I’m going to be first in line to see Fly Me to the Moon when it opens on July 12. Judging from the trailer, the movie tells a lighthearted, but believable tale of how and why NASA might have faked the moon landing. The clip even offers a tongue-in-cheek nod to the conspiracy theorists who are going to eat this movie up like buttered popcorn.

By creating fictional characters based on real people and mixing actual details of the governments’ attempts to “sell” the moon landing to the public with fanciful elements and a “they faked the whole thing” conclusion, Fly Me to the Moon will keep soft-headed people saying “That’s exactly how it happened!” for years, even if the movie is clearly intended as a joke. (Conspiracy theorists are not famous for their senses of humor.)

Five movies that have shaped conspiracy theories

Conspiracy theorists usually aren’t very creative either, so they’ve always borrowed heavily from movies when it comes time to build out their paranoid worldviews. Where you and I see entertainment, they see veiled revelations and covert agendas—confirmation that their weirdest ideas are the truth. To get ready for next month's disinformation campaign, let's delve into five science fiction films that have significantly influenced conspiracy theorists and explore the connections between these cinematic tales and real world beliefs .

Metropolis (1927)

Fritz Lang’s vision of a world where the careless elite live in glittering skyscrapers while the lowly proles toil in misery below has been influencing conspiracy theorist for nearly 100 years. While I don’t imagine most modern conspiracy theorists are actively checking out silent German cinema from the 1920s, Metropolis influenced every science fiction film that followed, and the whole conspiracy theory blueprint is laid out in the movie: There's the way robot-Maria controls the citizenry’s minds, the simplified portrayal of the class system meant as illustration but taken as literal truth, the use of esoteric imagery of the Tower of Babel and the Whore of Babylon—fringe thinkers love connecting things to misunderstood antiquity. It's all there.

Where to stream: The Roku Channel, Tubi, Pluto TV, Plex, Kino Film, digital rental

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

This 1962 film heavily shaped the public’s idea of “brainwashing." Shadowy actors covertly influencing the minds of innocent people through nefarious mechanisms is present in just about every conspiracy theory, usually because it’s the only explanation for why the SHEEPLE don’t see the TRUTH that’s right in FRONT OF THEM. (All-caps is another dead giveaway.) But The Manchurian Candidate’s portrayal of brainwashing and mind control isn’t especially accurate or useful. How people’s thoughts can and can’t be manipulated is way more complex and nuanced than the film portrays. It’s a shame that the CIA destroyed (or HID) most of the results of its (very real) research on mind control, because if you do a deep dive on “Project Paperclip” and other covert influence programs, it starts to feel like the research actually came to the depressing conclusion that esoteric methods like hypnosis, “truth serums,” secret LSD dosing, and similarly gross human rights violations don’t work as well as just beating confessions out of people.

Where to stream: MGM+, The Criterion Channel, Tubi, digital rental

Capricorn One (1978)

Moon landing conspiracy theories began with the publication of Rockedyne employee Bill Kaysing's pamphlet “We Never Went to the Moon." It was popular enough to inspire the release of 1978 O.J. Simpson vehicle Capricorn One, a movie in which the government fakes a mission to Mars to ensure the space program will continue to be funded. (A quaint idea; why would they even care what the public thought?) The film went on to inspire further moon landing conspiracy theories in an unholy feedback loop, including one that posited the film The Shining was Stanley Kubrick's covert admission that he'd helped NASA create the footage of the astronauts bouncing across the lunar surface. Capricorn One is cheesy treat for fans of 1970s science fiction, but seen through modern eyes, it disproves moon landing conspiracy theories by demonstrating how impossible it would have been to convincingly fake footage of a space mission—this was a big budget production where they really tried for realism, but Capricorn One’s Mars mission looks fake as hell. 

Where to stream: Prime Video, Peacock, Hulu, The Roku Channel, Pluto TV, Freevee, digital rental

Alternative 3 (1977)

British pseudo-documentary Alternative 3 is another conspiracy theory blueprint movie. Not many people saw the original broadcast—it was only aired in the U.K. and Australia— but its ideas are still resonating in conspiracy circles. The film begins with an investigation of the mysterious disappearance of 24 British scientists and ends with a shadowy secret government program that sees the elites running off to colonies on the moon and Mars to escape global warming. In Alternative 3, the moon landings are legitimate, but are only undertaken as a smoke screen to cover up the real space program. So Alternative 3 has secret space programs, a shadowy cabal of rich people pulling the strings, slave colonies on the moon, and even aliens, all of which became gospel to a certain variety of fringe thinkers. It’s easy to see why it's been so influential. It’s a really well done film (check out how this movie brilliantly faked a Mars landing.) Here in the U.S., the “novelization” of the film was released in the form of (fictional) secret documents and quickly became a bestseller. Due to an error involving the publication date that affected some bookstore chains, it was put on store shelves early, then quickly removed, leading to hysteria among the fringe newsletters and reactionary radio shows that made up the pre-internet conspiracy theory community. It sure looked like the government censored the book’s release. 

Where to stream: YouTube

The Matrix (1999)

Unlike Alternative 3, few people believe 1999’s The Matrix is literally a documentary, but if you accept the premise of the film—that reality itself is suspect so you can’t trust even your own senses—that doesn’t matter. The idea of alternative realities wasn’t invented by The Matrix, but the movie packaged it so attractively that it spread even among people who normally wouldn’t be considering such esoteric ideas. The idea that you have “taken the red pill” and can see the real reality where the rest of us are stuck in our pods being fed a stream of fake sensory information is intoxicating to some, both because it removes the cognitive dissonance that comes from having your beliefs challenged, and it helps explains why everyone backs away from you when you start telling them about how they faked the moon landing.

Where to stream: Netflix, digital rental

This week, I'm starting things off with a look at Brawl Stars. I know the game has been out for ages, but if you're like I was as of a few days ago, you have no idea what it is. Seems that without our knowledge, this mobile game has become so widely played among young people that an obsession with it is nearly universal.

Meanwhile, putting green onions in coffee and "raw-dogging" plane flights remain much more niche pursuits. Read on to learn all about all of it.

Everyone is playing Brawl Stars, but what is Brawl Stars?

I was talking with my kid the other day about the lack of communal experiences in current culture. I thought I was being wise in pointing out there are no longer as many of those unifying pop culture things like Star Wars or Nirvana that everyone either likes, or is at least is familiar with. He said, “Not true. I can walk up to any kid, anywhere, and say, ‘wanna play Brawl Stars?’ And their phone is coming out.” 

So here’s the deal with Brawl Stars: It’s a cartoonish, multiplayer online battle arena game featuring 3-player teams fighting each other while operating under a bunch of different rule sets. It’s available on both Android and iPhone, and it’s free to play, but you can buy cosmetics upgrades with real money. There are reportedly 376 million registered users (For reference, Nirvana’s Nevermind sold 30 million copies.) Brawl Stars was created by a Finnish company called Supercell and published in 2018. To sum up: It’s Angry Birds, but for now.

What is Man the Game?

Unlike Brawl Stars, Man the Game is not actually a game. Or it wasn’t, until someone made it in into one. The name and concept comes from a “brain rot” meme created by TikToker @alexlussy that explores the nostalgia a person living in 2027 might have for 2025. One of the things they are nostalgic for is a PS5 game called Man the Game. The original poster included box art for both the original game and eventually for the sequels, but offered no details.

Naturally, TikTokers started running with the idea, and people started posting reviews and editorials about the controversy surrounding Man the Game 9, basically creating a fictional mini-universe in which the game exists. It also inspired the creation of an actual point-and-click Man the Game that you can play online. (Spoiler: It’s really stupid.)

So what does it all mean? Nothing really—school’s out, so young people have a lot of time on their hands. But if you want to take a deeper dive, here's more info.

People are putting onions in coffee and they must be stopped

There’s a new TikTok trend in which people are flavoring iced lattes with green onions. The basic recipe: mix up milk, espresso, ice, and a generous helping of green onions, then drink it all down! (Shudder.)

While scallions add nutritional content to the beverage, taste wise it sounds uniquely unappetizing—but that may be the point. The drink supposedly originated in China, where it’s part of the larger “dark cuisine” trend of combining foods in unusual ways, like blue soda chicken wings. According to this TikToker, dark cuisine is often employed as a way to curb people’s appetites to help them lose weight. Mission accomplished—I’m sure I’d take one sip of onion-coffee and throw the rest in the bin—but if you left the milk and the onions out of the iced coffee to begin with, it would taste great and contain no calories, so I’m not sure the logic works. Either way, I’m not going to try it, but some people on TikTok have given it a shot, and the reviews are mixed. Some people "don't hate it", others are like: “I can’t even fake any redeeming qualities. This is horrific.”

Travel trend: Raw-dogging plane flights

It’s hard to say how widespread this TikTok trendlet actually is, but some people are bragging online about “raw-dogging” long plane flights—that is, sitting there with no headphones, no movies, no book, no nothing. They just stare at the flight map and wait. Some even book the middle seat on purpose. 

The aggressive music choices on most of these TikTok videos, coupled with their braggadocios tones, serve up “ain’t I hardcore?” vibes that indicate it might all be a joke, but even so, it’s also an interesting look at the cultural reaction to the ready availability of things meant to distract and entertain us. My first reaction to hearing about this was a blanket “that’s dumb,” but I thought about it a little more, and I’m not sure. Boasting about sitting on a plane and not at least reading a book may seem like a pathetic flex, but there’s been a lot of consideration lately, both online and off, about what we’re actually doing when we’re doing nothing. How do the supposed hits of dopamine we get from video games or social media affect us, and what are we missing when we reach for them at every opportunity?

It might seem like we’re not missing much on an airplane, but the chance to do literally nothing is rare. Before the adoption of seatback entertainment centers, smartphones, and tablets, airplanes used to enforce that on us. You’re alone with just your thoughts, which used to be the default state for almost everyone, almost all the time, but is now something to brag about, give a name to, and, I guess, post about on social media so others don';t have to be alone with their thoughts. 

Viral video of the week: "I made the worlds most powerful soccer shoe"

This week’s viral video comes to us from YouTuber I Did a Thing, and it’s part of one of my favorite genres of online video: mad engineering. In these videos, people make the kinds of ridiculous inventions you might have daydreamed about in homeroom, like a ceiling fan with machete blades, or an insanely dangerous giant Bey Blade. In this case, I Did a Thing is trying to make the world’s most powerful soccer shoe. His plan is to basically build a gun-shoe that uses blank rounds to force a steel toe to propel a soccer ball faster than anyone could kick it.

It is a potentially deadly project, and it’s probably illegal in many jurisdictions, but I Did a Thing is from Australia and has a delightfully casual style of pursuing the build. He’s not one of those DIY folks who create perfectly engineered gadgets (like the father of the genre, Mark Rober); I Did a Thing makes a ton of mistakes, rarely measures anything, and often injures himself while testing his gadgets. His projects rarely work out the way he planned, and it all usually ends up as a mess, but, damn it, he tries. I relate to his methods and the kludged together monstrosities he creates, as they remind me of too many of my own projects.

Just about everyone is wrong about sunscreen. On one hand, there’s a low murmur in online spaces questioning the safety and effectiveness of sunscreen, with people like Primal Physique, a "transformation coach,” posting TikTok videos claiming that sunscreens contain dangerous ingredients and should be avoided.

On the other hand, there are people like you and me thinking, “What a load of crap. Sunscreen is totally safe.” We’re wrong too (only a little wrong, but still). Surprisingly, some of what sunscreen deniers claim is true—most of it is wrong, but there’s real reason to be concerned about the safety of some types of sunscreens.

Before I sift through the TikTok bullshit for flakes of truth, here are the undisputed facts: Direct exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet light causes 80-90% of skin cancers. The link between the sun and cancer was suspected as far back as the late 19th century and was proven conclusively in the 1940s. It’s settled science. Use of sunscreen that blocks UV radiation lowers incidents of skin cancer significantly. Dermatologists nearly universally recommend sunscreen if you’re going to be exposed to sunlight. 

The case against sunscreen

Putting research aside for a sec, let’s look at the claims of sunscreen skeptics. The specifics vary from influencer to influencer, but the arguments against sunscreen usually include the following:

• Sunscreen contains cancer-causing ingredients that get absorbed into your body. As this mustachioed gentleman puts it, “you’re literally rubbing cancer into your skin!"

• Sunlight is actually good for you. 

• Humans have done without sunscreen for hundreds of thousands of years and we’re still around.

• You can prevent sunburns and skin cancer through natural means.

Does sunscreen cause cancer?

The most compelling argument against using sunscreen is that it contains benzene, a cancer-causing substance. This is true—kind of. Beginning in 2021, there were numerous recalls of sunscreens and other skincare products based on the discovery of benzene in them. A study from independent testing company Valise showed that 29% of the sunscreen products tested contained the carcinogen, often in levels high above the safety threshold.  

Sunscreen manufacturers weren’t adding benzene to their products, though, so how it ended up there is a bit of mystery. It's thought that the benzene was either a contaminant, or a by-products of aerosol propellants used in spray-on sunscreen. The research is ongoing, and ultimately the safety of chemical-based over-the-counter sunscreens that contain accidental benzene is not known. But it’s probably not good for you. 

Benzene isn’t the only potential problem: The FDA is currently asking for research to determine whether a number of common sunscreen ingredients that are absorbed into the skin are harmful, but, again, we really don’t know what, if any, harm these ingredients do. 

This is not to say you should stop using sunscreen. We may not know how harmful it is to rub benzene-tainted sunscreen into your skin, but we do know that exposing your skin to UV radiation without protection leads to skin cancer. If you're concerned, you can check your sunscreen against this list of brands that weren’t found to contain benzene. 

Is sunlight is good for you?

People who question the use of sunscreen often point out that exposure to sunlight is natural and good for you. They are mostly wrong. Exposing your skin to sunlight is a way to maintain healthy vitamin D levels, and we need vitamin D to avoid rickets and other issues, so in that way, exposure to sunlight is “good,” but skin cancer is definitely bad, and a much bigger problem than rickets. Luckily, you can get adequate vitamin D from your diet or from supplements, and you’re probably exposed to enough incidental sunlight for vitamin D production without seeking it out. Endocrinologists and dermatologists generally agree that the risk of skin cancer from sunlight exposure is a way more compelling health problem than a potential Vitamin D deficiency.

People have been exposed to sunlight for thousands of years and we’re still around

It’s true that cavepeople didn’t wear sunscreen, but how many cavemen have you seen around lately? The argument that we naturally evolved to be able to handle sunlight without using sunscreen falls apart when you consider that evolution’s influence ends at reproductive age. Skin cancers tend to show up later in life, when we’re not spreading our genes around, so there’s no compelling reason why we would evolve to have UV-tolerant skin. 

Can you prevent skin cancer through “natural” means?

On a recent podcast with sunscreen denier and reality TV star Kristin Cavallari, eastern medicine practitioner Ryan Monahan suggested that you eat "an anti-inflammatory diet” to build up "antioxidant reservoir" in the body, and develop a "base coat" through incremental sun exposure you won't need sunscreen.

Monahan’s advice about gradual exposure to sunlight is stupid and dangerous. It’s the worst advice possible for preventing skin cancer, because research shows that the risk of cancer from UV exposure is cumulative: Ramping up your sun exposure makes cancer more likely, not less so. A “base coat” tan might make you less likely to get a sunburn, but it’s doing nothing to prevent cancer, and it’s actually proof that your skin has already been damaged by UV light.  

As for the “inflammatory antioxidant reservoir” song and dance, there’s some research that suggests there may be some link between nutrition and skin cancer, but it’s not particularly compelling. There’s no research anywhere that suggests your diet can “counter” the cancer-causing effect of UV radiation. UV light damages the DNA in your cells, leading to cancer. This will happen no matter how much broccoli you eat.

Bottom line: Wear sunscreen

As annoying as it is that online transformation coaches, reality TV stars, and wellness influencers are a tiny bit right about sunscreen (or anything), remember that they're mostly wrong. It's not actually a complicated matter: You should wear sunscreen if your skin is exposed to sunlight because skin cancer is common and very bad.

It's summertime, and you gotta fill the empty hours somehow, so young people are clicking bananas, creating imaginary shows on Netflix, and developing very strong opinions about Star Wars.

Why gamers are spending all day clicking bananas

Video game companies typically spend between $60 and $80 million producing a single AAA video game, but a free-to-play game that probably cost about six bucks to develop is currently sitting at the number two position on Steam’s online chart and threatening to take over Counter-Strike's top spot. There are around 800,000 people currently “playing” Banana, up from about 400,000 last week, so it’s going a little bananas. As for what it actually is, here’s the official description: “Banana is a clicker Game, in which you click a Banana!” That’s really all you do.

Many users seem to be into it because it’s dumb and ridiculous, but there’s another driver for Banana’s popularity. If you leave the program running for three hours, you “own” a digital banana skin. Leave it running for 18 hours and you own a rare digital banana skin. These assets can then be sold on Steam’s marketplace. Common bananas sell for pennies. Rare ones can sell for over $100. So gamers are making a little money by playing it too.

While there’s something unseemly about how Banana strips the “game” part away from selling gaming assets, it doesn’t seem like a scam or an NFT-style pyramid scheme. The developers aren’t making any untrue claims about their game. People are willing shell out the price of digital bananas (for some reason), so everyone makes a few cents—Steam gets its cut, Banana’s developers get their cut, and the banana-clicking user gets their cut. 

As Banana’s popularity continues to increase, it seems possible that Steam will decide its doesn’t want to be the internet’s home of clicking bananas and pull the game, but for now, you can still click bananas all day, if you’re that kind of person. 

What is Smiling Friends?

Smiling Friends is this year's must-watch program for the younger set. The first season of the animated series premiered on Adult Swim, the Cartoon Network’s nighttime programming block, in 2022, but it started really catching on this May, when season two began. Like Adventure Time before, it’s one of those shows everyone likes, to the tune of a 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Smiling Friends combines traditional animation with stop-motion, live action, rotoscoping, and really any other technique, to tell the story of The Smiling Friends Corporation, a small business dedicated to making people happy. From that simple concept, Smiling Friends spins unexpected, innovative, and bizarre tales that are funnier, smarter, and more cutting than just about anything else on TV. Creators Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel started on YouTube before collaborating on Smiling Friends, and they bring the online sensibility to every episode. Definitely check it out if you like watching things that are good. New episodes of Smiling Friends air on Adult Swim on Sundays at midnight, and are available to stream on Max the following day.

Is there a Netflix show called My Best Day?

If you’ve been seeing promos on Instagram, X, or TikTok for a Netflix series called My Best Day and thought, “I’d like to see that show,” you can’t. It’s not a real show; it’s a meme. Last week, Instagrammers, Snapchatters, Xers, and others started inserting pictures of themselves, artwork, and videos into a fake Netflix homepage preview screen for a series called “My Best Day.” Here’s the Snapchat filter if you want to make your own. And here are a few examples for inspiration. 

New meme stock alert: internet bullish on Grindr?

In the middle of Pride Month, the financial wizards at Reddit’s r/wallstreetbets are hyping a new meme stock: Grindr. Late last week, a ton of posts started appearing on the subreddit, with users promising to put “everything I own + my mothers chemotherapy fund into this stock.” Grindr’s price jumped from $9.23 a share to $10.37 in a single day on Friday, but I don’t know how anything works, so who knows whether that was due to Reddit or not. Today the stock is sinking back to earth, for what that’s worth. Whether Grindr will go the way of GameStop and become a financial saga that goes on for years and inspire a feature film, or is just a flash-in-the-pan online joke that will not be remembered eight minutes from now remains to be seen. Note: please do not take any investing advice from Reddit.

Viral video of the week: The Acolyte Episode 3: Absolute Garbage

This week’s viral video comes from YouTube channel Star Wars Theory. In “The Acolyte Episode 3: Absolute Garbage,” Star Wars Theory gives their unvarnished opinion about the latest episode of Disney+’s new series Star Wars: The Acolyte. The verdict: It's really bad.

A negative review from a fan isn’t that interesting on its own—no one hates Star Wars as much as Star Wars fans after all—but the review is part of a larger trend within Star Wars fandom. The Acolyte is a critical hit. It’s got an 83% “fresh” rating among Rotten Tomatoes critics. But the fans are seemingly rejecting it: the audience score is only 15%, and there's a lot going on here.

Part of The Acolyte's bad audience score seems to come from that depressing "white dude" faction of the fandom that doesn't like "wokeness" in "their" Star Wars—the series' diverse cast and its "space witch" coven proclaiming that the galaxy doesn't welcome “women like us" is the kind of thing that rubs cretins the wrong way (as if science fiction hasn't always commented on current culture). Star Wars Theory raised some controversy recently by saying that women don't like Star Wars, but his gripe here (if we take him at face value) is about the show's lore not fitting in with the established Star Wars universe.

"This isn't what Star Wars is supposed to be" has been a common criticism of the franchise since the prequels were released in the 1990s. A lot of fans don't like The Acolyte for the same reason I thought the prequels were dogshit: The movie/show/cartoon that defines the series for each fan is the one they happened to have seen when they were 11.

It's not a dumb criticism like "this is too woke," but the sheer volume of canonical Star Wars product, new audience expectations, and changing mores, make lore consistency impossible. Since Star Wars: A New Hope premiered in the late 1970s, twelve Star Wars feature films, six Star Wars live-action TV shows, nine animated series, and around 100 video game adaptations have been released, all at different times and aimed at different people. This isn’t generally a problem for critics or casual viewers, because it’s a just a show, so who cares, but if you’ve made your love of Star Wars part of your identity, and you have a lot of time to think about how it all fits together because you don’t have a job or family yet, it’s serious. 

Lore creep isn't the whole problem, though. On the meta level, a critical mass seems to have been reached that is forcing Star Wars fas to confront the sausage-making behind the thing they love. Star Wars is special to the people who love it. It's personal. But whatever specialness is left in the series is being rapidly smothered under a mountain of mediocrity slapped with the Star Wars name. Along with the shows, books, movies, and video game tie-ins, there’s more official Star Wars merchandise—t-shirts, figurines, coffins, etc.—than anyone could collect in a lifetime. It's exhausting, and it's becoming impossible to ignore that whole thing is a money-grab, where fans are seen as walking wallets. See also, the backlash over the Star Wars Hotel.

The original films became merchandising opportunities after they became successful, but at least you could argue that the action figures and t-shirts were in response to people wanting them, not the other way around. Now the Star Wars cart is permanently before the Star Wars horse and selling dolls and shit is the entire point. The ruthless efficiency with which the intellectual property is managed is revealing an emptiness beneath the surface that's impossible to ignore.

If you’re anything like me, you woke up this morning to a calendar pop-up saying that Flag Day is tomorrow, June 14. You probably know as much about Flag Day as I know about JoJo Siwa—I’ve heard of her, I know she has something to do with music, but I assume she’s for other people, so I’ve never looked into it further. But read on if you’re curious about Flag Day—where it came from, who celebrates it, why it exists, and what it all means.

What even is Flag Day?

Celebrated annually on June 14, Flag Day marks the anniversary of the 1777 Continental Congress decree solidifying the design of the American Flag with these inspiring words that all school children know by heart: “Resolved: That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

Woodrow Wilson first proclaimed June 14 to be Flag Day in 1916, and in 1949, Harry Truman made it official by signing the observance into law. A single day wasn’t patriotic enough though; in 1966, Congress declared that Flag Day falls in the middle of Flag Week. Take that, Communists. 

Do I get to take a day off for Flag Day?

You don’t get time off for Flag Day (and don’t even think about Flag Week). Honoring the design of our flag is important for all Americans, but it is not important enough for a proper holiday, so the mail still gets delivered, federal offices and banks remain open, and there’s no three-day weekend. I think we can all agree that this is a rip-off. 

Where did Flag Day come from?

In 1885, Bernard J. Cigrand, an 18-year-old teacher in Waubeka, Wisconsin assigned his students to write an essay about what the American flag means to them. Cigrand quit teaching soon after and left Wisconsin to become a dentist, but he never forgot his patriotic busywork assignment, and spent years lobbying the U.S. government to make the day into a holiday. 

In a Flag Day speech in 1917, President Wilson tied the holiday to the necessity of sending American troops to Europe to fight in World War I. This was the first time the American military fought overseas, and if I didn’t know better, I’d think the real reason Flag Day exists is not due to a patriotic Wisconsin teacher’s writing assignment, but because of a campaign to sway public opinion to support America’s involvement in World War I.

How do people celebrate Flag Day?

According to military.com, “Flag Day is celebrated with parades, essay contests, ceremonies, and picnics sponsored by veterans groups, schools, and groups like the National Flag Day foundation.” I find this dubious. I love ceremonies and essay contests, but I have never attended any kind of Flag Day celebration, and neither have any of my thousands of friends, colleagues, and well-wishers.

The do celebrate in Waubeka, Wisconsin, ground-zero for Flag Day. This year, the town will be hosting a parade, a fireworks display, and a musical performance by Eric Barbieri And The Rockin' Krakens.

Who designed the American Flag?

We honor the flag on Flag Day, but we don't honor the graphic designer who invented it. The Continental Congress’ “here’s what our flag is going to be” proclamation doesn’t go into a lot of detail about how the alternating red and white stripes and stars should be arranged, so technically, you could put put ‘em anywhere, but someone came up with the design we all know and tolerate. We just don’t know for sure who it was. 

It almost definitely wasn’t Betsy Ross. She did sew flags during the American Revolution, but the story that President Washington presented Ross with a rough sketch that she changed around to make our flag isn’t supported by any evidence beyond stories told in the Ross family, so historians are like, “nah."

The leading suspect for flag designer is Francis Hopkinson, a founding father, poet, playwright, and musician who also had an eye for design. Among other iconic pieces of Americana, he created the Seal of the United States (and by extension the logo of The Ramones).

Hopkinson wrote a letter to the Board of Admiralty in 1780 requesting payment for designing the U.S. flag. He asked for a “quarter cask of the public wine,” but the request was denied, partly because the board said other, unnamed, people also worked on the flag design, and partly because the nation was broke.

Don’t we celebrate the flag on July 4? Isn’t that enough already?

July 4 is for celebrating our nation’s independence and our nation’s general awesomeness. Flag Day is for celebrating the symbol of our nation’s general awesomeness. Don’t worry about mixing it up though; It's a free country so they won’t throw you in jail for it—YET.

If you're looking for a new show to watch this week, streaming has you covered. Some of them are even worth your time!

The biggest thing coming to streaming this week, for sure, is the second season of House of the Dragon . New episodes of this big-budget fantasy show aren't the only thing streaming though. There's scripted crime show Hotel Cocaine on MGM+, a Jim Jones docu-series on Netflix, and Chopper Cops on Paramount+. How can you not watch a show called Chopper Cops?

House of the Dragon, season 2

A new season of House of the Dragon showing up on Max is cause for celebration all over. The first season was a banger, with critics giving it 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and things are going to get dragon-breath hot in season 2 with Westeros on the brink of a civil war, and King Aegon and Queen Rhaenyra locked in battle to sit on The Iron Throne.

Where to stream: Max

Hotel Cocaine

Hotel Cocaine was created by an expert in TV shows about drugs, Chris Brancato, the man behind Narcos, and Narcos: Mexico. Set in the 1970s, Hotel Cocaine the story of Roman Compte, a Cuban exile who managed the Hotel Mutiny on Miami's Biscayne Bay. The hotel is ground zero for the glamorous part of the drug trade, where celebrities rub shoulder with cocaine dealers, and Compte is in the middle of it all. Unknown to his low-life associates, though, he's secretly working with the DEA. Drugs, retro fashion, and a main character leading a double life—what more can you want from a crime show?

Where to stream: MGM+

Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown

This National Geographic docuseries examines the history, impact, and people behind Jim Jone’s terrifying People’s Temple cult. Told through never-before-scene footage and interviews with survivors and eyewitnesses, Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown explores the group’s rise and eventual mass murder/suicide in Guyana, shedding light on the causes of the grisly day that shook the world.

Where to stream: Hulu

Chopper Cops

If you've ever looked up at police helicopters surveilling the people who live in your neighborhood and thought, "what kind of person would do that for a living?" Chopper Cops has the answers. Along with profiles of the men and women who fly these buzzy aircrafts, this docuseries shows off the high-tech infrared cameras, augmented reality mapping technology, and other military style hardware that The State purchased with your tax money so they can oppress you. Wait, I mean, "keep you safe."

Where to stream: Paramount+

Last week's picks

Love Island USA, Season 5

Ariana Madix hosts the fifth season of Peacock original Love Island USA, a brightly colored tropical confection of a reality show in which attractive, extroverted people with shiny white teeth couple up, compete in weird little contests, and yell at each other to find love and win cash. Despite its name, Love Island USA is set in Fiji (what, Staten Island's not exotic enough?) and offers viewers the chance to play God and vote on which couple is thrown into an active volcano at the end of each episode—uh, I mean "which couples have to leave the island." A new episode of this perfectly produced reality/romance program will stream nightly during premiere week, because, hey, it's summer, so why not?

Where to stream: Peacock

The Boys, Season 4

The Boys, as they say, are back in town. In season four, the world is on the brink of collapse as evil Victoria Neuman gets closer to the Oval Office. If this were a normal superhero show, weirdos wearing underwear and capes would spring into action on behalf of mankind, but this is The Boys, so the corrupt, arrogant superheroes are causing the trouble in the first place, and only the titular team of un-super-powered CIA agents can stop them.

Where to stream: Prime

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction, Season 5

David Letterman's in-depth interview series My Next Guest Needs No Introduction returns for a fifth season where Dave chops it up with basketball legend Charles Barkley and pop-singing legend Miley Cyrus. If you care about these specific people, or you're interested in larger-than-life people in general, Letterman's long-form, deep-dive interviews are worlds better than five minutes of banter on a late-night show's couch.

Where to stream: Netflix

Tour de France: Unchained, Season 2

Even if you don't care about bicycle racing, check out Netflix's excellent documentary series on the Tour de France. The annual race has been a national obsession in France since 1903, and Tour de France: Unchained explores the people, passion, fame, athleticism and power that makes it so fascinating. Understanding the backstory makes watching a bunch of European guys pedal fast riveting.

Where to stream: Netflix

Candis Cayne's Secret Garden, Season 1

Trans icon Candis Cayne hosts a gardening show like none other. In her “literally groundbreaking” comedy/DIY/gardening show, Cayne and her friends will teach you how to transform your home and garden into a magical place. Billed as a whimsical and visually stunning experience that combines the real-life gardening expertise of Candis Cayne with a playful and imaginative world, each episode of Secret Garden presents a different DIY project designed to inspire your imagination and motivate you to make your backyard and home magical. 

Where to stream: Hulu

Looking to settle in with a good movie? Me too. That's why I've pored over the release schedules of major streaming services to bring you the best original and new-to-streaming movies you can watch right now.

My pick for best movie of the week: Monkey Man, a slick-but-brutal action-revenge flick set in India. Speaking of action movies, Trigger Warning, an original action movie starring Jessica Alba is streaming on Netflix. If your idea of entertainment doesn't involve ass whoopin', you could watch (or rewatch) critically lauded biopic Oppenheimer, or check out LGBT+ comedy documentary Outstanding: a Comedy Revolution.

Monkey Man

Mumbai isn't usually associated with martial arts, but first-time director Dev Patel's Monkey Man is a punch-in-the-face action movie that may change minds. Patel plays the title character, named for the mask he wears, a scrapper who makes a brutal living in underground fight pits where he's beaten up nightly for money. When he figures out how to infiltrate the secret society of rich jerks who pull the strings, Monkey Man unleashes a torrent of rage and revenge so satisfying it earned an 83% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Where to stream: Peacock

Oppenheimer (2023)

Christopher Nolan's biopic about the inventor of atomic weapons took home seven Oscars, including best picture, and it also made over $900 million at the box office. Cillian Murphy stars as physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, a complex, driven visionary tasked with creating the most destructive weapon in human history to fight the Axis powers during World War II. Spoiler: he succeeds, but Oppenheimer, both the movie and man, end up wondering if atomic weapons were actually such a great idea.

Trigger Warning

For her role as Parker in Netflix original action movie Trigger Warning, Jessica Alba learned Indonesian knife fighting skills to make the flick's intense hand-to-hand combat scenes extra real. Parker is a Special Forces commando who returns to her home town her father's funeral, only to discover a dangerous conspiracy that might be responsible for his death. Does she confront the evil men behind the plot with Indonesian knife-fighting skills? Goddamn right she does. Mark Webber, Tone Bell, Jake Weary, Gabriel Basso, and Anthony Michael Hall also appear in this treat for action movie fans.

Where to stream: Netflix

Outstanding: A Comedy Revolution

This Netflix original documentary tells the story of LGBTQ+ stand-up comedy through interviews, stand-up performances, archival materials, and verité footage featuring huge comedians like Lily Tomlin, Sandra Bernhard, Wanda Sykes, Eddie Izzard, Hannah Gadsby, Tig Notaro, and Rosie O'Donnell. Outstanding explores the history of queer comics, the societal changes that came from their work, and the future of LGBTQ+ stand-up.

Where to stream: Netflix

Slave Play. Not a Movie. A Play.

Jeremy O. Harris' Slave Play was one of the most celebrated, provocative, and fearless plays ever staged on Broadway. In this documentary, Harris takes us behind the scenes of the groundbreaking production, showing us the actors workshops, run-throughs, and rehearsals that brought it to life. But Harris goes deeper and uses the documentary to comment on his own part of Slave Play's creation.

Where to stream: Max

Last week's picks

Am I OK?

In this heartfelt romantic comedy, Dakota Johnson plays Lucy, a receptionist at a Los Angeles spa who starts to suspect, at 32 years old, that she might be gay. As Lucy discovers more about herself, she's also dealing with the imminent departure of her longtime best friend Jane, played by Sinoya Mizuno. Am I OK? is sitting at 83% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with critics praising the cast's nuanced performances and the writing talent of first-time screenwriter Lauren Pomerantz, who eschews cliches and well-worn tropes in favor of honesty.

Where to stream: Max

Let the Canary Sing

Everyone loves Cyndi Lauper for her massive singing talent and her flamboyant style, but not enough people know the person behind behind the act. Through archival footage and interviews, Let the Canary Sing explores Lauper's meteoric ascension to superstardom, her unique and ever-changing fashions, her uncompromising artistic vision, and her lifelong advocacy.

Where to stream: Paramount+

Brats

To teenagers in the 1980s, no one was cooler, sexier, or more famous than The Brat Pack, that cadre of young actors that starred in every teen movie and seemed to rule Hollywood. Directed by original brat-packer Andrew McCarthy, Brats gives us a view from inside the fame fishbowl through interviews with brat packer Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy and more. (Spoiler: being in the Brat Pack wasn’t as much fun as you probably imagined.) 

Where to stream: Hulu

Keith Robinson: Different Strokes

Keith Robinson is a very funny comic, but his new Netflix stand-up special should be extra hilarious and/or poignant because of its subject matter. In 2020, Robinson popped a Viagra on an airplane and had a stroke, and in Keith Robinson: Different Strokes he tells the whole story with his distinctive, no-bullshit style.

Where to stream: Netflix