Thursday, July 31, 2025

BURNING QUESTIONS IN A UNIVERSE OF MYSTERY #89:

What do I do if I run out of questions?

I guess I should stock up, right?

But what if I prefer to live in the moment and not worry about the future?

Maybe I should cultivate a little question farm, so I could grow my own, eh?

But what if question farming activities end up becoming a chore by consuming all my free time?

Or, alternatively, question farming ends up being the only thing I enjoy thereby displacing all other concerns and activities?

What if I ask so many questions I end up asking everybody else’s questions-what then?

Would people resent my greed or hail me as a hero?

What if I became a Question Tyrant and cruelly oppressed all other Questioners?

What if I became so obsessed with attaining Supreme Question Power that I even started competing with myself to the point where I ordered my secret police to throw me into a hellish torture dungeon even as I ordered the executions of those same secret police goons for committing treason against me?

What if things got really out of hand?

Would getting a stress squeeze ball help me deal with shit?

Would getting two stress squeeze balls-one for each hand-double up my relaxation?

What if I installed extra hands attached to extra arms so I could squeeze a dozen or more stress squeeze balls?

Is there credible science behind the presumed benefits of a stress squeeze ball or is the medical-therapeutic terrain contested?

Maybe a high stress lifestyle works for me, keeps me sharp, keeps me grinding, why would I want to dull my edge?

What if, in the end, the stress squeeze balls are the true enemy?

What if, after the end, I am defeated and displaced by the stress squeeze balls?

What if, as a new beginning, the stress squeeze balls start squeezing me-and would that mean we’ve gone Full Soviet Russia?

What then . . .?!

Wednesday, July 30, 2025

NOTIONAL HEADLINE #178:

HOME MEDIA HYPE REPORT: UNCUT EPSTEIN JAIL TAPE TO BE RELEASED ON 4K UHD BY CRITERION IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS. SPECIAL FEATURES ALLEGEDLY INCLUDE ALTERNATE ‘ALIEN AUTOPSY’ CUT; AN ALL-STAR COMMENTARY TRACK FEATURING BILL CLINTON, KEVIN SPACEY, NOAM CHOMSKY, AND DONALD TRUMP; A VIDEO ESSAY BY ONE OF JOE ROGAN’S UNPAID INTERNS; AND A SCALE BOOKLET REPRODUCTION OF BAWDY BIRTHDAY LETTERS LAVISHLY ILLUSTRATED BY DONALD TRUMP.

THINGS NEVER SAID #45:

“My major influences are 1990s Buttafuoco Joke Letterman combined with Serious Evening Political Commentary Show Rebrand Grodin with a consciousness of Fortress Y2K Mentality. When combined I call my personal aesthetic Apocalyptic Neo-Buttafuoco.”

Tuesday, July 29, 2025

SIMPLE PLEASURES #13:

Reading a 1990s Shadowrun novel while listening to the Shadowrun SNES OST.

Monday, July 28, 2025

THE NEW OBVIOUS #36:

Trump sure is determined to nag and browbeat people into believing that he was never close friends with Epstein . . .

Sunday, July 27, 2025

MANDATORY RULE #16:

All TV shows-whether they be scripted or unscripted, fictional or non-fictional-must include an episode dealing with a plant monster of some kind.

Huge, elaborate creatures incorporating animatronics, puppetry, and pyrotechnics are encouraged, but an actor in a cheap monster suit is minimally acceptable if that’s all a given production can afford.

This I command!

YOUR DRAWING PROMPT #72:

Clipped coupons in revolt.

Saturday, July 26, 2025

NOTIONAL HEADLINE #177:

“MAYBE DONALD COULD PLAY SHUFFLE BALL OR SOMETHING. MAYBE BINGO.” GOLF DISTANCES ITSELF FROM EPSTEIN BESTIE TRUMP AS THE POPULAR SPORT’S REPUTATION SUFFERS BY ASSOCIATION WITH THE CORRUPTION, CRIMINALITY, AND INCOMPETENCE OF THE U.S. GOVERNMENT.

THINGS NEVER SAID #44:

“Most people have a bowel movement. I launch a squelchy blast of logs. Forgive me for stating the obvious, but . . . my way is clearly superior.”

Friday, July 25, 2025

NOTIONAL HEADLINE #176:

NEW POLLING INDICATES GROWING NOSTALGIA FOR A PAST ERA IN WHICH IT WAS OKAY TO LIVE IN THE PRESENT MOMENT.

THE NEW OBVIOUS #35:

It’s hard to do things. With stuff. On account of the effort involved.

Thursday, July 24, 2025

Wednesday, July 23, 2025

SPECULATIVE WEAPONS DIVISION #1:

LOW-BUDGET DRACULA METAMORPHOSIS BEAM

When you zap the enemy with this person-portable raygun your target will immediately transform into a low-budget Dracula in a poor quality seasonal pop-up store costume complete with pancake makeup and unconvincing fangs.

Once the target has been Dracula-ized you may then splash them with tap water which they will conveniently believe to be holy water. Puffs of magician smoke will be released from gags pre-positioned inside their costume, and they will writhe and howl and generally overact as though being burned by blessed fluids as per popular vampire lore. At some point, they will fall on their back, at which juncture you may drive a stake through their heart. 

Once staked, your Dracula-ized target will spurt red corn syrup from their wound, and then crumble to dust in a creative, if not entirely convincing, special effects sequence mostly accomplished through edits but the last bit with the fanged vampire skull rapidly disintegrating into bone dust is somewhat memorable.

If you have completely run out of conventional munitions and bayonets then Low-Budget Dracula Metamorphosis Beam may offer an acceptable solution to your emergent combat needs.

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

NOTIONAL HEADLINE #174:

NEW POLLING INDICATES WAVE OF NOSTALGIA FOR LETTERMAN’S 1990s ERA BUTTAFUOCO JOKES.