Posts tagged “Hollywood”

• A paralysed man can stand on his own after receiving an injection of neural stem cells to treat his spinal cord injury.
• From the Department of NSS: Media Use Is Linked to Lower Psychological Well-Being “The more time spent on screens, the greater the negative effects—especially among young people. The study suggests excessive media consumption disrupts essential psychological needs, such as real-world social interaction, physical activity, and sleep quality.” – via Arnold’s Pump Club, which is a surprisingly informative daily newsletter
• Lionel Messi trading card controversy: Who is signing his autographs? (See also: Why do companies buy memorabilia like the Ohtani ball and Skenes card? It goes back to Babe Ruth.)
• Tesla Is Dying, and Polestar Wants to Kill It
• The nightmare scenario for Hollywood has arrived: Viewers are choosing free creator content over premium subscriptions. Nielsen data for February 2025 show YouTube now dominates nearly 12% of total TV viewing time—more than Disney and about equal to Netflix and Amazon combined. And this doesn’t even count viewership on phones and tablets, where creators dominate even more. – via The Dailies
• Good news: Kentucky governor vetoes GOP abortion bill, says it undermines doctors and endangers pregnant women.
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad opened at the Magic Kingdom in 1980 and I still think of it as one of the newer rides.
• Where Have You Gone, Joe DiMaggio?
  • I don’t understand why the AP bent over backwards to avoid mentioning the political party affiliation of an ex-North Dakota lawmaker sentenced to ten years in prison for going to Europe with intent to pay for sex with a minor.
  • Lest We Forget the Horrors: An Unending Catalog of [the Current Administration’s] Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes
  • “DOGE” claims it’s not an agency that has to comply with FOIA requests, so The Intercept is suing them.
  • POTUS nominates Republican once accused of mishandling taxpayer funds as HHS watchdog
  • For Fascists, Hypocrisy Is a Virtue

• I love The Octonauts, although I do sometimes worry it’s giving my son an unrealistic perception of the coffee consumption rate of the average undersea exploration headquarters polar bear captain. – via @gatordavid
• How The Netherlands Built a Biking Utopia – via distilled
• Here’s some cool stuff you can do with Bluesky (aside from following me, of course).
• There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI – via @rking_618
• This is your annual reminder that the album Sugar & Booze by SNL alum Ana Gasteyer is chock full of fantastic holiday music and you can stream it on Alexa.
• In part he cried because he knew what lay ahead. The families of the dead, the people who were shot, had now been in war, like he had. They would struggle like he and so many of his combat buddies had.
• I joined Mastodon seven years ago — a full decade after I started using Twitter, by the way — and still have absolutely no idea how it works. (Note that I’ve spent the last thirty years building web and mobile applications.)
• This kid’s reaction to Lamar Jackson‘s scramble last weekend is the best (via Ravens). – via @randderuiter

Hey, hey, Hollywood. I’ve got an idea. Instead of re-releasing the craptacular and uninspiring Clash of the Titans in 3D, why not re-release Star Wars: Episode IV in its original format? (i.e. no walking Jabba, no Greedo shooting first) In fact you really should simply do this every five years or so. Get on that, okay?

• Runmeter (iTunes) looks to be a very slick iPhone app for tracking runs. I can’t run the LA Marathon this year because it conflicts with Kelly’s bachelor party in Las Vegas, but I’ll probably grab this for training for the 2011 race.
• Speaking of iPhone apps: The guys at AppAdvice really are on the ball. So far it’s the best blog I’ve found for discovering new apps. They write terrific reviews and always find the gems hidden in the glut of the tens of thousands of applications and games currently available in the iTunes store.
• I have become completely addicted to Ikariam, a web-based Civilization-style game. It’s free to play, though I guarantee if you start you’ll quickly get hooked and want to pay for the premium features. (I’m on the Ny shard if you decide to give it a try and want to look for me.)
• If you’ve been thinking about building a laptop-controlled robot made with LEGOs that can solve a Rubik’s Cube in 12 seconds, just give up. It’s already been done.
• Kottke.org has a cool post with video showing a slew of television shows that you probably never would have guessed were shot on a green screen. Did you know that The Mentalist (allegedly set in Sacramento), Monk (allegedly set in San Francisco), and CSI: Miami (allegedly set in Miami) are all mostly filmed here in Los Angeles?
• Have you subscribed to The Impossible Cool yet? Once or twice each week this blog posts a fantastic (and rarely-seen) photo of a cultural icon. Check out this killer image of Sean Connery. See also: Iconic Photos