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.
Since it's complete liquidation in 2018, the Toys R Us brand was seemingly dead. However, following its revival in 2019 with brand new stores, it appeared that the brand had a new lease on life. But, even that resurgence was plagued with issues and now with new owners, Toys R Us is back for a third time! Join me today for this updated look on what has happened with the iconic Toys R Us company.
While I'm happy to see Toys R Us return to the U.S., I'm sad to see what's happened to the brand in Canada and Australia. The Retail Apocalypse is not just an American phenomenon; just ask Hudson's Bay Company.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for coverage of the television nominees at the Saturn Awards as tomorrow's Sunday entertainment feature.
As I promisedtwice, I'm completing my coverage of the movie nominees at the Saturn Awards before moving on to television. I'm shuffling the order of categories a bit to feature Best Animated Film first.
Best Animated Film:
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie
The Bad Guys 2
Elio
KPop Demon Hunters
The SpongeBob Movie: Search For Squarepants
Zootopia 2
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films instituted a new award this year, Best International Animated Film, and here are its nominees.
Best International Animated Film (New Category)
Attack on Titan the Movie: The Last Attack
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc
The Colors Within
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle
Ne Zha 2
Stitch Head
The next logical category and the last one today is Best International Film.
Best International Film:
40 Acres
Bring Her Back
Dead of Winter
Night Call
The Ugly Stepsister
Sisu 2: Road to Revenge
I voted for Bring Her Back because it was the one I'd heard the most about and it has the highest IMDB rating of all the nominees in this category. That doesn't mean it will will win. The original Sisu won two years ago and I wouldn't be surprised if its sequel wins this year.
That's a wrap for today's installment. Stay tuned for the television nominations next, either tomorrow or Sunday.
In this video, Flux City takes viewers inside Fairlane Town Center in Dearborn, Michigan—just days after Crain's Detroit Business reported that a court-appointed receiver was announced for the second time in less than a decade.
Once a regional shopping destination that opened in 1976, Fairlane now finds itself at the center of mounting financial distress: millions in unpaid property taxes, alleged missing tenant rent, deferred maintenance, and a history of ownership instability since the start of the COVID-19 era.
As the mall faces potential foreclosure and an uncertain future, this walking tour captures the real-time condition of the property and the broader implications for Dearborn, retail real estate, and legacy suburban malls across the country.
Watching the video open and close with Eddy being ejected for recording inside the mall reminds me of one of my earlier mall entries, Steampunk fans ejected from San Diego area mall. As I quoted KPBS four years later, "Malls are private property. They have the right to determine who shops there." This means you (and Eddy, too)!
Here's to receivership saving Fairlane Town Center.
Stay tuned for the final installment of my coverage of the movie nominees at the Saturn Awards tomorrow.
Adulthood
Eden
Dust Bunny
Good Boy
The Rule of Jenny Pen
The Plague
The Toxic Avenger
As the preview image shows, Dust Bunny leads with five nominations, while the rest of the field have just this one. On that basis, it's the favorite and I voted for it. As a "professional's choice," it's acceptable, as it had two nominations at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, including for Best First Feature. However, if I hadn't counted its total nominations at the Saturn Awards, I might have voted for The Plague, which earned three nominations at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, one of which resulted a win for Kayo Martin as Best Breakthrough Performance. It also earned a nomination at the Critics Choice Awards for Everett Blunck as Best Young Actor/Actress. That might have been a better "professional" choice, but it doesn't have the weird factor most of the other nominees, including Dust Bunny, have, which would make them more attractive to a group of genre film fans. For what it's worth, Good Boy also earned a nomination at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. It has the weird factor and a dog for a protagonist. Good boy, indeed — woof!
In visionary creator Bryan Fuller’s (“Hannibal,” “Pushing Daisies”) fantastical and wickedly inventive feature directorial debut Dust Bunny, a 10-year-old girl joins forces with her hit man neighbor to confront each other’s monsters.
Ten-year-old Aurora has a mysterious neighbor (Mads Mikkelsen) who kills real-life monsters. He’s a hit man for hire. So, when Aurora needs help killing the monster she believes ate her entire family, she procures his services. Suspecting that her parents may have fallen victim to assassins gunning for him, Aurora’s neighbor guiltily takes the job. Now, to protect her, he’ll need to battle an onslaught of assassins - and accept that some monsters are real.
My wife and I viewed this trailer and put Dust Bunny on our watch list.
I have one more post planned for the movie nominees before moving on to television. That's scheduled for Friday. In the meantime, stay tuned for another short evergreen educational entry tomorrow.
It's time to say goodbye to the Year of the Snake and hello to the Year of the Horse. What do you know about the Year of the Horse?
0:00 Kai Feng, reporter for ABC Chinese, explains the significance of the horse in Chinese culture and history, 0:49 why 2026 is a 'fire' year, 5:10 and how people across Asia celebrate Lunar New Year.
Not only did ABC News (Australia) explain Lunar New Year, it explained the importance of horses to humans. Bonus educational content!
Is this how civilizations end? As climate disasters intensify, some cities survive — and others collapse. So what makes the difference?
In this episode of Weathered, host Maiya May investigates what history reveals about system collapse, failed cities, and civilizations that didn’t survive climate shocks. Were they doomed? Or did they miss warning signs we’re seeing today?
With climate disasters and global warming accelerating, researchers Luke Kemp and strategic climate risk expert Laurie Laybourn break down the common patterns behind civilization collapse — and the 5 strategies that can help modern societies avoid the same fate.
If you’ve ever wondered:
Is it the end of the world?
When do systems collapse?
Can cities survive climate change?
How do we prevent total societal collapse?
This episode explores what history teaches us — and why it’s not too late to change course.
Because collapse isn’t inevitable. But survival isn’t automatic either.
When I created this blog, I called it "A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it." I've shifted away from that, making this more "A blog about sustainability with a science fiction slant and a Detroit perspective," as it says on the Crazy Eddie's Motie News Facebook page (if you're still on Facebook, please follow), but I've never changed the description here after 15 years. That's because, deep down, I still believe in the mission I set for myself in March 2011.
On that note, here are the five strategies Maiya May and her guests propose to avoid collapse: situational awareness, adaptation, speed, democracy, and storytelling. On this blog, I'm sharing and telling stories to make people more aware of the situation, get prepared for the future, and encourage speedy responses and democracy. The last two seem like contradictions, as democracy is not known for rapid decisions, but I agree with May and her guests that both are necessary, if not easy. I hope my readers and I are up for the task.
On the third Monday in February, the United States celebrates the federal holiday known as Presidents Day. The day takes place during the birth month of the country's two most prominent presidents, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. While the day once only honored President George Washington on his birthday, February 22nd, the day now never lands on a single president's birthday.
Across the country, most Americans know the day as Presidents Day. More and more of the population celebrates the day to honor all of the past United States Presidents who have served the country. Throughout the country, organizations and communities celebrate the day with public ceremonies.
Marlo Anderson celebrated all the Presidents' pets, which reminded me that Hoover Harding Cleveland is in fairly sparse company. As Wikipedia notes, "Only James K. Polk, Andrew Johnson, and Donald Trump did not have any presidential pets while in office" — something else Hoover Harding Cleveland has in common with Andrew Johnson besides having a majority of Senators vote to convict him after being impeached!
Ballerina
F1: The Movie
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
Novocaine
Now You See Me, Now You Don’t
One Battle After Another
As the preview image states, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning earned seven nominations. The rest of the field earned just this one, so Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is the favorite.
Like Best Horror Film, there are plenty of nominees for action/adventure and thriller film at the upcoming Saturn Awards among the movies nominated here, although I have to include all the acting nominees to say so. Joining Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and Warfare from the movie category would be Carry-On, Novocaine, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, and Gladiator II from the acting categories.* That's a full slate for one category right there. Box Office Mojo's top grossing films of 2024 adds in one other possible nominee, September 5 — Red One is also an action movie, but I think it's more likely to be nominated as fantasy — while Box Office Mojo's top movies of 2025 adds F1: The Movie, The Accountant 2, Karate Kid: Legends, The Amateur, A Working Man, Den of Thieves: Pantera, Flight Risk, Black Bag, Last Breath, Babygirl, and The Phoenician Scheme in the top 50. There are 150 movies with lower box office totals that I didn't even look at! Furthermore, Box Office Mojo's Calendar lists Sovereign, She Rides Shotgun, and The Naked Gun upcoming between now and August 10th. While they are likely to be split among three categories, action/adventure, thriller, and independent film, there are still enough to fill all three and then some. There is no need to sacrifice the superhero film category to add Thunderbolts* and Captain America: Brave New World to Best Action Film!
Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Novocaine, From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, and F1: The Movie all made the cut, while Warfare, Carry-On, Gladiator II, and the rest didn't. That's because this year's Saturn Awards ignored releases from the final months of 2024, so no Carry-On or Gladiator II, and Now You See Me, Now You Don’t and One Battle After Another were better movies than Warfare, either as entertainment or as art. For the first time in this series, I'm quoting my standard rant about the Saturn Awards — "the Saturn Awards are about entertainment not art, they don't care for subtle, and they love to stick it to the experts." That's why I'm sure Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning will win this category. It's great, spectatcular entertainment, but it has no Oscar nominations; its most prestigious award so far is a Critics Choice Award for Best Stunt Design. The Motion Picture Academy instituting a casting award before a stunt award hurt its awards chances.
On the other hand, One Battle After Another earned 13 Oscar nominations. Gold Derby thinks its on track to win Best Motion Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Teyana Taylor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing. As my default position is to go with the expert/professional opinion when I vote in the Saturn Awards unless I have good reason to vote otherwise, I voted for One Battle After Another, even though I expect it to lose to Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. At least the Critics Choice Association and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Film will agree on the best action film, which would be a validation of expert opinion, not a rejection of it.
February 12 represents the 214th birthday of Charles Darwin, a scientist whose ideas transformed human understanding of the natural world, and undoubtedly one of the most influential scientists in history. But that history may have been different, as Da[rw]in’s career altering voyage aboard HMS Beagle almost didn’t happen.
First, The History Guy uploaded this video three years ago, so last Thursday was Darwin's 217th birthday. Second, I had no idea Robert Fitzroy, captain of the Beagle, was himself an accomplished scientist. Third, I knew that Fitzroy wanted a gentleman scientist companion, but I didn't know Darwin was essentially his third choice; I certainly didn't know the names of the two men who could have gone in Darwin's place. Still, Darwin turned out to be the best person available. Fourth, the video reminded me that Darwin was the grandson of Josiah Wedgwood, the founder of Wedgwood & Sons; I had heard that before, but couldn't have remembered that off the top of my head. I think I'd heard, but had forgotten, that his uncle Josiah II had finally allowed him to go. While not mentioned in the video, I did know that he married his first cousin, Emma Wedgwood, daughter of Josiah II. Talk about a close family!
By the way, I recall being a member of the Paleontological Research Institute back in the late 1980s. I've long since let my membership lapse, along with the rest of my professional association memberships. I've been concentrating on teaching instead of research the past 30 years and didn't have the time, and sometimes the money, for meetings and membership dues.
The History Guy has several videos about Valentines Day. Today's is Chocolate: A History.
From The History Guy archive for Valentine's Day, a brief history of the food of the Gods.
That was fascinating, from cacao's prehistory in Mesoamerica to today, including mentions of almost all of today's big names in chocolate, including Cadbury, Lindt, Nestle, Hershey, Reese, and Mars — sorry, no Godiva. I learned a lot from both videos, making today a good day. The second video also made me hungry. Lunchtime!
28 Years Later
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Final Destination: Bloodlines
Frankenstein
The Monkey
Weapons
In addition to Frankenstein's eleven nominations, Weapons has five, 28 Years Later has two, and The Conjuring: Last Rites, Final Destination: Bloodlines, and The Monkey have just this one. Weapons is obviously Frankenstein's competition and I wouldn't be surprised if it wins, but I voted for Frankenstein for Best Horror Film. I also voted for Jacob Elordi as Best Supporting Actor in a Film and Frankenstein for Best Film Make Up. While I voted for Wicked: For Good in Best Production Design, Best Film Costume, and Best Supporting Actress in a Film, it could easily lose to Frankenstein in the first two categories and Weapons in the third.
Speaking of Saturn Awards and what they consider science fiction, I wrote the following two years ago.
That Frankenstein is considered to be the first work of science fiction means that horror is its sister genre, not fantasy, as the movie and television versions of Frankenstein are portrayed as horror. This reminds me of what I wrote most recently about M3GAN and Prey at the Saturn Awards; "if the terror is technological, not supernatural, the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films considers it science fiction, not horror." Now I wonder how the Saturn Awards would classify a new movie or TV show about Frankenstein. Hmm.
We'll find out soon, unless they dodge the issue by nominating it for Best Presentation on Television. They did something like that for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, nominating it for Best Animated Television Series or Special instead of Best Animated Film, so I wouldn't be surprised.
Composer Alexandre Desplat performs the Frankenstein score live at the Frankenstein Exhibit Space in Los Angeles.
...
Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro reimagines Mary Shelley's classic tale of a brilliant scientist and the creature his monstrous ambition brings to life.
That's a wrap for today's post. I plan on continuing this series for the Sunday entertainment feature with the nominees for Best Action/Adventure Film. That's after a double celebration tomorrow, a late celebration of Darwin Day on Valentines Day. Two holidays at once!
Here’s a weeknight speedy turnaround musical parody (missing Tess and Alfie cos unavailable) on the UK fallout linked to the Epstein files, and specifically the former US Ambassador and British Lord, Peter Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein, and the bigger implications of his omissions and appointment rippling through Westminster. Naturally we picked a song from a movie about proteges, covert relationships, virtues and vices, which is another toe-tapping Paul Simon favourite, “Mrs Robinson” – recorded with Art Garfunkel in 1968. The song became the duo’s second number one, and the first rock song to win the Grammy award for Record of the Year. Apparently when the melody was first written there was no name in it, so it could be suited to any three syllable name – which helps explain why Mandelson seemed to fit so well.
...
A “SPAD” is a special adviser to UK politicians (usually a high-level civil servant) – and two resigned in the last day or so who were central to Starmer’s government operation.
The British government seems to be facing consequences faster than the American government. I wonder why that is?
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned as I plan on examining horror movie nominees for Friday the 13th. Frankenstein!
