It's interesting how Reply Guys in Mixtape discourse are also, if you go through their feeds, also out there with strong opinions about Rings of Power, Odyssey casting, Starfleet Academy and more. Almost as if they are professional nerd culture warriors.

I started to read the article about the Exclusive Brethren forcing members to abandon or euthanise their pets, and then I decided that my mental health would be better served by doing literally anything else.

Escapist Routes is up! I have watched so much TV! Matlock, The Other Bennet Sister, that Bear special, Widow's Bay, Criminal Record, Hacks, For All Mankind ... I think that's everything? It was a lot. Also Connor Storrie was there.

Shazad Latif, but he's not allowed to be clean-shaven. I've only ever seen one Bond movie, I just like Shazad Latif's face. Aside from his chin.

Update: The Australian publishes its hit piece on me a couple hours AFTER I responded yet Max Aitchison writes: "We asked Lattouf about her nascent Women Who Win conglomerate, but she did not respond by deadline" Bwahahahahaha!!!

Literally nothing is less appealing to me than the idea of an official Star Trek BL comic, but ALSO this is amazing and exciting and a welcome development as the franchise downsizes on television.

Ms Tickle's damages have been doubled due in part to the appellant's transphobic crash out after losing the first trial. Grover went back for her hat and lost bigger.

My other hot take this morning is that I don't think the Olivia Rodrigo Baby Doll Dress Discourse is bots (although I do think it is very tedious and silly), HOWEVER, in the last 48 hours I've seen identical criticisms of Hannah Einbinder, which feels like an op to keep an eye on.

Odyssey Discourse is very dull, because I have a mediocre Classics degree (Latin is hard!) and therefore know just enough to know that talking about "canon" and "historical accuracy" is pointless. HOWEVER, Lupita Nyong'o as Helen is inspired casting.

I’ve been thinking of the accessibility applications of Meta glasses, and this is a great thread about their value and the ways they should be regulated.

At first glance I genuinely thought this was a Lego Spock bag. Anyway, increasing the licensing fee to cut out smaller merch creators is obviously paying off.

The exclusion of the LJC certainly speaks volumes.

It's super depressing, yet not surprising, that the antisemitism royal commission is turning up horrific stories of abuse that no one should endure, and also accounts like "someone wore a T-shirt with Arabic writing on it, and I took that personally".

Given my feelings about musicals (strongly opposed) I was never going to see Waitress, but this line in the Guardian's review is notable: "Mills most resembles Beaker the Muppet, electrocuted by lust, his voice squeaky and his gait convulsive."

I forgot to cover one captain in our game, so I just need to say that Carol Freeman wouldn't actually leave Mudd in Klingon prison, but she'd be sorely tempted because he and Beckett are a bad influence on each other.

I'm a big believer in Little Treats, so today I returned a library book and then got a smoked hot chocolate from Mörk, and then I passed the Hector's Deli pop up and got an apple fritter.

one benefit of being an AI-generated woman is your bleach job, lash extensions and the necklace emerging from your skin don't cost you a thing

a news corp contributor posting about how bad this announcement is for a girl working minimum wage putting all her money into investment funds who he had to make up using ai because of course she isnt a real person

It was a slow, careful drive to the station this morning…

This makes the budget sound way more based than it is.

A real shame we never saw this character again after TNG finished. I hope Hugh is living a good life.

My number one Pike

It's possible I read too many books about dodgy London financial shenanigans, because a notorious fixer just came up in the new Patrick Radden Keefe, and I was like, "I know him from Wirecard!"

Me, 2000 words into a new project and I'm not entirely sure it's working yet: I should do Clarion.

I am begging the restaurant owners of Melbourne to pay their overdue Squarespace subscriptions so I can look at their menus.

There is Turkey Discourse happening on my feed, and my only contribution is that I think turkey is underrated in Australia, and I wish it was easier to find turkey bacon. You can get pretty good beef rashers from halal butchers, but turkey just hits different.

Finished the book. TL;DR authoritarianism: it's bad!

Back hurts, so it's time to sit in a warm bath and read a nice book about authoritarianism.

I woke up this morning with a bruise on my brow bone, and I have to ask: did I punch myself in the face in my sleep?

Men only want one thing and it’s fucking disgusting. [being hustled onto a red-eye flight from Molesworth to Dulles so Admiral Greer can tell you face-to-face that a satellite caught Red October in Polijarny Inlet this morning]

Escapist Routes is up! This week I watched Widow's Bay, Hacks and For All Mankind, a series in dire need of a protagonist.

Every season of For All Mankind ends with a flashforward to the next decade and a song to embody that era. "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" for the '80s. "Come As You Are" for the '90s. The final season will be set in the 2020s, and I want to predict that a track from Brat will be The Song.

I need to know! Who is the Star Trek fan on the Hacks writing team?

Descript's editing gets pretty janky after about the 90 minute mark on a podcast recording. This is foreshadowing for our conversation about "Choose Your Pain".

This is Tumblr-levels of boggling, which I guess is fair because Bsky moderation has reached Tumblr-levels of transphobia. But still.

I didn't realise how many university and college professors I followed until this Canvas thing happened. Last time I was a student, we submitted papers by printing them out, putting them in a folder and stapling a cover page to the front, then dropping them in a box outside the department office.

I have two work computers at the office, and the one I use for pissfarting around needs its mouse recharged. So I guess I will be doing work today.

I got to block a weird amount of reply guys arising from this silly post.

It's the first really cold day of the season here in Melbourne, and if you suffer from cold hands in general, or if you are personally victimised by Reynauds disease, I recommend USB hand warmers. I paid $40 for the Ocoopa brand on Amazon last year, but Kmart also has them now.

Starfleet Academy and everything's the same except the tea-obsessed chancellor of the War Academy is General Iroh.

Today I learned that our local LDS temple has a service in Te Reo Māori, and I guess I'm surprised there are enough Māori Mormons to justify it, but also I'm not surprised that the poster has the same White Jesus as the English service.

Today's recession indicator: brand new Mercedes with a personalised number plate at Aldi.

Rating Star Trek series premieres: "The Cage" - 7/10. Can totally see why it didn't get picked up, but it has interesting ideas and tremendous promise. It's a shame we never see the Number One character ever again.

"Well, there have been worse Star Trek premieres. It'll probably improve."

Key quote: "We've all done our time in the Tilly/Landry mines." Can't believe I forgot to talk about my elaborate Landry/Ortegas headcanon where they both served on the Buran and, honestly, made each other worse.

Maybe this is just me being an Australian millennial, but I really need some sort of brightly coloured book, possibly illustrated by Kaz Cooke, called Everything Is Perimenopause: A Cool Girl's Guide To The Change.

Strongly feel that if a publisher is promoting a book as the second in a duology, it should not end on a cliffhanger.

Wearing my sparkly knee high cat socks as I ruthlessly judge the Met Gala red carpet.

The giant inflatable Baby Yoda is gone today, so I guess it was purely for May the Fourth. Sad how the holiday has been commercialised.

Given how much the US is into Doing War Crimes right now, that seems ... bad.