Week of Aug 10-17
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This Week’s Track:
SEATBELTS - Odd Ones
COWBOY BEBOP Vitaminless - 1998
For the third consecutive week, Cowboy Bebop and SEATBELTS have won me over. Their sound may permanently be intertwined with this show, and this is something I have very little control over. Next week, there should be a new artist, but SEATBELTS will be a mainstay, I’m sure. Their sound is just too good to stay away from.
IF YOU HAVE ANY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A BACKGROUND TRACK, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!
Errors
I couldn’t find any errors this week, but if someone looks through the archives and found one, please let me know!
Further Reading
Story 1: Trump’s summit with Putin
“President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met at a summit in Alaska on Friday”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5455623-trump-putin-summit-takeaways/
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/15/politics/takeaways-trump-putin-summit-alaska
I wanted to include something about Putin pretending to not understand the reporter asking him why he was continuing to murder Ukrainian civilians, but the episode was already too long as is.
Story 2: Washington D.C. under federal control
“Earlier this week, President Trump placed the Washington DC police under federal control and deployed the national guard, despite crime rates reaching 30-year lows in 2024”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/13/politics/national-guard-washington-dc-police
This was earlier in the week, an with the news cycle as of late, I was almost convinced I should drop it now that it was effectively out of the public consciousness by this Sunday. The collective attention span of the news cycle is exhausting, but then again, it’s being fed some insane stuff as of late, so I can’t really blame everyone too much.
Story 3: Newsom continues redistricting battle
“Governor Gavin Newsom revealed a redistricted map of California on Friday as part of the ongoing fight against Texan gerrymandering efforts”
https://www.npr.org/2025/08/15/nx-s1-5496721/california-texas-trump-newsom-redistricting
I think Newsom’s efforts constitute national news because they are actively impacting state’s responses to ongoing gerrymandering efforts. I’ve seen discourse about whether figures like Pritzker or Walz should follow Newsom in actively redistricting, which makes this a bigger deal. Also, here are the sources (other than my own eyes, which have both enjoyed seeing Newsom’s tweets as of late) for the information about the Governor’s recent online activity.
https://www.axios.com/2025/08/15/newsom-social-media-trump-redistricting
And finally, while this has been a known thing for a while, I didn’t make the connection about Newsom’s resemblance to Patrick Bateman of American Psycho (2000) until I saw the following tweet this week.
https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1956530912553812436
Story 4: Louisiana AG sues Roblox
“Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill is suing Roblox for allegedly failing to protect children”
https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/15/louisiana-attorney-general-sues-roblox/
https://apnews.com/article/roblox-lawsuit-louisiana-child-sex-dc930f8a8663e824fe03eee8bcae8a60
I needed to add something that was just a little funny. It’s getting harder and harder to be able to laugh about something in the news just because of what it is. Honestly, I agree with Murrill’s ongoing efforts. Roblox has failed to protect children in a myriad of ways. It was just a really unexpected headline, and being able to say that one of the important things that made a one-minute long recap of the most important stories included a short part about the children’s platform Roblox gives it a bit of levity in my opinion. It makes things easier to stomach, I guess.
Behind The Scenes
Boy, I did not feel good about this episode. I didn’t shower in the morning, and throughout the filming and editing process, it felt like a slog. Now that I’m on the other side, I’m not unhappy with the final result. I do think it won’t be a huge challenge to improve on it next week, though, which in a lot of ways is a good thing. I want to make this show better every week. And that might start with new lighting!
I came into the possession of studio lights that I will attempt to use next week. Granted, they were free, and look old, but it is a step up from the lighting I have been using, which is just the overhead light in my living room and flipping the blinds up on the window next to the green screen as much as I can. Hopefully next week, the lighting quality will be improved and will reflect how I feel about this show that I have given up at least 3 (if not more at this point) hours of my week to. But ultimately, I’m really glad I’m making them.
That’s all for now. See you next week,
Sean ✧