Blake Thompson

When David French and Alex Jones BOTH think you've lost your mind... when Tucker Carlson and the Pope BOTH find your words "evil"... ... maybe you should pause and reconsider your direction?

So the Chainsmokers concert at the Final Four... they just stand behind a DJ table and turn knobs?

“renting is way cheaper than owning!” Sure. but cheaper wasn’t my goal. I bought so my kids get excited to have their friends over. I bought so my wife has the space she’s been dreaming of. I bought so my kids remember one address growing up. So yes, you’re saving money each month. You’re also a customer in your own living room.

Renters_Tenure public.tableau.com/views/Renters_… via @tableaupublic

Mitch Moreland comes in to close out the Starkville Super Regional, as Mississippi State defeats Clemson to advance to the College World Series (2007)

You're watching a $248 million film and not a single green or blue screen was used. The alien is a handmade puppet. The cockpit physically rotates to simulate gravity. I looked at the production tech behind this 95% score, and the engineering is wild. Phil Lord and Chris Miller, directing their first live-action movie in 12 years, built the entire Hail Mary spacecraft as a real set at Shepperton Studios in England. Not a miniature. Not a digital model. A full-size ship interior you can walk through. Production designer Charlie Wood studied the International Space Station, Russia's Mir station, and the Boeing 747 cockpit to get the look right. He deliberately made the panels mismatched, because real spacecraft are assembled from parts made by different companies. Nothing matches perfectly. That's what makes it feel real. The cockpit is only about 8 feet wide. It sits on a mechanical platform that can tilt, spin, and shake, so when the ship changes direction or enters different gravity conditions, the whole set moves. Chairs end up on walls. Ladders flip direction. Gosling was suspended inside a spinning ring so he could float and move through the ship for real, reacting to actual hardware around him. No guessing where a wall might be added later. Then there's Rocky. He's the alien co-lead, and he's not CGI. Neal Scanlan, the creature designer who built the Porgs for Star Wars, spent a full year on this character. Over 300 designs before they landed on the final look. Rocky is a thin, hollow shell, 3D-printed from a digital sculpture, then hand-painted in see-through layers so light passes through him like skin. His arms pop off and swap out depending on the scene: one set has a closed fist for walking, another has tiny motorized fingers strong enough to pick up objects. Five puppeteers (nicknamed the "Rockyteers") operated him in every scene. James Ortiz, an award-winning puppet designer from New York theater, voiced Rocky and controlled him on set. When Scanlan met him, he told Ortiz, "You're Frank Oz, and I'm making Yoda for you." Every reaction Gosling gives to the alien is to something physically in front of him. Greig Fraser, who won the Oscar for shooting Dune, filmed the space scenes in the larger IMAX format (that taller image you see in IMAX theaters) and the Earth flashbacks in regular widescreen. Then the team did something unusual: they took the digital footage and printed it onto real film strips, twice, using two different types of film stock. Then they scanned those strips back into digital. It sounds redundant, but it adds a texture and warmth that you can only get from physical film. Fraser used the same technique on Dune and The Batman. Drew Goddard spent six years writing this screenplay. His last adaptation of Andy Weir's novel, The Martian, earned him an Oscar nomination. He described the challenge this way: a screenplay gets about 5% of a novel's word count. The lead is alone for most of the runtime. When he finally gets a co-star, that co-star doesn't speak English, communicates through sounds closer to whale song, and has no face. Goddard called it a screenwriter's nightmare, then said that difficulty was the whole point. He and the directors fought studio pushback to keep Weir's original ending intact. 95% from 212 critics. 98% from over 2,500 audience ratings. And the lead isn't a superhero, a cop, or a soldier. He's just an ordinary middle school science teacher.

Been at ESPN a long time - this one was an all timer. Before social media, it was as viral as a story can be. I watched it on a tape in the news room. I couldn’t stop watching his teammates.

Supreme Leader is like regular leader but with sour cream and tomatoes.

Billionaire fair share of taxes this, middle class fair share of taxes that… It doesn’t matter. Taxes don’t fund government spending in the US. The government prints money & issues debt. Taxes are an illusion. Regardless of how much anyone pays or doesn’t pay, our taxes are not a necessary funding mechanism for federal expenditures. *That* should make you angry. Not the billionaires.

@nonewtricks That’s what I want to know.

Why didnt USA curl it right in there for 2 or maybe 3? Much easier than ricochet shot? #curling #Olympics2026

@sharkSlayer4994 Why didn’t they curl around the right side and pick up yep they way? (I had sound down)

I am so locked in on this curling semi-final right now

@brianhadad get him the ball and let them foul him

Jones gets them both, Auburn lays it in with 4.2 left and takes a timeout. 89-85 State. Hubbard is one point from tying Bailey Howell's record, wonder if State can get him the ball and on the free throw line.

@skylarromines @markluck It's that initial starting inertia that can be such a mountain.

@markluck Momentum is so underrated

@oilersfan071973 @CharlieM_32 @2and20YT @jonnywakefield x.com/grok/status/20…

@CharlieM_32 @2and20YT @jonnywakefield Do you think maybe he doesn’t even realize he did it? Did you watch the illegal video that Sweden shot of it. That finger graze won’t do anything to that stone. It’s just an 0-3 team panicking because their Olympic dream is slipping away.

BREAKING: Canada are accusing Sweden of improperly filming the hog line during last night's game in order to "run to the officials" with cheating claims. Video going around that appears to have been shot from the stands. Swedish team denies any involvement nationalpost.com/sports/olympic…

@grok @oldcarp13 @Grisbrottaren @CurlingCanada What advantage could be gained by lightly touching the stone with the tip of your index finger?

@oldcarp13 @Grisbrottaren @CurlingCanada In curling, per official World Curling rules, the stone must be clearly released from the hand before it reaches the hog line—meaning before any part of the stone crosses the near side of the line. If not, it's a violation and the stone is removed.

Canada nearly makes the runback to force Sweden, but is just off. Sweden takes the draw for two and trails by one without hammer in the 10th. #MilanoCortina2026

@timmyg43 @RosieLangello I’ll never watch it outside of the Olympics. But I’m enthralled during the Olympics.

@RosieLangello I’m probably in the minority here but curling, to me, is a must watch during the Olympics.

I mean, wow

@grok @Nitro2324 @akshay_vicky @Mollyploofkins Where was it reported that the officials saw but don’t praise a touch?

@SportsTalkMiss @brianhadad @HailStateBB @Jholder14 “The second B is silent.”

Major League Baseball has changed the way pitching staffs are run, with so many guys having different roles beyond the traditional starter, setup man, and closer. That's something @HailStateBB was doing in 2013, as former Diamond Dawg star @Jholder14 remembers in this conversation on Thunder & Lightning.

@MrAsquith This is fantastic news! Both @podcast411 and @TheElsieEscobar are great people and excellent minds in the podcasting space. Can't wait to see their impact on Captivate.

This is one of the finest days of my career. Welcome Rob and Elsie to the Captivate team and the Global family. podnews.net/press-release/…

My wife: How late were you out last night? Me: The DOW is over $50,000!