Because January has 1,297 days, and it’s been quite cold for 1,295 of them, I’ve been watching a fair amount of TV. Like “Industry,” a series about high-risk finance-world hijinx set in London, because I’m an HBO snob. I have to read the recaps and Reddit groups to understand exactly what happened in the episodes I just watched. It makes me feel smarter and dirtier (there’s a lot of sex), which is sort of the signature feeling of being an HBO subscriber.
I similarly enjoy feeling dumb and kind of baffled, so I’m also watching “Heated Rivalry,” which is gay romance porn. Seriously. It’s about two hockey players who land as top-ranked rookies in the not-NHL (because the real one would never allow its intellectual property to be depicted in such a scandalous way), almost immediately hook up, and continue being rivals and secret lovers for the course of a decade.
When I say it’s porn I am not exaggerating. Not hard-core — we never see a unit except for a very brief glance on a phone screen — but there’s no doubt what is happening, which is to say we see bobbing heads, pelvic thrusts into other pelvises with heads thrown back so there’s no doubt someone is hitting the target, and lots of dirty talk.
I started watching it not because I’m into gay porn, but because it was an immediate, surprise hit for HBO, who picked it up from some Canadian network I’ve never heard of. And the people making it a hit aren’t gay men (although I’m sure they’re watching), but women. Who knew?
The first episode did little for me, but I gave it a second chance, and now I have to see it to the end. One player is Canadian and the other Russian, and they kinda leave me cold, because half their dialogue is them calling one another assholes and boring, right before they smash their bodies together and get with the fellatio. I’m more interested in the B-plot couple, another hockey stud and the smoothie barista he falls for, whose arc and dialogue is right out of the Hallmark Channel, but at least seem to actually like one another. I watched the penultimate episode last night and will tee up the finale tonight. Alan’s not into it, but he’s not objecting, either.
I do enjoy seeing the parallel world of the not-NHL, which is called MLH in the show. There’s the Boston Raiders and the Montreal Metros, which the two leads play for, and the New York Admirals, the B-plot guy’s team. The championship they play for is just “the Cup,” no Stanley involved. (As a prop, it’s kind of underwhelming, and looks like a bowling trophy, but the hoisting it overhead and kissing it part is dead-on.) The smoothie barista’s store is called Straw & Berry, and the sign is so obviously composited into the shots it’s kind of funny. At least the Olympics are called the Olympics, and the 2014 games happen in Sochi. I guess they don’t worry about the Olympic committee, or the Russians suing.
Why are straight women so into gay romance? Beats me. I read a little here and there. Someone mentions there’s a lot of consent, and it never feels tacked on, but rather hot and human: Can I do this? Would you like that? Etc. Some enjoy a show where no women suffer at all. The power dynamic is never mismatched; Shane and Ilya are both having great careers, and win and lose roughly in proportion to one another. You do kinda wonder how the New York B-plot hunk is drawn to this smoothie guy, but smoothie guy is in grad school and extremely cute. Everybody has a sensational ass. It’s not a mystery.
Also, watching guys get it on means I don’t have to think about the president or any of his gang of thugs for the running time. Is that so wrong? I don’t think so.
What are you watching?
BigHank53 said on January 28, 2026 at 7:30 am
No female romantic leads means female viewers don’t have to grind their teeth over lazy misogynistic tropes being recycled by writers, directors, etc.
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Julie Robinson said on January 28, 2026 at 9:16 am
So, you haven’t been to the cabin yet. (Will be understood by fans.)
My daughter is OBSESSED with this show and the actors, and is now consuming the books in both print and audio. I thought it was okay, kinda cute and sweet. Glad I watched so I know what it’s about.
Of course it’s escapism and we all need it. Yesterday she testified at the county commissioners and had a meeting with the jail chief, all about ICE. When she came back another group had an emergency meeting, then she had to put out some fires at church and prepare for the annual meeting on Sunday. Here at the house there are some medical situations going on. She’s getting a text every 30 seconds. Let her have a moment of distraction.
I just finished Bookish over on PBS passport. Starts a little slow, builds its webs, and now I’m in shock I have to wait for the next season.
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alex said on January 28, 2026 at 9:21 am
My husband would be jealous if I watched gay porn so I’ll have to wait until he’s away on business. Right now he’s home with COVID and I have to keep testing. Evidently he’s having a rebound case. They gave him Paxlovid when he got COVID a few weeks ago, then he tested negative, then he got sick again and now insurance won’t pay for more Paxlovid even though he has a discount coupon and our doctor appealed the denial.
I don’t feel ill yet and I’m dreading the likelihood that I’ll contract it but there isn’t much I can do except isolate in front of my computer while he recuperates in the TV room.
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Icarus said on January 28, 2026 at 9:34 am
Until the pandemic, I had never heard the word “penultimate”. Yay CPS education! But then I started binge-watching a show I had stopped watching beforehand. I don’t remember if it was still running but I was trying to catch up on the missing seasons and of course reading online reviews.
I found a review that mentioned that whatever episode was the penultimate and I had to look up the word.
Why are straight women so into gay romance? Why are straight men so into lesbian sex?
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Dorothy said on January 28, 2026 at 10:04 am
Julie we are part way through Bookish and now I’m intrigued. I look forward to finishing it. We started His & Hers on Netflix yesterday because our kids recommended it. We’ve seen half the eps – it’s very soap opera-ish but also compelling. Jon Bernthal is always good. I don’t know the other actors, but character Priya looked familiar. Yep – saw her in GLOW – also Netflix. Anna’s boss has been in stuff I’ve seen but I didn’t look him up. Thank God for IMDB. Otherwise I’d never be able to fully enjoy a show, I’d be so distracted trying to figure out where I know that face from.
We like The Rip a lot (Affleck/Damon) – it kept us constantly guessing who was a the bent copper. We’re teeing up Steal one of these days. Being a Pittsburgher of COURSE we are really into The Pitt. I don’t whine about not hearing the accent – it’s t.v. and I’m aware actors are hired for their talent and not their ability to do a Pittsburgh accent. Also it’s not filmed there except for exterior shots. And we’ve had BritBox for a year now and there are several series we liked a lot. Vera was one of them – took forever to finish it cuz it’s 14 seasons. And early Shetland was much better before Doug Henshaw left.
I keep a list on my phone so we don’t forget about previews we’ve seen and want to watch eventually. It helps a lot. Also – we are stuck indoors like everyone else and my baseboard heater is broken in my sewing room. So like it or not we’re in front of the boob tube a lot more than usual.
One more thing: I picked up a book that was near the check out desk at the library the other day. It’s Emma Heming Willis’s book about being a caregiver for her husband Bruce Willis. I’m learning an awful lot. I hope I would never be in a similar situation, but if you know anyone dealing with this very recently, suggesting this book to them would be a good thing. Also, I’m not an expert but a lot of the things she talks about are pretty sensible and stuff I already sort of knew. But she’s not even 40 yet so I’ve got some years on her. It still has very useful information and I’m glad I picked it up.
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Mark P said on January 28, 2026 at 10:54 am
I read about a superhero comedy called Mystery Men, which I had never heard of. It’s about a group of superheroes whose super powers aren’t very super. It sounded good, and it has a good cast, so if I ever get a chance to watch tv again, I’m going to track it down.
And speaking of getting a chance, they moved my wife out of intensive case yesterday, and moved her right back today because she isn’t waking up. She got agitated two nights ago and they gave her a double dose of Valium, and then another about three hours later. On top of another drug given for alcohol withdrawal. She was almost completely unresponsive yesterday, although she did wake up late last night for a short time after I went home. I’m glad she’s back in ICU. After ICU, the regular floor looks like a ghost town.
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Dorothy said on January 28, 2026 at 11:08 am
Oh Mark I’m so sorry she is going through all that, and you too, of course. What a trying and difficult time.
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ROGirl said on January 28, 2026 at 11:25 am
What Dorothy said. Whatever else happens, don’t let them take your wife out of ICU, if possible.
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Julie Robinson said on January 28, 2026 at 12:54 pm
Mark, that’s plain awful. I’m so sorry.
I found the Emma Heming Willis book very helpful. She’s not an expert, but smart enough and rich enough to consult with the real experts. Every chapter has suggestions and resources at the end. Because she’s a layperson it’s real and approachable.
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Brandon said on January 28, 2026 at 12:54 pm
Tubi has a lot of great shows.
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Dexter Friend said on January 28, 2026 at 1:28 pm
Being a Springsteen fan for 51 years, having been to multiple live concerts, and even if Bruce backed the casting of Jeremy Allen White to play Bruce during the Nebraska writing years, I refuse to watch this show on streaming. White always reminds me of Robert Mitchum of the 1940’s era, and I never liked his acting on “Shameless”, which was a poor take-off on the British production. It just creeps me out because I always see Mitchum in his demeanor. Not a fan.
Bugonia is not going to reap the rewards, but Jesse Plemons deserves an Oscar. I believe Leo will deservedly win Best Actor. One Battle…will clean up on Sunday night. Sinners might bump them off the dais, however. I watched Sinners not knowing anything before viewing even a teaser/trailer.
So yeah, I was shocked when the vampires came out. Wow! What a great movie…I guess?
Besides sports, 2/3 of my viewing time is watching YouTubes of men resurrecting junked vehicles from barns, fields, and salvage yards and getting them on the road and driving hundreds, thousands even, of miles. Nomad van-life videos struggle to present staying-power content, so I watch very little of those. My favorite: “Truck House Life” with “Timmy” and his 36 year old GF Eden, as they are now driving 2 1990s era Ford F-350 diesel trucks up The Alaskan Highway towards Timmy’s house up there . Constant breakdowns, motels, pizza and Chinese takeaway, $8 per gallon fuel, and interaction with mechanics and fans along the way.
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Jeff Gill said on January 28, 2026 at 2:10 pm
How the WaPo (aka Bezos) shot itself in the foot, or head, in one simple graph from Nate Silver:
https://www.natesilver.net/p/the-sad-and-self-inflicted-decline
Mark P, the problem on a regular floor is they’ll be pushing you to agree to moving her to a rehab center/nursing care facility within 12 hours, and try to get her off that floor in under 48. I hope in the ICU they can find a path for some sort of stability in her condition before she moves anywhere. Grace & peace to you both.
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Mark P said on January 28, 2026 at 2:27 pm
Thanks, you all. When I got to the hospital she was awake and alert, but the longer she’s awake the more confused she gets.
Icarus, I saw a tv program once where the host used “penultimate” to mean “the really, really most ultimate.”
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Jessica W said on January 28, 2026 at 3:13 pm
I have a friend whose baseball-obsessed daughter writes Gay Jewish M-M baseball romances. Under a pseudonym. She’s gotten several shoutouts from the NYT book review romance columnist. Her books are decently written with convincing characters, and raise interesting issues.
KD Casey if you care to look up the books.
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David C said on January 28, 2026 at 4:34 pm
I learned the word penultimate from Monty Python’s The Last Supper sketch.
Bezos doesn’t care two shits if The Post loses money and in the future loses even more money. As long as it spews his the contents of his fetid mind, it what he paid for.
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alex said on January 28, 2026 at 5:46 pm
I had been doing so well with my boycott of the Post, but then they wooed me back with a bargain subscription and I caved.
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Sherri said on January 28, 2026 at 7:09 pm
I also read that the WaPo is refusing to send its baseball beat reporters to spring training next month, and rumors are that sports may be heavily hit with layoffs. Now, I’m neither a business genius nor a newspaper genius, but I would think that sports is one of the last places you’d want to cut at a newspaper. The WaPo has long had an excellent sports section, though I noticed that one of my favorite columnists recently decamped to The Athletic.
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Deborah said on January 28, 2026 at 8:27 pm
We listened to the Springsteen song this morning, the lyrics are good and the music, but Springsteens voice isn’t what it used to be. I’m glad he wrote it and produced it for the people of Minneapolis, Lordy those folks deserve it, they have put up with so much and they have shown us all what we need to do now in every community.
I don’t know maybe it’s wishful thinking but I don’t expect Noem to be “in charge” that much longer. I don’t think she’ll make it until March when she’s supposed to be questioned by congress.
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Heather said on January 28, 2026 at 11:53 pm
I loved Heated Rivalry. My TikTok feed is all women who are obsessed with it. I’m sure there will be numerous essays and academic papers on why women are so into it (I think a lot of it has to do with that intense feeling of yearning for someone), but for me it pretty much comes down to: one penis good, two penises better (even if we don’t see them).
I got a free trial of BritBox to watch a show called Riot Women, about middle-aged women who start a band, and Motherland, a comedy about a group of harried mothers (and one father) in London that’s very funny. And I’m not the biggest Ryan Murphy fan, but I have been enjoying The Beauty, about a shot that makes you incredibly attractive but has some unfortunate side effects. And the second season of The Pitt.
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basset said on January 29, 2026 at 6:07 am
“All Creatures Great & Small” is our only appointment viewing of the week; we watch it every Sunday even though we binged the current season as soon as it came online. We’ve been to Thirsk (Darrowby in the shows) twice now, beautiful country up there, and I’d buy a tweed three-piece suit just like Siegfried Farnon’s if I had anywhere to wear it.
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Jeff Gill said on January 29, 2026 at 7:14 am
I’d settle for (and could afford) just the waistcoat.
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Dave said on January 29, 2026 at 9:59 am
We also enjoy “All Creatures” and I’d have one of those suits, too, if I had anyplace to wear it. Then again, I would dress like John Steed in “The Avengers”, if I ever thought I could get away with it. I just loved the Emma Peel era “The Avengers”, silly as it could be.
Mark P., I can add my sympathies to your present situation, you’ve been struggling with this for quite some time now.
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Dorothy said on January 29, 2026 at 11:32 am
His and Hers ended up disappointing us bigly. Very dumb ending. We’ve been fans of All Creatures through several variations of it. First we read the books and then we watched the first version on PBS about 35 years ago. Actress who plays Helen appears to be pregnant in real life during this current season. Or she’s post partum. Lots of flowy coats and overalls. She did have a baby in April last year so my observations are right!
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Julie Robinson said on January 29, 2026 at 2:07 pm
Dorothy I noticed the same thing. She’s always sitting at a table with a large bowl in front of her.
More awfulness from the Dilley detainment center in Texas, with the news that little Liam of the blue bunny hat is depressed, not eating, and sleeping most of the time. Also that despite the laws, interned children aren’t receiving any education. When pressed, officials said they plan on getting some packets in. These kids are being set up for failure.
Locally, a six-month old baby was wrestled away from his mother’s breast as she was feeding him. Mom was sent to detainment and deported, all while in physical and emotional agony because breastfeeding bodies don’t have an on/off switch. She has not been reunited with her baby, who is now on formula.
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basset said on January 29, 2026 at 2:11 pm
She’s also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and the BT Tower to raise awareness of deafness issues, presumably on ropes for both of em, unlike that insane free climber in Taiwan last weekend.
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basset said on January 29, 2026 at 2:21 pm
Nancy, you haven’t mentioned Kate’s house or band for awhile, how are those going?
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basset said on January 29, 2026 at 2:38 pm
Looks like the posts got out of order… but you know what I meant.
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Dexter Friend said on January 29, 2026 at 3:03 pm
Bezos significantly contributed to our having 47 now as President. Fuck that son of a bitch and I refuse to read even gift links from his rag.
I heard “Minneapolis” on Amazon Music. Bruce is my man and always has been. He is only 5 days younger than me, was deferred from service, but he has always had Viet Nam veterans in his thoughts and a song. He lost many friends in Viet Nam, and this brand new tune hits hard righteously.
Yesterday I wrote how I have been watching “Truck House Life”, with Timmy, for a few years now. A few days ago his girlfriend Eden in her own Ford diesel hit ice on The Alaskan Highway and ended up in a ditch, truck on its side in the middle of the night…and the video ended. That’s content alright, but damn…I mean I have been to Anchorage in winter, but in an airplane, even if was a de-commissioned stinking rotting 707 that the US Army leased to fly another load of cannon fodder to Southeast Asia. California- Alaska-Tokyo-Bien Hoa. That route.
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Carter Cleland said on January 29, 2026 at 3:10 pm
The Lowdown with Ethan Hawke, on Hulu, is pretty great. Albeit shaggy.The news boss from His + Hers was the nautical police chief in Hightown, a pretty good, but gritty, crime drama about Provincetown. (May have left N’flix by now.) I’m also enjoying Blindspot, which has great writing/puzzle solving, and in which EVERY episode includes high-powered weapons and hand-to-hand struggles to take down the foe, and save the world. And run, don’t walk, to screen Vivien’s Wild Ride, on PBS Passport, and certainly other platforms.
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Deborah said on January 29, 2026 at 3:21 pm
I watched Province Town before we went there this fall. I liked it but I know a lot of people who didn’t. It was best in the first season which is common for these series, went through three seasons and that’s it, no more seasons.
I’m frantically trying to get our book club selection finished before Saturday evening. It’s very good but I’ve been having a hard time pulling myself away from doom scrolling. The book is What We Can Know by Ian McEwan. It was on Obama’s reading list from 2025, that’s how we found out about it.
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Scout said on January 29, 2026 at 5:41 pm
As if I don’t have enough anxiety and sleepless nights, I am currently listening to the audio version of Nobody’s Girl by Virginia Giuffre.
Heather, we loved Motherland and Riot Women is up next in the queue.
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jim said on January 29, 2026 at 7:56 pm
Dorothy I can now add His and Hers to Murder on the Orient Express and the Sixth Sense to mysteries I guessed early.
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Sherri said on January 29, 2026 at 8:32 pm
Not a new show, but we just watched the first two seasons of Wednesday and enjoyed it a lot. We’re watching The Pitt and All Creatures, will start on the latest season of Bridgerton soon. Lincoln Lawyer begins a new season next week, as well.
We’re also watching Starfleet Academy, and enjoying Holly Hunter be a very different kind of Starfleet captain.
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Sherri said on January 29, 2026 at 9:39 pm
One thing I wish Dems (and lots of liberals) would grasp about policing reform is that bodycams aren’t effective for preventing LEO violence, nor for providing after the fact accountability. People see the power of citizen videos, and think that bodycams would provide the same power, but they don’t, because the video is controlled by the abusing agency, which almost always protects the LEO over the victim. They refuse to release the video, they selectively release the video, they say they can’t release the video, they lose the video, etc, etc.
Take the case of Marimar Martinez, who was shot five times by a Border Patrol agent. DHS lied about Martinez, a US citizen, claiming she rammed a DHS vehicle with her car and calling her a domestic terrorist. However, federal prosecutors dropped all charges against her, and a federal judge dismissed them with prejudice, which means they can’t refile against her.
They still are lying about her, calling her a domestic terrorist, so she wants the bodycam footage released. The government is stalling.
https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/judge-scolds-trump-administration-marimar-martinez-border-patrol-shooting-bodycam-video/
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Sherri said on January 29, 2026 at 11:45 pm
I’ve read the things the Dems want to negotiate, and they’re missing the point. Sure, great, don’t deport citizens. *That’s already supposed to be true.* Get a judicial warrant. **It’s called the Fourth Amendment, been around for over 200 years.**
The problem is, a paramilitary force is occupying and terrorizing our cities. Tom Homan today even referred to the number of agents “in theater”, like it’s a war. Saying “don’t deport citizens” isn’t going to stop them from snatching citizens off the street and disappearing them to another state, holding them for a few days, then releasing them in the middle of nowhere with nothing, *because terror is the goal.*
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Brandon said on January 30, 2026 at 1:47 am
Re: the “Unkind” post of the 7th. I was browsing music sites, including Whiskey Riff, which has this article:
https://www.whiskeyriff.com/2026/01/29/the-nfl-is-getting-brutally-mocked-for-appointing-a-chief-kindness-officer-for-the-super-bowl/
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alex said on January 30, 2026 at 1:19 pm
Au revoir David Brooks:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/30/opinion/david-brooks-leaving-columnist.html?unlocked_article_code=1.IVA.Wnqj.vHSEQQmCTVHM&smid=url-share
Gift link. I was never a fan, but today he makes some very astute observations about the state of the world and quite eloquently.
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Deborah said on January 30, 2026 at 1:38 pm
I was sorry to see that Catherine O’Hara died at 71, loved her in various shows, I always thought she had great comic timing.
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Sherri said on January 30, 2026 at 1:54 pm
David Brooks is just going to the Atlantic. He’s not retiring.
And I’m sorry, but no matter his eloquence, I can’t read David Brooks lamenting our loss of a shared moral order without remembering that he dumped his wife for his much younger research assistant.
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Julie Robinson said on January 30, 2026 at 2:36 pm
Regarding Brooks, what Sherri said.
I find myself desperately sad about Catherine O’Hara. Probably this says a lot about my own state of mind. She was uniformly wonderful in all her roles.
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Dave said on January 30, 2026 at 2:48 pm
Did anyone here first see Catherine O’Hara on SCTV, when it was still a Canadian show being syndicated in the US in half hour bits, I thought that show was hilarious. John Candy, Eugene Levy, Joe Flaherty, Andrea Martin, funny stuff. Sad at her passing and only 71.
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ROGirl said on January 30, 2026 at 2:59 pm
Catherine O’Hara was so wonderful and funny from her SCTV days to her hilarious turn as Moira Schitt and beyond. What a loss.
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alex said on January 30, 2026 at 3:23 pm
I’ve been a Catherine O’Hara fan ever since her SCTV days. Here’s a fave skit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCVDNvId0wI
Didn’t know straight-laced David Brooks was such a dirtbag.
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susan said on January 30, 2026 at 3:48 pm
Alex @ 43… You clearly don’t listen to the Chief Executive Cognoscente of All Things David Brooks, Driftglass, who can be heard at The Professional Left Podcast, twice a week. He will put you right about what an evil mush-brain Brooks is.
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susan said on January 30, 2026 at 3:50 pm
Driftglass also has a blog.
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Suzanne said on January 30, 2026 at 4:04 pm
The thing with Brooks is that while he is gifted at the craft of writing, he is the epitome of privileged individual who has no idea he is. I find him frustrating because he gets so close to understanding but can’t get over the line. For example, this sentence:
“Multiple generations of students and their parents fled from the humanities and the liberal arts, driven by the belief that the prime purpose of education is to learn how to make money.” Yeah, David, because the cost of education now precludes many from seeking higher education for education’s sake. They might love to learn about philosophy and art and literature but they cannot afford to. They need that degree to earn a living.
He bemoans the loss of religious community but doesn’t understand that the party he happily promoted for years had embraced unbridled capitalism as their religion long before he noticed.
And yeah, when he talks about the need for morality and community and commitment to ideals, I can’t help but think of him and his ex-wife and his much younger new wife.
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Kathy said on January 30, 2026 at 4:51 pm
I’m watching Michelle Obama’s documentary Becoming in hopes that it will show up in the rankings on the weekend that Melania was released.
Also, in my South Minneapolis Buy Nothing group someone is giving away 20 bullhorns.
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Sherri said on January 30, 2026 at 4:57 pm
Chris Rufo has decided that the problem in Minnesota is all those Scandanavians!
https://bsky.app/profile/zackbeauchamp.bsky.social/post/3mdntdh4tds2z
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Dorothy said on January 30, 2026 at 8:44 pm
My family are big fans of many of Christopher Guest’s movies. Number One has to be “Best in Show,” where Catherine O’Hara played Cookie (Googleman) Fleck. If you haven’t seen it, there’s a running joke of Cookie’s very large number of past lovers. When my daughter went to Penn State my sister Diane sent her a package addressed to Cookie Googleman. When she got the package in the mail at first she thought it came to the wrong room. Then she realized what her Aunt Diane did, and died laughing.
Thank you Ms. O’Hara for the uncounted number of laughs you gave us for a very long time. We miss you already.
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Heather said on January 30, 2026 at 8:48 pm
Between losing Diane Keaton and Catherine O’Hara within a few months, it’s been a tough time for fans of offbeat comedic actresses. And both just way too young.
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Mark P said on January 30, 2026 at 9:15 pm
Language log has taken Brooks down a few times. Here’s one quote:
“David Brooks has an unparalleled ability to shape an intellectually interesting idea into the rhetorical arc of an 800-word op-ed piece. The trouble is, a central part of his genius is choosing the little factoids that perfectly illustrate his points. No doubt he’s happy enough to use a true fact if the right one comes to hand, but whenever I’ve checked, the details have turned out to be somewhere between mischaracterized and invented.”
Another LL post:
https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=4524
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Jakash said on January 31, 2026 at 1:06 pm
Re: Alex and the WaPo @ 16. I understand all the reasons not to subscribe, but I just want to be able to read the occasional article that gets a lot of notice. The last time I subscribed to the Post was years ago, when they dipped down to a $10 / year offer. After the year, we were gone.
Since then, we’ve gotten many, many offers, usually $40 / year, that we’ve declined. A couple months ago, they floated .99 / month for a year. We decided that $11.88 was close enough to $10 to go for it. It’s actually billed monthly — seeing that .99 on the credit card statement is kinda funny.
Re: Sherri and sports coverage @ 17. In Chicago, the Sun-Times has really ramped up their sports coverage and it’s top-notch. (For local stuff, in particular, of course.) They have a big section on Sunday that Neil Steinberg compares to the quality of the old Sports Illustrated.
Meanwhile, the Alden-destroyed Tribune has cut in most areas and sports has been decimated. I don’t know what their deadline is, but most night games of whatever sport are covered in the day-after-the-next-day’s paper. Uh, that’s preposterous. It’s embarrassing to read some lame article about a game that’s already been played in the next day’s paper that’s not about the results of the game itself.
Re: Carter Cleland’s recommendation of “The Lowdown” @ 29. Two thumbs up here. It’s quirky and it’s quite an interesting role for Ethan Hawke. I’m a pretty big fan of his. He’s excellent and has made an assortment of very compelling choices when it comes to what he appears in. Granted, he’s made some duds for money, too, but who doesn’t?
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Dexter Friend said on January 31, 2026 at 2:08 pm
Certain entertainment shows trip me. When my tour as a Viet Nam US Army medic ended, I could not tolerate fireworks or war movies. Then I was totally irritated when *MASH* premiered. The combination of war and intense humor was loved by millions, but it was way too soon for me. When the injured came in , there was absolutely no wisecracking and humor and I just could not, ever, suspend disbelief and watch that show. Oh, yeah, I tried, and always ended up with a knot in my gut. Now, 55 years since I resumed civilian life , I dialed in “Pitt” . For maybe 90 seconds. I can’t stand hospital shows to this day, and I do not understand how anyone can.
OK…today I watched a YouTube, narrated by AI with many photos , of “Body by Fisher”, the whole history of Detroit Plant 21 and the other plants, and how critical that company was in the growth of the automobile process and manufacturing. The narrative referred to the plant at the junction of I-94 + I-75. I have driven past that many times and never realized it was such an important factory. The AI robot drones on, mispronouncing words and some times repeating itself, but since I was best buddies at one time with a Fisher Body guy, I liked the show.
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Deborah said on January 31, 2026 at 6:17 pm
Speaking of Ice, this made me cry https://www.instagram.com/p/DQNLvEGETWc/?hl=en I know some of you here follow skating, this showed up on my instagram feed today, it’s from October 2025.
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Sherri said on January 31, 2026 at 9:50 pm
“The reality is much simpler. The president of the United States is like a Roomba. His actions are not strategic. They’re often not even particularly tactical. He simply pushes in a direction, consuming what he can. When he runs into opposition he turns and starts devouring in another direction. Sooner or later, though, he always circles back, and the cycle repeats.
To anyone asking “Would he really…” the answer is always “Yes, unless others stop him.”
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026/01/26/Trump-America-Comes-Alberta/
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