The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: America 250

The United States Semiquincentennial (1776-2026)
John Linnell, "Montana" from State Songs (Mike Patriot Whiskey)

Commentary: My favorite part of "Montana" is not the song itself, though I remind readers that no unworthy song is chosen as an R.B.D.S.O.T.D. Some songs are embargoed & will never be chosen. No, my favorite part of "Montana" is the liner note:

It's only appropriate that a state as large as Montana (147,046 square miles) should sport two Official State Nicknames. They are: 'the Treasure State' and 'Big Sky Country.' Montanans can also choose between two Official gemstones: Sapphire and Agate. And owing to her vastness Montana requires two separate heads of state: the Governor, and his nemesis the anti-Governor.

The Explorers' Club, № MCXC

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
31 October 1926: Harry Houdini (the stage name of Erik Weisz, Americanized as Ehrich Weiss, born 24 March 1874), the famous escapologist & illusionist, died of peritonitis & appendicitis at Detroit's Grace Hospital; on 22 October, Houdini received heavy, surprise blows to the abdomen backstage at Montreal's Princess Theatre; his final performance was at Detroit's Garrick Theater on 24 October.

Commentary: It has never been proven, & almost certainly cannot be proven, that the punches "caused" Houdini's death, but whether or not he already had appendicitis that the punches greatly exacerbated, it seems intuitively obvious that the pummelling of his abdomen contributed to his death.

Lest we forget.

Operation ÖSTERREICH

Please Stand By | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 330.2 lbs. (12 June 2024)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: America 250

The United States Semiquincentennial (1776-2026)
John Linnell, "Michigan" from State Songs (Mike Patriot Whiskey)

Commentary:

"O Michigan, exemplar of unchecked replication,
O Michigan! O Michigan!
The tank the fishes are in!
Expansionist in spirit,
In latter borders obtained,
Don't hold us back, don't hold us back,
We must eat Michigan's brain!
Now grow back, Michigan,
We miss you again!"

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' Election Day: America 250

The United States Semiquincentennial (1776-2026)
Rob Carriker, "Free America" from Over There!: Songs from America's Wars (Mike Patriot Whiskey)

Commentary: The polls in sacred Michigan are open from 7:00 A.M.-8:00 P.M., "8:00 P.M." meaning as long as it takes for everyone in line at 8:00 P.M. to cast their ballot.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' All Souls Day

The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls Day)
Audrey Assad, "Death in His Grave" from the Death, Be Not Proud E.P. (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' All Saints Day

The Solemnity of All Saints
The Dixieland All Stars, "When the Saints Go Marching In" from The Dixieland All Stars: The Greatest Band in the World (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"One, Maybe Two, Ways Out" (season five, episode nine; 8 September 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Nestor Carbonell returns as Declan Rand, now out of the criminal profiler game but still dating Juliet, planning to take a romantic vacation to Italy's Amalfi Coast. The main plot involes guest star Frank Potente (Marie in The Bourne Identity &, briefly, The Bourne Supremacy), but as the title indicates, owes more to the film No Way Out. Shawn & Juliet share a passionate kiss.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: Go Blue!

Team 147, Game 8: Michigan @ Rutgers
Less Than Jake, "Never Going Back to New Jersey" from Losing Streak (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: I loathe the expansion of the B1G from fourteen universities (which was already four too many) to eighteen, including four school from the Ancient Enemy, the Pac-12 (now revived from the ashes, but that's a discussion for another time). One of the few positives from conference expansion was getting rid of the divisions, which means the University of Michigan no longer has to tilt against Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey every bloody year.

It's very clever marketing of the scurrilous Scarlet Knights to lean into their history as "the birthplace of college football," but they should have to defend it by playing a football game on 6 November of every year, regardless of the day of the week.

Go Blue!

Bonus! Song o' Hallowe'en!

The Aquabats!, "Dr. Space Mummy!" from Finally! (Captain Thumbs Up!)

Commentary: This is "Dr. Space Mummy!'s" debut as a Hallowe'en R.B.D.S.O.T.D.; I'm disappointed in myself because the song was available for both Hallowe'en '24 & Hallowe'en '25.

"From the ancient tombs of outer space,
Comes the med school grad with a bandaged face,
Now he's here on Earth to do a real bad thing,
'Cause he's the local leader of the Gargoyle Gang.

"A poison attack on the water supply!
Our civilization will be mummified!…

"His teeth are gnarly rotten, like his green moon tan,
He can't be killed with bullets, but he may just lend a hand.
Turning children into mummies is his evil plan,
He's a doctor from space and he's a mummy, man!

"He summons monsters with remote control!
His hideout's inside out and he has no soul!…"

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Shawn 2.0" (season five, episode eight; 1 September 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Nestor Carbonell, whom I always remember fondly as Batmanuel from The Tick (2001, live action), guest stars as criminal profiler Declan Rand, the eponymous Shawn 2.0. Like Shawn, Declan is a fraud: he isn't a trained criminal & all of his academic credentials are forgeries; like Shawn, Declan is just a very observant & intuitive investigator. Unlike Shawn, Declan is wealthy & decisive; Shawn hesitates & fumbles in asking Juliet out, Declan takes action & begins dating Juliet.

"Shawn 2.0" also marks the first guest appearance by musician Curt Smith, who performed a version of the theme song, "I Know You Know" & guest starred in the episode.

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

Spinal Tap, "Stonehenge" from This Is Spinal Tap (Mike Papa Wyvern)

Commentary: This is "Stonehenge's" debut as a Hallowe'en R.B.D.S.O.T.D., which I found a little surprising. Better late than never!

"In ancient times,
Hundreds of years before the dawn of history,
Lived a strange race of people:
The Druids.

No one knows who they were,
Or what they were doing…"

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Ferry Tale" (season five, episode seven; 25 August 2010): Wikipedia-link.

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

The Atomic Fireballs, "Man with the Hex" from Torch This Place (Mike Papa Witch Doctor)

Commentary: "Man with the Hex" debuted as a Hallowe'en R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in 2013.

"O wink 'em, tink 'em, nodimus rex,
Save us from the man with the hex,
Save us from his evil curse,
It's gonna get bad, it's gonna get worse.

"Ooo, hocus-pocus, alacazam,
Save us from that evil man,
With hairy legs and heavy feet
He cracks the pavement as he creeps…"

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Viagra Falls" (season five, episode six; 18 August 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: The late Carl Weathers & the still-with-us William Devane guest star as retired Santa Barbara Police detectives Boone & Peters, real characters whom Henry admires as the best cops from his rookie days, who help to solve the murder of their old police chief.

Operation ÖSTERREICH

Please Stand By | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 330.2 lbs. (12 June 2024)

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

Creedence Clearwater Revival, "I Put a Spell on You" from the Chronicle: 20 Greatest Hits compilation (Mike Papa Wizard)

Commentary: "I Put a Spell on You" debuted as a Hallowe'en R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in 2016.

Do not put spells on people, it will not work & it is not polite. This does not apply to cats, because cats are not polite anyway.

60 Years of Star Trek (The Original Series, 1966-2026)

Operation AXIOM: Episode o' the Week
"Miri" (season one, episode eight; production code: 12; 27 October 1966): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: The Enterprise encounters the first of several duplicate Earths. A landing party beams down to investigate an automated distress signal & become infected with the disease that all but wiped out the native population. Our heroes race against time to devise a cure, unable to return to the Enterprise for fear of infecting the crew, & also confront the native survivors, long-lived children who are centuries old but still act childishly.

An underappreciated peril of Star Trek's style of space travel, involving numerous humanoid species who are able to interbreed (seemingly because of a common origin, courtesy of "The Chase" [Star Trek: The Next Generation, season six, episode twenty (1993)]), is infectious disease. Captain Kirk, Mister Spock, Doctor McCoy, Yeoman Rand, & two red shirts beam down & become infected immediately. No scan detected the disease before they beamed down, & using the transporter to screen out the infection was apparently not possible. This would seemingly happen all the time, & not every starship would have a chief medical officer as capable as Bones.

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

Spike Jones & His City Slickers, "My Old Flame" from the The Spike Jones Anthology compilation (Mike Papa Wendigo)

Commentary: "My Old Flame" debuted as a Hallowe'en R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in 2012.

Two-thirds of "My Old Flame" is sung-spoken in the unsettling style of Peter Lorre, as a murderer with a collection of human heads & so forth.

"I've met so many who had fascinating ways,
A fascinating gaze in their eyes—
I saw the sigh! So I removed the other eye!
That eye that kept winking and blinking at other men!
It was making (indistinct mumbling)—
Some who took me up to the skies…"

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

Snmnmnm, "Zombie Girlfriend" from Snmnmnm (Mike Papa Wight)

Commentary: "Zombie Girlfriend" debuted as a Hallowe'en R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in 2010, our first Hallowe'en series.

Hallowe'en is about fun, not fear; about make believe, not malevolence. Laugh in the face of the things that go bump in the night.

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Shawn and Gus in Drag (Racing)" (season five, episode five; 11 February 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: The street racing/The Fast and the Furious episode.

The Explorers' Club, № MCLXXXIX

Operation AXIOM: Between the Wars
23 October 1926: Leon Trotsky & Lev Kamenev were ousted from the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union; during Vladimir Lenin's illness (1922-1923), Kamenev had formed a troika with Iosif Stalin & Grigory Zinoviev against Trotsky, then head of the Soviet armed forces; the troika broke up in April 1925 & Kamenev & Zinoviev formed the United Opposition with Trotsky in May 1926.

Lest we forget.

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Chivalry Is Not Dead… But Someone Is" (season five, episode four; 4 August 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Shawn & Gus investigate the death of a young man who was courting a wealthy older widow & discover a school for gentlemen, which irrationally annoys Shawn.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the XXX Sunday in O.T.

The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Kenny Rogers, "For the Love of God" from Amazing Grace (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Love God & love neighbor.

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Not Even Close… Encounters" (season five, episode three; 28 July 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Meh.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: Go Blue!

Team 147, Game 7: Michigan v. Indiana
John Williams, "The Imperial March (Darth Vader's Theme)" from Star Wars: Episode V—The Empire Strikes Back: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Commentary: The valiant Wolverines are 4-2 halfway through the season, & are only two plays away from being either 3-3 or 5-1. Sophomore quarterback Bryce Underwood has been replaced by freshman Tommy Carr, grandson of 1997 National Championship winning head coach Lloyd Carr & All-American safety & Michigan interception recordholder Tom Curtis, & younger brother of current Notre Dame (Boo! Hiss! Boo!) quarterback C. J. Carr. How badly has Underwood played? Nineteen starts into his collegiate career (all thirteen games in 2025 & six in 2026), his few remaining defenders had to cite his status as a five-star high school recruit as a reason he must remain the starting QB for Michigan.

The wily Hoosiers are the defending National Champions.

Go Blue!

Bonus! Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

They Might Be Giants, "I Left My Body" from I Like Fun (Mike Papa Wraith)

Commentary: "I Left My Body" debuted as a Hallowe'en R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in 2021.

"I left my body
And I went on a journey,
And I forgot where
I left my body…

I left my body,
And right away
I knew I'd made a mistake.
I left without my senses
And I can't see anything!
Can't see anything!
Can't see anything!…"

The Rebel Black Dot Hallowe'en Song o' the Day

Dr. John & The Blues Brothers Band, "Season of the Witch" from Blues Brothers 2000: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Mike Papa Warlock)

Commentary: "Season of the Witch" debuted as a Hallowe'en R.B.D.S.O.T.D. in 2011.

"Must be the season,
The season of the witch!
Must be the season of the witch!…"

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Feet Don't Kill Me Now" (season five, episode two; 21 July 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Gus teams up with Lassie & Shawn teams up with Juliet. Neither pairing works out very well. Also, tap dancing!

The Explorers' Club, № MCLXXXVIII

Operation AXIOM: Destination Moon—The 60th Anniversary of Luna 12
22 October 1966-19 January 1967: The Luna 12 probe (A.K.A. Lunik 12) lifted off from the Kazakh S.S.R.'s Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a Molniya-M rocket; Luna 12 entered lunar orbit (25 October) & transmitted its first high-resolution photographs home (27 October); an unknown number of photos were sent via 302 radio transmissions; radio communications were terminated after 602 orbits.

Commentary: The Soviets took steps to prevent the U.K.'s Jodrell Bank Observatory from intercepting & pubishing their transmitted photos, as had happened with the Luna 9 lander's images in February. The Soviets only ever released a handful of photos of the Mare Imbrium & the Aristarchus Crater.

Ex Luna, scientia.

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Romeo and Juliet and Juliet" (season five, episode one; 14 July 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: A Romeo and Juliet story involving young lovers from warring Chinese Triads, also serving as Psych's kung-fu episode. Our Juliet, Detective O'Hara, is working at city hall, still struggling with her kidnapping & brush with death in the fourth-season finale, "Mr. Yin Presents…."

The theme song, "I Know, You Know," is the same as ever, but the opening credits are presented first in Chinese characters (I presume Mandarin, but could be Cantonese, I don't know, I neither speak nor read a word of Chinese) & then change into English letters.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day

The Optional Memorial of Saint John Paul II, Pope
Dan Potthast, "Pope" from Sweets and Meats (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"…It was like a parade at forty miles an hour,
And the pope zipped past in his see-through car,
And we laughed and we waved and I think he smiled,
It all happened so fast, all the people were chanting:
'John Paul Two, we love you!'…"

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Mr. Yin Presents…" (season four, episode sixteen; 10 March 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: "Mr. Yin Presents…" is to "An Evening with Mr. Yang" (season three, episode sixteen) & "Yang 3 in 2D" (season five, episode sixteen) as The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V) is to A New Hope (Episode IV) & Return of the Jedi (Episode VI), very much the second act of a three-act drama, not brought to any conclusion & yet very much a compelling story. Mr. Yin (played by a masked actor) emerges, murdering a waitress to catch Psych's attention, whereas the year before Mr. Yang had kidnapped a waitress & given our heroes the opportunity to save her, which they did. Yang (no longer Mr. Yang since she is played by Ally Sheedy) returns, acting as an advisor to Shawn & Gus, Hannibal Lector to their Clarice Starling. Mr. Yin runs our heroes through a funhouse of references to Alfred Hitchcock films, eventually murdering returning Yin-Yang Killer expert Mary Lightly (played by Jimmi Simpson). Mr. Yin kidnaps Shawn's girlfriend, Abigail Lytar, & Detective Juliet O'Hara, putting them both in death traps. Shawn & Henry are able to rescue Abigail & Gus & Lassie are able to rescue Juliet, but both woman aere traumatized. Abigail breaks up with Shawn, unwilling to subject herself to any more peril, & Juliet takes leave from the police (as seen in season five). Mr. Yin gets away, & we last see him in his home, where there is a framed photograph of Yang with a young Shawn, taken circa 1990.

This is without question the darkest & most serious episode of Psych.

Operation ÖSTERREICH

Please Stand By | Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa!

Weekly Wednesday Weigh-in
Last weigh-in: 330.2 lbs. (12 June 2024)

The Rebel Black Dot Jeopardy! Song o' the Day

Operation AXIOM: The 16th Anniversary of My Loss on Jeopardy!
"Weird Al" Yankovic, "I Lost on Jeopardy!" from "Weird Al" Yankovic In 3-D (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Sixteen years ago today—Thursday, 21 October 2010—my episode of Jeopardy! aired on nationally syndicated television.

60 Years of Star Trek (The Original Series, 1966-2026)

Operation AXIOM: Episode o' the Week
"What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (season one, episode seven; production code: 10; 20 October 1966): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" is one of the best (worst) examples of the Theiss Theory of Titilation, costume designer William Ware Theiss's theory that the more a costume looked like it was going to fall off an actress, the more titilating it would be. He was right; that's awful, but he wasn't wrong.

"What Are Little Girls Made Of?" is also relevant to our current moment of Artificial Intelligence. A robot that looks like Dr. Roger Korby & has his "memories" insists that it is Korby, but Captain Kirk insists, correctly, that Dr. Roger Korby is dead & the robot is not Korby. The "synthetic" (android, robot) in Star Trek: Picard seasons two & three that insists it is Jean-Luc Picard is not; Jean-Luc Picard died at the end of Picard season one.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' This Auspicious Day

Jim Gaffigan, "Presents" from Beyond the Pale (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: "Presents," though there is no presence this year, due to many—too many—commitments by the denizens of Xanadu. Alas!

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"The Head, the Tail, the Whole Damn Episode" (season four, episode fifteen; 3 March 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: The Jaws episode, guest-starring Jeri Ryan (who played Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager) & Michael Hogan (who played Colonel Tigh on Battlestar Galactica).

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: America 250

The United States Semiquincentennial (1776-2026)
Sufjan Stevens, "Flint (For the Unemployed and Underpaid)" from Sufjan Stevens Presents… Greetings from Michigan, the Great Lake State (A.K.A. Michigan) (Mike Patriot Whiskey)

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Think Tank" (season four, episode fourteen; 24 February 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Shawn & Gus are hired into a think tank set up to prevent the assassination of a Richard Branson-type billionaire, Ashton Bonaventure, though the twist is that the think tank is run by the assassins, trying to figure out how to get through or around Bonaventure's security.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the XXIX Sunday in O.T.

The Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Johnny Cash, "Personal Jesus" from American IV: The Man Comes Around (Saint Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary: Every one of us, from Tiberius Caesar in the First Century to you, dear reader, in the Twenty-first Century, is made in the image of God. Each of us belongs to Him.

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"Death Is in the Air" (season four, episode thirteen; 17 February 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: The Outbreak episode, guest-starring Judd Nelson.

The Rebel Black Dot Song o' the Day: Go Blue!

Team 147, Game 6: Michigan v. Penn State
Bombskare, "Bad to Worse" from A Million Ways to Die (Mike Papa Wolverine)

Skammentary: Earlier this week, Coach Whittingham announced that Bryce Underwood would start because he "gives us the best chance to win." That is tantamount to giving up on this season as lost. I bear Underwood minimal personal ill will (he made a profoundly bad first impression in 2025 with his boast, "You've never seen a freshman like me"), but it is manifestly evident to anyone who has been paying attention that inconsistency is the only consistency in Underwood's game & that he doesn't have the ability to play quarterback at this level. Who knows, he might thrive in the Football Championship Subdivision (F.C.S.) of Division I or Division II.

The only saving grace might be that the ferocious Nittany Lions are also enduring a disappointing season under a first-year head coach from the Big XII Conference. The valiant Wolverines are 3-2, B1G 0-2 under Coach Kyle Whittingham, late of Utah; the ferocious Nittany Lions are 3-3, B1G 0-3 under Coach Matt Campbell, late of Iowa State.

Go Blue!

20 Years of Psych (2006-2026)

Episode o' the Day
"A Very Juliet Episode" (season four, episode twelve; 10 February 2010): Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: It always struck me as odd that "A Very Juliet Episode" dealt with a corrupt U.S. Marshal & the Witness Protectice Program, but didn't cross over with fellow U.S.A. Network show, In Plain Sight. Maggie Lawson (Juliet O'Hara), did a great job as the emotional core of the episode.