A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
Stephen Colbert delivers his LIVE monologue following President Trump’s address before a joint session of Congress, where Texas Democratic Rep. Al Green was thrown out for shouting down the President, and each of Trump's lies was met with cheers from the Republican side of the aisle.
Yes, Hoover Cleveland could say something that would make the Democrats cheer, "I resign." Too bad he almost certainly won't do that. Speaking of doing something, at least Representative Al Green got himself ejected for civil disobedience. Effective or not, that's more than the rest of the Democrats attending.
Trump addressed a joint session of Congress, he got quite an intro from the Sergeant at Arms, many of Donald’s closest allies were in attendance, he laid out his agenda for the next four years, Elon was in the house tonight in his official capacity as America’s highest-ranking DOGEbag, a new poll from CNN said 52% of Americans do not approve of the way Trump is handling his job as President, the Dow dropped 1300 points in two days, Trump touted that he has made English the official language of the United States, Democrat Al Greene of Texas got thrown out, there was a second Democratic rebuttal in Spanish from a representative who’s from right here in The Golden State, Justin Trudeau of Canada spoke about America’s new tariffs, SHAQ provided our favorite moment from a parade in New Orleans, and Trump celebrates Women’s History Month.
Former Biden Administration official Pete Buttigieg lays out tactics that Democrats can pursue in defending American democracy and calls on peace-loving conservatives to do the same while there's still time.
Pete Buttigieg as Senator from Michigan to replace Gary Peters — I could get behind that, but it's too early. Besides, it's up to Buttigieg.
I close with the cold open to last night's Late Show, MAGA Maniacs.
Hidden beneath the surface of our coastal seas are towering forests - of kelp. These underwater ecosystems are as crucial to our environment as their land-based counterparts. We’ll explore them alongside conservationists who are working to restore these threatened habitats. We'll also meet some adorable sea otters and learn about the role they play in maintaining the balance in this sensitive environment.
While PBS Terra uploaded this video on August 15, 2024, a little over six months ago, I first heard this story in 1985, when I was working on my M.S. thesis at Rancho La Brea, then heard it again when I was working at Channel Islands National Park. I held on to this story for another decade until I was hired to teach environmental science at the community college in 1996. That's when I started telling it myself. I have told it to every environmental science class since then and also my organismal biology classes. It was time I told it to my readers. I hope you all enjoyed it and learned something new.
I'm not done with holidays, because tomorrow will be a double celebration of Fat Tuesday on Marching Music Day. Marching bands of Mardi Gras, anyone?
Elon Musk (Mike Myers) interrupts a heated meeting with Donald Trump (James Austin Johnson), JD Vance (Bowen Yang), Marco Rubio (Marcello Hernández) and Ukraine President Zelensky (Mikey Day).
I'll let the top comment on the video speak for me: "This was less chaotic and embarrassing than the real thing." That's even with Mike Myers playing Elon Musk as an Austin Powers villain crashing the meeting.
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like a U.S. appeals court blocking a Biden-era student debt relief plan.
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like Dunkin' Donuts announcing they will stop charging more for plant-based milk.
The stories about the ceiling collapsing during a screening of Captain America: Brave New World and the CBS soap opera Beyond the Gates alone qualified this entry as the Sunday entertainment feature, but there was more movie content in The Movie Guy Shares His 2025 Oscars Predictions.
The Movie Guy (Marcello Hernández) stops by Weekend Update to discuss his predictions for the 2025 Oscars.
No, it's not going to be Wicked winning Best Picture tonight. Maybe next year.
Jane Wickline stops by Weekend Update to share some tips about wooing potential love interests.
On the one hand, I'm recycling what I wrote in 'SNL' spoofs the VP debate in its cold open, the first time I saw Wickline sing: "Now I'm wondering if this song is eligible for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics at next year's Emmy Awards. I'll have to wait until July to find out!" On the other, I don't think that's a good solution to the Trolley Problem if you want to favorably impress a potential romantic partner.
SNL was not done with making fun of the news, so I'm closing this entry with Mid-Day News 2.
Things go off the rails as anchors of a news channel (Shane Gillis, Kenan Thompson, Heidi Gardner, Ego Nwodim) cover the latest news.
Listening to all that reminded me of Science confirms my opinion of life in the country: "I've lived out in exurbia and semi-rural areas for more than a decade. In that time, I've witnessed more crime and depravity there than in all my time in the city." I'm with Kenan and Ego on this one.
That concludes today's comedy entry, where my readers and I laugh at the news because it hurts too much to cray. Stay tuned for WorldWildlifeDay.
Best Picture: Six editors voted for Anora, four chose Conclave, and one picked The Brutalist, which was an early leader, but has since faded. I'm torn, so I'm splitting my pick between Anora and Conclave. Best Director: Ten editors picked Sean Baker for Anora, while one still thinks early leader Brady Corbet can still win for The Brutalist. I'm going with Anora. Best Actress: Eight editors think Saturn Award and Golden Globe winner Demi Moore will win her first Oscar for The Substance. Two think it will be Mikey Madison for Anora. One holdout is hanging on to Golden Globe winner Fernanda Torres. I would have voted for Moore at the Saturn Awards, so I'm rooting for her. Best Actor:The Brutalist's best chances are in this category, with nine editors picking early leader Adrien Brody, while two are choosing Timothee Chalamet for A Complete Unknown. As much as I like Chalamet, it's not his time yet, so I think Brody has this in the bag. Best Supporting Actress: Speaking of having this award in the bag, every editor selected Golden Globe winner Zoe Saldana to win this award for Emilia Perez. I agree. Best Supporting Actor: Kieran Culkin is also the editors' pick to walk off the podium for A Real Pain; every editor voted for him, too. Again, I agree. Best Adapted Screenplay:Conclave won the Golden Globe as well as the Critics' Choice Awards and WGA Awards, so it's a prohibitive favorite here; again, all eleven editors voted for it to win. Best Original Screenplay:Anora was the favorite to win the equivalent award at the Critics Choice Awards but lost it to The Substance, then won the equivalent WGA Award. It's not a prohibitive favorite; while seven editors expect it will win an Oscar, four think A Real Pain will instead. I'll pick Anora. Best Cinematography: Ten editors voted for The Brutalist; one apparently hasn't committed to this or most of the rest of the categories. That won't deter me from beating the drum for The Brutalist. Best Costume Design: This is one of the best chances for Wicked to win as ten editors expect it to walk off the podium with the Oscar. I agree. Best Film Editing: Nine for Conclave, one for Anora. I'm for Conclave.
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Substance. Since this was my choice for the equivalent Saturn Award, I'm agreeing. Best Production Design:Wicked should win this one, too. Best Score: Nine for Conclave, one for The Brutalist. I'll pick Conclave with reservations until I hear the main theme myself. Best Song: "El Mal" from Emilia Perez has the support of nine editors, while "Like a Bird" from Sing Sing holds onto one. Like Best Score, I'm agreeing with the expert opinion with reservations. Best Sound: Seven for Dune: Part Two, two for A Complete Unknown, and one for Wicked. The Saturn Awards don't have a sound category, but I would have voted for the sequel in Music, so I'll transfer that to Dune: Part Two. Best Visual Effects:Dune: Part Two has an even better chance of winning this award and it was my second choice for the Saturn Awards, so, yes. Best Animated Feature: Eight for Saturn Award winner The Wild Robot, two for Flow. I'm going with The Wild Robot. Best Documentary Feature: Seven for No Other Land and three for Porcelain War. No Other Land has been leading since I started looking at the odds, so why not? Best International Film:Emilia Perez was leading, but is now behind I'm Still Here, six to four. It's one of these two, and I'm not choosing. Best Animated Short: Eleven editors voted for this category, six for Magic Candies, four for Yuck!, and one for Beautiful Men. I'm being contrary and choosing Yuck! for the title alone. Best Documentary Short: The Only Girl in the Orchestra leads with six, but the rest of the field has support, with two each for Incident and I Am Ready, Warden and one editor supporting Death by Numbers. Best Live Action Short: Eight for A Lien and three for The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent. Sure, A Lien.
Francis Ford Coppola accepts his Razzie® for Megalopolis.
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In the new world of 2025: Bad is good. Dumb is smart. Ghastly is great. Oh, and winning a Razzie is a good thing. Here's looking at the top of the bottom and bestowing 2024's "Bizarro Best" with the honors they deserve!
Worst Picture : Madame Web
Actor: Jerry Seinfeld / Unfrosted
Actress: Dakota Johnson / Madame Web
Razzie® Redeemer : Pamela Anderson / The Last Showgirl
Supporting Actor : Jon Voight / Megalopolis, Reagan, Shadow Land & Strangers
Supporting Actress : Amy Schumer / Unfrosted
Director : Francis Ford Coppola / Megalopolis
Screen Combo : Joaquin Phoenix & Lady Gaga / Joker: Folie a Deux
Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel : Joker: Folie a Deux
Screenplay : Madame Web, Screenplay by Matt Sazama & Burk Sharples and Claire Parker & S.J. Clarkson
I am thrilled to accept the Razzie award in so many important categories for @megalopolisfilm , and for the distinctive honor of being nominated as the worst director, worst screenplay, and worst picture at a time when so few have the courage to go against the prevailing trends of contemporary moviemaking!
In this wreck of a world today, where ART is given scores as if it were professional wrestling, I chose to NOT follow the gutless rules laid down by an industry so terrified of risk that despite the enormous pool of young talent at its disposal, may not create pictures that will be relevant and alive 50 years from now.
What an honor to stand alongside a great and courageous filmmaker like Jacques Tati who impoverished himself completely to make one of cinema’s most beloved failures, PLAYTIME! My sincere thanks to all my brilliant colleagues who joined me to make our work of art, MEGALOPOLIS, and let us remind ourselves us that box-office is only about money, and like war, stupidity and politics has no true place in our future.
I appreciated Coppola's acceptance remarks more than Dinesh D'Souza's, about which I wrote, "At least D'Souza showed up to 'own his bad,' proving he has some sense of humor, but he doesn't seem [to] realize it's not the Hollywood insiders who were voting, it's the fans. Dude, Hollywood doesn't hate your movie, America hates your movie."
That written, between Todd Phillips, my choice for Worst Director, and Coppola, I suspect the Razzie voters voted for Coppola because he's the more famous director. That fits the pattern I noticed nine years ago.
In addition to the covert misogyny I suspect among the voters, there is overt Schadenfreude; the voters seem to delight in finding bad performances by big name performers and creators and using them to bring the highest low. I don't have a problem with that, so I find it to be a useful role for the Razzies.
Even though I think Phillips did a worse job than Coppola with his creative control, I doubt he'd have written such a good acceptance speech, let alone accepted at all. Coppola owned his bad, even though he didn't really think that his movie was actually bad.
On the other hand, Madame Web's bad was so strong I could see its Razzies coming last year, "I'm afraid Madame Web will earn multiple Razzie nominations and might even win some of them." It led the "winners" with three Razzies, Worst Picture, Worst Actress for Dakota Johnson, and Worst Screenplay. Joker: Folie a Deux, Megalopolis, and Unfrosted tied for second with two Razzies each. Jon Voight's roles other than Megalopolis — Reagan, Shadow Land, and Strangers — tied those movies for last place.
Finally, Unfrosted winning two Razzies surprised me. Not only is it likely the first movie with both an Emmy nomination and at least one Razzie nomination, I'm sure it's the first movie with an Emmy nomination and two Razzies. Congratulations?
I'm not done with the movies. Stay tuned for the Oscars post I promised.
Some Trump voters regret sending him back to the White House because he's doing nothing to lower prices on everyday items like coffee and potato chips, and there's a new medicine that might extend your dog's lifespan by years.
Elon Musk is still going with his Chainsaw Massacre of our federal workforce, Guillermo lists the five things he did at work this week, a group of Republican Senators met privately with the White House to complain about Elon’s impulsive and haphazard cuts, companies owned by Elon Musk have been the recipients of more than $30 billion from our government, Trump is now hocking dollar bills made of gold, and he is meeting with President Zelensky of Ukraine to discuss what is being called a “reconstruction investment fund,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi announced that a list of Epstein clients and his flight logs would be released today (they were not), instead they released a binder full of information everyone already had, people keep forgetting that Trump and Epstein were good friends, and in honor of the Oscars we took to Hollywood Blvd for a new edition of “Breaking the News.”
You pointed out four years ago that Elon Musk's fortune and the success of his companies were both built on government subsidies. American liberals may not have liked Musk for being a billionaire, but they generally quietly ignored what you pointed out as long as they thought he was on their side. Now that he is trying to buy Twitter, potentially ruining their venue for activism and entertainment, then announced that he wasn't on their side, they are all over that fact. They've also called into question the purported technological achievements of his companies and realized a lot of their value springs from faith in Musk himself. His companies' stock prices are now collapsing, which was one of the "black swan" events Lathechuck postulated in the comments four years ago. I don't suppose you are surprised by any of this, are you?
He wasn't. In fact, he joked that he was bored by it. Just the same, liberals and progressives were right about his effect on X, the site formerly known as Twitter. It's one of the main reasons we've moved to Bluesky.
[O]ne of the recurring themes in the comments to No More Mister Nice Blog, particularly from Yastreblyansky at The Rectification of Names, that a lot of the "working class" supporters of Trump based on their educational levels are actually small business owners, the petite bourgeoisie. Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene come to mind. Both were small business owners before being elected to Congress, which adds new meaning to "petty bourgeoisie."
Desi Lydic rates the Democratic Party's methods of opposing Trump on the cringe-o-meter: from off-key protest chants to interpretive dance to podcasts. Plus, with so many Dems saying "F**k Trump," Grace Kuhlenschmidt thinks that might just be a great idea.
I'm in an "I can't be all DOOM all the time mood," so I'm wishing my readers a happy Pokémon Day!
February 27 is officially Pokémon Day on the National Day Calendar. We are taking you on a journey through the world of Pokémon to learn why the Pokémon brand has reached the hearts of millions of kids, adults and fans across the globe.
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Pokémon Day commemorates the launch of the first Pokémon video games, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, in Japan on February 27, 1996, kicking off a global phenomenon that catapulted Pokémon into one of the most popular and successful entertainment properties in the world. Since then, the community of global Pokémon fans — known as Trainers — come together to celebrate their love for the brand on Pokémon Day.
Pokémon are inspired by flora and fauna, science, religion, yokai and other supernatural beings. But the series is teeming with not just Japanese folklore, but versions of monsters from across the globe made cute with softened features.
I'm glad I re-watched this episode, as I'd forgotten about the environmental message of the franchise. That alone makes it worth sharing, despite some of the minor errors, which the viewers pointed out in comments. When one makes a video about a property with millions of fans, there are bound to be some who know more than you do!
Scientists are starting to find a strange connection between neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS, MS, and dementia. They all seem to follow on the heels of common but severe infections. And that means we might be able to stop them.
Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)
This story looks familiar, because it's similar to the one told in SciShow asks 'Could a Vaccine Prevent Type 1 Diabetes?' for World Diabetes Day; an infection triggers a pathological response by the body, sometimes years later. That's the bad news. The good news is that prevention already exists in the vaccines for flu, shingles, and pneumonia. Unfortunately, a segment of the population turned against the COVID-19 vaccine and there is evidence that vaccine hesitancy has spread beyond SARS-CoV-2 to other viruses. That's a story that deserves its own entry, especially because it's topical and can develop more before I share it next month. That's only three days away, so my readers may not have to wait long. Stay tuned.
