Season 1 of Poker Face (starring Natasha Lyonne, created by Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Glass Onion), and featuring a slew of guest stars) was my favorite new series of 2023. Season 2 starts streaming May 8 on Peacock. It’s an absolute must-watch if you like the “howcatchem”, inverted mystery-of-the-week shows, as epitomized by Columbo, one of my current television obsessions. I think I was turned onto Poker Face by Pop Culture Happy Hour, on which they compared Lyonne and her character, Charlie, to Peter Falk and Columbo.

As with Columbo, the constant parade of guest stars is a delight, and from the new trailer, they’re clearly leaning even harder into it. It has the makings of a get me on that show! show.

Poker Face makes for great binging—compact in length, with enough continuity to make you want to keep watching, yet sufficiently standalone that you can skip it for a few days or weeks without losing the thread.

Rian Johnson has become one of my favorite creators. Between this, Knives Out, and Looper (I’ll reserve comment on The Last Jedi), he’s quickly moving into if he’s involved, I’m watching territory.

I know how I’ll be spending my summer.

I was overcome with nostalgia and an urge to bop while watching Gorillaz in their hour-long concert, Demon Days Live from the Apollo Theater, recorded in 2006 and released earlier this week on the official Gorillaz YouTube channel. Energetic, musically and visually breathtaking, and packed with guest appearances (De La Soul, Neneh Cherry, Dennis Hopper (!)). Even if you don’t know Gorillaz by name, you’re likely familiar with their Top 20 hit Feel Good Inc.. Two decades later, Demon Days remains one of my favorite albums.

(A hat tip to my good buddy Michael for the share.)

An admission which may result in the revocation of my geek card: I’ve seen Tron maybe twice and I think it’s… fine? I love the lightcycle and other visuals, not so much the plot. I haven’t seen Tron: Legacy (though I’ve listened to the Daft Punk soundtrack dozens of times). I didn’t know an animated series existed until today. Can I even code? But the trailer for Tron: Ares looks (and sounds) gorgeous. I look forward to streaming it.

Brian Tyler Cohen and Glenn Kirschner on The Legal Breakdown illustrate the utterly preposterous and incredibly dangerous state of affairs in Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s “mistaken” deportation case:

Cohen: Are you telling me, with all the agreements that we have with El Salvador that allows us to just—without any due process—deport these people to their country… we have no mechanism whatsoever to bring back somebody who is a legal resident, who is there as a result of an administrative error, that we have no mechanism to bring that guy back?

Kirschner: I don’t believe, you don’t believe it, but that is what the attorneys who are in court—not exactly defending this action, because they concede they did not have a legal reason to deport him, a legal basis—they’re also saying “Uh, we just don’t think we have a mechanism to bring him back.”

Cohen later makes this astute observation about Trump’s intentions:

I think this isn’t necessarily about this one specific person, this is about Donald Trump showing his detractors that he is exactly as all-powerful as he perceives himself as being […].

He doesn’t care what person he has to steamroll through in order to get his way, he’s trying to send a message and everybody that gets hurt as a result of that, that’s just collateral damage […] The goal here is the chilling effect this will have […].He’s not looking to bring [Abrego Garcia] back, because the fact that [Abrego Garcia] can be disappeared in an extrajudicial way is the point unto itself. It’s not about this guy, it’s about Trump being able to display his power.

In response to a question from Cohen about what can be done, Kirschner offers one possible solution:

The Trump administration and these ICE agents that engaged in this unconstitutional deportation violated a court order, violated a judge’s protection order saying Mr. Garcia cannot be deported to El Salvador.

One thing the court has available to it is the power of contempt, and if a court wanted to inspire the Trump administration to get a plane down there to El Salvador and bring this man back, the judge could say “I am going to begin to hold everyone in contempt who was part and parcel of this unconstitutional deportation that violated a judicial order.”

I would love to see them all held in contempt. Sadly, enforcement of such sanctions is done via the US Marshals Service, which is under the Executive branch, and while the US Marshals are supposed to legally comply with a judicial order, I expect the president, via his attorney general, to attempt to block any contempt order.

Just an amazing voice. Pure, raw, powerful.

Growing up, Marvin’s music was always playing in our home. He is such a part of my musical firmament, I was surprised to realize that I was just 15 when he died, 41 years ago today.

I finally brought myself to watch the video of ICE’s abduction of Tufts PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk. It’s even more disturbing than I expected after reading the story because, watching, it looks exactly like a random kidnapping off the streets—plainclothes men and women, with masks, approaching a woman and coercing her into an SUV. It was simply done quietly, with badges and handcuffs, instead of loudly, with guns and chloroform-soaked handkerchiefs.

Opportunistic criminals with two-bit tin badges can now confidently disappear someone off the street, and we’ll simply assume they’re with ICE. 

That ambushing people on the street or at home is tolerated, even applauded by a fraction of Americans—and defended by our government officials, no less—is profoundly alarming. That it’s done in such a casual manner is equally disturbing.

At what point does ICE become indistinguishable from the Gestapo?

So many fascinating tidbits about Brooklyn’s layout and history this long-time Brooklynite was unaware of, explained in a wonderfully clear and casual manner by Daniel Steiner:

The story of Brooklyn is the story of a bunch of disparate settlements that grew until they eventually merged together to become “Brooklyn.”

Steiner’s YouTube style is like visiting with your best bud as he recounts his latest fascinating discovery over a cup of chamomile. I could watch him talk about maps for hours, which is great, because he also has explainers for Manhattan’s grid, and the maps of Staten Island, Las Vegas, London, and his latest, Los Angeles (plus several more).

If you’re of a certain age and grew up watching Sesame Street, you count to twelve to a funky, jazzy, surprisingly complex tune (sung by The Pointer Sisters) that accompanies a trippy pinball animation, aka “Pinball Number Count”. Charles Cornell, who analyzes and explains musical concepts on YouTube, uses music theory to break down the tune’s odd time signature and unexpectedly intricate melody. The deeper Cornell dives into the song, the crazier it seems that this masterpiece of music was written for a children’s television show. It certainly made it memorable—it manages to live rent-free in my head, 40-plus years on!

(Watch all 11 versions—yes, 2 through 12; there is no 1.)

Because rueful laughter is still laughter.

Listening to the music from F-Zero put me in a nostalgic mood and brought to mind another of my favorite SNES games, Axelay. It has one of the most cinematic and emotional openings I can remember, and a killer gameplay soundtrack.

The Mute City 1 (track 1) music from F-Zero was stuck in my head yesterday. A quick search on YouTube later, and I was scratching that earworm itch while reliving a beloved SNES game soundtrack from one of my most-played Super Nintendo games, without having to hunt down my console.

I love Harrison Ford and single malt scotch, and this six-part (plus teaser) campaign is a cinematic delight. I’m hoping for more installments. I shall pour myself a dram tonight. (I’ve been meaning to link it up since I found it while searching for his Jeep Super Bowl commercial. A recent “How do you pronounce it?” query reminded me—thanks, Tammy!)