ask me how i know – WIL WHEATON dot NET:

“Okay, so. Disclosure: I am the actor who played Wesley. I have spent a great deal of time thinking about exactly this, because angry nerds have been yelling at me about it for 30 years.

“Remember that a being of extraordinary power and ability pulled Picard aside and said, “this kid is special. I can’t tell you exactly why, but it’s really important that you nurture and encourage him to the best of your ability.” And Picard listened. He heard that this being, who had literally just taken them where no one has gone before, and he followed his advice.

“And that eventually leads Wesley to become one of the Travelers.

“I’m sure that there are plenty of officers on the Enterprise who share your opinion. They’re pissed that this kid was promoted. They’re pissed that he’s a nepo baby.

There’s a lot more, go read the rest…

The History of Blue Jeans:

Daina Berry, Historian: In fact we know the names of all the enslaved people that were owned by the Lucas and Pinckney family. These are generations of families. We’re not just talking about a husband and a wife, or a mom and a dad. We see grandparents on this list. They’re the ones that came from communities that dyed all kinds of cloth beautiful colors. They’re the ones that had the knowledge of indigo; they’re the ones that created generations of wealth for these white slave-holding families.

Five Stories That Helped Me Understand My Anxiety | Tor.com:

Assembling a list of stories that openly discuss mental health inevitably proves difficult because of the wide-ranging spectrum of conditions and types of neurodiversity—any such list is bound to be subjective, to some degree. Everyone’s experience differs, and it’s important to understand how one individual’s truth can be valid even when it doesn’t align perfectly with yours.

In other words, everyone’s mental health journey is their own. Nobody walks the same path. Two people with anxiety can manifest it in completely different ways. Stories, however, can act as a unifying force among those of us with anxiety, depression, and the many types of neurodivergence. Across a number of narrative formats, creators are tackling the challenges presented by mental health and teaching us to better understand ourselves. These stories tell us we’re not alone.

Michael Dorn, Actor-Director-Star Trek: The Next Generation-ENCORE - Storybeat with Steve Cuden:

Michael has appeared more times as a regular cast member than any other Star Trek actor in the franchise’s nearly 55-year history, spanning some 272 TV episodes and 5 feature films. He also appeared as Worf’s ancestor, Colonel Worf, in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

9 Thrilling Last Stands in Genre Fiction | Tor.com:

Angry Delenn is a force of nature:

“Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else.”

This is one of my favorite moments, in one of my favorite shows… But Babylon 5 actually has quite a few of my favorite moments of TV ever.

CODA - Apple TV+ Press:

Seventeen-year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the sole hearing member of a deaf family – a CODA, child of deaf adults.

This is on my to-watch shortlist… But everything I hear about it is amazing.

Apple TV+ has been punching way above its weight on delivering great content.

Netflix Rolling Out Spatial Audio Support - MacRumors:

Netflix is rolling out support for Spatial Audio on the iPhone and the iPad, based on reports shared by MacRumors readers and on Reddit. A Netflix spokesperson also confirmed to MacRumors that the rollout is underway.

More of this please…

How Loki built a different reality with retro hardware - The Verge:

A somewhat bittersweet effect of watching Loki has been thinking about the technologies — particularly gaming hardware — that we’ve lost to time.

Loki’s retro-tech world is the best 19A0 | Boing Boing:

This haunted place I love, that weird missing decade between the 1970s and 1980s with amber monochrome displays and pyramid-shaped computers and the mangled memories

Peppa Pig: Peppa’s Adventures: The Album Album Review | Pitchfork:

On My First Album, Peppa made a careful study of Brian Wilson’s sunny melodies and progressive pop structure. She hews closely to this formula throughout Peppa’s Adventures, particularly on the wistful “Perfect Day” and on “Recycling,” which evokes Fiona Apple in its percussive use of glass bottles and tin cans. Reaching further into pop’s past, she interpolates British and American folk music on the cheery “The School Bus Song” and the contemplative “Winter Days.”

Mads Mikkelsen, In Conversation:

Is there a life philosophy that you feel has carried you through your career? My approach to what I do in my job — and it might even be the approach to my life — is that everything I do is the most important thing I do. Whether it’s a play or the next film. It is the most important thing. I know it’s not going to be the most important thing, and it might not be close to being the best, but I have to make it the most important thing. That means I will be ambitious with my job and not with my career. That’s a very big difference, because if I’m ambitious with my career, everything I do now is just stepping-stones leading to something — a goal I might never reach, and so everything will be disappointing. But if I make everything important, then eventually it will become a career. Big or small, we don’t know. But at least everything was important.

via - kottke.org

LeVar Burton guest hosts ‘Jeopardy!’ while history is made | Boing Boing:

He was a delight to watch hosting, and I hope he gets the gig longer term.

He-Man fans hate the new series because it has too much Teela in it | Boing Boing:

But the fans hate it anyway, because the opening "Search for He-Man" plot arc features too much Teela and is too "woke". The show's been review-bombed online. Smith is reduced to denouncing He Man's angry fans in Variety magazine.

The best way to fight back against crap like this is to watch it, praise it, and make sure the loudest voices in the room aren’t the childish conservative snowflakes.

Here are the 2021 Emmy Award nominations | MPR News:

Outstanding drama series The Boys Bridgerton The Crown The Handmaid's Tale Lovecraft Country The Mandalorian Pose This Is Us

I’m amused by the fact that this year’s Emmy nominees are dominated by genre stuff… Horror, SciFi, Capes…