FAM 21: No Kings Protests Unite Opposition

Trump's Birthday Boy Parade Tanks | Newsom Tears Him A New One | Picard Review | RIP Brian Wilson + Beach Boys Playlist

Of course the madness and badness continues, but this was a good week for the majority of Americans who oppose Trump.

The nationwide No Kings protests brought out 11 million+ people to more than 2,100 locations large and small. Amy and I ventured to Mexicantown in Detroit and met my buddy TJ to take it all in.

Here’s a sampling of some of the sights:

I’ve got a bunch more photos (more signs!) and some thoughts on the day.

You can get it all here.

Chuck E Cheese Might Have Been A Better Birthday Option

While millions were protesting Trump across the country (and world) Donny Barko was putting on his military parade meant to celebrate his birthday and intimidate the increasing number of Americans opposed to him.

The parade was supposed to draw 200,000 but ended up with half that. If that. The whole thing had a pathetic vibe with Trump, his mail order bride, and his assembled goons trying to stay awake for an event that cost taxpayers at least $45 million.

After my trip to Detroit I was filled with the Holy Spirit of Snark and wrote about the whole farce. That post ended up blowing up and I had almost 7,000 hits in the hours after. It changed the whole look of my site traffic graph.

You can read my Trump Derangement Syndrome take here.

Speaking of my new-found fame (the above numbers are a pretty big bump for me) I wrote about my new, Trump-inspired crypto that is guaranteed* to make you a billionaire.

You’ll want to get on the ground floor of this exciting opportunity. You can get all the details here.

Newsom Annihilates Trump

In case you missed it, California Governor Gavin Newsom took to the airwaves last week and absolutely destroyed Trump on his illegal militarization of the National Guard and sending Marines to the state.

Hell, he destroyed him on basically everything Trump has done since he got back in office. It was just a brutal, totally truthful takedown from policy to personal. After I shared it on BlueSky there were a number of comments (pro and con) on Newsom in 2028.

Here’s my take: Shut up about 2028.

If we start getting bogged down in talk of 2028 there well may be no election in 2028. And yes, I’ve had my issues with Newsom and many others — but we can’t go down the purity road right now. If someone is effectively fighting back they need to be amplified and celebrated.

This moment is too perilous to treat anything like it’s business as usual.

Not to be left out, Jimmy Kimmel also ripped into Trump with a scathing take-down accentuated by some laughs. Getting body-slammed all week seems to have taken a toll on Grandpa Troll. Trump shared this post on Sunday night.

Trump has posted countless crazy shit. But, this is simply stunning and getting no coverage because it’s just Trump being Trump. If this is not a blatant call for political war and dictatorship I don’t know what is.

It’s been a good week for the Trump opposition — who are now fully engaged. Let’s take the win, knowing that things are going to get worse and we will all have to step up if we’re going to make it.

CULTURE CLUB: Picard Throwback Review | RIP Brian Wilson + Beach Boys Best

I’m not going to lie, the fact that actress Jerri Ryan (Seven of Nine) follows me on BlueSky and recently reposted an article of mine (bringing in a bunch of cool Trek supporters) put this show back on my radar.

I watched it before I created Feed After Midnight, but I’ve been planning on writing about it as as part of my binge show series.

REVIEW: Picard (Season 3)

I’m old enough to have been raised on reruns of the original Star Trek — pushed by my Trekkie uncle to watch. I loved it and that timed perfectly for me to see the original cast movies in theaters. Post college, I jumped on The Next Generation and really liked it — although I don’t think I’ve seen every episode.

I watched a decent amount of Deep Space Nine and Voyager and liked it just fine — and would catch it when it on in those dark days before you could watch virtually anything you want, any time you want.

But, back to TNG.

I’m the millionth to say that it raised the bar for sci-fi — even more deeply exploring Gene Roddenberry’s underlying political mission from the original. And the acting and character development were light years ahead of the original. Even if some of the sets in the first year or so seemed like they may have been found on a soundstage on the Paramount lot collecting dust from the original series.

I also think TNG’s First Contact is near or at the top of the Trek movies — and stands above the genre and the franchise.

When I read about Piccard I was excited.

Patrick Stewart at this point has become a beloved global icon (catch him in Extras) and I would watch that dude read the newspaper. But, I have to admit that the first season didn’t do it for me.

The creators were obviously trying not to cash in on another tired reboot. And that’s great. It’s also fine that what I saw of the season was a much more human and probing drama. No problem there either. But, for some reason it just didn’t spark a real interest. I didn’t dislike it — but it fell through the cracks.

That includes season two.

I need to give both of these seasons another chance, but I’m here today to talk briefly about the third and final season.

Yes, it popped back on my radar because almost the entirety of the original cast was coming back. And while that might have been a financial decision by the studio, the creators did a wonderful job not making it exploitative.

The narrative may be simplified from the first two seasons, but it’s never mindless and the joy of seeing these characters together again was much more emotional than I thought it could be. It’s also genuinely exciting and fraught with real peril — especially knowing that it is the end for the crew and anyone might be lost.

I’m going to skip even a cursory overview of the plot for those who don’t know it — even though the subject matter probably isn’t hard to guess. The production values and SFX are great — and like the best of TNG it perfectly balances real human drama and sci-fi spectacle.

And yes, it nails the landing in a simple and beautiful way.

It also opens up the possibility of a Next (Newer?) Generation of stories led by Ryan as a rightful captain. There was fan pressure put on Paramount to engage on that, but I haven’t heard any news.

Come on, Paramount. Get that warp drive fixed and let’s again go boldly.

The Genius Of Brian Wilson

The first concert I ever saw was The Beach Boys in Carbondale, Illinois in 1976.

I was only seven, but not long ago I did some digging and discovered that it was a rare show where Brian Wilson was with the band. I only have a vague recollection of the concert, but I know I loved the band because my parents had gotten me the popular greatest hits album (above) that had sparked a resurgence a few years before.

What can you say about The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson?

If they only had those initial surf and hot rod hits with their Chuck Berry riffs drenched in harmonies they would still be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. But, driven by Wilson they went much further than that and deserve a slot as one of the most important bands in rock history.

Inspired by Rubber Soul, Wilson responded with Pet Sounds — which in turn inspired McCartney to push The Beatles to record Sgt. Peppers.

There’s just no understating what this creative competition did for popular music — dramatically expanding the complexity and sonic palette of rock music. Countless rock genre offshoots ever since rest on the shoulders of Paul and Brian.

From that Endless Summer album and beyond I distinctly remember being drawn to the slower songs with the richest harmonies. Especially In My Room. It just spoke to childhood me in a way few songs ever did. Of course the harmonies were almost otherworldly, but some of Brian’s lyrics (and his plaintive falsetto) have such a yearning and hold an almost unexplainable power.

Brian had decades of heartbreak in his life. You can watch the great bio-film Love and Mercy if you don’t know his story. And God only knows what could have been if Brian was healthy and productive for those lost years.

But, I’m glad he made it through and was able to experience the outpouring of global appreciation for what he created.

RIP, Brian Wilson, a true icon of popular music.

Below is a mix of my favorites from The Beach Boys. There’s not a lot of surprises here. I have dug into some of their lost albums from the 1970s that have been critically praised in retrospect.

But, I decided to keep this pure and simple, much like Wilsons string of early hits.

*The word guaranteed in no way represents guaranteed results.