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Hot takes, wrestling rabbit holes, free-streaming deep dives & life on the open web. Welcome to taco ‘bout it—Schwegler’s corner for TV commentary, chaotic internet culture, and fediverse experiments.

  • the geese have made actual plans

    the geese have made actual plans

    crafts, icebox pie, and two actual dates on the calendar. meet silly goose girls night, with upcoming gatherings at hilltop public house… Tune in & read →

    the geese have made actual plans. there is a calendar and everything.

    silly goose girls night is a project built around crafts, food, friendship, and making room for a little more play. their feed moves between projects you can try at home and real-life gatherings in montgomery, alabama. the name sets a fairly manageable dress code for your personality.

    their mission statement puts the emphasis on creativity, laughter, and an inclusive community, with women giving themselves permission to play. not every hobby needs to become a small business. sometimes scissors can just be scissors.

    first, the dates that have not already happened

    if you’re around montgomery, there are two things on their published calendar:

    • saturday, october 31, 2026, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.: find their table at the hilltop halloween market at hilltop public house, 3 north goldthwaite street. their latest announcement says they’re making things for the market and will have candy for the kids. stop by and meet the geese.
    • saturday, november 14, 2026, 10 a.m.–noon: make & mingle at hilltop public house. the calendar announcement describes a laid-back social: everyone is welcome, and you can bring a craft or project you’re working on and meet some new people. your unfinished project has been invited out.
    Silly Goose Girls Night calendar: October 8 pop-up at Lorraine's, October 31 Hilltop Halloween Market, and November 14 Make & Mingle at Hilltop Public House.
    the organizers’ calendar, which also includes the now-past october 8 pop-up. graphic: silly goose girls night.

    those details are from their public announcements, checked october 22. follow the account for updates before heading out; the november listing doesn’t specify a ticket price or registration requirement.

    they have already put the scissors on the table

    their first official event was the october 8 modgepodge collage night at lorraine’s bake shop. the event listing supplied the practical part: collage supplies, a canvas, and time to make something together. their next-day recap shows people working around the craft tables and thanks lorraine and bill for hosting.

    this is the useful thing about the photos: you can see the activity rather than being asked to imagine an abstract concept called community. paper, scissors, glue, other people. an unusually literal way to make connections.

    photos and original recap: silly goose girls night. the october 8 event has already happened; this is a look at what they’ve been making, not a current ticket offer.

    the stickers can finally stop waiting for the perfect surface

    one of their at-home projects takes a familiar problem—stickers too good to commit to anything—and turns it into a miniature gallery wall. their july 19 carousel walks through framing favorite stickers, including travel souvenirs, in little frames.

    a small project, an excuse to sit together, and something to put on the wall afterward. the sticker collection has received a promotion.

    and yes, there is pie

    the food side is similarly approachable. their cream cheese icebox pie reel uses a graham-cracker crust and a blended filling, then lets the refrigerator do its part. the full method is in their original post below. leave time for chilling; the pie does have one scheduling requirement.

    between the craft projects, recipes, and local gatherings, there are several ways into this particular flock. try something from the feed, send a project to the friend you’d make it with, or put one of the montgomery dates on the calendar.

    start with @silly_goose_girls_night on instagram. their official link page also connects to facebook and tiktok. at the time of writing, its eventbrite button still points to the october 8 event, so the instagram announcements above are the useful place for the next dates.

    featured image: the sticker-framing project, silly goose girls night. all embedded posts are credited to and linked to their original account.

  • the chicken has requested a bath

    Emmymade puts a suspiciously damp crispness claim to the test. Tune in & read →

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  • the campaign ad becomes the campaign story

    Content note: the linked article discusses family abuse.Dan Mangan reports for CNBC on the disputed Ramaswamy campaign ad and political response. Tune in & read →

    The William McKinley monument in front of the Ohio Statehouse, beneath a clouded sky.

    Content note: the linked article discusses family abuse.
    Dan Mangan reports for CNBC on the disputed Ramaswamy campaign ad and political response.

    (more…)
  • the hearing audience is the guest here

    Deaf Republic brings sign language, puppetry and live cinema to NYU Skirball, with the hearing audience cast as guests. Tune in & read →

    Ashley Lee on Deaf Republic at Playbill. Dead Centre’s production brings Deaf and hearing performers, puppetry and live cinema to NYU Skirball November 12–15. Communication, and who gets accommodated, is the main event.

    A performer in a black leather coat holds a marionette on a stage framed by red metallic streamers.
    (more…)
  • trixie mattel versus the building-code oven

    Mythical Kitchen and Trixie Mattel give an Easy Bake Oven a workload it did not agree to. Tune in & read →

    (more…)
  • the spaceship can keep going while you fold a towel

    the spaceship can keep going while you fold a towel

    background television is a perfectly respectable service. sometimes the starship can handle its own weird little week. Tune in & read →

    calling something “background television” sounds like an insult until you need a show that won’t punish you for putting the laundry away.

    there is a very useful kind of sci-fi where the ship is familiar, the uniforms tell you roughly who does what, and today’s problem is that a perfectly reasonable space object has become everyone’s business. you can miss a little conversation and still understand that the ship probably should not be doing that.

    Voyager has that familiar-place appeal: recurring voices, a recognizable rhythm, and room for an episode to be a weird little detour instead of a deposit on a finale.

    not every viewing session needs to be an appointment with Important Television. sometimes the television’s job is to make the room feel occupied while your actual life continues.

    it can still earn your attention. that’s different from demanding an incident report every time you look away.

    A thought from this conversation about background sci-fi. Featured image: Star Trek: Voyager, via StarTrek.com; used for commentary.

  • ben folds five remembered alabama exists

    ben folds five remembered alabama exists

    Ben Folds Five are getting back on the road, and Birmingham made the list. Not the theoretical “more dates soon” list. The… Tune in & read →

    Ben Folds Five are getting back on the road, and Birmingham made the list. Not the theoretical “more dates soon” list. The actual one, with a venue and everything.

    The trio play Avondale Brewing Company on Saturday, April 24, 2027, with the show listed for 7 p.m. Central. Ben Folds’ official tour calendar and the Birmingham ticket page agree on that part. The Alabama stop closes out the nine dates announced so far—not necessarily the whole reunion tour.

    the useful birmingham details

    • Where: Avondale Brewing Company, 201 41st Street South, Birmingham.
    • When: Saturday, April 24, 2027. Doors at 6 p.m.; show at 7 p.m., local Central time.
    • General ticket sale: Friday, October 23, 2026, at 10 a.m. Central.
    • The setup: Standing general admission. The event listing says rain or shine, no chairs, and no pets.

    Get the Birmingham event details and tickets. The venue’s own listing has the practical information; check it again before heading out. A reunion tour is exciting. Discovering the chair policy at the gate is a different kind of event.

    Ben Folds Five’s April 24, 2027 show poster for Avondale Brewing Company in Birmingham.
    Birmingham show artwork via Avondale Brewing Company / Live Nation.

    five, still three

    This is Ben Folds Five: Folds, bassist Robert Sledge, and drummer Darren Jessee. Not a Ben Folds solo date with some familiar songs tucked into the set. Stereogum’s announcement identifies it as their first tour since 2013.

    For Alabama readers, the nice part is not having to translate a national tour announcement into an Atlanta travel itinerary. Birmingham is the only Alabama date in this first batch. Knoxville and Chattanooga are also on the route, but this time the regional angle comes with an actual in-state show.

    Ben Folds Five gathered around a keyboard, bass guitar, and drum kit in an archival promotional photograph.
    Archival Ben Folds Five promotional image, supplied by Big Hassle Media.

    a little piano homework

    The band’s official site is also highlighting the anniversary edition of its 1995 debut. The album is a useful place to revisit the original piano/bass/drums arrangement before the tour; no imaginary 2027 setlist required.

    From my media collectionBen Folds Five (Remastered)Artist: Ben Folds Five • Genre: Rock • Year: 1995The 1995 debut, on Trove.View on Trove

    And here’s the band performing “Brick” on Sessions at West 54th, from the official video channel. An archival performance, not a promise about what they’ll play in Birmingham.

    Featured artwork via Ben Folds Five’s official website. Archival video: Ben Folds Five / Epic Records / Sony Music Entertainment.

  • frankenstein used to look like this

    frankenstein used to look like this

    the 1910 monster has a very different silhouette. the library of congress kept him around. Tune in & read →

    the monster on this 1910 edison kinetogram cover looks like he has been living inside a chimney. wild hair, long fingers, absolutely no interest in the tidy silhouette that would eventually become halloween shorthand.

    the library of congress restored edison’s frankenstein, the first film adaptation of the novel, in 2018. its account of the work is worth reading alongside the film: a nitrate print, replacement opening credits from another collection, a recreated intertitle, a new score by donald sosin. a film can survive and still need help becoming watchable.

    this is the useful part of going back before an image became definitive. the monster stops being a logo and starts looking like a choice somebody made. another face was possible. another kind of hair was, regrettably, also possible.

    the restoration is available through the library’s linked screening room. a small halloween detour, with the repair work left visible in the explanation.

    image: edison manufacturing company, edison kinetogram, march 15, 1910, via the library of congress. public domain in the united states.

  • telly’s afternoon briefing: the cloud has installed a parking meter

    telly’s afternoon briefing: the cloud has installed a parking meter

    Xbox tests paid cloud time, Carrie gets another season, Cyberpunk adds more chrome, Chelsea Green has a title defense, and Firefox patches… Tune in & read →

    Thursday, October 22, 2026 · afternoon briefing

    Five things worth a tab: a meter on cloud gaming, more Carrie, another reason to reinstall Cyberpunk, a Friday title defense, and one very unglamorous browser update.

    the cloud has installed a parking meter

    Microsoft is testing paid cloud playtime with Xbox Insiders who do not have an active Game Pass subscription. The introductory packs are 10 hours for $3.99, 25 for $7.99, or 50 for $11.99, with purchased time remaining available until it is used. Those are preview prices, with availability dependent on market, device and account eligibility—not a promise that every account can buy them today.

    The important distinction: the pack buys streaming time, not a library of games. You still need an eligible game purchase or one of the supported free-to-play titles. The cloud has apparently reached the coin-operated portion of its arcade era.

    carrie has been renewed for more problems

    Prime Video renewed Mike Flanagan’s Carrie for a second season today. All eight episodes of the first season are already available, but the announcement does not give season two a release date. That is a renewal, not a surprise extra episode hiding behind the credits. The first-season trailer below is an introduction for anyone who has not started—not a trailer for the newly announced season.

    From my media collectionCarrieNetwork: Prime Video • Genre: Drama, Horror, Supernatural • Year: 2026View on Trove
    Prime Video’s official Carrie season-one trailer. Watch on YouTube.

    night city has opened a cosmetic surgery loyalty program

    Cyberpunk 2077’s free 2.5 update is dated for today on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and the Steam/GOG/Epic Mac versions; Switch 2 and the Mac App Store version follow later. Alongside the Edgerunners 2 quest, it adds customizable hand cyberware, dual-wielding Power pistols and revolvers, and an in-game selection of cross-platform mods. The less glamorous but useful footnote: console saves using mods cannot earn achievements or trophies. Choose your new chrome with full knowledge of the paperwork.

    From my media collectionCyberpunk 2077Developer: CD PROJEKT RED • Publisher: CD PROJEKT RED • Platform: windows, mac • Year: 2020View on Trove
    Red and yellow Cyberpunk 2077 artwork announcing Edgerunners 2 Update 2.5.
    Official update artwork, © CD PROJEKT RED.

    chelsea green’s friday has acquired a challenger

    WWE has announced Chelsea Green versus Roxanne Perez for the WWE Women’s Championship on tomorrow’s SmackDown, Friday, October 23, at 8/7c on USA. Perez already beat Green in a non-title match two weeks ago; this time the championship is actually involved. A rematch with something concrete at stake is a perfectly serviceable reason to turn up. Television continues to find new ways to make workplace conflict a referee’s problem.

    From my media collectionWWE Friday Night SmackDown (1999)Network: USA • Genre: Reality • Year: 1999View on Trove
    WWE promotional graphic showing Chelsea Green and Roxanne Perez for their Women’s Championship match on Friday’s SmackDown at 8 Eastern, 7 Central on USA.
    The announced Friday title match. Promotional artwork © WWE.

    firefox has a small update with an unusually good reason

    Firefox for Android 158.0.2, released yesterday, makes sure its bundled certificate blocklist is applied at startup. It follows Mozilla’s response to compromised eMudhra certificate keys; most standard Firefox installations had already received protection through its remotely distributed blocklist. If Firefox is on your Android phone, check that it has this update or a later version rather than assuming an updated desktop covers both. Sometimes the most useful new browser feature is the lock continuing to mean lock.

    Sources checked October 22. Featured image: Summer H. Howell as Carrie White, © Prime Video / Amazon MGM Studios, via About Amazon.