Category: Essays & Bad Ideas

• Tupperware, pioneer of food storage and sales parties, files for bankruptcy
  ❝ Tupperware Brands, the company that revolutionized food storage decades ago and saw exponential growth with Tupperware parties, has filed for bankruptcy after years of financial woes and slumping sales due to cheap online competition.
  💬 I grew up in the ‘70s and early ‘80s, so I saw more than my fair share of Tupperware parties. Like most of her peers, my mom threw them just to score free Tupperware… she seldom bought anything at other moms’ parties. Interestingly, I think the same fate has recently befallen Avon, another recurring feature of my childhood.
• JD Souther, who helped write ‘New Kid in Town,’ ‘Heartache Tonight’ and other Eagles hits, has died
  ❝ John David “JD” Souther, a prolific songwriter and musician who helped shape the country-rock sound that took root in Southern California in the 1970s with his collaborations with the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt, has died at the age of 78.
• The wheels have fallen off REO Speedwagon
  ❝ They can’t fight this feeling anymore. Per the band’s website, REO Speedwagon is breaking up. The Speedwagon will be decommissioned effective January 1, 2025
  💬 Heard it from a friend who, heard it from a friend who, heard it from another you’ve been messin’ around…
  
• Florence Pugh Recalls Criticism Over Zach Braff Age Gap
  ❝ “It’s not nice knowing that people are saying the worst things I’ve ever read about someone that I love.”
  💬 Hot, brave, and protective of her man, even at the end. I love you, Flo.
• James Gunn Superman Film Apparently Stars Krypto the Superdog – IGN
  ❝ The DCU Superman film from DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn will feature Krypto the Superdog according to comic book writer Mark Waid.
  💬 If this is done well, it will be a huge coup. If it’s done poorly —or just for a single, 30 second scene— it’ll be a massive disappointment.
  
• How to Hide or Lock Apps With iOS 18
  ❝ Protect your apps from prying eyes with Apple’s latest security feature.
  💬 You can now put any app behind a Face/TouchID lock, and you can “hide” apps in a special “Hidden” folder in your App Library, which is locked with Face/TouchID.
• 1950s time capsule discovered in high school locker gap: a student’s belongings preserved for decades
  ❝ In 2019, this red purse was found in a narrow gap between a set of lockers and the wall at a highschool in Ohio. When the purse was opened, an amazingly preserved time capsule was found. The purse contained the belongings of a student named Patti Rumfola who had attended the same school in the 1950’s.
  
• Mattel Reveals Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn Barbie Dolls for Batman Day – IGN
  ❝ Barbie is headed to Gotham City, as Mattel reveals new Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn dolls just in time for Batman Day.
• Voyager 1 Just Fired Up Thrusters It Hasn’t Used in Decades
  ❝ Engineers at NASA have successfully fired up a set of thrusters Voyager 1 hasn’t used in decades to solve an issue that could keep the 47-year-old spacecraft from communicating with Earth from billions of miles away.

• ‘Chimp Crazy’ Swings Big Donations for Tonka’s Sanctuary
  ❝ The craze surrounding HBO’s docuseries “Chimp Crazy” has become quite profitable for the sanctuary now housing the show’s star, Tonka the Chimp.
• Singer Tito Jackson, member of the Jackson 5, dead at 70
  ❝ The Jackson 5 included brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. The family group, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, produced several No. 1 hits in the 1970s, including “ABC,” “I Want You Back” and “I’ll Be There.”
• The Mystery of Hezbollah’s Deadly Exploding Pagers
  💬 This is absolutely ridiculous. A non-conventional act of war that is 100% guaranteed to harm civilians due to inherently imprecise targeting, in the form of a surprise attack with incomplete situational awareness? I can find very little that distinguishes this from the Hamas-led terrorist strike that started this latest round of hostilities.
  
• Comic book artist John Cassaday passes away at 52 • AIPT
  ❝ The Eisner-award winning artist was known for his work on ‘Astonishing X-Men,’ ‘Planetary,’ and more.
  💬 This one hits me really, really hard. I quit reading comics in the early 90s, and was happy to let the hobby go… until Joss Whedon’s run on Astonishing X-Men drew me back. Whedon’s writing on the series started strong, fell off a lot, got better, and kind of rallied at the end… but the art of John Cassaday was beautiful from start to finish. And from that gateway drug, I discovered Planetary by Warren Ellis & Cassaday, which turned into one of my favorite series of all time. I can’t believe he’s gone already… farewell, John. You were a helluva artist.
• Runaway penguin home after 18-mile ocean adventure
  ❝ Pen-chan is a six-year-old Cape penguin that escaped from Aichi Prefecture, Japan and entered the sea during an event on August 25th.
• Music industry’s 1990s hard drives, like all HDDs, are dying
  ❝ The music industry traded tape for hard drives and got a hard-earned lesson.
  
• GAMEBABY | Phone Armor with Retro Gaming Superpowers
  ❝ GAMEBABY is a phone case with built-in physical buttons that transforms your device into a retro gaming handheld. Carry it as a regular case, then flip the lower part to play. GAMEBABY lets you fully immerse yourself in the joy of retro gaming.
  💬 This is a fascinating —if limited— product. First, it’s a normal iPhone case with some weird Gameboy controls on the back. Until you slide the bottom half off, then flip it around, and it becomes a real Gameboy-like control surface. Better yet —and unlike most controller options for the iPhone— this one doesn’t require Bluetooth or a battery. The limit is that it’s optimized to work with Delta, the best Gameboy emulator for the iPhone… for anything else, it probably won’t work.

• New multispectral analysis of Voynich manuscript reveals hidden details
  ❝ Handwriting suggests Prague doctor named Johannes Marcus Marci tried to decode in 1640.
• Pathogenic microbes blown vast distances by winds, scientists discover
  ❝ Living microbes that cause disease in humans and host antibiotic-resistance genes carried 1,200 miles
• Judge Orders Guardianship Firm to Return Thousands It Took From an Elderly Woman for Services It Never Provided
  ❝ New York Guardianship Services had billed Judith Zbiegniewicz $450 a month for court-ordered care, but a judge found the company provided “minimal services, if any” for years, including at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
• Queen guitarist Brian May says he had a ‘minor stroke’ but can still play
  ❝ Queen guitarist Brian May has revealed that he had a “minor stroke” last week
• Gordon Ramsay Details Bloody, Painful Aftermath of Bike Crash
  ❝ Gordon Ramsay is sharing the hell he went through following his catastrophic cycling accident this summer … and revealing what exactly caused the incident.
  
• R.I.P. James Earl Jones, EGOT-awarded actor and unmistakable voice of Darth Vader
  💭 A massive loss of an enormous talent. JEJ was part of my cultural consciousness since Roots first aired, and that voice will live forever in my mind. Rest well, sir.
• Walmart Still Has the Best Nintendo Switch Lite Deal (It’s Hard to Beat) – IGN
  ❝ Get a Switch Lite and Animal Crossing for only $159
• Cult Of The Lamb’s Corrupted Relics And Tarot Cards Explained
  ❝ Embrace the chaos with the recently added Corrupted items
• French Man Accused of Inviting Strangers to Rape Drugged Wife, Trial Begins
  ❝ A shocking case in France has just gone to trial … and it centers around a 71-year-old man who is accused of inviting dozens of strangers to rape his wife in their home.
• Babygirl brilliantly captures the feeling of falling in lust
  ❝ Babygirl is a feature-length homage to the early rush of attraction from filmmaker Halina Reijn, full of radically charged encounters.
  
• Margaret Qualley Filmed ‘The Substance’ ‘Until I Had a Panic Attack’
  ❝ Margaret Qualley explained how she kept filming ‘The Substance’ even when getting a panic attack.
• Elon Musk’s X / Twitter has a new TV app dedicated to watching videos
  ❝ Musk’s social media company has tried to pivot to video over the past year.

• Titanic: Striking images reveal depths of ship’s slow decay
  ❝ A new expedition finds that a large part of the railing at the ship’s front has fallen away.
• Ok, but why do certain languages spoken with American intonations sound exactly like Simlish?
  ❝ TikTok creators are accidentally recreating Similsh by speaking languages such as Japanese and French with American valley girl and frat bro accents.
• Adele promises “I will not see you for an incredibly long time” after residency
  ❝ Adele promises “I will not see you for an incredibly long time” after residency
• Boeing’s Starliner started making a repeating ‘pulsing’ sound yesterday
  ❝ NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore contacted NASA to ask for help identifying a strange “pulsing” noise emanating from a speaker in the Boeing Starliner on Saturday.
• Nintendo gets dark with detective game Emio
  ❝ Nintendo continues the Famicom Detective Club series on the Switch with Emio — The Smiling Man, which launches on August 30th.
  
  
  
• A career-best Ralph Fiennes leads a gripping search for the next pope in Conclave
  ❝ Edward Berger follows All Quiet On The Western Front with a thriller free from cinematic sin: the Ralph Fiennes-led Conclave.
• The 8 best games from Nintendo’s blockbuster Switch sale
  ❝ Just in time for Labor Day! Save up to 75% on several dozen titles from Nintendo’s online store.
• ‘One Tree Hill’ Sequel Series in Development at Netflix
  ❝ A sequel series of “One Tree Hill” is currently in the works at Netflix, Variety has learned from sources.
• Vast ‘doughnut’ discovered in molten metal of Earth’s core
  ❝ Australian scientists hail finding as a step in unlocking secrets of planet’s protective magnetic field

• Modern text parser game The Crimson Diamond rewards precision
  ❝ Julia Minamata’s first game, The Crimson Diamond, is a text parser using EGA-style art.
• Woman found dead in her cubicle 4 days after last clocking in
  ❝ The deceased worker was identified as Denise Prudhomme, 60.
• ‘Seeking Mavis Beacon’ Filmmakers on Limits of Representation
  ❝ ‘Seeking Mavis Beacon’ filmmakers Jazmin Jones and Olivia McKayla Ross tell IndieWire about their search for the famous typing avatar.
• Report: Amazon’s new $5/month Alexa to use Anthropic’s tech, in-house AI failed
  ❝ Amazon is eyeing an October launch for its new, paid Alexa AI service. The premium Alexa reportedly won’t use Amazon’s own tech though.
• ‘One to One: John and Yoko’ Review: Compelling Archival Doc
  ❝ ‘One to One: John and Yoko’ Review out of Venice Film Festival. John Lennon and Yoko Ono star in compelling archival documentary.
  
• ‘Babygirl’ Review: Nicole Kidman Dominates a Sexy Erotic Dramedy
  ❝ Venice: Nicole Kidman is all raw nerve in Halina Reijn’s sexy ‘Babygirl,’ starring Harris Dickinson as the intern who seduces her.
• AnandTech Is Closing Down
  ❝ Awful news. There was no publication like AnandTech before it was founded, and there’s been no publication like it since. To say that it will be sorely missed is a profound understatement
• Remember Steam Machines? EmuDeck founder revisits Valve’s TV console idea
  ❝ The founder of EmuDeck is crowdfunding EmuDeck Machines, a pair of Linux-based PC game consoles on top of Bazzite, a SteamOS fork that works a lot like the Steam Deck.
• Comedian Doug Stanhope’s IG Live Stream Arrest Explained
  ❝ Comedian Doug Stanhope had fans on edge, thinking he’d been arrested on a live stream — but TMZ has learned it’s all just a false alarm … and a little bit of role-playing.
• Lana Del Rey’s Rumored Alligator Tour Guide BF Kisses Massive Gator in Wild Video
  ❝ Lana Del Rey’s rumored new flame, Jeremy Dufrene, ain’t just charming the singer — he’s also got a taste for gator smooches … as seen in a video from his day job, obtained by TMZ.
  
• Winona Ryder: Gen Z Co-Stars Should Be ‘Interested in Movies’
  ❝ Winona Ryder explained why she is disappointed in some of her younger co-stars from ‘Stranger Things.’
• ‘Riefenstahl’ Review: Documentary About Nazi Propagandist Chills
  ❝ Documentary about the Nazi propagandist chills with its portrayal of her unwillingness to confront her own past.

 • ‘¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!’ Trailer: ‘South Park’ Creators Save Restaurant
❝ ‘South Park’ creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone save a restaurant in documentary ‘¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!.’

 • Barry Keoghan Joins Cast of Netflix’s Peaky Blinders Movie – IGN
❝ Oscar-nominee Barry Keoghan is the latest actor to join the cast of Netflix’s Peaky Blinders movie.

 • Like just about every other Ridley Scott movie, ‘Napoleon’ is getting a director’s cut
❝ The Ridley Scott epic “Napoleon: The Director’s Cut” is now available to stream on Apple TV+, with the online version 48 minutes longer than the theatrical release.

 • Bluesky adds ‘anti-toxicity’ options to limit dogpiling and hostile quote posts
❝ Bluesky has introduced a bunch of new “anti-toxicity” features that aim to help users protect themselves against harassment and general dogpiling.

 • Pharrell Williams, Michel Gondry’s ‘Atlantis’ Lands May 2025 Release
❝ Pharrell Williams and Michel Gondry’s star-studded musical film now has its title and release date. Universal will release “Atlantis” on May 9, 2025.

 • iPadOS 18’s Smart Script: A Promising Start But Don’t Toss Out Your Keyboard Yet
❝ The carefully controlled demos of Smart Script at WWDC reminded me of every time Apple shows off the Photos app, where each picture is a perfectly composed, beautiful image of smiling models. In contrast, my photo library is full of screenshots and random images like the blurry one I took the other day to capture

 • Tumblr will move all of its blogs to WordPress — and you won’t even notice a difference
❝ Tumblr is moving all of its blogs to WordPress. Automattic, the parent company of Tumblr and WordPress, says the move will make it easier to ship features across both platforms.

 • ‘Vanderpump’ Alum Brittany Cartwright Files for Divorce from Jax Taylor
❝ Brittany Cartwright is dropping the curtain on her marriage … she just filed to divorce Jax Taylor.

 • Liam and Noel Gallagher are getting the band back together
❝ Liam and Noel Gallagher are getting the band back together

 • NARA recovers famed 1982 Grace Hopper lecture recorded on obsolete media format
❝ U.S. Navy computer scientist and COBOL inventor Grace Hopper gave a famed lecture in 1982 that was recorded using an obsolete video medium for which no player now exists. Yesterday,…

 • Oasis’ Liam, Noel Gallagher Drop Biggest Hint Yet That Group Is Reuniting
❝ Liam and Noel Gallagher seemed to confirm on social media on Sunday that Oasis is getting back together.

 • Margo Martindale ain’t afraid of nothin’: 10 recurring joke characters who make BoJack Horseman special
❝ Margo Martindale ain’t afraid of nothin’: 10 recurring joke characters who make BoJack Horseman special

 • Review: Astropad Rock Paper Pencil v2, the pen-on-paper iPad upgrade gets even better – 9to5Mac
❝ Last year Astropad launched its impressive Rock Paper Pencil kit for iPad that delivers a reusable/removable matte screen protector plus…

 • Why Ryan Reynolds Cut Rob McElhenney’s Cameo in ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’
❝ Ryan Reynolds was ‘mortified’ to cut Rob McElhenney’s cameo from “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

 • The trailer for Cannes standout Universal Language looks freaking awesome
❝ The trailer for Cannes standout Universal Language looks freaking awesome

 • Meryl Streep, Martin Short Hold Hands At OMITB Premiere
❝ The lyrics, “That it’s finally me and you, and you and me, just us, and your friend Steve,” do apply.

 • Classic ‘Marathon Infinity’ lands on Steam as a free Mac title
❝ Bungie has finally brought all of the “Marathon” trilogy of games to Steam, with “Marathon Infinity” now playable for free on modern Macs.

 • Apple to Require Identity Verification for Sending $500+ in Apple Cash Starting in October – MacRumors
❝ Apple today began sending out emails to customers letting them know about upcoming changes that are being made to the Apple Cash Terms and…

 • Jack Black and Paul Rudd may reboot Anaconda as a meta horror-comedy
❝ Jack Black and Paul Rudd may reboot Anaconda as a meta horror-comedy

 • No one’s ready for this
❝ With AI photo editing getting easy and convincing, the world isn’t prepared for an era where photographs aren’t to be trusted.

 • Rode Wireless Pro review: The new standard in sound, features, and price
❝ Rode’s wireless microphone systems have been the choice of creators for years. The new Rode Wireless Pro system has enhanced features, and radically improves sound quality, connectivity, and user experience.

• Nintendo Shutting Down Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp App, Plans to Release Paid Offline Version – MacRumors
❝ Nintendo today announced that it will shut down the Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp app for iOS on November 29, seven years after the game originally…

 • Inzoi Players Are Recreating Tons of Real People and Pop Culture Characters in Its Wild Character Creator – IGN
❝ Inzoi, The Sims competitor from PUBG developer Krafton, has temporarily released its incredibly in depth character creator and players are using it to recreate a ton of real people and pop culture characters.

 • Doctor decries Apple gift card discount ‘scam’ after failing to understand the terms of the deal
❝ An academic with a sideline in TikTok videos about marketing scams claims Apple defrauded her over an iPad discount — despite her getting precisely the deal she was promised and should have expected.

 • Kentucky museum displays piece of meat that fell from sky during freaky meat shower
❝ On March 3, 1876, Mrs. Crouch, the wife of a farmer in Bath County, Kentucky s noticed something strange falling from the sky just outside her house. Upon closer inspection, she determined that chunks of red meat were raining from above

 • What Barack Obama’s DNC speech was actually about
❝ Beneath the campaign rhetoric, Barack Obama offered a strikingly philosophical defense of American liberalism.

 • 20 years of Bennifer ends in divorce
❝ 20 years of Bennifer, explained.

 • ‘Love Island’s Nicole Jacky Slams Kendall Washington for Lying About Leaked Video
❝ There’s already trouble in paradise for “Love Island USA” stars Nicole Jacky and Kendall Washington … with the couple butting heads over a leaked-video scandal, which took place out of the villa.

 • PUBG dev’s new life sim looks like The Sims with a dash of GTA
❝ PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds developer showed a new look at its life sim game, Inzoi.

 • Disney drops request to have wrongful death lawsuit tossed over Disney+ subscription
❝ Disney has dropped its request for a Florida court to dismiss a wrongful death lawsuit. Disney had argued that the case should be dismissed because the husband of the woman who died had previously agreed to settle any lawsuit our of court when signing up for a one-month trial of Disney+.

 • Lumafusion 5.0 update brings awesome new features!n – 9to5Mac
❝ LumaTouch has just released version 5.0 of its award-winning mobile editing platform, LumaFusion bringing key framing and speed ramping!

 • Beyond a Remake –  How Age of Mythology: Retold Revives and Retools a Beloved Classic – Xbox Wire
❝ Age of Mythology: Retold is launching September 4. Here’s how the team has gone beyond a remake in order to revive and retool this beloved classic RTS.