Some days, you discover something and must share it with the world. You know that piece of rousing music you probably most associate with the circus? It often heralds the entrance of the clowns. I'll let Marty the Zebra refresh your memory: Well, as it turns out, this particular piece of music was not written for the big top, but it was written with another circus in mind, a circus that takes it to the maximus, one might say.

Bottoms up! After all the viewing guides to date, we finally arrive at Deep Space Nine (DS9). While I love several other Star Trek series a whole lot (as you probably picked up on), this one remains my favorite for a multitude of reasons, not just for the root beer. No, this spinoff with no Enterprise --and not even set on a starship-- is where the producers kept pushing the envelope for how much serialization they could insert despite most shows of that era, including…

Okay. Perhaps you read the viewing guides for TOS yesterday. Maybe you've been watching Lower Decks, which references the O.G. animated series enough that you feel like you need to see this oft forgotten Trek series for yourself. But do you need to see every episode? No. I mean, you could. Budget a relaxed day and you can watch the whole series that same day.

My post ranking every episode of the original Star Trek series remains one of the most popular on the site which means we're well overdue to have a viewing guide. This year will mark the 60th anniversary of adventures of the starship Enterprise first appearing on television sets. There's aspects of the show, like any show, that are of its time, but it also sets the tone echoed by future Trek series where the exploration of ideas has aged remarkably well.

Reviewing works about motivation and fulfillment around the new year and it was easy to come across videos featuring Robert Waldinger, the director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, which has been going on for 87 years now. As you might imagine, just like with studies that aren't conducted over multiple generations, this study does have some insights to share.

It's the new year and if you haven't already locked in your resolutions and resolution-related plans, have I got a post for you: a 26-minute breakdown of 20 tactics to make for a better 2026 from Daniel Pink. I first read Pink's work with Free Agent Nation and then later Drive, which sent me down the scientifically-structured rabbit hole of "

Since the return of thousands of works entering the public domain again in 2019, I've been posting about it -- and given site traffic and feedback, y'all want me to, so here goes this year's edition (previous entries should all be tagged). Note that I'm specifically talking about the United States, where, as of today, creative works published in 1930 and sound recordings from 1925 are free to use without licenses or fees.

It's the end of the year, so it's a good time to be contemplative. And you know those novels or TV shows, usually fantasy, where some character opines that they have "fewer winters ahead than behind?" It's in that contemplative mood that I looked through my stack o' possible blog posts and found an article called "The Tail End" by Tim Urban…

It's definitely time people start thinking about making New Year's resolutions or otherwise mapping out things they want to get done for the year ahead. And I'm suggesting that, whatever those plans are, it should include some art. This should not come as a surprise. I have advocated this whole wacky "making art thing" on this blog multiple times as my seven or nine regular readers may remember.

Look, apparently the theme for this week is dealing with online crap (well, that and working through cinematic loss by adding to our "films to watch/rewatch" list). However, if you want to help figuring out things, you could do worse than physicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson. Tyson has long been an advocate for critical thinking (the image above was one of many I found when searching), but this 15-minute guide for how to search better online might help you, your friends or family. Enjoy.

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) continues its tradition of an elegant montage of the film industry folks we lost this year, both in front of and behind the camera. It's a good reminder to check out a film or six... and don't be surprised if you don't get wistful with many movie memories. As I've done since '23, below is a list of all the folks who are listed, in order, with links to their IMDb pages (or similar) and, in some cases, additional remembrances.

I did a post the other day about Girl Scout cookies because the holidays count as overall cookie season and perhaps some people might cry foul. True, those people might not be much fun at holiday parties, but they have a point. Stuffed animals, however, deserve some consideration during holiday season because if you've never given the gift of a stuffed animal to a kid or been a kid receiving "the best stuffie ever," well...

YouTube video by Creezy

Look, I know it's not "Girl Scout Cookie season" yet, but a) I always forget when exactly it starts, b) I know it's sooner than later, and c) we're in the midst of cookie baking season for sure with the holidays, so... maybe you'll try and bake a recreation? Anyway, this around 13-minute video from Weird History Food has just the right amount of detail and snark that it feels like a good fit for this blog. Enjoy! Oh, and if you're not a fan of Girl Scout cookies, have you not tried them? They're delicious!

So remember that post last month about the Partial Veil crowdfunding? Well, I’m happy to say that it succeeded — and, in fact, we’ll find out this Sunday who falls victim to the Cruel Hand of Fate (scroll down to the "Cruel Hand of Fate" part of the description for unusual way for fans to influence the upcoming season). I think this is mainly for the characters in season two, in which the character I voice, Deputy Ray Lester, does not appear -- and not just because it's audio drama.

My kids independently confirmed they did not want Christmas music to play nor Christmas decorations to go up until after Thanksgiving. Indeed, they voiced their displeasure at local radio stations switching to Christmas music and lights going up on neighborhood houses before this sensible demarcation point. Alas, we are not the Holderness Family and will not be producing a Thanksgiving banger…

After decades of debating whether or not to stop minting the penny, the United States has finally stopping minting them. Just last month, in fact. Maryclaire Dale has a good overview article for the Associated Press that came out right around the time the last pennies were being made at the Philadelphia Mint. For example, what will businesses do now that the penny is still legal tender and circulated, but no longer produced?