I don’t know if I can fairly judge IT: Welcome to Derry because I was extremely distracted by things that had nothing to do with it for half to a third of the episodes. Does it say something about the show that it failed to distract me from my distractions? Probably not. Getting into a political argument with a friend and ordering Doordash to the wrong address is extremely distracting. I saw enough of the show, however, to have no desire to revisit any of it, so these thoughts are as close to a review as I’ll get.
IT: Welcome to Derry is reminiscent of Stranger Things in that it features a cast of kids and adults in a seemingly normal town until they become entangled in supernatural events. Welcome to Derry, however, takes place in the 50s instead of the 80s, so it doesn’t have the charming nostalgia. In fact, as with other media that takes place in the 50s–such as the Bioshock video games… and Stranger Things–the 50s-theme is instead used to create a creepy, horrific atmosphere. Additionally, while Stranger Things preserves the lives of its cast, Welcome to Derry begins violently murdering and maiming its child characters within the first episode.
Sure, Welcome to Derry is a horror series. I should have expected everything to be gross, horrific, and creepy, and comparing it to Stranger Things, an adventure series, isn’t fair. Still, I didn’t find the horror elements conducive to sympathizing or bonding with the kids or wider cast. It felt like it wanted to be a Stranger Things with a cast that could endure for eight episodes and beyond, but it was also obligated to kill its characters and disgust its audience. Maybe it wasn’t for me, or maybe while I was distracted I missed the good bits.
Shows like Dark, Welcome to Derry, and Stranger Things have evoked the nostalgia of the 50s and the 80s. What someone really needs to do is make a show about the good old days of the mid-2000s when the Internet and technology was young but fun. That seems like prime real estate to piggyback off the popularity of Stranger Things!
I thought the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics was doomed to be disappointing in comparison to the previous three Olympics. No one would try to win an event by doing a butt spin as they had in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics’ Break Dancing debut. Italy also didn’t have to clean the Seine River of over a century’s worth of hazardous waste nor would its opening ceremony feature said river and dozens of boats carrying the Olympians. It didn’t have to shut down power plants to make the air breathable as China did for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics nor was it postponed for a year due to COVID-19 as the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics had.
Someone of Raygun’s experience and skill also wouldn’t make an appearance. Summer Olympics 2028 will be sad without Break Dancing.
I was also disappointed to find that the Hulu PS5 app still sucks. It’s been two years at least, Hulu! The PC app also sucks but not as much. The phone app is just okay. Maybe one of these Olympics I’ll use something other than Hulu + TV, or I’ll use the Hulu app on my TV, which I would hope actually works.
The Milano Cortina Olympics did remind me of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics though, which gave me reason to hope. I was excited for the Turin, Italy Olympics because one of my favorite bands Bloom 06 (2/3rds of Eiffel 65) had created the official theme for that year. I was expecting to see them at the opening or closing ceremonies, but I don’t even remember hearing the theme anywhere. Considering they hadn’t made any music since 2009, I doubted I’d see or hear Bloom 06 during the 2026 Olympics. “But maybe Gabry Ponte (the other 1/3 of Eiffel 65)?” I dared to hope during the whole opening ceremony. Nope. There was a lot of electronic music though.
Lindsey Vonn, a favorite for alpine skiing despite an ACL injury, fell down and broke her leg within 15 seconds.
The winner of Men’s Giant Slalom took his time taking off all his shirts before screaming and flexing at the crowd.
The 90s theme for the Rhythm Dance was pretty great. Still no Eiffel 65 though.
The winner of the Men’s Slopestyle beefed it on what was supposed to be his victory run. The NBC commentator’s reaction encapsulated this moment well, “Dude, what are you doing?”
The NBC commentators look so ridiculous standing and sitting an awkwardly far distance apart while talking to one another in front of a screen.
Every time Picabo Street appears as an NBC commentator, it reminds me of that Front Page Sports: Ski Racing video game from the 90s. It played audio of her breaking her leg whenever you failed to ski down the course.
Snoop Dog looks so old.
Women’s Half Pipe NBC commentators: “That’s the first time anyone has landed the double cork 1080!”
Judges: “Eh. I guess that’s like an 88.”
After all the hype, Ilia Malinin got 8th in the Men’s Free Skate. The guy from Kazakhstan deserved the gold though. He did a good job.
Interesting. The most efficient way to team pursuit skate is to stay in one order for the whole race and physically push the leaders from behind.
During the Women’s Giant Slalom, three skiers tied for first place at one point on Run 1. On Run 2, two women tied for 2nd place.
Poor George Savaricas. I took to laughing at him every time he appeared as an NBC commentator just because he swallowed loudly mid-sentence once.
I agree with the NBC commentators: the Women’s Snowboarding Slopestyle judging was bizarre. The woman who won seemed like she was out-boarded by several others.
The debut sport for Milano Cortina 2026 was Ski Mountaineering. It involves cross-country skiing uphill with sticky skins on the underside of the skis, removing the skis and running up stairs, removing the sticky skins from the skis and downhill skiing, and replacing the sticky skins to cross-country ski uphill again. It reminds me of that bizarre event in summer Olympics with horse riding, fencing, swimming, shooting, and running.
One of the Women’s Free Skate competitors had a Stranger Things-themed skate. The music included an audio clip of Vecna saying, “You’ve already lost,” a brutal reminder considering she’d already fallen down. Meanwhile, Amber Glenn, the American favorite, went from 13th to 5th place between the Short Program and the Free Skate. Good for her.
Women’s Halfpipe Skier: *flails down the half pipe*
Judges: “I guess that’s like an 80.”
The figure skating gala was fun. The skaters may not have spun on their butts, but they did the macarena and YMCA. Another group dressed as Kung Fu Panda, Deadpool, and Mortal Combat characters. The panda even succeeded in doing a triple spin.
Gabry Ponte appeared for two minutes during the Closing Ceremonies! It’s 20 years later, but I finally got to see part of Eiffel 65 at an Olympics in Italy! Yes! Best two minutes of the 2026 Olympics!
Right after watching all five seasons of Stranger Things, I watched the making of documentary One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5. For how much the Internet praised and complained about Will’s coming out scene, there was zero mention of it. The documentary’s timeline even skips bizarrely from the making of Episode 6 to the making of Episode 8. Did the creators of the documentary foresee what a train wreck of controversy Episode 7 was going to be and intentionally exclude all commentary about it? Did they re-edit the documentary to remove mention of Episode 7 and replace it with more commentary about Episode 8 after the controversy? Or was Episode 7 so special in their mind that they excluded it to be experienced in the show alone?
On a lighter subject, watching the set dresser splash fake blood on the walls and everything else for Mrs. Wheeler’s fight scene made me cringe.
I was surprised after I watched Sadako vs. Kayako to discover that’s its considered a comedy-horror. The concept of The Grudge vs. The Ring is a stupid idea that can’t be treated seriously, but this movie felt more like a boring Japanese horror. Half the time, I couldn’t distinguish its intentional comedy from characters making typical bad choices in a horror setting. The rest of the time, comedic characters just felt like stereotypes oddly placed in a horror setting. Namely, a cool bro exorcist and his blind little girl sidekick joined the cast midway into the movie after a fairly typical series of horrific deaths.
All I thought was funny was the terrible, sometimes intentionally so, Engrish subtitles in the copy I watched. During an exorcism, the subtitles enhanced an old woman’s spiritual chanting with Harry Potter spells. “Avada Kedavra!” “Expelliarmus!” “Expecto Patronum!” I wish I could remember some Engrish examples, but you can also watch the copy yourself here:
The creators of M3gan are totally Portal and Portal 2 fans. I had a feeling when I watched M3gan, but after watching the sequel M3gan 2.0, I’m convinced.
The robot villain-turned-ally M3gan has a distortion in her robot voice that’s very reminiscent of the voice of GlaDOS, the robot villain-turned-ally of the Portal video game series. M3gan’s character arc from M3gan to M3gan 2.0 matches GlaDOS’s from Portal to Portal 2, and M3gan singing pop songs inappropriately matches GlaDOS unexpectedly singing the closing theme to both Portal games.
As for the movie itself, it’s great and about as good as I remember M3gan being. Among other satisfying action, comedy, and storytelling beats M3gan 2.0 features, the villain printer company Xenox having super advanced AI is hilarious.
Occasionally, host Josh Gates portrays himself as a dumb, annoying American in a foreign country. Overall, however, his bits are charming–he once realized he didn’t have physical currency to buy ice cream and helped sell ice cream to make up for it–and he comes across as a genuinely enthusiastic archeologist.
Tracking Tasmania’s Tiger (S4 E9)
Cryptids are animals frequently seen but not yet proven to exist. I knew there was a word that encompassed Big Foot, the Mothman, the Chupacabra, and the like.
Viking Secrets (S5 E1)
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are derived from Odin’s Day (Woden’s Day), Thor’s Day, and Freya’s Day.
The Secret, Cracking the Secret, The Secret Solved (S5 E4, S7 E9, S7 E12)
In these episodes, Josh Gates follows clues to real-world buried treasure as depicted in the The Secret: A Treasure Hunt. This book, published in 1982 by Byron Preiss, contains twelve paintings, each depicting clues corresponding to locations across North America in which Preiss buried a box holding a ceramic key. Each key corresponds to a gemstone that Preiss would award to the finder. Only two keys were found before Preiss died in a car crash in 2005, taking the locations of the remaining keys with him.
Josh Gates follows modern enthusiasts of The Secret, who believe they’ve cracked the clues to the remaining boxes. Adding to the difficulty of following the clues, however, is the changes to the cities and landscapes that have occurred in the nearly 40 years since the book was published. Despite this, Josh and his fellow treasure hunters find a key! The Secret is one of Expedition Unknown‘s more fascinating stories and with an amazing conclusion. More often, Josh finds little to advance the mystery he attempts to solve by the end of an episode.
I wonder if Ernest Cline took inspiration from The Secret when he wrote Ready Player One? The characters’ fascination with the 80’s makes it seem plausible.
The Hunt for the Golden Owl (S6 E9)
In this hunt very similar to The Secret, a book On the Trail of the Golden Owl by Max Valentin provides eleven clues to the location of a golden owl worth half a million dollars and hidden somewhere in France.
Escaping the Rock (S10 E7)
Expedition Unknown made it all the way to episodes that premiered in 2022 without mentioning COVID-19! This episode contained the first obvious signs: Josh making inappropriate video calls to interviewees that he would usually visit in person.
I was on the fence about COVID-19’s affect on Deadliest Catch. On one hand, the show documents one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, so why would the people willing to do it care about a flu virus? On the other hand, the ship captains and some of the crew have extremely unhealthy habits, so I understand their concern. It’s nice that Expedition Unknown let COVID-19 affect the show as little as possible, given how ridiculous that would look juxtaposed with the adventurous and dangerous risks they take on a per episode basis.
Chasing the Mysteries of Moses (S10 E12)
One of the show’s interviewees explains the origins of the modern alphabet: ancient semitic graffiti inspired by ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Wanting to write something themselves, the semitic graffiti artists drew a rough depiction of an ox on top of a house. The ox upside down creates the shape of an “A.” The word for ox and house to the semitic people was “alpha” and “bet.” Crazy!
The Hunt for Petra’s Lost Tombs, Petra’s Secret’s Revealed (S14 E1-2)
Another of Expedition Unknown‘s more interesting stories, this pair of episodes explores ancient Nabataean ruins, much of them carved in stone. The Nabataeans knew how to control water in the desert, their ancient settlements featuring stone and ceramic plumbing and water ways. They also had the technology to carve grand buildings out of solid stone cliff faces. Despite their achievements, we know almost nothing about them, including the purpose of their most impressive buildings. They existed within a few centuries of 0 AD.
The Man-Eating Lions of Kenya (S15 E2)
I thought there was nothing to learn about two lions, called the Ghost and the Darkness by those tormented by them, that killed as many as 130 people over 100 years ago and that Josh Gates had no business investigating whatever he was investigating, but this episode was surprisingly interesting. Josh and the investigators he accompanied analyzed the skulls and DNA of the lions and discovered they were brothers with genetic tooth problems. Jammed into a hole in one of the lion’s teeth was also hundreds of hairs, revealing what the lion ate and how its diet changed over time. Humans proved easy prey and soft food for lions with sore teeth.
Vanderbilt’s Lost Steamship (S16 E6)
Josh and the investigators actually found the ship wreck! Usually, Josh finds a different ship or a different airplane crash. Or it starts raining, and the crew’s plans are ruined forever.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery contains its share of ruthless mockery of Catholicism but also a refreshingly optimistic view of it. The murder victim of this who-done-it, Monsignor Jefferson Wicks, runs his church like a cult and shamelessly confesses his numerous sexual sins to his new assistant pastor, the protagonist Jud. Meanwhile, Jud is a devoted servant of God who genuinely wants to realign the Monsignor’s flock. He begins to doubt his abilities and mission, however, when no one seems interested in his teachings and he finds himself the primary suspect in Jefferson’s murder.
These two views create entertaining contrasting imagery. In one moment, Jud and detective Benoit Blanc are breaking into the dead Monsignor’s office and smashing a tiny Jesus statue with a statue of Jesus’ head in their search to treasure. In the next, Jud is selflessly listening to a woman talking through her unrelated personal problems and doubts. Jud’s brief foray into treasure hunting becomes background noise when he remembers what’s really important to him. While most of the film and its murder centers around the hunt for a lost treasure, in the end, Jud returns the treasure to God’s possession where it belongs.
The balance of mockery and praise of Catholicism is nice… and pretty funny.
Breaking Bad is one of the most well-constructed TV series I’ve ever seen. It follows Walter White on his rise from over-qualified high school chemistry teacher to methamphetamine drug lord. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend getting on Netflix and watching it before proceeding.
The series features many well-developed characters, but Skyler, Walter’s wife, in particular caught my interest. A fellow Breaking Bad fan, and the person who introduced me to the series almost a decade after its final episode aired, however, told me this was an odd choice. The wife of the shady protagonist in crime dramas like Breaking Bad (e.g. The Sopranos) tends to receive a lot of hate from viewers. They’re either submissive to whatever their criminal significant other wants them to do, making them seem weak or unrealistic to the audience, or they are antagonistic, making it natural for the audience to dislike them for getting in the “hero’s” way.
As Walter White’s wife, Skyler is no exception to the rule of being a commonly disliked character. She begins the series oblivious to Walter’s criminal activities. After she discovers them, she transitions between reluctantly or unwillingly supporting them, trying to separate herself and/or her kids from them, and finding herself hopelessly ensnared by them. Walter reasons that his actions are for the good of his family. He wants to provide them with wealth and safety for after he dies prematurely from terminal lung cancer. Skyler similarly reasons that her actions are for the good of her family. She hides Walter’s criminal activities partly to protect her son, who would be devastated to discover the father he admires is a criminal, and partly to protect her brother-in-law DEA agent Hank Shrader, who would be devastated to discover a criminal mastermind in his midst.
While Walter is willing to sell drugs and commit murder to provide for his family, Skyler is willing to go to equal extremes to protect them. She concocts a clever explanation for Walter’s wealth for her sister and brother-in-law. With her former career in accounting, she insists on overseeing Walter’s money-laundering operation to ensure no one discovers it. She pays most of Walter’s accumulated fortune to her former employer when she discovers he is at risk of being investigated for tax evasion. Fearing her household and money laundering business will also fall under this investigation, Skyler insists he use the money she forces on him to pay his bills and shutter his business, even sending goons to scare him into doing so. Unfortunately, she does this at a time when Walter needs his accumulated wealth most, unwittingly creating a seemingly insurmountable obstacle for him.
Admittedly, after watching the series a second time, Skyler is most interesting during this period of reluctant acceptance, which peaks in Season 4. Her prior period of revenge sex with her former boss in order to punish Walt for hiding his criminal activity and post period of deep depression and antagonism after she discovers Walt is not only a drug dealer but a murderer is less interesting. Perhaps this is because in both cases she reaches the contradictory conclusion that she must split her family apart for the good of the family.
Still, she was the character I didn’t know existed and yet needed for inspiration. I’d never watched a crime drama before and was unfamiliar with her archetype. It turns out I’ve been writing a novel with a loose crime drama sub-plot for over a decade, and the “crime boss’s” wife was my weakest character. Unknowingly following the trend of crime dramas, I’d never had a good idea of what to do with her to make her likeable or even interesting. Skyler made me wonder, “How far would this supporting character go to protect her family?” While I can’t say I’ve solved the problem of the “crime boss’s wife” archetype, finding an answer to this question resulted in a much more interesting character.
One of my goto commentators Sydney Watson recently commented on food eating content on YouTube, TikTok, and other platforms. Being a consumer of subcategories of such content, I wanted to share my thoughts.
The majority of Sydney’s commentary focuses on her disgust with mukbangs, a subcategory of eating videos where the host simply eats in front of a camera without a particular goal. I agree. From what I know of mukbangs–which, admittedly, mostly come through Sydney’s video–mukbangs are boring and disgusting. My exposure to mukbangs prior to Sydney’s video was through Nikocado Avocado, who appeared as a guest on another channel I watch and then pulled an extreme weight loss stunt. I watched a couple of his videos after this stunt and, yeah, was mostly bored and disgusted by him and his guest Hungry Fat Chick. If Sydney’s montage of mukbang videos is any indication of what the subgenre is like, I have no interest in it. She somewhat lumps mukbangs into the same category as food challenge videos though, and here is where I have some disagreement.
Despite mukbangs and food challenges appearing to contain the same content, from what I see, they target different audiences and the creators employ different strategies. Some mukbangs focus on the hosts chatting with their audience or among themselves over a table of food that may or may not be entirely consumed. For example, the hosts may sample a fast food menu while hanging out with guests or the audience. These could be considered the wholesome type of mukbangs, bringing lonely people together over food. The more popular mukbangs, however, focus on extreme behaviors: eating large quantities of unhealthy food, lip smacking and chewing ASMR, moaning and excited reactions to the taste of food, eating messy food or eating messily, obese people shamelessly showing off their obesity, etc. These creators perhaps gain attention through shock value, appealing to food fetishes or ASMR niches, or affirming their viewers’ obesity.
In contrast, food challenge videos follow a common saying: “Shut up and eat.” Viewers generally aren’t interested in food reviews, chatting, long introductions, or long outros. Videos are often overlaid with music or narration to drown out the eater’s chewing sounds aside from the eater occasionally sharing satisfying crunches and “Mmm!”‘s. Even then, eaters often apologize for sharing crunching noises or showing off dripping food to the camera. While there are messy competitive eaters out there–and sometimes it’s necessary to meet a time limit–it’s actually not a recommended strategy to eat food messily. This can cause a disgust reaction and curb appetite. Viewers have also been known to criticize eaters for leaving so much as crumbs behind. Additionally, because organs can’t shift as easily when surrounded by fat, overweight eaters don’t have as large a capacity as eaters at a healthy weight. Most popular competitive eaters maintain their physique, creating an overlap between competitive eating and exercise enthusiasts rather than obesity advocates. Eaters often emphasize to their viewers that they maintain a strict exercise routine to maintain their weight but also encourage and model to their viewers not to be afraid of food. Even excessive eating can be worked or dieted off with discipline.
Sydney does briefly mention that she recognizes a difference between mukbangs and food challenges but goes on to complain that food challenges are still a waste of food. Even if someone successfully eats an impressive amount of food, no one needs to eat that much. This neglects that eaters who maintain their weight often eat less than they normally would in the days, weeks, and even months following challenges, ultimately canceling out the excess. These eaters also often enjoy exercise, sports, or weightlifting and need to consume more than the average 2,000 calories per day to maintain their performance anyway. I suppose you could consider their lifestyle or hobbies a waste, but its certainly healthier than the obese mukbangers Sydney criticizes for eating an excessive amount of food to feed their obesity.
Overall, I agree with Sydney’s assessment of mukbangs though with one other caveat…
Erik the Electric‘s significant other Kristie Barker technically makes mukbangs, and they’re great. She used to make fun shorts where, for example, she bought all the Crumbl Cookie flavors for the week or an assortment of candy from foreign countries, took a bite or two of each, and rated them. Her long form content usually features her and Erik sampling a variety of food and hanging out together in a fun place, Disney most often. Her mukbangs embody the feeling of hanging out and having fun. Kristie is a personal trainer and former bikini competitor. She’s highly disciplined with her normal, daily food consumption as demonstrated in her videos on the subject, but for viewers wanting to attain similar goals or physique as her, she advocates for also making healthy use of cheat days or cheat meals and practicing indulging in favorite foods with restraint. She’s often seen taking only a bite or two of tasty food or taking viewers along for her indulgent cheat days to demonstrate these ideals herself. Her bird-like eating in most videos might be considered a waste, but Erik is also often shown devouring the rest.