A good while ago I opined that I would love a "build your own" slot machine kit. I figured it was unrealistic because the amount of work to create the kit compared to the demand probably makes such an endeavor unprofitable.
But now there's a "build your own" cuckoo clock kit, which is pretty close. Such an interesting idea, though I'm unsure if I will pull the trigger on it. I have no need for the end result and I'm skeptical about how hands-on it will be with the clock mechanism itself - does the clock just come as a single piece or are you going to be assembling intricate gears?
Clue is being re-released to theaters to mark its 40th anniversary. Check showtimes here.
The movie will reportedly be shown for 3 nights (August 24-26), with a different ending each night. Though when I search my area for show times it has more than 3 dates, so... repeats, I guess.
Continuing my series of discovering and cataloging Youtube genres, I've discovered Pool Cleaning Videos and they're somewhat compelling but not compelling enough, for reasons I'll explain.
There are at least two types of pool cleaning videos. In the first type, the pool is empty and they're cleaning the cement. These are fine, these are pleasing but you'll note they don't differ in any meaningful way from the Pressure Wash genre so I will omit talking about them. See below for an example.
Categories: "Things Going from Disorder to Order", "Cleaning", "Pressure Washing", "Oddly Satisfying."
The other type of pool cleaning video - the main one for the topic of this discussion - is a pool cleaning where the pool is full of water. You'll find my favorite example below.
Categories: "Things Going from Disorder to Order", "Cleaning", "Bright Colors", "Oddly Satisfying."
There are two aspects of this example I need to point out. First, you'll see the pouring of chemicals, the churning of the water and the color of the pool changing from dark dirt to a crystalline blue. It's an amazing phenomenon and one that I'd never seen before. This process is the main feature that all videos in this genre have in common. But as much as I find the color change satisfying, it's also too slow and usually involves "checking back in" periodically so you don't really get the satisfaction of watching it change before your eyes. This is the main disappointment of the genre - the pretty color change that I want to watch mostly happens off-screen.
The second aspect of this video to discuss is pretty rare and the reason this one rises above the rest... The part where they run some sort of pool vacuum and you watch the pool bottom getting cleaned in neat strips - the part starting around 11:00 - that's superb. That's the best. More of that please, because I haven't seen other videos that feature it.
So in summary, I find the Pool Cleaning Genre to be compelling but not as satisfying as other similar genres.
Blind Mike has some thoughts on Jon Stewart's reaction to the Late Show's cancellation and it serves as an incisive look at the entire late night talkshow landscape.
My first reaction to the idea that talkshows can be more like podcasts was to dismiss it. But then he mentions Charlie Rose and Tom Snyder and it seems reasonable. That is essentially what those shows were. And they never got great ratings but they could be successful because they were so inexpensive to produce.
I don't believe I've mentioned GD Fenderson already. GD is a stand-up comedian who's alledgedly made the worst stand-up special of all-time. Blind Mike is watching/reacting to the entire special in installments - every week or so, they're trudging through a few more minutes.
In this episode, they find a fun way to treat the added captions. It really elevates the material.
The official designations from Blind Mike are: Tom Myers is the worst stand-up comedian of all-time but GD Fenderson has the worst special of all-time. I haven't looked into it in-depth but I find these terms to be reasonable.
