Sixteen thousand people erupted into rapture when Donald J. Trump walked into the Prudential Center in Newark at 10 p.m. Saturday to attend an Ultimate Fighting Championship match.
UFC doesn’t appeal to me, and this article about Trump attending isn’t illuminating, but it did get me thinking about other presidents and candidates.
Where would Joe Biden go to revel in the embrace of his most avid fan base?
When was the last time a Godzilla movie was a good movie? Not good for a monster movie, but a good movie? Godzilla Minus One is a good movie and is available on Netflix. It won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, has a 7.9 on IMDB and 98%/98% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Godzilla Minus One cost $15 million to make and pulled $56 million at the domestic box office. For comparison, Godzilla x Kong has an IMDB rating of 6.2, cost $150 million to make and pulled $196 million in domestic ticket sales. Godzilla x Kong turned a profit, but is a forgettable movie.
Why was Godzilla Minus One so much better at a tenth the cost?
One aspect of Godzilla Minus One was unusual. In Independence Day, and some other American movies, there is a national pride that is central to the plot. For Americans, we are proud of our military, our ingenuity and our ability to pull together despite our differences. That isn’t often shown in foreign movies. Since this was post-WW II in Japan, the kamikaze tradition comes up and along with other aspects of culture that develop in a country that just got their ass kicked in a world war that they started.
Godzilla Minus One is not a perfect movie. Everyone was Japanese, so no diversity at all. When the little kid cries, she sounds like a baby crying. The aircraft used in the final battle was too unconventional.
Godzilla Minus One is a movie that will stick with me for a while. 9/10.
The movie reviewer, Critical Drinker, does a better job explaining it.
NYT: Will the Force be with The Acolyte
NYT: Will the Force be with The Acolyte
In two days, a Star Wars spin-off TV show, The Acolyte, will premier on Disney+. The eight episode season will cost $180 million. It’s hard to believe anyone thinks this show will be successful.
The author of the commentary, Jonathan Chait, describes himself as a liberal hawk. He is a committed anti-Trumper, but has criticized liberals and conservatives.
Disney spent a quarter billion dollars to build, Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser hotel, and it only remained open for a year and a half. This girl spent $6000 to be immersed in the experience. Fortunately, she’s cute and made an engaging 4-hour video about her Star Wars adventure that’s been viewed by 7 million people. She should recoup her expenses.
The Trump conviction was a partisan hit job by a rogue prosecutor and a corrupt district attorney. Every thing you need to know is in that headline.
The Democratic National Convention, where the president would otherwise be formally nominated, comes after Ohio’s ballot deadline of Aug. 7. The party’s convention is scheduled for Aug. 19-22.
For over a decade, the DNC knew that Ohio had an early deadline for presidential candidates to get on the ballot. The DNC paid no attention to the deadline, so Biden wasn’t going to be on the ballot in Ohio unless someone did something to fix the problem.
Vox: Companies don’t care about Woke.
Have you ever wondered why people you know to be smart and reasonable, can be so politically different from you? People get their information from different sources and this article is a perfect example. Nothing is necessarily wrong, it just misses the point and leaves out some important parts.
The concept of nudging has become popular in the past few years—using psychological tactics to subtly steer people toward making better decisions that are aligned with their own interests or societal goals.
Recreation of actual event.
Sparky is a courteous dog. He can wander anywhere he wants, but he acts as if the bathroom doesn’t exist. Even if he’s dying to tell me something, if I’m in the bathroom, he goes somewhere else and tries to look busy.
Storms make Sparky active and agitated, but he says he’s not afraid. He just wants to be near me in case I need his help. It started to rain, so I was done moving firewood into the wood shed. When I came in, I took a shower.
Sparky came by to hang out. He tried to be casual about it. “So, you think I can drive the quad tomorrow? Were there any mice in the wood pile? Why are you standing in house rain when there is outside rain? Are you sure this is safe? I’ll just wait here.”
© 2026 Big Stick Physics
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑