Sunday Asides #108

• X-Men '97 had their Season 2 finale this week and it was not good! The whole season has been a rushed mess with no clear throughline, though there have been standout moments in a few episodes. I hate to say this, but if Marvel wants Season 3 of this show to have the success they had in Season 1, they might have to find a way to bring that freaky little big-titty muscle hobbit back to the writer's room.

• Speaking of Marvel, it's time for the latest installment of "Nerds Are Never Satisfied!" Late Friday night at D23, Marvel announced more cast members for the upcoming X-Men film, including actress Maya Boyd as Storm. And wouldn't you know it, some of the online chatter already spinning up is about her not being dark-skinned enough to play her. Is there a Black Marvel/Disney actor group chat? Because baby...she's gonna need one because that fandom is DERANGED.

• My Xfinity service has been having outages every day for a whole damn week now and I am TIRED OF IT. You can't even get through to talk to a person on the phone about it because of their damn AI agents. My work productivity has been shot to hell.

• What happened to CUT? Their videos used to be so good and fun and informative, but I checked them out lately, and they've been just cranking out Truth or Drink date slop for the past year or so. I miss all the other series they used to do with their sometimes regular cast of contributors. (Maybe I've just been online too long.)

• AI watermarks for text are coming to Claude. It's gonna be interesting to see what consequences, if any, this might have for search engines and AI tools. I think we've long crossed the threshold where humans care that much about AI-generated content.

pi

I had a lot of fun putting the grid together for this puzzle (and I even through in a bonus one for good measure). Give it a solve!

Ruminate

From today's Pisces horoscope from Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology:

The speed of thought can zip along at over 200 miles per hour. That’s the rate at which signals travel through neurons. Electrical impulses in computers, on the other hand, may travel much faster, at half the speed of light. So your thoughts are very leisurely compared to machines. But they do what computers can’t. They’re creating meaning, not just moving data. Their slowness is where the richest reality unfolds. Remember that well in the coming weeks, Pisces. It’s extra important for your mental and physical health that you not imitate machines and algorithms. You need to ruminate and meditate and muse as gently and unhurriedly as you dare.

Sunday Asides #107

• OpenAI recently hosted a brand trip, which had mixed results according to social media. Most of the backlash was wrapped in general anti-AI rhetoric, but I find it funny (and odd) how so many modern influencers view being advertiser-friendly as a measure of their success. I've been on these Internets for a long time and have had my fair share of PR packages and invites to brand experiences and shit like that back in the day. It's cute, but when it dries up because brands always want to put their name behind the next best thing...then what? Soak it up while you can, but all money ain't good money.

• In the latest instance of nerds never being satisfied, Heated Rivalry recently announced the latest casting for Season 2, and wouldn't you know it...people are pissed! The way I see it, expecting mass media to cater to you individually in terms of representation is a fool's errand. I'm not saying you can't be disappointed. If you are — fine; boycott that shit by not giving it your dollars or your attention. Or better yet, redirect that energy into creating the representation you DO want to see. Instead, you bitches are crying on the Internet about the race and body size of a character borne out of gay fanfic. Carry that goddamned passion to the ballot box when these midterm elections come in a few months, okay? Let's fix THAT heated rivalry!

• Speaking of movies and television, I can imagine it's hard to build anticipation for a project when entertainment media and social media overanalyze and pick a project apart before it officially premieres, spoiling everything before the rest of the world gets to it. What incentive do people have to watch it now? Hell, I'll just wait for a bootleg download.

• Remember earlier when I was talking about Goose? They sent me an email saying they accepted my profile. This was weird because a) I didn't have the app installed, and b) I used my phone number to sign up, so how would they have my email address? (Maybe this shit really is a psyop. Or worse, a honeypot.) Anyway, I've been on there for about a week now, and as I expected, it kinda sucks. I live near the center of Atlanta, and there's barely anyone around. Oh, and like the other apps I've used before, when I speak to people, no one responds. I'm just on there to hopefully make some new local friends, and the app does do a good job of coming off as neutral as possible with respect to it's UI and UX. It definitely doesn't feel as sex-forward as similar gay "dating" apps, which is a nice touch. But here in the A, it's very dry. It's almost kinda like your vagina.

• Aldi has got me in a choke hold these days. It's cheap, the quality is good, and it's all over my TikTok feed. Coincidence?

• Quotes for the week:

  • "There's no reason to be risk averse when you're already failing."
  • "You are not surviving this world without whimsy."

Depths

From today's Pisces horoscope from Rob Brezsny's Free Will Astrology:

The Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean is so deep that if Mount Everest were located at the bottom, its peak would be over a mile underwater. The deepest point in the ocean could swallow the highest point on land with room to spare. The world holds more below than above. Please meditate on this fun fact, Pisces. I hope it inspires you to understand that your most interesting power often lies in the depths, not the peaks. While others are summiting, you’re descending into the mysterious, fathomless interiors. Your explorations may not photograph well because they happen in darkness. But they are the source of your strength.