“They Have Awakened”, AI Short, Review by Case Wright


Last year, I reviewed A LOT of AI horror films and yes…most were terrible. It is sad that these films exist and someone spend time making them. However, there are some that are not the worst.

“They Have Awakened” by Ethan is a super short film on Antarctic explorers who find a cave that is just chock full of Cthulhu…Cthulhus(?)…Cthulhossiers(?). Cthulhossiers are like other Cthulhus, but they’re mostly into college hoops.

The explorer team finding Cthulhus is essentially a sub-genre; the stories are always the same, BUT some times the rendering is slightly better. I am actually tired of explorers continuing to unleash Cthulhus- can’t they be like the other Antarctic scientists that I’ve met and just turn to alcoholism and amphetamines?

The film is aggressively mediocre, but it’s only 4 minutes and change; so, have an oat-forward pancake and spend four minutes watching.

Brad celebrates Labor Day with Dusty Slay and his analysis of the country song, “Hard Workin’ Man.”


My Brother’s store, the Hollis Country Store!

I spent a lot of time helping my brother at his general store, the Hollis Country Store, last fall. We talked a lot in between fixing bologna sandwiches for our customers and other general store kinds of things. One day we got to talking about some of our favorite comedians, and we stumbled upon the fact that we both really enjoy comedian Dusty Slay. I had been seeing a lot of his clips on TikTok, so I was just becoming a fan. We swapped some of our favorite bits we’d heard and had a good time. When Christmas was coming around I noticed that Dusty had a show scheduled at a casino in Pocola, OK, on December 26th. Pocola is just across the state line from Fort Smith, Arkansas, so my wife and I bought him and his wife tickets to the show as a Christmas gift. We went with them and had the best time!

This being Labor Day, I thought it would be fun sharing a clip of Dusty analyzing the country song “Hard Workin’ Man” by Brooks and Dunn. It’s one of my favorites. And as a CPA, I truly appreciate its financial humor. Happy Labor Day, my friends!

The “This Week in Charles Bronson” Podcast discusses Antoinette Bower, my trip to Vermont and Val McCallum!


I’ve shared several episodes of the “This Week in Charles Bronson” podcast with our readers over the last year. I just love visiting with my Buchinsky Buddy Eric Todd about all things related to Charles Bronson. In our latest episode, Eric pays tribute to actress Antoinette Bower, who passed away on April 30th, 2026, at the age of 93. The first Bronson film he ever saw was THE EVIL THAT MEN DO (1984), where Bower plays Claire Molloch, the sister and the love of the life of political torturer Clement Molloch (Joseph Maher). In Bower’s three-decade career she starred in just about every classic TV series you can think of, including Have Gun, Will Travel, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Star Trek, and with Bronson and Kurt Russell in The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters. It’s a lot of fun revisiting much of her film work, and finding out a lot of other interesting things about her life after she retired from show business in the early 90’s.

After that, I get to tell you all about my trip to Vermont! My wife and I were able to visit Charles Bronson’s gravesite at the Brownsville Cemetery in West Windsor, as well as the property that was once his and Jill Ireland’s horse farm on Bronson Road. We were able to eat at places where he liked to eat and even go shopping at places where he liked to shop! And to top it all off, we had the good fortune to meet his son, Valentine McCallum, who still has property in the area and just happened to be visiting when we were there. Val’s an incredible professional musician and singer, and we were able to catch him performing at the Skunk Hollow Tavern on our last night in the area. I share a couple of his songs on the podcast. What I love the most is that these are very personal songs that Val performed that night. I think you’ll enjoy them. I know we sure did!

So, if any of that sounds like fun to you, take some time to give us a listen. I’m sharing the YouTube and Spotify links below, but you can find us on Apple Podcasts as well!

Song of the Day: “2085” AJR


Case Wright

The song is all about failure. He’s clear-eyed that he’s run out of time. There’s so many things that he could’ve done, but now he’s broken and on his way out. It’s hard to face when things aren’t going to be ok- even these guys feel like failures and they’re rich and surrounded by eager groupies. What does that say for us plebes?

I can only write this from the male perspective. Maybe you keep going to spite your enemies? Maybe you keep going because you still have stupid hope? Maybe you keep going because you’re scared you’ll survive – sort of? Maybe you just keep going because you can’t afford your preferred means to end it? Maybe you keep going because yes it will get worse and yes you are failure, but most people are failures and you figure that you’re not even the worst failure; so, maybe there’s room left to fall? Maybe, like George Carlin suggested, you just don’t have the time to schedule it in?

Whatever your reason, eventually the reason will resolve; so, you need someone to remind you of a backup reason or we will miss you.