Will Leitch on the Harris-Walz ticket, the DNC, and most importantly, the legacy of Barack Obama.

There are many reasons the Harris-Walz campaign has caught fire, that it has conjured up those 2008 feelings, that there is a sense that, if we can follow this through, we can finally slam the door on this last decade of callousness and cruelty and downright foolishness and, at last, move forward. There’s Trump disdain. There’s Biden exhaustion. There’s Harris’ maturation as a candidate, her unique ability to be a better messenger, her disciplined, creative political mind. But in the end, I do think it comes back to that initial Obama message: That fundamental belief - I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper - that makes this country work. It's what allows us to pursue our individual dreams, yet still come together as a single American family. You leave the world a little bit better than how you found it. You believe this country can be better. And you love it enough to try. You won’t get it perfect; you won’t even be close. But you’ve got to try. And you’ve got to believe.

I believe that Kamala Harris believes this. The convention was a clear sign that she is rejecting the dead-end-ism of that “decadent interregnum” cynicism. Obama was right then, and he is right now. That she understands that, and may in fact be the ideal person for this particular moment, is the most encouraging thing I saw this week. And it’s why I think she’s going to win.

Maybe I’ll be wrong. Trump could still very well eke out this election. Maybe it will all go to shit. But that’ll just be another reason to keep fighting then too. Losing the hope that things can get better, and that desire to push to make them so, isn’t clever or wise. It’s just self-destructive. I need this world to be better than it was when I found it. So do my kids. So do you. Believing it can be so isn’t foolish or cringeworthy. One might even call it audacious.

Pitch perfect.

Ray Ratto, writing for Defector, has a column about the new Pete Rose documentary and Rose himself.

Up front, Rose was banned from baseball and the Hall of Fame for gambling on his own team as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds. More to the point, though, he remains banned because of the enemies he made, and keeps making. His inability/refusal to take the knee then and now leaves him a tragic, comic, and sometimes even weak figure wrapped in self-absorbed bravado. But charming? Not really, and certainly not here.

Therein lies the real story of Pete Rose. HBO manages the gift of showing highlights of 60-year-old baseball games, the time-machine stuff that sells every sports documentary. There he ladles on his version of charm in that face-first way of his, using his fiendish competitive streak as his personality. And frankly, it works. He isn't a sympathetic figure as much as an indomitable one, and it is a quirk of the American psyche that we are willing to forgive all of it for someone that outwardly crazed.

But then the story loses itself—because Rose continues to be the one telling it. He could make a compelling case for baseball's newfound love of gambling and how it holds him in the hypocritical grip of grudge-holding, but that would convince none of the people maintaining his ban. The Hall of Fame has always been a compromised concept. But Rose can’t help himself. Indeed, the closest he comes to getting the depth and breadth of his conundrum is when he says, "Jesse James was a nice guy away from the banks." Evidently it was the banks' fault for keeping money around.

I’m not going to watch this documentary. Pete Rose means little to me.

I thought he’d get into the Hall of Fame as soon as he’s dead and buried. I was wrong.

He will never be included in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Like Shoeless Joe Jackson, he is on the “permanently ineligible” list.

He also, you know, raped a 15 year old. So, no.

Bryan Adams has unveiled a video for his new song, “War Machine.”

Except it isn’t a new song. He wrote it with Gene Simmons and Jim Vallance for the KISS album, Creatures of the Night.

The whole thing feels like a cover of a KISS song, but can it be a cover when you are one of the writers? I have no idea.

As a fan of his other tracks, this version is… not good. The solo is all over the place and is quite unmelodic.

Day 2 of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago featured some fiery speeches, especially from former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. However, the states’ roll call really set the tone for the night, featuring a fire playlist that’s now on Spotify. I’d never seen anything like it before.

This tree stump has been vexing me for years. It took me a while, but I dug the son of a bitch up.

Not a joke: The Onion is bringing back its monthly print newspaper. It’s $60/yr for the print subscription.

Wil Wheaton waxes nostalgic about the lost art of listening to an entire album front to back. He chose Nirvana and ended up listening to their entire catalog (which isn’t much). He then called them his generation’s Beatles, and I threw up a bit in my mouth.

He’s right about the Foo Fighters, though.

Take me home.

The annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest invites aspiring writers to enter the first sentence of the worst novel ever written. However, the novel need _not_ be written; only the first sentence is required.

The contest honors the legacy of novelist Sir Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, who famously began one of his books with the line, “It was a dark and stormy night…”

The winners of the 2024 competition have been announced, and there are some real doozies in there, starting with the overall winner: “She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck.”

Late Night With Seth Meyers returned from a summer hiatus, and the host gave a succinct and hilarious recap of everything that happened while the show was on break during the Olympics. Meyers was able to pack President Joe Biden dropping out of the race, Vice President Kamala Harris taking his place on the Democratic ticket, Sen. JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz being tapped as VP picks, and all of Donald Trump’s antics into three minutes.

Randy Rainbow is back at what he does best with a new parody song. It’s set to the tune of “The Farmer and the Cowman” from _Oklahoma!_

Disney held its annual D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, and a lot happened.

They showed the Mandalorian & Grogu trailer (here’s a breakdown), Incredibles 3 and Toy Story 5 are in the works, the third Avatar movie got a title, we got a bunch of trailers for Star Wars Skeleton Crew, Snow White_, Moana 2, Agatha All Along, and a sneaky first look at Andor Season Two, and so, so much more.

With basically a brand new team, it’s been fun watching the Illini Men’s Basketball practice clips. Trying to figure out who’s who, what numbers the players picked, and who’s looking good (everyone, of course). Catch up with clips from June 14, June 29, July 18, and August 7.

“The race was billed as a bar brawl between the two baddest 1,500-meter runners in the world. Nobody figured the little-known American guy would sneak up on both of them, steal the show, and take the Olympic gold medal with him.”

American Cole Hocker pulls Olympic shocker in men’s 1,500, leaving Kerr and Ingebrigtsen behind. It’s easily my favorite highlight of the Olympics. Here’s the whole race.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, whose simple and incredibly effective definition of Trump and Vance as “just weird” went viral, has been selected to join Harris on the Democratic ticket. Are you asking who? Here are 19 Facts About Tim Walz. Also, he’s a “Girl Dad.”

This is the dumbest story. It is beyond parody.

RFK Jr. should drop out of the presidential race now and live out his years in relative obscurity. Well, as much as a Kennedy can be obscure.

Musician Jack White handed out a nondescript vinyl album to unsuspecting customers at his Third Man Records locations in Nashville, Detroit, and London. It had no title other than No Name and no song titles, but it clearly was a brand-new White album.

It didn’t have a release date, so people started ripping it to YouTube, and holy smokes, does this album rock.

White ended up dropping it on August 2. I’m particularly fond of the Brian Connolly of Sweet style vocals of “Archbishop Harold Holmes.” Mark my words, it’s going to win a bunch of Grammys.

Aerosmith shared a lengthy social media post stating that they have made the “heartbreaking and difficult, but necessary, decision—as a band of brothers—to retire from the touring stage.” Basically, Steven Tyler can’t sing anymore.

Here’s the last show.

I expect Bon Jovi to make a similar statement soon.

Donald Trump at the National Association of Black Journalists did not go well.

Luke O’Neil, “Donald Trump took a long look in the mirror and decided it was time to go back to the old him. To pull out the most reliable trick in his bag: being insanely racist. Not just regular racist but archaic racist. Old-timey racist.”

I agree with him, people are sick of having to think about this dude every single day of their lives.

A shoplifter in Portsmouth, England, was jailed for six months after stealing a total of 798 Cadbury’s Creme Eggs. It was worth it, obviously, to enjoy the delicious yet shrinking treats free at the point of acquisition. Yum.