In January, I ran a month-long tribute to the music of the Breaking Bad Franchise. For those who didn’t catch it, there was a funny Breaking Bad-themed Popcorners Super Bowl commercial! Check it out!
SNL Super Bowl Commercial!
Some folks might watch the Super Bowl on Sunday to see if the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles win. Others might watch it for Rihanna’s Halftime Show. And still others watch it for the commercials! Check out this hilarious “Saturday Night Live” parody of Super Bowl commercials …
I noted on Facebook that this episode with host Pedro Pascal had a few outstanding skits, including “Lisa from Temecula” (like an old Debbie Downer skit, they couldn’t keep a straight face!) [YouTube links].
Aaron Judge, AL MVP!
Congratulations to Yankees player Aaron Judge for winning the American League Most Valuable Player honors!

Song of the Day #1968
Song of the Day: Star Walkin’ (League of Legends World Anthem) features the words and music of a host of writers, including Lil Nas X. The song was released last month for the esport 2022 League of Legends World Championship, but its been played during baseball’s postseason on ESPN as well. I hear hints of “Turn the Beat Around” [YouTube link] in the melodic line, and I love the spirit of the lyric: “Don’t ever say it’s over if I’m breathin’, Racin’ to the moonlight and I’m speedin’, I’m headed to the stars, ready to go far. I’m star walkin’.” Check out the animated video on YouTube.
Commitment! 62 For Judge!

9/29/2022: Started wearing; Yankees day off.
9/30/2022: Orioles beat Yanks, 2-1; two full days and μηδέν (that’s Greek for “zero”).
10/1/2022: Yanks beat Orioles, 8-0; three full days and nada.
10/2/2022: Orioles beat Yanks, 3-1; four full days and zippo.
10/3/2022: Yanks beat Rangers, 3-1; five days and nothin’.
10/4/2022 (Game 1, Double Header): Yanks beat Rangers, 5-4; still no Judge homer.
10/4/2022 (Game 2, Double Header): 10/4/2022 (Game 2, Double Header): Rangers beat Yanks, 3-2, but FIRST TIME UP AND JUDGE DOES IT! And after six days, g’bye to these sneaks and socks! (And Gerrit Cole breaks Ron Guidry’s team high season strikeout record with his 249th strikeout in the same inning!)

Aaron Judge: 61 HRs and Counting …
New York Yankees baseball player Aaron Judge hits #61, tying Roger Maris’s American League home run record … 61 years after it was set (in 1961). Judge is vying for the Triple Crown this year, leading the AL in Runs Batted In (RBIs) and Batting Average as well. Crossing fingers for 62 in ’22! Go Judge!!! (And check out Mike Lupica on Judge’s historic Yankee year.)
Major League Sportsmanship from the Little Leaguers
After the batter was hit by a pitch and takes first base, he comforts the pitcher… who is so obviously shaken up. Now granted, this wasn’t a purposeful drilling. But I can think of a few major league ballplayers who can take lessons from the kids on great sportsmanship.
Check out more on this story here.
Vin Scully, RIP
A great baseball broadcaster, Vin Scully (1927-2022), has died at the age of 94. Check out retrospectives on the life of the man who started broadcasting for the Dodgers back in 1950, when they were still in Brooklyn! 67 seasons, not only as the Voice of the Dodgers but of so many memorable moments in baseball history …
In the NY Times here and here, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and MLB. It was actually through the NY Yankees that I learned of Scully’s passsing late last night; they put up a loving tribute to him. Also: check out Mike Lupica’s tribute.

Vin Scully (from Wikipedia)
Merlin Jetton, RIP
I learned from my friend Stephen Boydstun today that our mutual colleague and friend Merlin Jetton has died of cancer. Merlin is survived by his wife Rebecca.
In the 1990s, Merlin contributed many articles to Stephen’s wonderful journal, Objectivity. In 2006, he contributed the first of seven articles to The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies. He wrote on subjects ranging from epistemology to ethics. His final JARS article appeared in our July 2021 issue: “Selfish versus Selfish” (which is available on the Scholarly Publishing Collective site here).
Merlin described himself as an independent scholar. He graduated from the University of Illinois as a math major. His bio for JARS reminds us that “[h]e escaped academia in order to apply and expand his math skills in the real world of business.” A Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Chartered Financial Analyst, he retired after a twenty-eight-year career as an actuary and financial engineer, having specialized in asset-liability management the last fifteen years or so.
His interest in Rand’s philosophy stretched back decades. As a member of “the Chicago School of Objectivism”, he attended the New Intellectual Forum, a salon organized by another of our friends, Marsha Enright. Merlin made several presentations to that group.

Stephen’s poignant memories of Merlin are published here. Unlike Stephen, I never met Merlin. But having corresponded with him over the course of 17 years, I got to know him in a way that showed what a congenial soul he was. I’ll miss our discussions of everything from philosophy to baseball. I remember how annoyed he was back in 2020 when the Los Angeles Dodgers—or as he called them, those “damn ex-Bums”—beat his Atlanta Braves in a 7-game National League Championship Series.
We were unable to meet when he came to NYC in 2019, and he expressed the hope that we’d meet someday. But by October 2020, he had already undergone surgery for his second bout with cancer. His health woes never dulled his enormous empathy for me—with my own share of medical problems—or the challenges facing my sister, when she became seriously ill only a month later.
Aside from our interest in philosophy and baseball, Merlin and I shared a love of Peanuts cartoons. Less than a week after my 61st birthday, Merlin sent me a set of Charles M. Schulz classics, including the one below. It’s a reminder of how much admiration and appreciation we had for one another.
I will miss Merlin very much, not just as a member of the JARS family, but as the warm human being and friend he was. The July 2022 issue of The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies will be dedicated to his memory.

Postscript: This was a particularly sad day for me … having noted on Facebook that it would have been the 58th birthday of Steve Horwitz. As I said: “You are gone, but never forgotten, dearest friend. Thank you for having graced my life and the lives of so many others. My love always … ”
Song of the Day #1902
Song of the Day: Paradise by the Dashboard Light, words and music by Jim Steinman, is a piece of musical theater that became a staple of classic rock radio when it was released in 1978 as the third single off the album, “Bat Out of Hell“, the 1977 debut album of singer and actor, Meat Loaf (Marvin Lee Aday). The Platinum 8+ minute track, featuring both Meat Loaf and Ellen Foley on vocals, was produced by Todd Rundgren, who plays guitar on the track. When the song came out—even as it was played endlessly in its full album glory—I had a certain sentimentality for it. Any song that features the rather ‘suggestive’ play-by-play of Hall of Fame Yankees shortstop and hilarious sports announcer, Phil Rizzuto, gets Major League Points in my book. Yesterday, Meat Loaf passed away at the age of 74. Check out one of his biggest hits [YouTube link].