Thank you for your cooperation, goodnight.

I is for Infernal Deals! (As much as I appreciate a bargain, Faustian ones feel like they are not worth the hassle.). Nevertheless, this guy lost the battle for the G's, but I have also seen Face/Off more times than GhostRider ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

H is for "Honeymoon in Vegas". The plot of the movie reminds me of the fact that once in a situation w/ lotsa over-the-shoulder time, it was spotted by a super senior coworker that I was typing 'Kawaii' (like cute) instead of 'Kaua'i' (like the island) on a map, though he noted I could still fix it.

G is for G-G-G-G-Gif. A ways back (in the early seasons), I watched "Face Off", the prosthetic make-up reality tv competition show, with a true Tamarian's constant eye for references but--despite the occasional hyper-realistic latex mask--they never did employ According to Hoyle Face/Off technology.

Despite a lot of scholarship on the matter, I think my favorite hotdog topping is corn-dog batter. Maybe a little bonus mustard but nothing fancy.

F is for Friggin'. I don't think the line was in the original script, but it worked out! (Thinking about that level of dramatization among biochemists [my UG concentration], I can believe NC as one, BUT a lot of the dramatic biochemists I knew post-date that movie so maybe he CREATED the mold.) 💥🧠💥

E is for Err, and ConAir is maybe imperfect, but this image has arguably more areas where the fact that I wasn't making hedcuts for the WSJ makes a little more sense: -Weird ears -JarJarBinks hair -Superfluous stippled artifact wrinkles... That said, that chest hair? Magnificent: maybe my best work

D is for Divergence, and so here is Luke Beating an idea so punny you might puke. (Ok: imagine Nick Cage making a gently discomfited face under the quote "♫♩♬ Despite all my rage I'm still just a rat in a Cage ♫♩♬", indicating that below frame he's in a VERY INVASIVE 'Ratatouille' situation. Woof)

C is for Captain Corelli's Mandolin--oft described as 'some period piece, set in Greece, based on some dumb book'. [You can see why it didn't win the July 4th scrum]. I do enjoy a mandolin, though am tentative about getting too close as I am wary about the possibility of cutting up my fingertips.

Heartbreaker (though I got some steps in.)

"B is for 'Valley Girl'" is very much a hat on a hat of a joke based on the name and pronunciation of the primary letter there en español. IYKYK, chica. (Bueno, ...SLSLS.) (I love a hat on a hat because I thrive in discomfort and, though I value your potential amusement, I am my primary audience.)

(While that work was for a thing that belongs more on the professional sci-comm account, the lesson will be immediately applied to my greater/funner projects that are threateningly close to making the move from spreadsheets to more text based files.) Every few years I relearn that work lead to work.

The tricky thing about breaking a streak (as someone weirdly driven by streaks) is that once the rules are out the window, it can be tricky to get back on track. Historically, I've periodically decided to just "reset" a day if it's going poorly. All to say, I think "Raising Arizona" covers A to Z.

Despite all the alphabetical momentum in play, I am not above a seasonally appropriate posting. (A huge upset in the jockeying of the pile of Cages hereabouts, but very few pieces of paper are the boss of me these days, which also feels in the spirit of the holiday. Boom.)

A tricky thing about thinking about alphabetical ordering yesterday is that we know what comes after the A's...

Are we starting with "Adaptation" Cage due to an inclination toward alphabetical ordering? I can't tell you that. I can say that I think about that scene (www.youtube.com/watch?v=x90G...) w/ an appropriate frequency given that it includes my favorite thing cf. 1 actor playing 1⁺ characters (/🐏🐏).

You will know which one is the Plato by dint of the solidity of their arguments.

We're bringing it— We're bringing it— We're bringing it back! `’*-,._.,-*’``’*-,._.,-*’``’*-,. Welcome to the 2026 Reboot of ✨Cagemas in July✨! `’*-,._.,-*’``’*-,._.,-*’``’*-,._ (…Because there is nothing like a professional deadline to induce the squeezing out of more …avocational shenanigans.)

(The relevant bit is 35 minutes in.) 🦆

I recognize it is a crazy person assertion but Jeremy Allen White (b 1991) was clearly the conductor of the train in "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three" (1974). (Given some comfort with the time knife, all sorts of these incongruities can be navigated, but it remains gently unsettling, I know.)

Look, I will note that not everyone has the same special things, but "The Sheep Detectives" was charming and while not quite as darkly hilarious as in the role of Bait's 'Sir Pigtrick Stewart', I do enjoy a chatty barnyard friend. Also: 💖💖

Yellow (…though really pink. Sometimes carrot depending on recent nutrition and cravings. Maybe According to Hoyle Yellow if it's covered in chocolate if there's company whose happiness would induce metapleasure. But also cheese.) ...in conclusion, I have complex cake feelings. (I like cornbread)

I am not sure if it says a bad thing about my tendency toward suspicion, but given the number of times I've entered my apartment after a trip and worried maybe raccoons got in, it is amusing to enter and wonder if someone broke in and cleaned the place (...I still assume raccoons, just tidier ones.)

Did I double back to a talk recording to see if I was maybe unnecessarily amused by an icon? You betcha.

Looking at prior receipts, I'm feeling like the way Safeway relies on savings and totals it probably maxes out at 100% on their receipts. (I enjoy a CVS receipt where even on $0 prescriptions coupons are accrued, which feels like a more real kinda bizarro case, though they parse transactions too.)

I appreciate that the point of the coupon was to get me into the store to purchase something MORE than $2--my work in "Loss Leadership" approaching a next stage soon--but y'all coulda reaped that extra uncashed 61 cents! Instead I found the one item that cost precisely $2, because of course I did.

In terms of easily accessible technojoys, I submit to you: The Pizza Hat Info Generator. As a postdoc I became superfriends w/ a German colleague with whom I'd quickly drop uncertain terms into wikipedia, swap languages, and back-translate articles to acquire all internationally siloed knowledge.

[Dr. M's Rx TV: CCW s2] As someone who holds her tongue any time she sees food served w/ complicated eating instructions, I have thought about the apotheosis of perfect competition serving that was the silent serving of 3 spoons of pre-selected components in CCW for months. Also: Demolition Man.

Baby Corn Pops are so full of promise.