I still can’t believe Illinois won the game.

Paramount+ released a trailer for the final season of Star Trek: Lower Decks.

I’m going to miss this show. There’s a lot of comedy, silly situations, and call backs, but there’s also a real message of friendship, loyalty, and healing. More so than most Star Trek shows.

The fifth and final season premieres with two episodes on October 24. Then, new episodes of the 10 episode season drop every Thursday leading up to the series finale on December 19.

Barry Petchesky, writing for Defector, has a small story on the aftermath of Hurricane Milton.

The image of the destruction of Tropicana Field’s roof is something to see. Winds were so powerful they temporarily blew the water out of the Bay.

This morning, there hasn’t been much to see of the aftermath. I’m sure it will be catastrophic.

Just recently, Trump was laughed at straight in the face by comedian Andrew Schulz after appearing on his podcast this week. He wasn’t laughing WITH him; he was laughing AT him. Howard Stern would eviscerate Trump.

Peter Baker and Dylan Freedman, reporting for The New York Times, have finally noticed Donald Trump is a rambling, incoherent mess.

Former President Donald J. Trump vividly recounted how the audience at his climactic debate with Vice President Kamala Harris was on his side. Except that there was no audience. The debate was held in an empty hall. No one “went crazy,” as Mr. Trump put it, because no one was there.

Anyone can misremember, of course. But the debate had been just a week earlier and a fairly memorable moment. And it was hardly the only time Mr. Trump has seemed confused, forgetful, incoherent or disconnected from reality lately. In fact, it happens so often these days that it no longer even generates much attention.

He rambles, he repeats himself, he roams from thought to thought — some of them hard to understand, some of them unfinished, some of them factually fantastical. He voices outlandish claims that seem to be made up out of whole cloth. He digresses into bizarre tangents about golf, about sharks, about his own “beautiful” body. He relishes “a great day in Louisiana” after spending the day in Georgia. He expresses fear that North Korea is “trying to kill me” when he presumably means Iran. As late as last month, Mr. Trump was still speaking as if he were running against President Biden, five weeks after his withdrawal from the race.

It’s nice that the “paper of record” would finally acknowledge what everyone who pays attention to this stuff has been seeing for years. They jumped on Biden for getting “gish galloped” in the debate and ignored the raging lunatic lying constantly. Finally, because the Times has an article, now other mainstream outlets will unleash their similar treatise on the subject.

In case you didn’t know, Fred Trump Sr. had dementia. Frankly, I don’t think Donald Trump has dementia, but he’s obviously slowed down considerably and is not as sharp as even a few years ago. He can’t hold a thought in his brain for more than a few seconds, and worst of all, he has no curiosity.

Sad.

Zoë Schlanger, writing in The Atlantic, explains how incredibly powerful and potentially dangerous Hurricane Milton is going to be on Florida’s Gulf Coast. She also outlines how Milton has been supercharged through climate change.

As Hurricane Milton exploded from a Category 1 storm into a Category 5 storm over the course of 12 hours yesterday, climate scientists and meteorologists were stunned. NBC6’s John Morales, a veteran TV meteorologist in South Florida, choked up on air while describing how quickly and dramatically the storm had intensified. To most people, a drop in pressure of 50 millibars means nothing; a weatherman understands, as Morales said mid-broadcast, that “this is just horrific.” Florida is still cleaning up from Helene; this storm is spinning much faster, and it’s more compact and organized.

In a way, Milton is exactly the type of storm that scientists have been warning could happen; Michael Wehner, a climate scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in California, called it shocking but not surprising. “One of the things we know is that, in a warmer world, the most intense storms are more intense,” he told me. Milton might have been a significant hurricane regardless, but every aspect of the storm that could have been dialed up has been.

It’s going to be bad. I hope everyone in the path has gotten out and those still picking up the pieces from Hurricane Helene are able to take cover.

Stay safe.

Netflix has released a trailer for the next season of The Diplomat, and I’m reasonably excited.

It’s definitely one of the finer original shows Netflix has put out lately, with excellent writing.

The Allison Janney appearance made me smile.

Nicholas Bate –

1. Zero soda; maximum water.
2. Zero in-box; maximum filed to category OR action list.
3. Zero lifts/escalator; maximum stairs.
4. Zero processed food; maximum fresh, local and cooked by self.
5. Zero technology-at-table; maximum great uninterrupted conversation.
6. Zero mall; maximum small, local & inspiring shop-keepers.
7. Zero can’t; maximum all things are possible.

After learning about the organizational system of Forever ✱ Notes, I implemented it with my Apple Notes on my phone and iMac. I have the initial setup complete, but now I’m slowly applying it to my existing notes.

Forever ✱ Notes is not an app, but a simple framework and scalable digital note-taking method for Apple Notes. It’s free and created to last—forever.

I don’t think it will replace Notion, but it will considerably streamline my use of Apple Notes. I’m a huge fan of using the existing Apple ecosystem, and this does that in spades.

Nicholas Bate –

Momentum is certainly your assistant. Write daily to train the mind and body, write daily for quantity, write daily for pleasure.

But do not be guilty about a break. A break can provide the creative breakthrough, the fresh angle, the rejuvenated spirit.

Like much in life, it’s a balance.

Rick Beato spends some time with Rick Rubin, and it’s well worth watching.

In this interview, legendary producer Rick Rubin shares insights from his incredible career, spanning decades of groundbreaking music. From his early work with Run DMC, LL Cool J, and the Beastie Boys, to producing iconic albums for Tom Petty, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, System of a Down and Johnny Cash, Rubin reflects on his creative process, collaborating with some of the most influential artists in music history, and the stories behind classic albums.

Daily Kos examines the state of the presidential race with 30 days to go. It’s remarkably steady.

The polling won’t perfectly predict this year’s election results, but if Democratic nominee Kamala Harris were to take every state where she currently leads, she would win the election with a narrow 276-262 electoral votes.

However, swing the election 1.5 percentage points to Donald Trump, and he wins 287-251. Then again, swing things 1.5 points toward Harris, and she wins every swing state, netting 319-219 electoral votes. It’s a wild one. And as I’ve noted time and again, much will depend on turnout.

Remember, pollsters are pretty good at determining how a demographic will vote, but they can only make educated guesses at how much of those demographics will turn out. For example, I can tell you that over 90% of Black women will no doubt vote for Harris, while around 60% of white men will likely vote for Trump. (That basically mirrors 2020 exit polls.) But there’s a big difference if Black women are 8% of the electorate or 12%, and an even bigger difference if white men are 35% of the electorate or 30%.

Trump will never rise above 47%, and he’ll have to hit another inside straight to win. It could happen, but I think not.

October 5 is “James Bond Day,” because it celebrates the release of Dr. No in 1962.

If this date inspires you to want to have a movie marathon of Bond, here’s my list of the best six Bond flicks to stream. My list isn’t weird or unique, but it might help you.

Here you go:

Goldfinger (1964): I immensely like From Russia with Love, but Goldfinger sets the franchise’s style. It is the quintessential Sean Connery Bond film. Funny, exciting, and original all at the same time. Also, the best Bond girl name.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969): George Lazenby’s only outing as James Bond is the best Bond flick Connery never did. Aside from Casino Royale, it has the best end. “We Have All the Time in the World” is the franchise’s best song.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977): The best Roger Moore Bond film by most accounts, although For Your Eyes Only is pretty good. The Lotus Esprit turning into a submarine takes the honor of the best Bond car. Barbara Bach is a top Bond girl.

GoldenEye (1995): The first and best Pierce Brosnan film. Also of note, this is Judi Dench’s first appearance as Bond’s boss M. I’m a big fan of the plot of the former friend who betrays Bond.

Casino Royale (2006): Daniel Craig reboots the franchise for the 21^st century. In the best opening scene of the franchise, he kills a guy in a bathroom with his bare hands. It goes on a tad too long but sets up Craig to deliver the best “Bond, James Bond” line since Connery.

Skyfall (2012): Arguably the best James Bond movie in the franchise. It features great action, especially the end attack, and unique globe-trotting. It’s also a grounded story about Bond and his sense of place in the world. Judi Dench gives her best performance as M.

Former Colorado county clerk, conspiracy monger, and election denier Tina Peters has been sentenced to 9 years incarceration for providing pillow and conspiracy peddler Mike Lindell access to Dominion voting machines in the wake of the 2020 election along with using her position to push baseless claims.

Of particular note is the utter dressing down Judge Matthew Barrett gave Peters in his sentencing remarks, noting her defiance, lack of contrition, and pursuit of fame on the right wing grievance circuit along with the damage she did to trust in democratic systems as why he was choosing incarceration for her.

H/T: Metafiter

Since the St. Louis Cardinals did not make the baseball postseason (again), I have not been making any effort to watch any games.

Yesterday, I happened to stop on a game when flipping channels on my YouTube TV, and I finally saw the gaudy “Strauss” on both sides of every player’s batting helmet. Keith Olbermann had been complaining about this development on his podcast, so I knew they were going to be on the helmets. I just had no idea how incredibly shitty they’d look.

Helmets as billboards comes across as a cash grab. I’m sure minor league teams are looking at this marketing strategy and thinking there’s some money to be had, but to see it in Major League Baseball is a turn-off.

Just like the complaint regarding All-Star and regular jerseys during the regular season, I’m sure the complaints will be sky high about the ads.

I don’t mind the Nike swoosh on the jerseys. They are, after all, Nike products, and Nike is a partner with MLB. The press release regarding the Strauss partnership is just dumb. I don’t understand the need for MLB to be a vehicle to introduce a European brand to Americans.

Do better Manfred.

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James Hibberd, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, examines Disney-fied Star Wars and finds it lacking.

Disney gave Star Wars fans what they wanted for decades — a lot more Star Wars, from different visionary filmmakers, and some of it has been terrific. A dormant franchise that once followed a single dynastic storyline has exploded into a more diverse galaxy of characters and stories. Even the oft-maligned sequel trilogy has sequences within each film that are inarguably stunning (for all its narrative flaws, The Rise of Skywalker‘s farewell scene between Han Solo and Kylo Ren is as moving as anything in the canon). And shows like The Mandalorian, Andor and Rebels clear even the highest bar a hard-core fan might reasonably set. A lot of the online uproar is a sign audiences are, at least, still very engaged and care about this franchise; a truer sign of failure would be apathy and disinterest.

But here’s another question: Could Disney be better at Star Wars? … Clearly, yes.

The company’s live-action movies and TV efforts, on average, could and should be better. In 2018, Disney CEO Bob Iger admitted the company made “a mistake” with Star Wars, making movies “a little too much, too fast.” After Iger temporarily left the company in 2020, Disney/Lucasfilm arguably made the same error again on the TV side. Lucas famously instructed his actors to be “faster and more intense,” but that doesn’t typically work as a franchise strategy (as Marvel has discovered, as well). It’s unclear if Star Wars requires more order or less — more Empire-like corporate oversight or more Rebellion-like creative chaos. But it’s long seemed like there’s somehow too much of both, which has resulted in a master plan that’s constantly being rewritten, and content that sometimes feels undercooked and clunky. It’s not the fault of fans that they increasingly have “a bad feeling about this.”

Any criticism from the sidelines, however, should be tempered with one final point: Making a successful Star Wars project is really hard. Marvel movies — with their iconic stable of heroes who can be portrayed by different actors — are arguably easier. Lucas created this thing and made six live-action Star Wars films over several decades, and only his first two were widely considered excellent by critics and fans alike (many younger fans adore his prequels, though they were never much loved by critics). This is also what makes making more content so tempting — the original Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were profoundly amazing, and so captivated generations of fans, and have launched literally thousands of products and generated billions in direct and ancillary revenue.

Answering the question is pretty straightforward. Is Disney bad at Star Wars? Let’s say they’ve turned the Force into a farce. Sure, there are moments of brilliance, like Andor, but those feel like happy accidents in a sea of half-baked ideas and mediocre content. Even then, casual fans hated Andor precisely because of what made it great. My brother, not a huge Star Wars fan, disliked Andor quite a bit, mainly because it did not have the usual trappings of Star Wars like Jedi/Sith, lightsabers, space dogfights, and the Flash Gordon-like adventure.

The real issue? It all starts at the top, and it’s baffling that this is even up for debate. Disney desperately needs a cohesive vision—a Kevin Feige-type figure to whip this franchise into shape. Why this hasn’t been Dave Filoni’s destiny is beyond me.

Dan Pfeiffer, writing at his Substack The Message Box, said JD Vance didn’t win the debate.

JD Vance is a slick debater. He has the natural advantages of lacking a moral core and an ability to lie shamelessly. It’s how you go from calling Trump “America’s Hitler” to licking every boot in the MAGA media to possibly serve as Trump’s vice president.

Tim Walz started the debate a little nervous. He had some awkward moments. Most theater critics on Twitter and the political media scored the debate as a win for Vance. And if this were a high school debate competition, they would be right. Vance was poised. His answers were precise. Walz was overly elliptical at times and missed opportunities to call out Vance’s blatant lies, but political debates aren’t won by winning the approval of the pundits. They are won by making persuasive arguments to the voters tuning in.

I guess so, but Dan’s a little biased.

Vance did fine by mostly not coming across as “weird” as he has as of late. Of course, it makes no difference. It’s the guy at the top of the ticket that people really care about, and Trump is a fascist, adjudicated rapist, conman, and indicted criminal. I still don’t quite understand why the polls are so close.

Walz was fine. He was folksy and let Vance get away with delivering an insane amount of bullshit in a short amount of time. I mean, we got used car salesman-style slick lines/lies about solar panels and guns, January 6, illegal immigrants, saving Obamacare (ha!), a national abortion ban, and that Trump peacefully transferred power after losing the last election. I would have liked to see Walz call out these lies stronger. Generally, Vance was a more polished performer in a debate setting, but Walz was more effective on issues like school shootings, abortion, and health care.

The only thing anyone will remember about this debate is Vance refusing to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election and his line, “Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact check,” after lying again about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. First, that wasn’t in the rules, and second, viewers realized he wasn’t upset because the debate moderators were wrong; he was upset because the debate moderators were telling the public the truth.

In the end, it will have no impact at all on the race. None. Zip. Zilch.

Dave Pell, writing in his newsletter Nextdraft, sums up my feelings toward this election cycle.

These days, the main thing I feel while watching debates and other political coverage is that I want it to end. The show. Our obsession with the race. The social media posts. The endless texts. This era. Trumpism. The media’s poor performance. The lies. I want to go back to life before Trump.

Me too.

Warren Ellis –

I finally saw The Milky Way, the other week. A bit of it. I’d never seen it before — never actually seen that many stars at one time before. The night after, I saw the Northern Lights for the first time. Well, a bit. It was white, and dilute. But clearly there. The others in my party had seen them the night before. I’d gone to sleep early and missed them. The photos the next day were luminous, electric green curtains. What I saw was more like smoke. It was still riveting.

The reaction to seeing something extraordinary is always to try and photograph it. Not least because a photograph will always last longer than memory, and will in fact trigger the deeper experiential record of memory. But, sometimes? I almost missed the moment of my daughter’s graduation because the phone camera’s focus weirded out at the last second.

Why bother trying to photograph the Milky Way when I can just lay on my back in a Norwegian forest at night and stare at it until it fills my eyes?

Sometimes, you don’t take the photo. You just live it.