something I learned: not only did Glen A. Larson write the theme song for THE FALL GUY, *it was his entire actual pitch for the show!!!*

as in: he walked into a meeting

sang this song

got greenlight

that’s how powerful a good TV theme song is, folks
youtu.be/1p45DySNWC4?si…

I am the sword in the sunbeam. I am the watcher on the shelf. I am the fire that dispels the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Hummingbird Watch, until I fall asleep.

Looking forward to trying TekTak, the new ByteDance app that'll be launching this summer

Tim Gunn voice: 'Designers, make it work!'

The current industry move to CGI-based fantasy spaceships is the healthiest thing to happen to human space flight in three decades. It has given us all the benefits of the real thing for about 0.0001% of the cost.

This is a reminder too of the selectiveness of Chinese government territorial claims. The Qing actually held (outer) Mongolia for longer than Taiwan. The ROC even vetoed Mongolian UN membership and didn't recognise it until 2002!

Mountains of Cats, China, late 19th-early 20th century. Woodblock, hand-painted in aniline paints. hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/her…

Billy Mays here for Starship

you wouldn’t last an hour in the asylum where they raised me.

this is the way

This story is a great example of how to localize a bigger story but also an example of something The Onion would write about Iowa.

Pinboard

1980. Brezhnev ascends to the podium to give the opening address at the Moscow Olympics. He looks down at his text.

'Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!'

Flustered aide, whispering: 'Leonid Ilyich, those are the Olympic rings!'

Free band name / album cover / first album title up for grabs