June 2026

Hey all,

I had a lot of fun at FinOps X last month. The talk I gave went really well, and I’m looking forward to the recording being published so that I can share it more widely.

I also decided to publish a companion blog post on my website, exploring the concept of an AI Home Base (which I introduced in my talk) in more detail. The last time I presented, in 2022, I did something similar.

For me, it’s a reminder of the value of having a website and publishing original content. Regardless of how many people read what I publish, the writing exercise itself helps me process my ideas and improve my workflows.

The AI Home Base is a modified version of the system I have set up for my personal life. It, too, is growing more powerful by the day, and it’s a blast to work on.

I really hope we get this AI alignment problem figured out.

-Dann

🎸 Right back

I have a vivid memory of riding the bus to school in fifth grade and first hearing the song “What I Got” by Sublime on the radio. It tickled my brain in a way that no other song before ever had. I became obsessed.

I was heartbroken when I found the Sublime self-titled album in a record store and realized that it had a parental advisory sticker. This meant the CD was a strict no-go in my household. While many other albums had “clean” versions without the sticker, Sublime decided, for whatever reason, to opt out of this family-friendly option.

Thus began my childhood obsession with Sublime: the forbidden fruit.

I would browse every record store hoping they would have a version without the advisory sticker. I scoured the internet looking for singles or special EPs, then called different stores trying to find stock. I collected as many Sublime releases as I could find, and the parental advisory sticker challenge meant that I had to go deep into the catalogue.

Eventually, Napster came along and my music consumption habits became much harder to monitor, let alone control. By this point, my love of Sublime was peaking, and I downloaded every release and rarity I could find.

As my musical tastes changed throughout the years, I found myself listening to Sublime less and less. But their unique sound still tickles my brain in a way that reminds me of those early childhood memories of that first musical obsession.

Bradley Nowell, the lead singer of Sublime, tragically died of a heroin overdose in 1996, right before the release of their self-titled album that catapulted the band to fame. He left behind a wife and 11-month-old son Jakob.

With no lead singer, the other members of the band couldn’t really tour in a way that would attract the crowds they deserved. They launched a new project, Long Beach Dub Allstars, but never got close to the success of Sublime.

In 2009, over a decade after Nowell’s death, the band re-formed with singer Rome Ramirez, calling themselves Sublime with Rome. They toured and even released a few albums, but it was never Sublime. It was Sublime with Rome.

Quietly, behind the scenes, Jakob Nowell, Bradley’s son, grew up to love music himself. He started a couple of bands and got experience performing and touring. He came into the industry not from pressure to perform or an attempt to capitalize off his father’s name.

Then in 2024, Rome left the band and Jakob took his birthright as the frontman of Sublime. Footage from those early concerts went viral. His voice is so similar to his father’s that it feels like he’s still here.

This was a very roundabout way to say that Sublime just released their first album with Jakob as the frontman. Until the Sun Explodes is Sublime’s first release in 30 years.

The voice, the sound, the mood, the everything makes me feel like I’ve just gotten back from a used record store on the other side of town where I found a CD I’d spent months trying to track down.

Sublime was always a tragic story, but I’d say now it has a happy ending. It’s been fun listening to an album I never thought I’d get.

🫏 The end of an era

I was never a huge fan of the original three Jackass seasons when they first aired on MTV. Much like Sublime, the show wasn’t totally welcome in our home, but I was a high schooler when it aired, so that control had relaxed a little. Still, the show just didn’t call to me in the way it did to many of my peers.

A few weeks into my sophomore year, Jackass Number Two hit theaters. I remember taking a solo trip one fall evening to go see it, and having a sudden revelation that this “thing,” the Jackass franchise, was more than just stunts and gross-out jokes.

The sense of camaraderie was so strong in that second film that I felt like I was reuniting with old friends. It was edited in such a way that I felt in on all the jokes, that I was a part of it, even though I’d only seen the first movie once and just a few clips of the TV series.

There’s a new (and final) Jackass movie in theaters right now, Jackass: Best and Last. It features some old content, new content, and never-before-seen footage. It feels a bit different than previous films, as there’s a bit more room to breathe: a few peeks behind the curtain of the creative process and a bit of lingering after stunts to capture more laughter.

Most of all, everyone feels so old. And I, in turn, left the theater feeling so old. So, so old.

I think Alyssa Wilkinson, in a TikTok video for the New York Times, really captures the allure of Jackass so well:

They’re pulling pranks, walloping one another in the crotch, but they always end in a laugh and they hug a lot. They openly love one another, help one another, and try to be supportive of one another’s lives. In an age where the “manosphere” is what a lot of people think about when they think about men, it’s really refreshing to watch Jackass, which is weirdly non-toxic and kind of a healthy depiction of masculinity.

So much comedy today is about being mean: rage-baiting, roasting, tricking people, making people feel uncomfortable. Jackass, for all its juvenile stunts, is completely wholesome. That’s why it’s so fun to watch.

🎬 The camera man can

In last month’s newsletter, I talked about the underground guerrilla comedy scene that’s basically filling the cultural role that SNL had in the 1970s. That section omitted two mainstream box-office hits that came through this same pipeline, and I think they’re worth a closer look.

Curry Barker, writer and director of Obsession, is a 26-year-old who gained an audience on YouTube and TikTok doing sketch comedy. Kane Parsons, director of Backrooms, went viral at sixteen with a series of YouTube videos building out the world that would eventually become his directorial debut.

Did I mention both were box office hits? Obsession, with a budget of ~$750K, made $17.2M opening weekend. Backrooms, with a budget of $10M, made $81.4M opening weekend.

These movies are harbingers of change for Hollywood. For years we’ve been inundated with massive-budget superhero movies and sequels, not because they’re good but because they sell tickets. These two point to a different path: find young, creative people with a unique vision, proven film chops, and an existing audience, and let them make something.

Obsession and Backrooms certainly aren’t the first to follow this new path. The 2024 film Shelby Oaks, written and directed by film-critic-turned-filmmaker Chris Stuckmann, followed a similar route with a little less success. And we can’t forget the trailblazers, the Philippou brothers, whose 2023 film Talk to Me and 2025 film Bring Her Back made the whole industry take notice.

I think the younger generation is hungry for some fresh voices in the film industry, and it makes sense that the box office hits will come from creators who cut their teeth making YouTube videos on their laptops. I don’t think comic book movies are going away any time soon, but we’re on the cusp of a new wave of cinema and it’s fun to have a front row seat.

🏡 Smarty home

Living in a one-bedroom rented apartment, I have limited smart home options. Beyond lights and smart plugs, there’s not much else that’s available to me.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t build myself an excellent control plane with automation that makes everything work seamlessly.

I’ve never really liked Apple’s Home app, but I used it because that was the default. Installing and playing around with Home Assistant made me realize what I was missing. And there are so many features and possibilities I’m not even touching yet.

Particularly, its integration via MCP with an AI assistant has been wonderful. What used to be hours of tinkering is now a short conversation. Things like building dashboards and graphs, designing scripts, and setting up complex automations (don’t just turn on the fan, also set the speed to six and enable oscillation with one click).

I have a nifty little line chart that shows indoor temperature overlaid with outdoor temperature. It’s not useful, per se, but it’s certainly interesting.

🏳️‍🌈 That Dun-Dun Sound

A viral video from 2020 finally got the conclusion we deserve. Take three minutes out of your day to watch Camden Garcia’s “Every Gay Guy on Law & Order: SVU“.

End note

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I send these newsletters once per month, and I’m happy you’re along for the ride. I’m trying to make it one of the best things that arrives in your inbox each month, so thoughts and feedback are always appreciated. You can just reply to this email.

Also, if you find anything interesting, send it my way.

Thanks for reading. Until next time, Dann