Store.
Saturday, May 16, 2026
Here's video of Hasbro's $600 Grogu figure (and Disney's new jetpack sipper)
A $600 Grogu is on display at “The Mandalorian and Grogu” press junket pic.twitter.com/omeQvnla1z
— Variety (@Variety) May 14, 2026
Available at the BBTS and Amazon. And here's Disnelaynd's new sipper:
NEW: The Mandalorian and Grogu Jetpack Sipper is coming to Disneyland Resort on May 21 and coming "soon" to Walt Disney World. pic.twitter.com/whiRc6Odgi
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) May 15, 2026
Some positive reviews for the new movie "Obsession"
Also, they made the One Wish Willow from the movie, but it repeatedly sold out:
Wish granted. Back in stock for a limited time! https://t.co/dvBDCVPvgQ https://t.co/4n71RStb5F pic.twitter.com/mlpGHyyd4q
— Obsession (@obsessionmovie) May 12, 2026
New comic book Humble Bundle promises "infitnite dread"
Starts at $5 for Dwellings, which has gotten good reviews. The Hobtown Mystery stories have been on my watchlist for a while because their covers are so good.
Today's news and jokes
After Steve Sarkisian took a shot at Ole Miss academics earlier this week, it struck me that I don't think basket weaving sounds especially easy So I called an actual basket weaver and let him explain and defend his craft "I’m not really sure how it became a pejorative" www.al.com/sec/2026/05/...
— Matt Stahl (@mattstahl97.bsky.social) May 14, 2026 at 7:10 AM
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Friday, May 15, 2026
New video game Humble Bundle featuring Exit 8 and Platform 8
Starts at five games for $5, Steam scores displayed.
Today's news and jokes
NY Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns reveals he was outbid on the historic Randy Orton card at the last second:
— Topps (@Topps) May 12, 2026
"Thought it was ours for the taking, until a last minute NUCLEAR bid snuck in!"
"Thought 40k would get it done" https://t.co/qmp1boEs0i pic.twitter.com/rsc7YDLyw2
(KAT apparenlty bid $60k on some other WWE card)Whoever bought this card should be entitled to the throwback gear I wore at WM41. https://t.co/jXkENbn8vO
— Randy Orton (@RandyOrton) May 12, 2026
G.I. Joe cover process (art roundup)
For my fellow process nerds!
— JOSH Cassara (@joshuacassara) May 5, 2026
My cover for G.I. JOE #24 from @Skybound.
Thumbnail, pencils, and inks by me.
Rad colors by @rfajardojr. pic.twitter.com/IxV13RNobp
This is my process for the G.I. JOE #23 cover.
— JOSH Cassara (@joshuacassara) March 31, 2026
Thumbnail, pencils, and inks by me.
Colors by @rfajardojr.
And now you know, and knowing is half the battle. YO JOE! pic.twitter.com/J6yNjBkpL6
For my fellow process nerds out there.
— JOSH Cassara (@joshuacassara) February 16, 2026
Thumbnail, pencils, and inks by me.
Colors by @rfajardojr.
My cover for G.I. JOE #22 from @Skybound. pic.twitter.com/U1WF009elm
Thursday, May 14, 2026
The LA Times posted a map of the counterfeit Tommy's in Los Angeles (tomorrow is 80 cent cheeseburger day)
Tommy’s, the iconic L.A. chili burger chain, will celebrate its 80th anniversary tomorrow w/ 80-cent burgers. Just make sure you go to an actual Tommy’s to pick one up — back in 2019 I wrote about the prevalence of knockoff Tommy’s, and counted 67 of them: https://t.co/daD7K2QXAB pic.twitter.com/AMmz2Dr5mA
— Daniel Miller (@DanielNMiller) May 14, 2026
LA Times article.
A Southern California judge "judge has banned all Kars4Kids ads, including the earworm of a jingle, from broadcasting in the state of California "
In a case that dates back to 2021, [a California resident] originally sued the charity’s affiliated organization, Oorah Inc., when he discovered that the money from the car he donated ($250) was not going to underprivileged kids in California but rather to an Orthodox Jewish program in New York and New Jersey
...
Kids in need aren’t even really the target of the organization’s financial efforts. Instead, those go to 17- and 18-year-olds seeking gap-year trips to Israel and their families. Landau testified that $16.5 million even went to purchasing a building in Israel in 2022, and $437,000 was spent on “Middle East outreach.”
Kars4Kids funnels about $45m annually to Oorah. Of the 120,000 cars donated nationwide, approximately 30,000 originated in California, per court documents
...
Any future ads in the state must disclose its religious affiliation and geographic location. They also cannot include images of prepubescent children, given that several of Oorah’s programs support young adults.
Building with Lego Humble Bundle
Starts at $1 for two books, including "Tiny Lego Wonders: Build 40 Surprisingly Realisitic Mini-Models!"
There's also a new bundle featuring scifi and fantasy books by Robert Silverberg, starting at $3 for three novels.
Some fun details about making Nolan's Odyssey, including why Agamemnon's armor is so dark
From Time's long article about the production:
They did that by working with IMAX to solve three problems. The camera is deafening—Damon has likened it to trying to act with a blender next to your face—so they invented a casing around the camera called the blimp to muffle the noise during intimate, dialogue-heavy scenes. The camera’s short magazines require frequent reloading, so they developed a protocol in which the entire set remained silent so the actors could, in van Hoytema’s words, “stay in the zone.” And the camera had grown so large that actors couldn’t see around it. “Which is, of course, terrible for an actor that you cannot play against the person you’re supposed to see,” says van Hoytema. Their solution: a set of mirrors that allowed the actors to make eye contact.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
AK-47-type rifles aren't popular in the USA right now
NYT found an American product apparently benefitting from tariffs:
The causes of the firearm’s disappearance include tariffs, sanctions, rising ammunition prices related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the soaring popularity of the AR-15.
The AK’s shape may still be iconic, but its new cost is unappealing to many gun buyers. An AK, or Avtomat Kalashnikova, which cost a couple of hundred dollars in the 1980s, can now go for five times more, and is considered by many to be a boutique item.
...
Overseas firearms manufacturers that supplied AK parts and rifles are now more focused on arming Europeans, fearful of an approaching invasion from Moscow, than on supplying the Americans
Members of the ultra-elite Delta Airlines membership class get ferried around in Porsches to their connecting flights?
Ben Ryder Howe for New York magazine:
Is it true, I ask, that Delta sends a Porsche Cayenne to pick up 360° members and whisk them across the runway to meet a tight connection while the rest of the plane waits to deboard?
“Yes”
...
Is it true, I continue, that before every Delta flight the airline sends him a handwritten welcome card?
“Yes”
...
SkyMiles members are so devoted they barely flinched when Delta did something two years ago other airlines had long wished to but couldn’t: It tweaked the formula of its loyalty program to reward travelers for how much they spent instead of how many miles they traveled.
...
Last year, Delta reaped 55 percent of the airline industry’s profits despite having only 20 percent of market share.
(Similarly, I heard speculation this week that the Disney theme park business is somewhat insulated from economic trouble because they've trained their visitors to pay for so many upcharges.)
Two new video game Humble Bundles
The Indie Icons Showcase starts at three games for $5, Steam scores displayed.
And the "Build, shuffle, and battle" bundle promises an "all-star collection of inventive deckbuilders" starting at five games for $10.
I enjoyed the 1952 novella "Travel Light" about an orphaned girl who loathes heroes and is beloved by Odin
I read it after reading this article by Duncan Fyfe about its rediscovery:
Travel Light gets better with distance. The more time that passes since the publication of the 1952 novel, the more likely a reader will apprehend it with wonder. The book is astonishing, but you’ve probably never heard of it. Its author, Naomi Mitchison, is even more astonishing, but you’ve probably never heard of her either. Most of all, the reader will wonder, how has this novel been out there for 70 years without having become a canonical text for every bookish child in the world?
37% off right now at Amazon, although I used the Libby app.
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
New Humble Bundle featuring manga
$18 for twelve volumes, including five volumes of Space Punch.
The Image Comics "Strange Romance" bundle is also still up, as is the Peanuts bundle.
Today's news and jokes
had to clip arin wright yelling for help as soph zoomed by, first, because it’s funny, but also because it might be the most honest advertisement for this league
— andré (@andre-carlisle.bsky.social) May 9, 2026 at 7:33 AM
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Good interview with AP Thomson about the video game industry in general and Titanium Court
Includes the funny story about how he chose the color scheme for the game.
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