Is The Odyssey sustaining our attention?

Babylon Bee: Odysseus Finally Returns Home After 20 Years And Oh No! Penelope Is Out Of Baking Powder And Needs Him To Run Out Again Real Quick

Well, Christopher Nolan's screen take on the adventures of Odysseus is prompting a lot of commentary. Friends of mine went to the movie and had a hard time sitting through it. VDH, with his background in the history of this period, offered a great take on the hullabaloo surrounding the film before it even opened. And the Tablet magazine offered both pro and con takes on Christopher Nolan's 'Odyssey': Epic for Our Times or Epic Failure? with lots of detail and opportunity for comment.

And that's just the beginning of the arguments. But does the movie tell us anything else about our culture?

How many people have read the original?

I ran across a YouTube short which stated (without documentation) that our average screen focus has plummeted from 150 seconds to 47 seconds over 20 years. And it provides a reason for this.

But what about page focus?

Michael Smith: Reading vs. Visual Culture

I just finished an interesting book by a favorite author of mine, and I was thinking how mentally engaged I get when I read a book that interests me as contrasted to the passive nature of watching a movie in a theater or from a streaming source. It occurred to me that one of the quiet tragedies of our increasingly online and visually oriented culture is that we are slowly losing one of the greatest gifts reading has to offer: the opportunity to create an entire world inside our own minds.
That may sound like nostalgia talking, but I don’t think it is. It is one of the reasons great literature has survived for centuries while countless spectacular films are forgotten within a few years. Reading is not simply entertainment, it is a full- contact participation sport because when we watch a movie, virtually every creative decision has already been made for us. . .

He suggests that reading, especially great works, involves a collaboration between the author and the reader.

Though maybe some readers take the collaboration a bit too far, ignoring the intent of the author. Did Christopher Nolan take his "collaboration" with the author too far before he put in his version of the Odyssey on the screen?

I think this video by Bill Whittle was recommended in the comments on an earlier post:

Further thoughts from another Substack by Michael Smith: Our Own Odyssey

What if less reading is a symptom, not a cause?

I remember a time when I was in college when I was relating a story about the wisdom of my grandfather, a man who spent his entire life on his farm in rural Mississippi. During the conversation, I used expressions that were perfectly ordinary where I grew up because that was simply the way we communicated. As I talked, I noticed the young lady I was speaking with beginning to look puzzled. She had grown up in a large metropolitan area in the Northeast and, as far as she was concerned, I might as well have been speaking a lost language. . .
That memory came rushing back to me this past week after two seemingly unrelated things crossed my eyeballs. The first was an article in The Atlantic - - yes, The Atlantic, of all places - - titled The End of Reading Is Here by Rose Horowitch. The second was a video shared on "X" by one of my longtime favorites, Mary Katherine Ham.

Here's the video:

I have been saddened by this https://t.co/fVUcGbMpg7
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) July 10, 2026

And here's what the young woman is trying to understand:

Them: "America has no culture."

Ella Langley: "Hold my beer" pic.twitter.com/9Bxvwyms1l
— 🇺🇸 The American Culturist 🇺🇸 (@MericaCulture) July 25, 2026

Back to Michael Smith's Substack:

. . . I don’t think the young woman in Mary Katherine Ham’s video was stupid. I think she was missing tools. Understanding language requires much more than recognizing individual words. It requires background knowledge, sustained attention, abstraction, inference, and an intuitive sense of where another person’s thoughts are headed before they finish the sentence. Those abilities are not genetic gifts. They are cultivated over years of reading, conversation, observation, and participation in a culture where large numbers of people share the same stories, symbols, assumptions, and historical references. Lose enough of those common reference points and communication begins to resemble my college conversation all those years ago, except this time there is no opportunity to notice the confused expression, no chance to rephrase the thought, and no shared experience from which to build a bridge.

I suspect this is where the internet has changed something far more significant than we appreciate. For nearly all of human history, communication happened face to face. If someone misunderstood you, you knew it immediately. You changed your wording, pointed at an object, drew a picture, laughed, gestured, or approached the idea from another direction until understanding emerged. Communication was an ongoing negotiation between human beings. The internet stripped away much of that feedback while simultaneously allowing each of us to inhabit our own algorithmically curated world. Two people born the same year, living in the same city, and speaking the same language can now possess remarkably little shared cultural knowledge because they have spent years consuming entirely different information, entertainment, history, and assumptions. We usually call that political polarization. I think it is something much deeper than politics. We are gradually losing the shared context that makes communication itself possible.

If that is true, then perhaps we have mistaken cause and effect. We commonly assume people stopped reading books and therefore lost the ability to understand complex writing. I wonder if the relationship actually runs in the opposite direction. What if people are reading less because the cognitive environment that once made deep reading rewarding has begun to disappear? Long-form writing assumes readers can hold multiple ideas in their minds simultaneously, recognize historical references without stopping, infer meaning that is implied rather than stated, and connect one paragraph to the next without constant repetition. Those habits develop inside a culture rich with common stories and shared assumptions. As that common culture fragments, long-form reading becomes more difficult and less rewarding. Schools respond by assigning excerpts instead of books. Writers simplify their prose. Publishers shorten their articles. Readers receive even less practice handling complexity, making the next generation of serious reading more difficult still. That isn’t a conspiracy. It’s a feedback loop.

The biblical story of the Tower of Babel has always fascinated me for that reason. Whether you view it as literal history or enduring metaphor, its central lesson isn’t merely that people began speaking different languages, they suddenly lost the ability to coordinate because they no longer shared understanding.

I think this essay is worth reading and thinking about. Maybe even discussing.

* * * * *

Weekend

The Week in Pictures: Long Strange Trip Edition

The long strange trip is, of course, the Odyssey. The Christopher Nolan film dropped, to mixed reactions from conservative reviewers. Along with reviews, it gave rise to a number of entertaining memes. It was a rather slow week, so there were leftover memes–the World Cup, the buffalo, and so on. But the largest number of memes attacked socialism. Socialism has always been a target in meme-world, but with the Democratic Party going full commie, the memes are in overdrive.
Oh, one more thing: the phrase “explosive diarrhea” entered the lexicon.

pic.twitter.com/S4DrytytLE
— 3rdnlong Chiefs' Poet / Songwriter (@Writer3rdnlong) July 17, 2026

* * * * *

Hope you have something nice planned for this weekend.

This is the Thread before the Gardening Thread.

Serving your mid-day open thread needs

* * * * *

Last week's thread, July 18, Saving the Shire

Comments are closed so you won't ban yourself by trying to comment on a week-old thread. But don't try it anyway. And don't try to comment on Ace's follow-up yesterday: If you really want to destroy civilization in a hurry, go to the very heart of the human experience -- family and mating -- and destroy that.

Posted by: K.T. at 11:11 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Those habits develop inside a culture rich with common stories and shared assumptions.

ALL judges need to have been raised in the USA.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at July 25, 2026 11:17 AM (NnhvP)

2 Nolan's film tells us this modern culture is but a pale degenerate shadow capering about on a cave wall.

Posted by: Anna Puma at July 25, 2026 11:17 AM (yGLqz)

3 How many people have read the original?

How many people know there's something to read that existed *before* the movie?

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at July 25, 2026 11:20 AM (vDZgA)

4 Suk muk dik

Posted by: Commissar of plenty and festive little hats at July 25, 2026 11:20 AM (TedUv)

5 Fritz Lang had something to say about the Tower of Babel in one of his movies. Along with the Whore if Babylon.

Posted by: Anna Puma at July 25, 2026 11:20 AM (yGLqz)

6 Yeah... our culture is "changing." Probably not for the better either. But these things tend to go in cycles, so maybe we're getting towards the end of this one, because it really sucks.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 25, 2026 11:21 AM (jehhT)

7 OMG John Blaha from NBC is demanding that X take down every Odyssey meme, I am HOWLING

Heh.

Posted by: The Streisand Effect at July 25, 2026 11:21 AM (vDZgA)

8 In episode 4 of Chainsmoker Cat, one of the translators decided to virtue signal.

In the subtitles they replaced the word 'homeless' with 'unhoused' even though one can hear the Japanese seiyuu use the English word 'homeless.'

Posted by: Anna Puma at July 25, 2026 11:24 AM (yGLqz)

9 It's all Greek to me.

Posted by: Chairborne!...Desk From Above! at July 25, 2026 11:24 AM (HnIBa)

10 40 years ago, someone observed that if a foreign power had done all this crap to our education system, it would rightly be considered an act of war.

The situation overall is far worse today.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 25, 2026 11:24 AM (wi3nN)

11 John Blahs, the idiot who launched a thousand memes.

Posted by: Anna Puma at July 25, 2026 11:25 AM (yGLqz)

12 When I moved to NYC from Louisiana it was frequently hilarious regard to local idioms /language.

When I first went into a deli I ordered a tuna sandwich and the clerk asked me if I wanted it on a hard roll. I said no I want it on fresh bread.

My co-employees loved to tease me. They would leave a note on my desk around lunch that said 'Wanna Goweat? '

And when I first had to wash my clothes I asked someone in my building if there was a Washateria close by. They looked at me like I was nutz. It's Laundromat you redneck😃

Posted by: polynikes at July 25, 2026 11:26 AM (KC5Lt)

13 It's Laundromat you redneck😃
Posted by: polynikes

At least they gave you a compliment.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at July 25, 2026 11:28 AM (NnhvP)

14 Working on 1WP

Posted by: Skip at July 25, 2026 11:29 AM (Ia/+0)

15 I never read the Odyssey but it's what I call general cliff note knowledge out there if one pays attention.

Posted by: polynikes at July 25, 2026 11:29 AM (KC5Lt)

16 "She's From Texas, I Can Tell."
What a cute song. I've never heard it before.
Thanks KT!

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 25, 2026 11:30 AM (2Ez/1)

17 I read the Ofyssey in high school. It was so long ago if I read it for an English class or on my own. I think it was the former.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 25, 2026 11:32 AM (rHgXV)

18 "Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at July 25, 2026 11:17 AM"

Quite so. Part of the Progressive Left's project has been to destroy "Shared Culture," which bound us together despite our regional differences. E.g., the King James Bible, Shakespeare, Greek mythology, etc. together with a common interpretation of same. None of this Jacques Derrida nonsense. If every interpretation is uniquely valid, then nothing is shred or common among all of us.

Posted by: RS at July 25, 2026 11:33 AM (GYx3d)

19 Is the sea wine dark in the Odysseus movie?

Posted by: Northernlurker , Maple Syrup MAGA at July 25, 2026 11:34 AM (wTZkm)

20 In episode 4 of Chainsmoker Cat, one of the translators decided to virtue signal.

In the subtitles they replaced the word 'homeless' with 'unhoused' even though one can hear the Japanese seiyuu use the English word 'homeless.'
Posted by: Anna Puma at July 25, 2026 11:24 AM (yGLqz)

And the proper term for them is "bum".

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at July 25, 2026 11:34 AM (1z8ji)

21 I read the Ofyssey in high school

Only fans version?

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at July 25, 2026 11:34 AM (NnhvP)

22 That's one of the things that I like about Substack, although they are working to screw it up. It's designed for readers and writers. I recently read the Odyssey because of a book club there. I didn't participate in their discussion but it did get me interested in reading it again.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at July 25, 2026 11:35 AM (bkuEU)

23 She's From Texas, I Can Tell."
What a cute song. I've never heard it before.
Thanks KT!
Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 25, 2026 11:30 AM (2Ez/

I didn't know it had reached #1 on top 100 Billboard chart until I looked up what was #1 a few weeks ago and that was the song. I only listen to my downloaded music or 70's 80's Sirius channels in my truck.

Posted by: polynikes at July 25, 2026 11:36 AM (KC5Lt)

24 Nope. 🙂 Just a silly typo. I don't know how any Only Fans version of "The Odyssey" would work, but I wouldn't want to see it. people do the strangest things to make money on the internet.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 25, 2026 11:38 AM (xSAlF)

25
Them: "America has no culture."

___________

"Them" are the same people who would say we need to appreciate Somalian culture.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 25, 2026 11:38 AM (O0L8i)

26
"Hey, hey! Ho, ho! Western Civ has got to go!"

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 25, 2026 11:39 AM (O0L8i)

27 . people do the strangest things to make money on the internet.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke

So true.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at July 25, 2026 11:39 AM (NnhvP)

28 My husband and son saw it Husband thought the Gods and Goddesses weren't in it enough. He'd probably enjoy VDH's excellent essay on the movie and epic. I'll have to show it to him.

Thanks, KT. .

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 25, 2026 11:41 AM (xSAlF)

29 I always forget that when speaking to someone under 50 that they may understand the words that are coming out of my mouth, but they do not comprehend the message the words are conveying.

Posted by: Click Clack Language at July 25, 2026 11:41 AM (ftsic)

30 When I moved to NYC from Louisiana it was frequently hilarious regard to local idioms /language.
Posted by: polynikes at July 25, 2026 11:26 AM

How did they react to "Pinch the tail and suck the head."?

Posted by: Duncanthrax at July 25, 2026 11:43 AM (c/EJw)

31 Part of the Progressive Left's project has been to destroy "Shared Culture," which binds us together despite regional differences.
——-

A lot of people even in 2026 profess bewilderment about progressive policies “it makes no sense” and “why would they want to do that” or this or not do that.

And much of it would appear inexplicable if one believed they weren’t trying to tear shit up. If you start with a different set of assumptions, everything they do makes perfect sense.

Border, language, culture looms large. Shared language and history. Cultural norms. Intact families, the basic building block of a functioning society. Etc etc, ad infinitum ad nauseam.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 25, 2026 11:43 AM (wi3nN)

32 I just finished an interesting book by a favorite author of mine, and I was thinking how mentally engaged I get when I read a book that interests me as contrasted to the passive nature of watching a movie in a theater or from a streaming source.

I was having this exact thought yesterday. I finished a long book on the American Revolution, and then tried to find something to watch on Netflix. I gave up after trying a few things because nothing held my attention. I'm lucky if one thing in 10 holds my attention, whereas most books do. It isn't that I've selected the subject matter, because I do that for movies and shows as well.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 25, 2026 11:44 AM (Riz8t)

33 29 I always forget that when speaking to someone under 50 that they may understand the words that are coming out of my mouth, but they do not comprehend the message the words are conveying.

Posted by: Click Clack Language at July 25, 2026 11:41 AM (ftsic)

My brother and sister kittehs are named Bogey and Bacall. None of the staff at the Vet's office have a clue where those names come from.

Posted by: polynikes at July 25, 2026 11:44 AM (KC5Lt)

34 I can look at Ella Langley all day long.

Posted by: no one of any consequence at July 25, 2026 11:44 AM (qFwJc)

35 Is the sea wine dark in the Odysseus movie?
Posted by: Northernlurker

It's the oar-smiting from the benches that makes you a sailor.

I read it in ninth grade (called "Junior High" back then), then a smidge in Attic while in college. Then read the whole shebang aloud to my wife when we was a-courtin'. Then, the recent condensed version for YA (still pretty racy) to a girl I was 'school-sitting' (quick dose of home schooling while her parents went off to work and the bus wasn't due yet).

I think it's like Atlas You-Know-What: overwrought, wordy, needs an editor blah-blah-blah but you still need to go through it every couple seasons so you don't forget the characters. And then you bump into a line from it somewhere and you're flying through the gulch again, between the maelstrom and the rock.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at July 25, 2026 11:45 AM (zdLoL)

36 "Them" are the same people who would say we need to appreciate Somalian culture.
Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at July 25, 2026 11:38 AM

To be fair, if we had sufficient learing laid on us, we would.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at July 25, 2026 11:45 AM (c/EJw)

37 Those habits develop inside a culture rich with common stories and shared assumptions.

ALL judges need to have been raised in the USA.
Posted by: AZ deplorable

This.^^^^^

Posted by: From about That Time at July 25, 2026 11:46 AM (sl73Y)

38 "Culture" is often used as an excuse for bad behavior. As if it somehow makes it acceptable.

Or you're a racist for not understanding it.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at July 25, 2026 11:47 AM (jehhT)

39 Ella Langley is an elegant looker, and has a recognizably unique singing style. I hope to hell she isn't some crazed lefty, because I'd be sorry having to turn to a different station when her songs come on the radio.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 25, 2026 11:48 AM (JFPBr)

40 40 years ago, someone observed that if a foreign power had done all this crap to our education system, it would rightly be considered an act of war.

The situation overall is far worse today.
Posted by: Common Tater at July 25, 2026 11:24 AM (wi3nN)

Communist Goals For The USA as red into the congressional record in 1963. The communists have exceeded their wildest dreams.

https://tinyurl.com/4eku54s8

Posted by: thatcrazyjerseyguy at July 25, 2026 11:48 AM (hmYU4)

41 Thx K.T.
Ella Langley has nice elbows. Can sing too

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 25, 2026 11:48 AM (/hT+7)

42 As usual KT's Saturday essay is a high point of the week at Ace's place. Thank you ma'am.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 25, 2026 11:49 AM (JFPBr)

43 Read, not red. GAH! Oh, wait, maybe "red" was correct.

Posted by: thatcrazyjerseyguy at July 25, 2026 11:50 AM (hmYU4)

44 I'll raise a glass to Penelope when we crank up the grill later today, a loyal woman through and through.

Posted by: Huck Follywood at July 25, 2026 11:52 AM (JFPBr)

45 America has a unique culture, in fact. Not a very long one, to be sure, since it is “only” 250 years old.

That this particular system of rule of law, individual rights, freedom of worship, private property, and the rest of it is so wildly successful it is obvious that is why they hate it so much.

“Presumption of Innocence” we take for granted. Or we used to anyway. I was astonished to see all those Ivy League cocksuckers on the TV hand wave all that away in order to advance their own political goals.

Anonymous accusations from 40 years ago? Well you gotta resign, obviously.

Sometimes you’ll hear leftists talk about “human rights” but they don’t want you to notice they mean “group rights”.

You are NOTHING unless and until you are part of a particular group.

“You ain’t really black unless you vote for me” said Joe Biden. The guy really is a fucking idiot, but he understands and articulates this sort of nonsense very well, at times.

Individual rights has probably always been a completely foreign and alien concept, and around the world even today

Posted by: Common Tater at July 25, 2026 11:58 AM (wi3nN)

46 In April 1983, U.S. Secretary of Education Terrell Bell created the National Commission on Excellence in Education, directing it to “examine the quality of education in the United States.” The panel found that “the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”

The report famously asserted, “If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might have viewed it as an act of war.” It also insists that “…academic excellence [is] the primary goal of schooling [and it] seems to be fading across…American education.”

Posted by: Duncanthrax at July 25, 2026 11:59 AM (c/EJw)

47 “Presumption of Innocence” we take for granted. Or we used to anyway. is exactly what a white supremacist would say.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 25, 2026 12:00 PM (Riz8t)

48 read it maybe 35 years ago. might read it again, free online

Posted by: gnats local 678 at July 25, 2026 12:00 PM (CWTWj)

49 It's certainly a trivial example, but I think Sophie Cunningham's shoes instantly selling out is a token of a major sea change in the culture. The woke nonsense has run its course, and the number of people endorsing its silly precepts is cratering, because nobody likes looking stupid. It was always a fad, and a way of virtue signaling, but like all such fads, you don't want to be the last one defending the old zeitgeist.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 25, 2026 12:02 PM (Riz8t)

50 tell me, oh muse, of that cis unbirthing person

Posted by: gnats local 678 at July 25, 2026 12:03 PM (CWTWj)

51 Whittle's vid is excellent, but he is definitely preaching to the choir. How many people under 30 actually read for fun or to further educate themselves. Most of them, and some older, have the attention span of a gnat. That doesn't lead to deep thinking or remembering things

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 25, 2026 12:06 PM (/hT+7)

52 My husband and son saw it Husband thought the Gods and Goddesses weren't in it enough. He'd probably enjoy VDH's excellent essay on the movie and epic. I'll have to show it to him.

Thanks, KT. .

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 25, 2026 11:41 AM (xSAlF)

I think that's a general problem with movies/novels that source Greek or Roman myths.

Surprise! The same people who can't/won't take Christianity seriously, can't/won't take gods and goddesses in an ancient narrative. It's almost always played for the laughs.

Whereas a world with gods, popping in and out of human life like you'd pop into a Dairy Queen for a swirl cones would be frightening as hell.

I'd be interested in seeing an Odyssey or Iliad or Aenid like that.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 25, 2026 12:06 PM (iJfKG)

53 The movie producers are buying up tickets to boost sales numbers, similar to what was done for Captain Marvel.

There are multiple people reporting overwhelming no shows. Most attendees are complaining that they end up with bad seats only to find out that theater is mostly empty.

Christopher Nolan's Odyssey is fake and gay, like Ellen Page.

Homer's Odyssey deserves far better.

Posted by: ironwolf32 at July 25, 2026 12:06 PM (Ih5Xj)

54 read the Ofyssey in high school. It was so long ago if I read it for an English class or on my own. I think it was the former.

As a business major, I liked to go elsewhere with my electives.
Took a couse on greek mythology, read Metamorphese, The Illiad, The Oddysey, a bunch of comedies, Euripedese (?), all well over fifty years ago. Enjoyable change of pace.

Posted by: From about That Time at July 25, 2026 12:06 PM (sl73Y)

55 I rented a Honda Odyssey once. Don't think it was built in Greece, though.

Posted by: Russian Hands, Roman Fingers at July 25, 2026 12:07 PM (JM9I6)

56 Attempting to tie everything they don’t like to “white supremacy” is so remarkably stupid I can’t really grok what they are actually trying to accomplish.

Divide everything up, increase ethnic tensions and hostility, ensure blacks and others remain mired in dysfunctional communities, and destroy the education system, sure. It’s too depressing to think about.

Get your kids completely out of government schools if at all possible. There is no other alternative

Posted by: Common Tater at July 25, 2026 12:07 PM (wi3nN)

57 Individual rights has probably always been a completely foreign and alien concept, and around the world even today.
Posted by: Common Tater
___________

The sanctity of the individual is, from what I can tell, unique to the west, and maybe Christianity.

Here's a passage from Darkness at Noon that has stuck with me:

"There are only two conceptions of human ethics, and they are at opposite poles. One of them is Christian and humane, declares the individual to be sacrosanct, and asserts that the rules of arithmetic are not to be applied to human units. The other starts from the basic principle that a collective aim justifies all means, and not only allows, but demands, that the individual should in every way be subordinated and sacrificed to the community—which may dispose of it as an experimentation rabbit or a sacrificial lamb. The first conception could be called anti-vivisection morality, the second, vivisection morality."

And completely OT, this is why Spock's "needs of the many" quote has always pissed me off.

Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at July 25, 2026 12:10 PM (XvL8K)

58 I’d take the Whore of Babylon over the whore of Compton. Or Mogadishu.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 12:11 PM (yiEEK)

59
We're going to "The Odyssey" tomorrow morning.

My excitement and anticipation have been appropriately dialed down, so I shouldn't particularly disappointed.

I've read the "The Odyssey" a few times before. Always a good read.

I'll probably do it again and we see TO tomorrow.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 25, 2026 12:11 PM (iJfKG)

60 53 The movie producers are buying up tickets to boost sales numbers, similar to what was done for Captain Marvel.

There are multiple people reporting overwhelming no shows. Most attendees are complaining that they end up with bad seats only to find out that theater is mostly empty.

Christopher Nolan's Odyssey is fake and gay, like Ellen Page.

Gotta source for those claims?

Posted by: Archimedes at July 25, 2026 12:11 PM (Riz8t)

61 "Pictures entertain you. Words make you think."

Posted by: wcgreen at July 25, 2026 12:11 PM (u5BVN)

62 "Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers."

Posted by: Harry Truman at July 25, 2026 12:12 PM (2Ez/1)

63 Posted by: naturalfake at July 25, 2026 12:06 PM (iJfKG)

Very good points. Thanks.

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at July 25, 2026 12:12 PM (gsYaF)

64 Christopher Nolan's Odyssey is fake and gay, like Ellen Page.

Gotta source for those claims?

I mean other than the Ellen Page one. That's spot on.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 25, 2026 12:12 PM (Riz8t)

65 23 I only listen to my downloaded music or 70's 80's Sirius channels in my truck.
Posted by: polynikes at July 25, 2026 11:36 AM (KC5Lt)

Fistbump!

I also like Classic Vinyl and Prime Country.

Posted by: Anonymous Rogue in Kalifornistan (ARiK's Phone) at July 25, 2026 12:12 PM (QGaXH)

66 Why doesn't Hollywood ever make movies based on similar timeless stories of heroics, written by people in Ancient Wakanda?

Posted by: Joy Reid at July 25, 2026 12:13 PM (5rh/l)

67 The movie producers are buying up tickets to boost sales numbers, similar to what was done for Captain Marvel.

There are multiple people reporting overwhelming no shows. Most attendees are complaining that they end up with bad seats only to find out that theater is mostly empty.

Christopher Nolan's Odyssey is fake and gay, like Ellen Page.

Homer's Odyssey deserves far better.
Posted by: ironwolf32 at July 25, 2026 12:06 PM (Ih5Xj)

My friend is running the 70mm and digital IMAX shows at a large theater. The theaters have been sold out (physically) at every show. AND, the theater is charging 3.00 more to see the 70mm or IMAX presentations. Two regular digital screens as well. It's crazy.

Posted by: thatcrazyjerseyguy at July 25, 2026 12:15 PM (hmYU4)

68 56 Attempting to tie everything they don’t like to “white supremacy” is so remarkably stupid I can’t really grok what they are actually trying to accomplish.

complaining about attempts to tie things to white supremacy is one of the leading hallmarks of white supremacy.

Posted by: anachronda at July 25, 2026 12:15 PM (qdr3M)

69 It's certainly a trivial example, but I think Sophie Cunningham's shoes instantly selling out is a token of a major sea change in the culture. The woke nonsense has run its course, [ . . . ]
Posted by: Archimedes at July 25, 2026 12:02 PM (Riz8t)

I) am not sure if that is it, or if it is that no real majority supported the woke jackassery, just that the loudest voices had all the support of the MSM and every other channel, and normies were silenced and isolated. The shoes selling out may be that normal people are deeply thirsting for any way to hit back and show displeasure without being cancelled and fired for being a rassishaterxenophobe.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 25, 2026 12:16 PM (rbvCR)

70 >>It's certainly a trivial example, but I think Sophie Cunningham's shoes instantly selling out is a token of a major sea change in the culture.

Meanwhile, Obama visited a practice session for the WNBA Allstar game where he met Caitlin Clark.

After telling her not to let all the nonsense get her down, to the surprise of no one, he quickly turned to talking about himself.

Posted by: one hour sober at July 25, 2026 12:16 PM (J4Dwc)

71 I've been reading more on the Shiloh Hendrix case and it keeps getting worse and worse.

She wasn't convicted of calling the kid a racial slur she was convicted of calling the Somali man (unrelated to the Somali kid that stole her stuff) the racial slur.

The same guy had charges against him dropped one month before the Hendrix case of raping a 16 year old. And after those charges are dismissed...he immediately starts hanging out in a kid's park filming people?!?

Why were the charges dismissed? I can't find an explanation. The girl still seems to be saying the Somali guy raped her so she didn't drop the charges.

Posted by: Riker at July 25, 2026 12:17 PM (sKqQm)

72 Isn't this Odyssey movie where a Woman Trannie plays Zeus?

Posted by: Skip at July 25, 2026 12:17 PM (Ia/+0)

73 The movie producers are buying up tickets to boost sales numbers, similar to what was done for Captain Marvel.

There are multiple people reporting overwhelming no shows. Most attendees are complaining that they end up with bad seats only to find out that theater is mostly empty.

Christopher Nolan's Odyssey is fake and gay, like Ellen Page.

Homer's Odyssey deserves far better.
Posted by: ironwolf32 at July 25, 2026 12:06 PM (Ih5Xj)

My friend is running the 70mm and digital IMAX shows at a large theater. The theaters have been sold out (physically) at every show. AND, the theater is charging 3.00 more to see the 70mm or IMAX presentations. Two regular digital screens as well. It's crazy.
Posted by: thatcrazyjerseyguy at July 25, 2026 12:15 PM (hmYU4)

Yeah, people I've talked to who have seen the movie say the IMAX theaters were totally packed with people though there were a few front row seats available.

I can't even imagine trying to watch a movie in IMAX on the front row.

Posted by: naturalfake at July 25, 2026 12:18 PM (iJfKG)

74 I am reliably informed everything about Greek history is ghey and stolen from Wakanda.

Posted by: San Franpsycho at July 25, 2026 12:18 PM (JvZF+)

75 Sophie certainly doesn't have to worry about getting the male gaze from Obama

Posted by: 18-1 at July 25, 2026 12:18 PM (sKqQm)

76 In the subtitles they replaced the word 'homeless' with 'unhoused' even though one can hear the Japanese seiyuu use the English word 'homeless.'

Translators tried to dodge that by saying they're actually localizers, adapting it for a new culture rather than just translating. That was quickly flipped to "wokalizers" by the Internet and I think they're back to saying they're translators now.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 25, 2026 12:19 PM (QZThv)

77 Point of Order: use of "trivial" and "major" in the same sentence.

Posted by: Person who likes to say Point Of Order at July 25, 2026 12:19 PM (2Ez/1)

78 Homer's Odyssey deserves far better.
Posted by: ironwolf32 at July 25, 2026 12:06 PM (Ih5Xj)

AI slop: Elliot Page being fitted with Mycenean armor

youtu.be/jG-qekubNcI

Posted by: Kindltot at July 25, 2026 12:19 PM (rbvCR)

79 Just now waking up and it's probably already been said, but this is the best meme of the week.

Saving Private Ryan
Interstellar
The Martian
The Odyssey

Hollywood has spent hundreds of millions trying to get Matt Damon home.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 25, 2026 12:19 PM (2WIwB)

80 When you bring Somalis here you get Somalia here.

Posted by: Duh at July 25, 2026 12:21 PM (2Ez/1)

81 - Some years back I checked Illiad and the Odessey out from the library. You know, because it's something everyone must read.

Never made it through even the Illiad.
Decision it was one of those things you read to show others you have good taste. Or to show how edumacated you are.

And yes KT, the Biblical account of the tower of Babel is a true account.
Just as the creation account, the garden of Eden, Noah's flood, Abraham, the plagues in Egypt and the Red Sea crossing, etc, through our Lord's birth, ministry, death and resurrection.
It will be the same for the events surrounding His return.

Posted by: TeeJ at July 25, 2026 12:21 PM (/XKEa)

82 We're going to "The Odyssey" tomorrow morning.

My excitement and anticipation have been appropriately dialed down, so I shouldn't particularly disappointed.

I've read the "The Odyssey" a few times before. Always a good read.

I'll probably do it again and we see TO tomorrow.
Posted by: naturalfake at July 25, 2026 12:11
----
'Fake, if you limbo under the low, low bar of modern expectations you can be entertained, and it's a fast-paced three hours, but it has no staying power in the imagination (IMHO), unlike the source material.

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 25, 2026 12:21 PM (kpS4V)

83 Attempting to tie everything they don’t like to “white supremacy” is so remarkably stupid I can’t really grok what they are actually trying to accomplish.

Divide everything up, increase ethnic tensions and hostility, ensure blacks and others remain mired in dysfunctional communities, and destroy the education system, sure. It’s too depressing to think about.

The goal is feudalism and no resistance from the peasantry. Who has historically resisted the most against unfree governments? White men. So minimize that population by all means possible, bring in races and ethnic groups more known for unthinking compliance, and pretty soon you can get used to people saying "yes, my lord" to you.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 25, 2026 12:22 PM (QZThv)

84 I ran across a new broadcast from 1989 from MA.

The news story mentioned they had 28K people on public assistance including...500 illegals. The number today? 2M people and I can't find any reasonable numbers for how many of them are illegals.

Posted by: 18-1 at July 25, 2026 12:23 PM (sKqQm)

85 Working on 1WP
Posted by: Skip at July 25, 2026 11:29 AM (Ia/+0)

Already got mine.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 25, 2026 12:23 PM (2WIwB)

86 Individual rights has probably always been a completely foreign and alien concept, and around the world even today
Posted by: Common Tater at July 25, 2026 11:58 AM (wi3nN)

Individual Rights are the basis of all Morality.

Denial of individual rights is the core of all Evil.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 12:24 PM (yiEEK)

87 Matt Damon plays only two roles decently:

Boston thug
Sneaky fucker

He is likely terrible in the Odyssey

Posted by: 18-1 at July 25, 2026 12:24 PM (sKqQm)

88 'Fake, if you limbo under the low, low bar of modern expectations you can be entertained, and it's a fast-paced three hours, but it has no staying power in the imagination (IMHO), unlike the source material.

Critical Drinker says it's basically Avatar, a movie everyone saw that made infinite money and which made zero impact on the actual culture. Nobody quotes it, nobody references it, it's a non-entity.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 25, 2026 12:24 PM (QZThv)

89 Point of Order: use of "trivial" and "major" in the same sentence.

Posted by: Person who likes to say Point Of Order [i/]

It's a fair cop.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 25, 2026 12:25 PM (Riz8t)

90 "America has no culture."

Did you tell that to all the European fans of Men's Metric Kickball standing in line for brisket at Buc-ee's?

Posted by: Quarter Twenty at July 25, 2026 12:25 PM (2Ez/1)

91 I wish I could argue that the alarm about reading and loss of culture is unfounded. I can't. It is bad, disastrous, and getting worse. And it is deliberate. The commie powers, whether national or NYC or teachers unions, can only succeed if the structure that built western civilization are eliminated. Even the desire to preserve that structure must be removed. Traditional and historic figures: Superman, the Founding Fathers, the philosophy of Greece and Rome, the writings that formed the basis of culture for 2,000 years are dangerous because they require acknowledging virtue and thought.

However, there is some push back.

Continued ...

Posted by: JTB at July 25, 2026 12:25 PM (yTvNw)

92 Whatever you think of Nolan's film, it's doing boffo box office.

So even if it's not historically accurate, it's capturing a lot of eyeballs.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at July 25, 2026 12:25 PM (u0Ymi)

93 LOL, I thought some shoe-sniffing pervert bought Sophie Cunningham's actual shoes, not that her shoe line sold out.

Good for her!

Posted by: All Hail Eris, She-Wolf of the 'Ettes 'Ettes at July 25, 2026 12:26 PM (kpS4V)

94 Quickly checking the numbers, the Odyssey will probably break even or make a small profit - why are people saying it is doing well in the theaters?

It cost $250M to make, so films normally need to double that to break even. Its at $384M so far.

Oppenheimer cost $100M and made just under $1B.

Posted by: 18-1 at July 25, 2026 12:32 PM (sKqQm)

95 Point of Order: use of "trivial" and "major" in the same sentence.

Posted by: Person who likes to say Point Of Order [i/]

It's a fair cop.

Upon further reflection, I withdraw my agreement. It is NOT a fair cop. The selling of a woman's athletic shoe is trivial, but what it portends is not. Yes, I really did spend more time thinking about this.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 25, 2026 12:32 PM (Riz8t)

96 How about the Kirk Douglas version?

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at July 25, 2026 12:34 PM (Cqx++)

97 @88 Ian S, I am a big sci- fi fan and I saw Avatar. I was bored and I can't remember much about the film. Compare it to Alien, Aliens , Stat Wars (even the crappy ones) and it pales in comparison

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 25, 2026 12:34 PM (/hT+7)

98 Whatever you think of Nolan's film, it's doing boffo box office.

So even if it's not historically accurate, it's capturing a lot of eyeballs.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at July 25, 2026 12:25 PM (u0Ymi)

See my post at 67. Sellout crowds.

Posted by: thatcrazyjerseyguy at July 25, 2026 12:35 PM (hmYU4)

99 I liked Matt Damon in The Martian. Despite the scientific inaccuracies I thought it was a good movie

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 25, 2026 12:35 PM (/hT+7)

100 I rented a Honda Odyssey once. Don't think it was built in Greece, though.

I heard the Honda Iliad conks out right after Priam gets Hector's body back from Achilles.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at July 25, 2026 12:37 PM (guGkK)

101 It's all Greek to me.....

Posted by: It's me donna at July 25, 2026 12:38 PM (F9jFo)

102 . . . I don’t think the young woman in Mary Katherine Ham’s video was stupid.
--

Stupid is as stupid does
She seems as dumb as a box of rocks

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at July 25, 2026 12:38 PM (0TVIV)

103 The meme Homer's Odyssey with Homer Simpson standing next to a Honda Odyssey is pretty good

Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 25, 2026 12:38 PM (/hT+7)

104 And completely OT, this is why Spock's "needs of the many" quote has always pissed me off.
Posted by: Biff Pocoroba at July 25, 2026 12:10 PM (XvL8K)

This cuts to the heart of why Marxism is a crude, satanic copy of 1st century Christianity. When a choice to sacrifice is made by an individual acting out of his own free will who understands all the ramifications of his or her actions, it is one of the highest and noblest endeavors possible.
But when that choice is made by a government against an individual’s wishes, it becomes an instrument of great evil.

“No man has greater love than that he lay down his life for his friends.” This we all acknowledge.

Yet it is an abomination to say “No State has greater love than that they slaughter their own citizens for the good of the State.”

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 12:38 PM (yiEEK)

105 I am a big sci- fi fan and I saw Avatar. I was bored and I can't remember much about the film. Compare it to Alien, Aliens , Stat Wars (even the crappy ones) and it pales in comparison

Right. I haven't seen Avatar and I know exactly as much about it as people who have. It's not like The Matrix which still gets commonly cited today in a million different ways. This Odyssey is likely to go the same way.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 25, 2026 12:40 PM (QZThv)

106 But when that choice is made by a government against an individual’s wishes, it becomes an instrument of great evil.

The left is getting more consistent about this though - look at their arguments as to why illegals/immigrants shouldnt spend jail time for rape...

Posted by: 18-1 at July 25, 2026 12:40 PM (sKqQm)

107 Continued form comment 91 ...

There is resistance to this dumbing down and endless reliance on centralized technology. Home schooling. The move, especially by younger people, to reduce dependence on digital devices and their demands. Books by Martin Shaw (the story teller, not the actor) sell well.

Malcolm Guite's first volume of the poetic epic of the King Arthur legends sold out fast, a second printing was much bigger and sold out. The publisher is rushing a third, still bigger, run to meet current demand. It only came out in April. And it is selling to young people, not just aged nerds like me. Young parents are reading it to their kids and the kids are eating it up according to comments and reviews. The sources Guite lists in an appendix is generating renewed interest in medieval literature. Not just the stories but the culture that created them.

These things give me a glimmer of hope despite the darkness being foisted upon us and our culture.

Posted by: JTB at July 25, 2026 12:40 PM (yTvNw)

108 Reparations for Helen!!!!! Bitches

Posted by: JAZZY CROCKETT at July 25, 2026 12:41 PM (Cv/v8)

109 The goal is feudalism and no resistance from the peasantry. Who has historically resisted the most against unfree governments? White males.
——-

Well, OK. It’s entirely schizophrenic with a bath salts chaser to watch “minorities” (coached by leftist twats) try to malign the structures and systems that provide for their sustenance.

Cassius Clay decided to poke around the continent of Africa when he was boxing overseas. When a reporter asked what he thought about his old stomping grounds all he said wss “I’m glad my daddy got on that boat!” LOL

I don’t “hate” government, but it is sobering to place your very survival in the hands of the sort of clowns these days who manage to get elected or appointed. What could go wrong? They insist upon themselves, and claim superiority in smarts or whatever, yet they are some deviant combination of incompetence and wicked malevolence.

They like to talk about “sustainable” an awful lot, though curiously never about a national government $38 trillion in the hole and borrowing & spending more. On stupid shit.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 25, 2026 12:42 PM (qs4KZ)

110 I hear audiences like The Odyssey movie.
I am not surprised - the public is always disappointing me.

Posted by: vmom deport deport deport at July 25, 2026 12:43 PM (0TVIV)

111 Ian S, I am a big sci- fi fan and I saw Avatar. I was bored and I can't remember much about the film. Compare it to Alien, Aliens , Stat Wars (even the crappy ones) and it pales in comparison
Posted by: Smell the Glove at July 25, 2026 12:34 PM (/hT+7)

I recently saw a discussion of the plot of Avatar: the critic panned it because it was also the plot to Disney's Pocahontas

then he took the plot of Pocahontas and scratched out the proper nouns and replaced them with the ones from Avatar to prove his point.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 25, 2026 12:43 PM (rbvCR)

112 Spock's "needs of the many" quote has always pissed me off. --Posted by: Biff Pocoroba

It's also part of the source tale of The Lone Ranger! JS Mill and Jeremy Bentham get credit as founding libertarians, but in that respect they sure aren't. It's dangerous to study just a little philosophy. At my school we didn't have a "101."

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at July 25, 2026 12:43 PM (zdLoL)

113 I mostly like Matt Damon movies, all movies seem to need to tweak reality a bit. Cap and Ball YouTube just put one out about Last of the Mohicans that silk for a rifle ball wad puts 40 yds more. Of course it doesn't but its not a history lesson after all.

Posted by: Skip at July 25, 2026 12:43 PM (Ia/+0)

114 1) Wiki reports the budget for every movie it covers. But to make a profit, according to what I've read, a film must make 2X its budget. That's because of post-production expenses-- distribution, advertising, misc.

2) adult literacy:

I used to tutor adult literacy one-on-one. I quit because it was too hard on me physically. A good portion of those who sign up for literacy classes don't really want to learn to read-- they want help with their medical correspondence, & other business-related matters. And that's fine, but it surprised me.

Posted by: mnw at July 25, 2026 12:43 PM (RCjYY)

115
92 Whatever you think of Nolan's film, it's doing boffo box office.

So even if it's not historically accurate, it's capturing a lot of eyeballs.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at July 25, 2026 12:25 PM (u0Ymi)

When it came out, Avatar was the highest grossing film of all time.

A few years later, it’s a mostly forgotten juvenile embarrassment.

PT Barnum: No one ever went broke Underestimating the taste of the American Public.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 12:44 PM (yiEEK)

116 I recently saw a discussion of the plot of Avatar: the critic panned it because it was also the plot to Disney's Pocahontas

Someone once observed that there are only six plots that get re-skinned for every new story.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at July 25, 2026 12:45 PM (guGkK)

117 - Trying to square a circle.

Reading along seeing people just hammer this movie and then, what do they do?
Go give the movie maker their money to watch it.

As an aside, it wasn't the Greek and Roman philosophers that the founders of this nation adhered to when founding it. They neither believed in nor followed after pagan gods.

Posted by: TeeJ at July 25, 2026 12:45 PM (/XKEa)

118 It’s entirely schizophrenic with a bath salts chaser to watch “minorities” (coached by leftist twats) try to malign the structures and systems that provide for their sustenance.

100%. The real qualitative difference in today's Marxist morons is that they believe they can substitute their political system and nothing else will change except what they want to change. We have a century+ of data proving otherwise, but we're the "science deniers".

Posted by: Ian S. at July 25, 2026 12:45 PM (QZThv)

119 Matt Damon plays only two roles decently:

Boston thug
Sneaky fucker

He is likely terrible in the Odyssey
Posted by: 18-1 at July 25, 2026 12:24 PM (sKqQm)
===============
I thought he reached his apex in Team America, World Police

Posted by: Trey Parker at July 25, 2026 12:45 PM (oT0kA)

120 When it came out, Avatar was the highest grossing film of all time.

A few years later, it’s a mostly forgotten juvenile embarrassment.

How can it be forgotten; it won't go away. They'll keep making them like they made Rocky movies, until they stop printing money.

Posted by: Archimedes at July 25, 2026 12:46 PM (Riz8t)

121 Odysseus Finally Returns Home After 20 Years And Oh No! Penelope Is Out Of Baking Powder And Needs Him To Run Out Again Real Quick

AYFKM? Telemachus *still* doesn't have his driver's license?!?!?!

Posted by: Odysseus at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (vDZgA)

122 What's a Grecian urn? I never got a straight answer to that.

Posted by: Annie Amphora at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (JM9I6)

123 Is Elon's latest Starship still bobbing around in the ocean?

Posted by: toby928(c) at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (4NO2D)

124 Someone once observed that there are only six plots that get re-skinned for every new story.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at July 25, 2026 12:45 PM (guGkK)

I always thought Campbell was overstating the hero's journey importance.

Posted by: Kindltot at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (rbvCR)

125 I recently saw a discussion of the plot of Avatar: the critic panned it because it was also the plot to Disney's Pocahontas

then he took the plot of Pocahontas and scratched out the proper nouns and replaced them with the ones from Avatar to prove his point.
Posted by: Kindltot at July 25, 2026 12:43 PM (rbvCR)

Right idea, wrong film. As James Madison and I have joked often, Avatar is almost a scene by scene ripoff of the children’s eco-fantasy cartoon “Ferngully”.

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (yiEEK)

126 What's a Grecian urn? I never got a straight answer to that.

$20, same as in town.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (QZThv)

127 >>> I thought some shoe-sniffing pervert bought Sophie Cunningham's actual shoes,

*** shifty eyes ***

Posted by: fluffy at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (V0/Sp)

128 We are gradually losing the shared context that makes communication itself possible.

What shared context? Diversity is our strength. Yeeting shared context is the whole point. Sending a Normal to a post-modern university will reset her context into communications black hole.

Lack of concentration due to hours of training into passive awareness via endless scrolling contributes to a naturally low context culture losing the utility of pronouns because the listener lost track of the subject and object, not just because the cultural Marxists have deliberately worked to deconstruct simple 1:1 communication.

This is why a large and growing part of the country can only "communicate" in emotional trigger words and emotis and is increasingly alienated from reason.

Posted by: Community Notes at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (rgGn5)

129 Heard it said Grecian women are high maintenance on the cost of depilatory services alone.

Posted by: Second Only To Turkish Women at July 25, 2026 12:48 PM (JM9I6)

130
122 What's a Grecian urn? I never got a straight answer to that.
Posted by: Annie Amphora at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (JM9I6).

20 bucks, same as in town!

(I had to say it)

Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 12:48 PM (yiEEK)

131 I recently saw a discussion of the plot of Avatar: the critic panned it because it was also the plot to Disney's Pocahontas

That plot also predates Pocahontas (a movie which itself is probably best known today as a way to call Elizabeth Warren names).

Posted by: Ian S. at July 25, 2026 12:49 PM (QZThv)

132 This is why a large and growing part of the country can only "communicate" in emotional trigger words and emotis and is increasingly alienated from reason.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at July 25, 2026 12:49 PM (guGkK)

133 George Orwell once wrote that the cinema was a "soggy attraction" and a necessary drug for friendless people.

Posted by: The Movies Blow Chunks at July 25, 2026 12:50 PM (ftsic)

134 Upon further reflection, I withdraw my agreement. It is NOT a fair cop. The selling of a woman's athletic shoe is trivial, but what it portends is not. Yes, I really did spend more time thinking about this.
Posted by: Archimedes at

Fair cop comment made me look. I agree with your reconsideration, was not a fair cop.

Posted by: From about That Time at July 25, 2026 12:51 PM (sl73Y)

135 Suspect the Odyssey will be especially popular with those who never read it ... or with those who were compelled to read Homer "back in the day" by some wrinkled old comp lit professor.

I read both, on my own in the Fitzgerald translation (dating myself, I know) and preferred the Iliad. Never warmed to Homer's Ulysses. Basically burns through all his men on the way home. Even though that's a given, it never appealed.

Posted by: YellowBird at July 25, 2026 12:53 PM (MEbkQ)

136 There was no bombing of Iran last night, first time in the last 13 days.

I think Trump is negotiating with them again.

Posted by: mnw at July 25, 2026 12:54 PM (RCjYY)

137 >>Reading along seeing people just hammer this movie and then, what do they do? Go give the movie maker their money to watch it.

Some of whom are very quick to chastise football fans for watching NFL games because woke. I guess they don't see the hypocrisy.

Posted by: one hour sober at July 25, 2026 12:54 PM (J4Dwc)

138 George Orwell once wrote that the cinema was a "soggy attraction" and a necessary drug for friendless people.

It's been pointed out regularly that movies originally became popular because they were the first places in most of the country to have air conditioning outside of factories that needed the climate controlled (the original reason Willis Carrier did the thing).

Meanwhile, the BBC had an activist woman on who said rather than buy an air conditioner and make the baby Gaia cry (before we abort it?), you should, and I quote, "paint your windows with yogurt". I guess the smell when you fill your house with yogurt and its 85 degrees will make you forget that you're hot.

Posted by: Ian S. at July 25, 2026 12:54 PM (QZThv)

139 Right idea, wrong film. As James Madison and I have joked often, Avatar is almost a scene by scene ripoff of the children’s eco-fantasy cartoon “Ferngully”.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (yiEEK)

Didn't Cameron direct Ferngully as well?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 25, 2026 12:56 PM (lFFaq)

140 For those who follow REAL football.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shananhan was involved in a serious car accident last week, the team announced on Saturday.
Shanahan broke his nose, three ribs, his hand, needed over 40 stitches in his face and suffered a severe concussion in the accident, according to ESPN.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 25, 2026 12:56 PM (2WIwB)

141 I can look at Ella Langley all day long.

A lot of it may be the hair style but she reminds me of a young Linda Ronstadt in that video. And that's not a bad thing.

Posted by: Oddbob at July 25, 2026 12:57 PM (vTZFs)

142 PT Barnum: No one ever went broke Underestimating the taste of the American Public.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 12:44 PM (yiEEK)

I can't wait for the "Barbie" sequel!

Posted by: American Public at July 25, 2026 12:57 PM (ftsic)

143 PT Barnum: No one ever went broke Underestimating the taste of the American Public.
I think you may want to look to the header of this blog for the actual source of that quotation.
Barnum is unfairly maligned. He was a major Republican functionary, and mayor of Bridgeport when it was a conservative stronghold. Certainly never the Babbitt depicted by this line.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at July 25, 2026 12:59 PM (zdLoL)

144 And Tony Romo got popped for DUI

Posted by: one hour sober at July 25, 2026 12:59 PM (J4Dwc)

145 There is resistance to this dumbing down and endless reliance on centralized technology. Home schooling.

This is a direct repudiation of 'W's (including Ted Kennedy and John Boehner) asinine "No Child Left Behind" policy that mainstreamed retards and thugs into the class room alienating good teachers into early retirement, and causing a generation or two to go stupid due to "teaching" to the lowest common denominator.

I'm glad to see a resurgence in a bifurcation of this society into mouth breathers and Producers. We have all heard of Pareto Law (80:20), but with AI society can still function with a 95:5 Principle of Factor Sparsity.

I encourage homeschoolers to conquer at whatever they do.

Posted by: Community Notes at July 25, 2026 12:59 PM (rgGn5)

146 >>> 139 Right idea, wrong film. As James Madison and I have joked often, Avatar is almost a scene by scene ripoff of the children’s eco-fantasy cartoon “Ferngully”.
Posted by: Tom Servo at July 25, 2026 12:47 PM (yiEEK)

Didn't Cameron direct Ferngully as well?
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 25, 2026 12:56 PM (lFFaq)

I have no idea who *did*, but Jimmy wasn't involved.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at July 25, 2026 01:00 PM (vDZgA)

147 Tuco went to the gunshop to check out the pistols. Or was it Eastwood?

They were cap & ball percussion cap revolvers, miraculously modified to fit brass cartridges, I guess.

Posted by: Common Tater at July 25, 2026 01:02 PM (qs4KZ)

148 Tom, Biff @104,
A well reasoned explanation. Thanxs.
Spock's version has always reminded me of the kid throwing himself on a grenade to save his squad. Stalin's version is vile.

Posted by: Diogenes at July 25, 2026 01:02 PM (2WIwB)

149 it wasn't the Greek and Roman philosophers that the founders of this nation adhered to when founding it.

You sure as shit have a lot of excuses for not knowing things.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at July 25, 2026 01:03 PM (zdLoL)

150 (at one time I probably could have named every single thing he and/or his ex-wife directed / produced / whatever'ed)

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at July 25, 2026 01:03 PM (vDZgA)

151 I have no idea who *did*, but Jimmy wasn't involved.
Posted by: Helena Handbasket at July 25, 2026 01:00 PM (vDZgA)

Never watched either, but I could have sworn I'd read when "Dances With Aliens" came out that he'd also been responsible for Ferngully. Maybe people were just noting the similarity.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 25, 2026 01:03 PM (lFFaq)

152 The second Odysseus gets back, carrying in bags of cyclops eggs and siren milk, he sees the refrigerator and instantly remembers his whole reason for going out was they were out of bacon and he'll just have to go out again in the afternoon to get some. Dangit!

Posted by: banana Dream - mmmm siren milk at July 25, 2026 01:03 PM (3uBP9)

153 Rashee Rice is out of jail, but may get suspended again by the League. Plus he had knee surgery. He's the Chefs' WR 1.

One way to stop Mahomes is to construct a roster with suspect WRs.

Posted by: mnw at July 25, 2026 01:03 PM (RCjYY)

154 Hold on to yer britches...

@LeadingReport 51m
Parsley and cilantro reportedly now linked to cyclospora outbreak in North Carolina, per NYP.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at July 25, 2026 01:04 PM (diia5)

155 >>> 151
==
Never watched either, but I could have sworn I'd read when "Dances With Aliens" came out that he'd also been responsible for Ferngully. Maybe people were just noting the similarity.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 25, 2026 01:03 PM (lFFaq)

This title will never not be funny.

Posted by: Helena Handbasket at July 25, 2026 01:05 PM (vDZgA)

156 The second Odysseus gets back, carrying in bags of cyclops eggs and siren milk, he sees the refrigerator and instantly remembers his whole reason for going out was they were out of bacon and he'll just have to go out again in the afternoon to get some. Dangit!

But the time, he's taking the back way, avoiding Scylla and Charybdis entirely.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero43) at July 25, 2026 01:06 PM (guGkK)

157 What's a Grecian urn? I never got a straight answer to that.

20 drachmas/hour

Posted by: Diogenes at July 25, 2026 01:06 PM (2WIwB)

158 There was no bombing of Iran last night, first time in the last 13 days.

Or the US military ran out of things to drop.

Posted by: Community Notes at July 25, 2026 01:06 PM (rgGn5)

159 Posted by: mnw at July 25, 2026 01:03 PM (RCjYY)

Is he related to Jerry Rice? Definitely starting to see dynasties in football. Aren't the Mannings on the third generation now?

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at July 25, 2026 01:06 PM (lFFaq)

160 If I only thought about the negative aspects of the current culture, and they can be overwhelming, I would spend my old age drowning in despair and rage. I choose not to do that within the limits my my considerable temper. So I look for glimmerings of the positive and hopeful. Reducing my dependence on digital everything as far as possible: streaming instead of physical media, no QR code stuff, not living for 'social media', using cash when possible, if I were 40 years younger I would seriously look at homesteading.

Other areas: more recently published books of classic poetry and literature and they are selling. Renewed interest in hands-on hobbies and activities. Increasing amount of home schooling. An upsurge of interest and conversion in the traditional Roman Catholic church, despite the last few Popes. Not just the motions but seeking understanding of the reasons Christianity is so valuable to individuals and society.

Posted by: JTB at July 25, 2026 01:07 PM (yTvNw)

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