Hah! Was I wrong.

No - hold on, I wasn’t. I said it was important to know about the Internet Thing, right? Yes. (Don’t make me read my own words; that only leads to tears.) Well, GameStop is one of those instances where the Internet Thing leaks into the greater world. Front page reefer on the paper today; Wife heard about it while listening to the news as she walked the dog. On the Twitters, though, it was nothing but Gamestop.

It will be replaced by something else soon, of course, but the usual gruesome endgame is gummint action, which means windy hearings where our betters display their lack of understanding, and ask questions crafted by the staff, and then there’s blunt-force regulation that doesn’t fix the problem but hampers something that previously worked well.

But hey: we’re all in good hands, right? We sense that we are cradled in big generous kind hands, right?

I've been looking at that banner all week and wondering whose hands they are.

I also thought a bit about GameStop - not that I go there, but because the idea of a software store produces deep nostalgia. CompUSA, Egghead, some other place - on weekends the Giant Swede and I would go there looking  . . . for new software! Because you had to get in your car and go somewhere and buy it, and it in a box.

Same with music, of course. Everything is easier today, and I think it's better - frictionless abundance. Except I miss the idea that the stuff you wanted was somewhere else, and you had to go there to get it. Pick it up, look at it, take it to the counter, count out some bills. When you got it home, it was yours.

Sitting like a fat spider in the middle of the web and having everything trickle down the filaments into your bored maw is a 21st century thing, and as I hate to say it: the 21st century things are turning out differently than I'd hoped. No, this isn't one of those tired where's-my-flying-car things. It's the steady sense that the world is . . . tightening, somehow. Spinning invisible bonds of constriction that nevertheless seem completely elastic - liberating, even! And it's not by design. It's not according to a grand evil plan cooked in dark kitchens and served in shadowy rooms. It's happening because that just seems to be the way things are going, you know? And you can't put your finger on what you would do about it, and why would you, because everything's fine. Except for that one thing and that other thing.

Detritus, aka something I saw, photographed, forgot about, but decided to use it today to pad out our Friday. I've seen this at Target for a few months and I am absolutely baffled.

I don't know what Miami has to do with paper towels.

I don't know what a small piece of luggage has to do with Miami.

I don't know what a Miami-specific small piece of luggage has to do with paper towels.

Why do I think this is some Chinese thing? But doesn't seem so. The brand is owned by Naftali, and their page says . . .

With experience as one of Miami’s leading product manufacturers and distributors of travel goods, hand sanitizers, sanitizing wipes, and protective gear, we at Naftali Inc. are focused on a fast turnaround and delivery during these difficult times we are facing. Our partners bring a combined 45 years of pharmaceuticals, healthcare products, and consumer goods manufacturing and distribution to major customers and large retailers in the U.S. and the world.

You can always ensure a reliable delivery utilizing Ocean Cargo, Air Cargo, and Designated Private Cargo Planes.

What?

What I admire is the belief that the brand was so well-known and well-regarded that it would translate seamlessly to paper towels. Like they were Gucci or Ralph Lauren.

It's a bit more than halfway up.

The weekly sweep:

Another view of the Larking, with the context of the older buildings around.

He had time for lots of dialogue:

Lance is consumed with sadness over the obvious ruse.

Well, obvious to him.

Solution is here.

I can't say this old show is forgotten, but just because it's remembered by students and enthusiasts of the era doesn't mean it's an item foremost in the popular mind. Anything but.

A music cue from Suspense. Fairly straightforward, right? Nothing fancy or particularly notable? Well, fans of the great Johnny Dollar drama will have recognized it right away. It's a cue used at least once an ep. And again, you say: so? Cues were used on different shows all the time.
		True. But that one's wedded to the Dollar program. And they never used this part of the cue suite. So now we know there was more to that cue than a one-off piece of dramatic punctuation.

		Hugo is angry at you for some reason, but it won't be apparent in the music.

		Rather stilted ad copy, if you ask me.

That'll do! See you around. Hope you enjoyed your visit, and learned a thing or two. If you did, trust me - I didn't know it before, either.