This… Is BGNN

Things you might want to know, for Mar 16, 2023. (NOTE: Lots of catching up going on here.)

• Oscars 2023: Paul Sorvino Left Out of In Memoriam, Mira Sorvino Reacts — I’m 100% with Mira on this… leaving Paul out of the broadcast was incredibly ham-fisted and stupid. He was an institution on his own merits, and he sired an Oscar winner whose career was derailed by a scumbag that Hollywood as a whole empowered. The least they could have done was directly honor her old man’s life and passing.
• Sammi Giancola STUNS Castmates, Returns to Jersey Shore Set Unannounced! — They must have given her an ironclad promise that Ronnie will never be anywhere near the show when she’s there. Hell, they may have promised her that he’s gone for good.
• James Gunn Is ‘Superman: Legacy’ Director — It will probably be better than anything in the Snyderverse. But that won’t mean it’s worth the trouble.
• 5,000-mile wide “blob” of seaweed headed for Florida — I’m surprised no one has called me in, seeing as I’m something of an expert on the subject of blobs.
• WSJ News Exclusive | U.S. Threatens Ban if TikTok’s Chinese Owners Don’t Sell Stakes — As Jon Gruber recently pointed out, the Chinese exercise a 100% tariff on US social media services… they block all of ‘em. So dropping the hammer on TikTok looks like a solid trade policy as well as a curb on foreign interference and surveillance.

• Quentin Tarantino Sets ‘The Movie Critic’ as Tenth and Final Movie — I’ve watched ‘em all, and I’ll watch ‘em ‘til the end.
• Developer shows how OpenAI’s GPT-4 can create iPhone apps using SwiftUI — And now we know why Apple’s AR/VR team has been dropping hints about users being able to “build their own apps” for mixed-reality… they’re clearly building their own LLM, and describing the app you want is the future of automation.
• Paris: Notre Dame Cathedral set to reopen in December 2024
• SunnyD releases an alcoholic version for depressed 90s kids — As someone who hated that overly-viscous orange sludge, I find this more amusing than exciting.
• NASA monitoring asteroid with 1 in 625 chance of hitting Earth on Valentine’s Day 2046 — Now I have something I want to live to see.

• The first issue of The Maxx came out 30 years ago this month — The comic itself was important, but the resulting show was more so. It was one of MTV’s greatest contributions to the world of animation, and easily the most successful “motion comic” ever made. If you haven’t seen this story of a “freelance social worker”/trauma victim, her decapitated stalker/kidnapper/rapist, and the bulbous blue homeless guy/vigilante/universe-spanning superhero who tries to protect her from the world and herself, you need to address that problem.
• Unpleasant millionaire insists on bothering women sitting next to him on planes — Entitled men of minimal consequence and maximum money are the bane of humanity.
• Healthcare Data Hack Included Congress Members, Affected 56,000 People — They need some perspective.
• Big Starry Sur — Basic Apple Guy — Absolutely beautiful, Midjourney-generated wallpapers for your desktop, iPad, and phone.
• Jon Bernthal Returning as Punisher on Daredevil: Born Again — Good. With a few exceptions, casting was one of the strengths of the Netflix/Marvel universe.

• SNL’s Waffle House skit serves up delicious dramedy — This was actually solid stuff, with a well-executed ending… and SNL isn’t known for sticking the landing.
• Microsoft Outlook for Mac Is Now Free to Use — For those of you who know how to use email.
• Robert Blake, embattled actor of ‘In Cold Blood’ and ‘Lost Highway’ fame, dead at 89