Like many, I saw this post declaring the attached video the "most insane product launch video I've ever seen" and was quite amused. The company behind the video is called 1X and the product itself is their first humanoid home assistant, the Neo. Everything about it feels dystopian, comedic or some mixture of both.

Look, I understand we're hurdling towards a future where having a robot in your house isn't going to be outlandish but we're on the bleeding edge right now, so it feels rather foreign. Is $20,000 for a robot an equitable price? Or $500/mo to lease one? Will they always have a childlike visage to them that feels uncomfortable?

There are a lot of questions and feels to sort through here. I suggest you watch the full announcement video (it is quite weird), the WSJ trial run (also weird) and do a little digging on how this thing works.

On that note, I would be remiss not to mention that there's a lot less autonomy than they want you to think. Right now, these things are driven by human operators wearing VR headsets. When you purchase, you sign a waiver acknowledging that fact and allowing them to see through the robot's eyes. Honestly, that feels a lot more realistic of a scenario than a fully automated robot being unleashed on your home. I also realize these things must be trained in some fashion, so this helps in that regard. But the dystopian levels just feel cranked thinking about a robot cleaning your home that's actually powered by a (presumably) low paid employee in a VR headset virtually walking around in a robot body, cleaning your home. :|

Here's some funny photos of it:

Forget ChatGPT Atlas, the hottest thing going right now is 3I/Atlas! It's an interstellar body that is an incredibly fascinating topic. This Space Race video does a fantastic job of explaining what it is, why it is interesting and some of the controversy around it. It's factual and well paced.

For a quick primer: 3I stands for "Third Interstellar" - since it is the third object we've detected with our Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (aka ATLAS). It, apparently, entered our Solar System this year at an angle that closely matches the angle of our planetary plane (neat!). It's moving quite fast and is actually entering it's perihelion today - that's when it gets the closest to the Sun during its trajectory. It also just so happens to be exactly opposite Earth when it does this, so we can't observe it directly. That fact is causing folks - especially Harvard scientist Avi Loeb - to wildly propose that the timing of this passing by the Sun may be "fine-tuned by extraterrestrial intelligence." He also proposes maybe this is great time to release a bunch of mini-probes. Or maybe use the Sun to alter it's speed.

I love an alien conspiracy theory. I could be quick to say all of this is outlandish talk - especially when NASA says 3I/Atlas is just a normal ole rock - but what do I know? I buy into the Dark Forest hypothesis so I'd prefer this not be an alien but probes gonna probe!

Regardless of the kerfuffle's around this object, it's undeniably interesting. Go do some poking around.

Imagine a dog made of bones that chewed on his own bones! Chilling!

Truthfully tho, you don't have to imagine it all! Boo Dudes have done that work for you! The song is taken from their 2025 album Hardwired... to Scare a Crow, a synth-pop record of absurd Halloween inspired songs.

If you appreciate this, there's a deep catalog of works going back to 2014 you can dive into. And if you get really into it, you may find yourself believing that they actually go back as far as 1983.

Really happy to share that over at yk records we just recently released "Absolute Misery," the first new single from Zook's forthcoming album Evaporating. The song is a blend of psychedelic, power pop, shoegaze and indie rock style all swirled together in a wonderful 4 minutes. Frankly, the entire record fits that mold and I can't wait for folks to hear it. I made this visualizer for the track but just hit play and let it play during whatever you're doing. The record is out on Nov 7th and will be available on canary yellow vinyl and black shell cassette. The band will be playing a release show that same night here in Nashville (at Soft Junk).

Give it a whirl! It's on Bandcamp, Ampwall, Spotify, etc. Enjoy!

I will readily admit that I don't really know what's happening on the ASCII Automata site. There are a great deal of options to configure, a map of some sort to click around on and absolutely zero instructions. Fortunately, you don't really need them. Click on the grid and something draws. Reset, change some things, try again. At the very least, be sure to change the "font" in the top left - wildly different results based on the options chosen there.

Sort of like staring at a cloud, you really start to see some interesting structures and compositions emerge through the randomness.

The tool / art experiment is by Heikki Lotvonen, who has a great deal of other projects also worth perusing.

The OpenAI folks recently launched ChatGPT Atlas - a browser that makes ChatGPT more accessible and lays the groundwork for having it take action on an actual website. It's interesting to provide this kind of context to the GPT and I am sure some interesting utility will come of it.

Quite frankly, I'm not even here to discuss the technology itself - I just really like the marketing site they made! There's all these little browser windows you can drag around and reveal a cool blurry background thingy. It's useless vibes but just... fun. Nice to see that on the web.

The previous Friday video GIF is an all time best. Not sure we'll top that one for awhile but a bootleg pumpkin dance man ain't half bad. Let's get to it.

• Foxwarren - "Deadhead" - Director Joe Cappa should win every award available for this delight. The gift that never stops giving.
• "How to Orchid" with Matt Berry and Jemaine Clement - 12 minutes of this instrument being demo'ed in a way that only these two could do. Dry, frustrating and perfectly amusing.
• Modest Mouse's discography but only every time Isaac Brock says well - actually surprised it's only 93 seconds.
• GBoard Dial Version - a very dumb idea that these Google employees fully commit to. Bravo!
• Catfish Haven on Chic-A-Go-Go - revisited this band recently and stumbled on this performance. Let's all hope that Cable Access TV never goes away. What a gem.
• Ace Frehley on Tom Snyder - I do not consider myself much of a KISS fan, especially their band interviews. However, this one is quite special as Frehley is especially funny and affable the whole time as Gene Simmons wants to look like a bad ass so hard. The silent clash is wonderful. Maybe don't watch the whole thing but skip around to whenever Frehley talks, it's great.
• The Dark Half 1992, DOS Playthrough - for some unknowable reason, the 1992 film The Dark Half was made into a point-and-click video game. On one level it's impressive that this much work was put into such a thing but on another level, why did they do this? It does not look particularly fun but it has some incredible cut scenes. Consider this an endurance challenge - 1 hour of a game you did not know existed about a movie you've probably never heard of.

Centripetal Force Records is always putting out something interesting. This upcoming album from Agnes Martian, Elsewhere, is no exception. There's only one song available at the moment but it's an excellent combination of psychedelic, jazzy and meditative musings. The official band description is apt, "soundtracks a planetarium that charts undiscovered constellations of inner space. " Full record available Nov 14, 2025.

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I have talked about Shrunken Elvis previously but it's worth noting that the entire record is now available. The trio of Spencer Cullum, M. Rich Ruth and Sean Thompson is a really bonkers combination of styles. Sometimes when you combine the powers of three ultra-talented people the results are lackluster (I am sure you can name a supergroup that was disappointing) but in the case of Shrunken Elvis, the combined powers work together seamlessly. Someone described it as "stoney instrumental chill vibes" and that's certainly apt but there's a level of perfectly balanced master-y in each of these songs that should not be overlooked.

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I don't know much about Angela Autumn but her latest two songs - "Garbage" and "Millionaire Money" - showcase a really intoxicatingly unique vocal quality. That mesmerizing effect doubles down with the lyrical content and the well balanced production. Looking forward to hearing more.

I will give it to Tubi for this "See You In There" ad campaign - they nailed that bog goblin. An extra treat, this little behind the scenes really delights.

And just in case the campaign goes away, here's some images for posterity...

If you're unfamiliar, The Protomen are a band that has been around for 20 years - starting out as a concept band about the Megaman videogame series but evolving into a band writing high concept songs about dystopian worlds, fascist leadership, oppressive technology and trying to pursue hope through it all. They also wear some awesome silver makeup.

They released their first album back in 2005 - an album that could not be more about Megaman, quite literally. The followup, Act II: The Father of Death, served as a prequel and injected a lot of liberties into the storyline. It was great growth to see. And everyone expected even bigger things from Act III, the grand summation of the tale as promised by the band. But.. it never came. Years passed and the band kept saying work was underway but no one heard the fruits of that labor. They released a Queen tribute concert, a score to a stageplay, a compilation of covers but no Act III. In 2015 - ten years ago - they released two new songs from Act 3. Hope emerged. In 2022, another song. Could it be possible? On Oct 3, 2025 - the band announced Act III: This City Made Us will be released on January 9, 2026. Seventeen years between Act 2 and Act 3 but they actually did it. They are slowly rolling out the record two songs at a time, really letting fans savor in it. This also encourages poking around to see additional art.

I can't wait to hear the entire record in full and have already ordered my copy of the CD. I'm sure I'll order the vinyl whenever they make that, too. The artwork is by John DeLucca and Caspar Newbolt - longtime artwork collaborators to the band. I've no doubt they created an immersive package to contain the record.

The Protomen have never really stopped releasing music but they created a very high bar for themselves with Act 3. As a fan, I'm glad they stepped up to the challenge and saw it through.

I've been a longtime fan of Makeup and Vanity Set (and even had the chance to help release some of his music and his collaborations). Over the last few years he has withdrawn from social media. Frankly, I respect it! He's got a family. He's got a very busy music-making schedule. And a lot of it is toxic or just a hassle. This retreat also has the benefit of creating some real surprises when he drops something new.

Case in point, he just "Daikatana" - a new single from his collaborative project Wavefinder (in conjuction with Sferro). There was probably a way for me to know about this before it dropped but I was completely ignorant. The song is great and the surprise drop was an extra treat. Win win.

TDLR: new music you should hear.

I recently realized that the last bit of personal / job news I provided here on the site was about IAC divesting from Mosaic. Back in 2023 I left Vimeo after 11 years and started at Mosaic; trying something new with app development. A few months later the company was sold to Bending Spoons - a surprise to myself and many others. I never mentioned that I later got work at a different app shop and stayed there for a year setting up a new suite of apps. I also never mentioned that I left it after a year because of a bad fit.

I really haven't mentioned that I landed a new role at Uscreen. This is a subscription video platform helping creators power their busines. It is quite similar to the work I did at Vimeo OTT / VHX but a bit more focused on community minded sellers. I'm 8 days in and it's a blast so far. Familiar but entirely fresh too. I still think about my Vimeo crew quite often and miss working with them but I've got a great feeling about these Uscreen folks.

I don't add too many personal updates here but for big events, it's worth noting. Now you know!

As an aside, it's worth noting that Vimeo is also being acquired by Bending Spoons. Strange coincident or are they just eating the world??

I mentioned this quite recently but Trash Man (Alex Mojaverian) has a new EP out today called Cool Until It's Not. It's a big riff blast of rock seeped in existential ponderings. You can find it on Bandcamp, Ampwall, Spotify, Apple Music, et al. It's also available on blue cassette! We did not make a ton of these, so if you want one - snag one!

Trash Man is also playing a release show here in Nashville on Oct 15th at Vinyl Tap. It's gonna be good and it's totally free!

Enjoy!

I have only recently become a regular viewer of longtime YouTube channel vlogbrothers but I do consider myself a "fan." This latest piece really got me pondering. I have waffled back and forth many times - do I agree with this sentiment or not? Do I disagree simply because of the emotional connections I foster or because it's not practically true? I'm still not sure.

In this video, Hank Green compares Ghost Towns to The Web - proposing The Web is Going to Die. There are countless examples of abandoned destinations online - Geocities, Homestar Runner, Vine, NeoPets. We've all seen vacant YouTube accounts and social media that hasn't been updated in years. Twitter became X, effectively jettisoning an entire destination. I even have created my own with Whiskerino and its ilk. Much like physical ghost towns, these places exist but they're devoid of life.

Specifically, Hank says:

And now with the way content can make itself, I wonder what keeps the web alive? The decentralized place where anyone can create a little forum or a blog. The web is becoming a ghost town where we visit to remember the structure that used to exist, what life used to be like, how things used to be shaped.

I want to disagree with that quote - The Web is vibrant! The Web is still full of life! But, realistically, the web is at best second tier to social media. Why bounce around the world wide web when you can just tap through an infinite number of stories? It feels safe to say that majority of people online are primarily using social media, no?

The pedantic nerd in me wants to point out that Homestar Runner, Geocities or even Twitter should not be categorized as "The Web." They're on The Web, not the foundational structure itself. But that's getting lost in unnecessary detail. The core notion here is that it takes real effort to partake in The Web these days. Even if you're armed with an RSS reader, it's not likely to be your primary vehicle of entertainment or education. I still don't think The Web has been fully supplanted by social media but that's not what he's saying - he's just saying he can see the directionality of it.

I remember building my first AOL website when I was a young teenager. That's three decades ago. I have a serious fondness for The Web and its decentralized nature. I love that I can make whatever I want on it, with the right research. Or that I can simply stumble on to something inspiring, ridiculous or thought provoking without an algorithm feeding it to me. I'm not ready to write a eulogy for The Web yet but it's certainly interesting to realize we are at the crossroads of change.

Last year at this time, yk Records and Trash Man teamed up to release Moment of Bleakness, an EP of rock songs that were all blasts of infectious goodness. I think the longest song is roughly 2minutes, 30 seconds.

This year, we're doing it again! Trash Man's new EP, Cool Until It's Not, will be released October 10th. It'll be available as a download, as a blue cassette and, of course, streaming. There are two preview singles available now and it'll take you less than 5 minutes to watch them both. Less than 4 minutes!

The first is "Eventually," a track that ponders the brevity of our time on Earth while Trash Man makes a hoagie from scratch. Existential crisis' and sandwiches go surprisingly well together. The second is the title track which remarks on the outlandish idea - what if everything isn't going to be OK?

Both topics are fairly heavy to read about here in blog form but each track is infectiously listenably and highly enjoyable.

More than ever, a little levity is a welcome gift. Maybe a lot of levity? Here's a bunch of treats for you that I hope bring that for you.

• Knorr Soup Schloup - sometimes an ad emerges online that is absolute perfection. Both pure joy and pure terror. No notes.
• James Brown's Japanese Miso Soup Commercials - speaking of soup commercials, here's a pair of classics.
• 2001 Nissin Milk Seafood Noodles - speaking of classic Japanese commercials. Nothing will ever top ole Cheesieboy and Pepperman. Well, maybe this? Tough competition.
• The Legend of Beavis - can you mix footage from The LEgend of Zelda cartoon and Beavis? Turns out the answer is, "Yes, perfectly." Huge props to KhalidSMShahin for the amount of work this must have taken. I know ten minutes is long for a Friday vid but if you enjoy a Beavis, this hits the right spot.
• Introducing A Toilet In The 18th Century - I'm happy Mitchell & Webb are back with a new series, mostly because I'm always on board to see David Mitchell be impatient, incredulous and perturbed.
• Your neighbor is playing DK Bananza at 3am - silly but amusing.
• LinuxCon Worldwide 2021 - so many Linux jokes I do not get but I appreciate the execution.
• Tom Jones & Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - can you mix Tom Jones with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young? Turns out the answer is, "Yes, perfectly."

I put the Knorr soup guy on a loop. I can watch it forever.

I don't consider myself a Nirvana completionist by any stretch of the imagination. I'm of the age where Nevermind was a big deal. I'm also of the personality type that I certainly listened to as many b-sides as I could get my hands on (hi, "Marigold"). But I've never heard From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah nor thought for a moment about picking up any anniversary boxsets. After Cobain passed away, I moved along and was happy with my level of fandom.

Ironically, that lack of interest paid of! This Live at the Paramount concert popped up in my YouTube feed the other day and I was quite intrigued. A 70-minute show from Halloween 1991, filmed in 16mm and performed just four weeks after Nevermind was released?! Incredible!

Turns out it was released back in 2011 as part of a Nevermind anniversary release and I was just completely ignorant to its existence. Whoops! Regardless, my brain is ready for a revisit on this material and maybe yours is too.

I rewatched Mars Attacks! the other night for the first time in maybe 15 years. If you are somehow unfamiliar - it's a 1996 comedy directed by Tim Burton with absolutely perfect special effects and an absurdly stacked cast. It's silly, it's absurd, it's great. Go watch it.

One thing that had not registered with me previously* was the opening credit that the film was based on a series of Topp trading cards of the same name. Browsing through the set, it's impressive how much they took from the card stories. There's plenty left out but the martian & saucer designer are spot on. The shrinking ray. The robot suit. Even the idea that the aliens are enjoyable watching from afar was in the cards!

If you haven't seen the film in awhile, it's a fun browse to augment your viewing.

* OR, I forgot

Ars Technica has this exhaustive article on the emerging Tiny Vinyl format. No, not the 3" Records you may have seen pop up at Record Store Day or in other novelty situations but 4" records manufactured by... Tiny Vinyl.

The article covers every aspect of the process, going as far as to describe as how all vinyl records are made and what challenges face this new format. Primarily, the biggest hurdle is that automated record players can't play them because they take up the same physical space where 12" LPs have a label - so the player assumes it should not play. Maybe bigger still is that the minimum order on records is 2,000 units. Lemme tell ya, that's a giant hurdle for any record company unless you've got the deepest of pockets.

All of those challenges are covered in the article but I can't be mad that companies are continuing to experiment with the format. I have a They Might Be Giants Mini CD for "They'll Need a Crane." Why do I own it? Because it's tiny!

I hope that more companies start to lean towards what Good Neighbor is doing with environmentally friendly processes. Maybe ole Tiny Vinyl and Target can get on board?