YouTuber Markiplier's self-funded horror film Iron Lung debuted at No. 2 at the US box office with $22M after a fan campaign helped land it on 2,500 screens (Megan Farokhmanesh/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/movies/markiplier-iron-lung-movie.…

A YouTuber’s Film Beat ‘Melania’ at the Box Office. Here’s How.
“Iron Lung,” a horror movie directed and funded by the video creator known as Markiplier, pulled in $22 million in its first weekend after fans across the country requested screenings.

'Rat Hunting' Harvard Law Professor Agrees to Self-Deport After Firing Pellet Gun Near Synagogue During Yom Kippur (Jessica Schwalb/The Washington Free Beacon)
https://freebeacon.com/campus/rat-hunting-harvard-law-professor-agrees-to-self-deport-after-firing-pellet-gun-near-synagogue-during-yom-kippur/
http://www.memeorandum.com/251205/p98#a251205p98

"what motivates Trump, Bouie said — in addition to ego and raw self-interest — is obviously racism. After all racism is an “ideology that papers over feelings of inadequacy.”"
Trump 'the laughingstock' of polite society: NYT editorial - Alternet.org
https://www.alternet.org/trump-2675108653/

"In a key scene of the 2012 blockbuster film “Skyfall”, MI6 quartermaster Q realizes too late that plugging a cable into the laptop of a notoriously skilled terrorist like Raoul Silva was a terrible idea. After a few seconds, the laptop infects the systems of MI6, releasing all physical doors and disabling all security guards, prompting Silva to escape and wreak havoc. A message appears on the laptop screen, taunting Q, reading “Not such a clever boy”."

Joanna Rutkowska
In a key scene of the 2012 blockbuster James Bond film "Skyfall", MI6 quartermaster Q, played by Ben Whishaw, realizes too late that plugging a cable into the laptop of a notoriously skilled terrorist like Raoul Silva (one of Javier Bardem's most remarkable roles) was a terrible idea. After a few seconds of connection, the laptop infects the systems of MI6, releasing all physical doors and disabling all security guards, prompting Silva to escape and wreak havoc through the London Underground. A…

It's a weird quirk of nationalism that you can be executed for treason against your country's *government*, but not its land. Sure, spill all the oil, pollute the air, frack away until the water is undrinkable and tremors destroy structures, build an olympic training center on that national forest reserve; that'll be a slap on the wrist and maaaaaaaybe a small fine.
Countries are super protective of their borders, you'd think they would want to preserve the land within …

Series A, Episode 08 - Duel
SINOFAR: Giroc, Giroc, I need you. You must come here to me now.
GIROC: All right, all right, I'm coming. [Giroc comes in. She is an elderly woman who clutches a six-foot staff of office, carved on it is a humanoid figure climbing toward the ball-shaped tip.] Have a little patience. We of all people should have learnt patience. I'm tired, I deserve some peace.

#AsgardArchaea team,
led by @archaeal.bsky.social from @texasscience.bsky.social
— sequencing the DNA collected from the mouth of Rio de la Plata to the continental shelf of Uruguay
to detect #Asgards,
a group of single-celled organisms
-- and our closest microbial relatives on the t…

Schmidt Ocean Institute (@schmidtocean.bsky.social)
#AsgardArchaea team, led by @archaeal.bsky.social fr @texasscience.bsky.social — sequencing the DNA collected fr mouth of Rio de la Plata to the continental shelf of Uruguay to detect Asgards, a group of single-celled organisms & our closest microbial relatives on the tree of life. bit.ly/3MdniTH

Did Performance

Played two Loopy gigs

Just a tiny birthday party and in a camping field with friends.
This is probably about the target number really.
It's nice to play now and then but couldn't be monthly or anything even more frequent.
Didn't feel like either went great. Health issues affecting performance plus nerves
Just one with video of any kind.
Added a couple of great songs to the playlists, need to practise more really.
At the end of a Hoopla class and the end of
a self-organised group class.
They were good fun.
But having to book a course every eight weeks means constantly churning co-players and long gaps where I don't get around to it or it was all booked up.
Tried to get a more permanent group going...
Trying to get some sort of indie-group off
the group rather than just short runs of
classes with new people all the time.
We found a group an booked the room but didn't get most of the actual people to turn up. Need to presumably meet more people up for that sort of thing.
So there will be new improv class starting
in Jan.
A new show in March at least.

The first snow started falling in Bergen, Norway, so I pulled on my winter fit. ❄️❤️🖤
#Snow #Bergen #Norway

All worry is laid to waste.
The endorphins rushing wild from the freezing water,
the music pounding through my body,
the caffeine,
the fucking ducks and the God-roiling sky
– no what-ifs,
no yeah-buts,
no what-abouts, 
no caveats, at all.
I am made happy,
and that happiness is entire and incontestable.
And all the way home, I go
— to my beautiful waking wife
– on this, the best day ever.
Love, Nick Cave

Nick Cave - The Red Hand Files - Issue #344 - Which song comes to mind when you are genuinely joyful? I mean, carefree, energy flowing, dancing, moving, kind of happy?
Dear Marianne, This morning, I got up at five, I couldn’t sleep, I’d fretted about this and I’d fretted about that. The night had played...