it?

Grounded Life Travel - Amtrak sleeper rooms: which one should you book

2023-08-11T10:47:00.006-05:00

[VIDEO] I have some experience with riding in Amtrak First Class/Sleeper especially on a Superliner train. As this lovely couple stated sleeping in the upper bunk will be a bit tight and claustrophobic, I've done it and didn't enjoy it.

If you're out east then a Viewliner sleeper bunk would be best although I have no issue with a bedroom upper bunk on a Superliner, that worked out nice. It was a bit roomy as you're perpendicular to the window as opposed to over the window and parallel with it.

They also suggest what to do if you have a family, especially if you can't afford a family bedroom which is available on a Superliner train.

So you want to know about costs. Roomettes are the cheapest accommodation on a long distance train. Bedrooms have more amenities such as a hand washing sink and toilet/shower and of course more space and in some cases you have more people in your party you can make a suite with another bedroom. There's a door that will allow you access to the other bedroom. However, as Ground Life Travel reports roomettes are half the cost of a bedroom.

There are accommodations for both family and the disabled, I don't know what the cost might be for that. Family bedrooms might be expensive, I can't speak on disabled bedrooms though. And in sleeper class if you want to take a show and don't want to pay for a bedroom, showers are available on a sleeper car. So Bedrooms aren't the only option for that.