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Hello from Venice. We’ll be here for the week.
Also, today is the 31st anniversary of me proposing to Krissy. Spoiler: she said yes. All manner of good things followed from there.
It’s mid-morning here but my body says it’s, like, 2am, and I’ve been traveling all day. I think I’ll take a nap.
— JS
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My Dad sent this message to me over Facebook Messenger the night before I was supposed to fly home from a trip to Paris. . .
He died last year. I listen to this message every time I fly now.
I got these text messages from my dad after my mother confessed he wasn’t actually my biological dad. I’m 31 years old and this is the first I knew of it.
More to me then any jewel that can be found, love always Papa
This is the last Christmas card I ever got from my dad. He had a fatal stroke on the day before Christmas 5 years ago. He was right – I’ve had some amazing adventures since – a doctorate, a Fulbright, a ton of travel, lots of love and now totally ready to work on the toughest of problems.
Ironically, I also don’t sleep much… My research assistants always laugh when I send them emails at 3 am. But I’m dreaming up solutions to problems and they just can’t wait…
See more Father’s messages, or share your own, on the PostSecret Facebook page
Hey Frank,
I’m a long time post-secreter (is that a thing? If no, it totally is now!) from Cape Town South Africa.
I don’t how I stumbled upon you, maybe part All American Rejects part Facebook when it really was a thing – all I know is that I make sure that I am part of that view count every Sunday!
I remember that there have been times when you posted questions that you posted to your father before his transition… My grandmother is en route too, and we have this super complicated relationship, but I think these would be a great avenue for healing ( for both me and my mom).
Would you please send me those questions, or repost them on Sunday? I’d love to use them for the little time we have left before the Big C takes her from us.
Much love to the Post Secret Family!
The post Father’s Day Secrets appeared first on PostSecret.
post_secret_feedI asked PostSecret followers on facebook for once-in-a-lifetime questions to ask my dad for an unforgettable interview. Over 700 replies with more than 1,000 questions came back.
This was the original post:
I was thrilled with all the thoughtful questions shared with me, from the delightful to the profound. I read them all and picked 25 to ask my father. At a family dinner the night before our day of tandem paragliding, as an experiment, I peppered three into our conversation. . . it didn’t go well.
Like many families, ours was far from perfect, with divorce and estrangement being a part of it. So when other family members began responding to some of my father’s answers, long-buried feelings and some judgement turned the interview sour. Because of that learning experience, I changed some of my questions and gained three insights for when I would try again the next day.
• Avoid questions about regrets or mistakes. Instead, start with questions that include the word “favorite”, like, “What’s your favorite decade and why”?
• Try to keep the questions open-ended and let responses spark other questions naturally. Aim for a flowing conversation rather than an interview.
• Really listen. . . No, really listen.
On the two hour drive to the Gliderport the next day, it was just my father and me in the car. I told him how much it meant to me to go through these questions and get to know him better. He was game so I cautiously started. He passed on some of the questions, but then really began to share a lot with me, including a secret. He even started asking me some of the same questions! The spirit in the car was supportive and generous, with some heartfelt laughs as we used questions as prompts for our once-in-a-lifetime conversation.
Even though we were unable to do any gliding because of wind conditions, I’ll never forget that day and the new appreciation I discovered for my father. I can’t reveal the secret he told me but another part of our conversation shocked me. I asked this gentle and caring man; “What is the most common misconception people have about you?” He said. “When I was ten-years-old, my mom spanked me for the last time. I don’t think you know how stubborn I was then but you do know how stern your Grandmother could be. I remember through my tears and pain looking at my mother and saying, with spite, ‘I like getting spanked’!”
Here are the 25 questions that guided our conversation.
~~~
Do you have a favorite snack, song, television show, recipe, comedy?
Can you tell me about your best friend when you were a kid and one of your adventures?
Can you describe a favorite memory about a family member?
What is the oldest story you know about our ancestors?
Is there something about me that you have always wanted to know but have never asked?
If this was to be our very last conversation, is there anything you would want to say to me?
What is your first memory?
Did you ever get into trouble as a kid? What happened?
If there was a biography of you, how would you want to be described?
What choice are you thankful that you did not make?
What is the best advice you remember from your father?
Is there anything you wish you had said to someone but didn’t have the chance?
Can you teach me something?
What is something you would like me to ask you?”
What do you wish you would have spent less time worrying about?
What is something you deliberately did not tell me as a child and why?
What is the best part of your day? What makes you feel most alive?
What is the last thing you changed your mind about?
What things helped you get through a difficult time in your life?
Over the course of your life what trip or place was most special? Why?
What would you like to re-experience again because you did not appreciate it enough the first time?
Can you tell me something about yourself that I don’t know that you think would surprise, shock or delight me?
What habits served you the most through life?
What is the best mistake you have made, and why?
What do you hope my siblings and I have learned from you?
How are you doing right now? Is there anything on your mind right now that you’d like to talk about?
~~~
(When my father visits again, I’ll be sure to have his favorite comedy and snack ready.)
~~~
The post 25 Dad Questions appeared first on PostSecret.
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Read more ‘white lie’ secrets at the PostSecret Digital Museum
The post Classic Secrets appeared first on PostSecret.
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Dear Frank,
I recognized my dad’s card as soon as I saw it. All of us kids sat him down tonight and asked him about it- turns out it was written and sent a year ago, when my mom had just broken his heart, and he was hopelessly lost.
Now a year later, he’s healthier than he’s been in years, our family is closer than ever, and, thanks to the strange blessing of PostSecret, tonight we all had the opportunity to share our appreciation, love and support of one another.
My dad is working on a follow-up postcard to reassure you and the supportive PostSecret Community. This whole process has been incredibly therapeutic for him and for us kids too.
The post PostSecret AfterStory appeared first on PostSecret.
scalziwhatever_feedToday was the day of nation-wide protests, the rally of the No Kings movement. It was also my first time going to a protest, like, at all. Though I’m disappointed I’ve never been to one before, I figured there was no better time to start than now. And I was joined by over a hundred people in front of the Troy courthouse to show that Miami County isn’t all red, and some of us actually do oppose fascism.
I was nervous to go to a protest, and that fear is what has been holding me back from going to any for literal years. But I convinced myself it would be fine since it was Troy and I doubted there’d be any flashbangs or rubber bullets happening. As expected, everything turned out completely fine. It was a totally peaceful protest, and only lasted an hour. It was organized well, concise, and full of a feeling of community.
It was so amazing to see older folks and younger people alike coming together, and I saw a friend there who gave me a sign, so I was thankful for that. It was such a great feeling to look around and see everyone coming together for the same cause, to speak up against the tyranny and tell the world (or at least Miami County) “this is not okay.”
I’m glad I went. Sometimes it can feel like it doesn’t make a difference if you’re there or not, or that nothing will change just because of some protests, but it’s better than doing nothing. Silence is complicity, and I don’t want to be compicit. Silence only helps the oppressor. So even if my voice is only one of a million, at least I know it’s in there somewhere.
Make sure you use yours, too. We’re in this together.
-AMS
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monkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your 
scalziwhatever_feedHey, you know what happens next week? Krissy and I celebrate 30 years of being married. She and I are taking a little vacation to enjoy it together. You may not see me for, uhhhhhhh, a while. If I do show up, it will be pretty brief. Don’t worry, Athena will be around for you, and we have a lot of Big Ideas for you next week too. It’ll be fun. Just mostly without me.
Bye!
— JS
svgurl posting in dw_community_promocomment_bingo is a bingo challenge that is focused on using the provided prompts to comment on other people's works rather than creating your own. 
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If you know me, you know one thing I complain about a lot (and probably more than any sane person should) is the use of licensed music in animated movies. I especially hate the use of licensed music in Illumination studio movies. Though, I can recognize that I am biased because I hate Illumination as a whole and dislike 93.3% of their movies (I did the math).
There is one movie, though, in which I find the licensed music to not only be tolerable, but enjoyable. Megamind is the only movie where licensed music is absolutely essential throughout the film, and integral to the very character of Megamind himself.
Megamind is a flashy, theatrical villain who is in it for the love of the game. He lives for the showmanship and flamboyant performances that are the fights between him and Metro Man. As he says in the final fight of the movie, the difference between a villain and a supervillain is presentation. And you can see this ideal of his throughout the film.
In the first interaction with Roxanne Ritchi, where she has been kidnapped and is in Megamind’s evil lair, he unveils all these supervillain-esque devices to her in hopes to come across as a threatening villain. There’s alligators, spikes, a disc blade sort of thing, a mini gun, even a flamethrower. She is impressed by none of it, of course, and his confidence deflates as she mocks him. She also asks where they get all their blinky dials and Tesla coils, to which Minion responds that they come from an outlet store in Romania.
As we can see from this exchange, Megamind goes out of his way to aesthetically meet the requirements of being a villain. So much so that he even buys fake equipment from overseas to look professional. Essentially, he has props. Because he’s a theater kid!
Megamind is obsessed with the pageantry of heroes and villains. We can see this in the exchanges he has with Metro Man and their “witty” banter about microwave warranties. He loves it so much that when he is training Hal to be a superhero, he specifically tries to teach him how to have that same back-and-forth like Metro Man did with him. Even during their first fight, Megamind says “Now it’s time for some witty back-and-forth banter!”
Right before this fight, Megamind accuses Hal of being “unprofessional” and that Metro Man would’ve never kept him waiting, because he was a pro. Hal isn’t “professional” enough for Megamind, and when Hal catches him after their fight and says he’s going to kill him, Megamind says “that isn’t how you play the game.” Proof that Megamind sees this all as a big stage play. It’s a game to him, and one he loves and takes great care in making sure all of the details and specifics are just right and fit his ideal narrative perfectly.
In this same vein, Megamind is obsessed with perfecting his outfit, the Black Mamba, for his first fight with Hal. He wants his costume to look good for his big battle. For what is a good show without the costuming department? In the beginning of the movie, he intentionally points out that he’s wearing custom baby seal leather boots just to prove to everyone he is the bad guy. Look how evil he is, see how dastardly Megamind is. He’s obsessed with painting this picture of himself that presents himself as heinous and diabolical.
Which is exactly why all of the licensed music in this movie fits Megamind perfectly. More often than not, he is the one actually playing the music out loud. When he takes over Metro City, he tells Minion to “hit it” and plays “Highway to Hell” on a big boom box that Minion carries around. He proceeds to dance to it, and makes his smoke show entrance to city hall while it plays. For his final fight with Hal, he plays “Welcome to the Jungle” out loud and creates a huge smoke and light show with his Brain Bots. This is the part where he proclaims “presentation!” is the key to super villain. At the end of the movie, he plays “Bad” on an even bigger boom box and him and Roxanne dance to it.
The point here is that his music choices are intentional. The songs are tools that serve his purpose of painting himself as an iconic, nefarious villain. The licensed music isn’t just thrown in, it’s part of the world and a part of Megamind himself. It is intentional. And it works.
God, I love Megamind.
Do you like Megamind? Do you hate licensed music as much as I do, or am I just obsessed with something niche? Should I talk about why Despicable Me is the only good Illumination movie? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
scalziwhatever_feedObviously, to commemorate the passing of Brian Wilson, one of the great pop songwriters of this or any other era. This cover is a rather pale imitation of many different versions of this song, not withstanding the Beach Boys’ own version, but it is also a perfect song, able to withstand me essaying it. I produced it to sound like what you might hear if it came on a transistor radio, which I think is fitting for the song and its era. Enjoy.
— JS
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Today in Incredibly Mundane Things That Yet Must Be Done, my side of the closet had become untenably crowded with clothes that I currently either can’t or won’t wear, and it was driving Krissy a little batty. So this morning she hauled all my stuff out onto the bed and told me to decide what was going to stay and what was going to go.
For an indecisive hoarder such as myself, this ultimatum filled me with existential horror, and yet I knew she was right: Much of what I have I can’t fit into at the moment (someone decided to eat a few too many snacks and not walk enough steps for, uhhhhh, a while now), and even with what I can currently fit into, I tend to default to basically the same five shirts and three pairs of jeans. So basically 90% my clothes are, essentially, just taking up space. I would never do a triage of all of it without prompting. So here was the prompt.
The “triage” was actually a quadage, as everything got sorted into one of four categories:
1. Clothes that don’t fit and/or I wasn’t wearing it even if it did: On the floor to be donated (as you can see in the picture above, with Charlie the dog for scale). In this category are a lot of shirts that are currently tight across my midsection, multiple Kickstarter t-shirts (sorry, Kickstarter pals, I mostly didn’t get the “t-shirt” tier because I wanted a t-shirt, I just wanted to send you extra cash), old convention/book festival t-shirts and sweatshirts, souvenir shirts, jeans in a waist size I will likely never see again, and shorts I can’t manage to get past my thighs. This is the largest category of stuff.
2. Apparel with sentimental value and only sentimental value: Put into a box for storage. These include gifts I would feel guilty disposing of, commemorative apparel I want to keep but can’t/won’t wear at the moment, or quirky stuff that amuses me, but I don’t necessarily want to be seen in, even if it fits. This is the smallest category, but it’s enough that it will take up a whole box.
3. Apparel I want to wear again but currently don’t fit into: Back into the closet, pushed to the back. This is mostly shirts. I need to lose at least 20 pounds before I unlock some of these again, and losing 30 pounds will unlock them all. Call them “shrink goals.” I’ll start working on that in earnest starting at the beginning of July.
4. Stuff I currently fit into: Back into the closet, obviously, shirts near the front of the closet, pant/shorts in their corresponding cubby holes.
Of the last two categories, what’s left? Honestly, not a whole lot! My regular shirts were basically entirely wiped out (note only two collared shirts there, although I will clarify that actual dress shirts and suits are in a different closet along with other more formal wear; this closet is for everyday wear), and what I have left are primarily t-shirts, most of which I recently purchased when I realized I let my sloth change my clothes size. On a day-to-day basis this isn’t an issue, since as I already mentioned, I tend to just wear the same five shirts anyway. Also it’s summer so I’m not exactly dressing up, and as a science fiction writer I’m not expected to dress myself up fancy-like when I do events, I just have to be, you know, not all covered in stains and crumbs. This current state of affairs will not present either a logistical or sartorial crisis for at least a few months.
Still, it was a little bit of a surprise to me how much of my ostensible wardrobe was functionally inert and just taking up space. It was a lot. And now all of that is off, or soon to be, to local charities who will hopefully pair the clothes with people who actually need and might actually wear the stuff. It’s not all Kickstarter tees, there are some things in there one could wear to work. The clothes being actually worn is a more useful fate than the one they had in my closet. Fly, extraneous clothes! Be free!
— JS
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Yes, it’s actually pretty much this color in the sky, as it’s hanging low enough in it to pick up coloration by atmospheric refraction. It’s a pretty cool thing to see. If you get a chance to go out and look at it, it’s worth the view. If you can’t (or you have cloud cover), well, at least you got to see it here.
— JS
scalziwhatever_feedIn recent years, I, like many others, have pretty much completely fallen off the Marvel bandwagon and stopped watching all the Disney+ shows, the spin-offs, even most of the theatrical releases like Madame Web and Brave New World. Whatever your reasoning is, whether it’s because there’s simply too much stuff to get through, because the original gang we all loved is long gone, or you’re just burnt out on superheroes, tons of other people are in the same boat as you.
For me, I’ve been wondering so much lately what it is for me. Why don’t I like Marvel anymore? When Marvel hit it big and came out with The Avengers in 2012, I was 13, and boy howdy did Marvel take over my teens. I was pretty damn obsessed. I had Tumblr posts and fan art saved on my iPhone 5, would talk about all the movies and superheroes with my friends, see every movie on opening day like my life depended on it, all that typically teen fan type stuff.
So what happened? Is it that I’m getting older, or did Marvel content just genuinely get worse and worse as the years went on? Is it some of column A and some of column B?
It was just about right after having seen Thunderbolts that I was really thinking about this question a lot, when a video came up in my recommended section on YouTube.
The video was called “The Lost Art of Marvel’s Phase One,” and was part of a series called Detail Diatribe from Overly Sarcastic Productions. If you’re on the internet and also a nerd, you probably already know who Overly Sarcastic Productions is. While I had heard of them plenty and even seen a mythology video from them once or twice, I never really got into them.
But how could I resist a two-hour video essay over Phase One of Marvel, the phase that pretty much changed not just my life but society as a whole? So I took a chance on it, and immediately loved it. So much so that I started watching OSP’s other superhero videos, and now I’m here to recommend them to you.
They put out “The Lost Art of Marvel’s Phase One” about three weeks ago, and I would recommend starting with this one, like I did. In it, they talk about what made everyone fall in love with Marvel in the first place. Are we all just wearing rose colored glasses and remember them being better than they were? Especially for people like me who were younger when they came out, is our nostalgia blinding us into unearned fondness of these movies?
While it is almost two hours long, I genuinely don’t feel like any part of this video essay drags or is boring, as they talk about so many different things and keep their points moving along consistently. They go over the characters specifically of course, like Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, even Hulk, but they also go over how well the creators did at weaving together the overarching narrative that comes together in The Avengers.
This video made me realize, you know what, fuck yeah I liked Marvel. Shit was good. Like genuinely good! There’s so much to love about Phase One, and so much to love about our original group of super pals! I’m not ashamed that I liked, and am still fond of, Phase One. I hope this video inspires some of that in you, too.
After loving this video so much, I of course had to watch another one of their Detail Diatribe videos called “Captain America The Winter Soldier is the Best MCU Movie” which came out only two weeks ago. Why? Because I have been saying that exact thing for years. But, they can explain it better than I can, so you should listen to their video over it:
This one is also two hours long, but when you’ve been saying FOR YEARS that The Winter Soldier is the best Marvel movie, those two hours really fly by. This one is such an important analysis of not just Captain America as a character, but also Black Widow, and the relationship between these two throughout the film. It also talks about the importance of Hydra and how this movie is a damn good political thriller/espionage movie that I feel like we did not know Marvel was capable of at the time!
Moving away from Marvel, I just listened to their Detail Diatribe over Superman a couple days ago, and since Superman is my favorite superhero, I want to share it with y’all!
Superman is my favorite and I’m sick and tired of people saying he’s boring! He’s not boring! Y’all don’t understand the art, and most importantly, heart, of Superman, and hopefully this video will make you see how awesome he is. And you guessed it, it’s almost two hours.
I have absolutely been loving these videos (and a couple others, such as their Doctor Strange one) and I hope you do, too.
My parents were being killjoys by saying that they didn’t understand why I’d spend two hours watching something like this, and that you can just say “The Winter Soldier is the best MCU movie” without needing to talk about it for two hours, but I wholeheartedly disagree! So I’ll keep watching my two-hour videos and keep recommending them to you. You’re welcome.
On a real note, though, if the idea of sitting there and watching a two-hour video is daunting or seems like too much, I’ll go ahead and tell you I didn’t actually watch a single second of any of these videos. I only listened to them. I listened to them in the shower, on my drive to the store, while I was folding clothes, etc.
You don’t have to sit perfectly still and have your eyes glued to the screen the entire time to watch these videos, y’know? You can still enjoy the points they’re making and think about the ideas they bring up without feeling like it’s a chore to sit there and watch two hours of PowerPoint slides.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy what OSP has to say about these characters and movies we’ve all loved at some point in our lives. I know I did!
Do you have a favorite superhero? Which Marvel movie is your favorite? What do you think of all the shows they’ve come out with? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!
-AMS
watervoleHobbies can sometimes lead to useful transferable skills.
Decades ago, I ran a commercial postal RPG called 'Delenda est Carthago' It even won an award.
I employed several people over the years - one interview was with a Dr Who fan, the kind who knew every detail of pretty much every episode.
That was what got him the job - it demon stated his ability to get involved with a fantasy world and to learn all the relevant details. And he turned out to be a very good GM.
My daughter hs a volunteer at Little Woodham - the 17th century replica village. She's become a dab hand at entertaining the visitors with leather-working demonstrations, all sorts of interesting historical facts and also by organising groups of children into being the crew of a canon! (I gather the kids absolutely love it, even the ones who get 'killed' by standing in front of the barrel when loading it, etc.)
Turns out that this is a transferable skill also. It was her time at LIttle Woodham that got her an interview with a company doing coach tours (she has a bus-drivers licence, but that wasn't the critical element). They were looking for someone could entertain the passengers as well as drive them safely.
Monday Passenger: "You're very knowledgeable. How long have you been doing this? It must be a couple of decades."
Lindsey: It's my first day...
She'd done a lot of research and stacked up anecdotes about all the places they would pass en route. A bridge Winston Churchill fell off as a boy; another bridge that had a Civil War fight where a dozen cavalry held off around 200 infantry, stuff about Lulworth Castle, etc.
So, if you ever take a coach tour from Bournemouth rail/coach station to the Jurassic Coast, maybe you'll meet her!
scalziwhatever_feed - View From a Hotel Window, 6/15/25post_secret_feed - Father’s Day Secretspost_secret_feed - 25 Dad Questionspost_secret_feed - Classic Secretspost_secret_feed - PostSecret AfterStoryscalziwhatever_feed - No Kingsglinda - Changing The Seasonsarcanetrivia in dw_community_promo - Holy Monkey Bladders! It's Monkey Island™.scalziwhatever_feed - Vacation Mode = ONsvgurl in dw_community_promo - Comment Bingo Round 7xkcd_feed - Reading a Big Numbergirlgenius_main_feed - Girl Genius for Friday, June 13, 2025scalziwhatever_feed - Why Licensed Music Works So Well In “Megamind”scalziwhatever_feed - A New Cover Song: “God Only Knows”xkcd_feed - Good Sciencescalziwhatever_feed - The Great Closet Purge of 2025girlgenius_main_feed - Girl Genius for Wednesday, June 11, 2025scalziwhatever_feed - Strawberry Moon, 6/10/25scalziwhatever_feed - Reigniting My Love For Phase One Of Marvelwatervole - My daughter got a new jobtimeasmymeasurekrja
![[desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???](https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/reading_a_big_number.png "[desperately] Maybe this is from some country where they use commas as decimal points, and also as digit separators after the decimal, and also use random other characters for decoration???")
