Larvae Day.

After writing about larvae in my first 2 posts this morning, I go check out what's new at Instapundit, and the first post over there is about larvae — and not the same larvae. It's not as if some big larvae story hit the news overnight and everybody's got to talk about larvae.

If this were the first scene in a movie, this morning laughing about larvae would feel ominous, and within the next half hour, larvae would be threatening all of humanity.

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The movie industry is "laying down too many big bets without anything else on the agenda."

Said Steven Gaydos, of Variety magazine. "They have to kick their dependency on $300m blockbusters. If they don't, they're going out of business." But it's not going to happen:

"Look at Comic-Con and then tell me if you think Hollywood is going to cut back on its comic-book dependency.... Look at how that event was covered by the critical establishment.... By and large, people are not looking for intelligent, edgy, mid-range movies. They're looking for superheroes and special effects. They're looking for amusement rides. They're like the kids in Pinocchio who still want to go to Pleasure Island. They're voting to be donkeys."

Coming up: Pirates of the Caribbean 5, Thor 2, Fantastic Four 3 and another Godzilla.

Looking at this from the distance — I am old, and I haven't gone to the movies in a year — I think: Good, I hope they fail. Why should I care if these studios collapse of their own rot? I try to summon up some empathy. In the last post, I was surprised by empathy for the soldier fly, bred inside a closed appliance for the purpose of food. (I refuse to consume non-free-range larvae.)

Who are the workers of Hollywood, that we should care? They seem quite awful. Maybe Hollywood should make more movies about the good people who work behind the scenes. A fantastic 4 of The Gaffer, The Grip, The Best Boy, and The Seamstress. We mainly see the snobbish bastards who — as movies have taught us — inspire our lust to gaze upon downfall.

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A countertop kitchen appliance for growing your own insects, to be used as food.

University of Vienna grad designer Katarina Unger has invented Unger's Farm 432:

... a small-scale fly incubator... which "enables people to turn against the dysfunctional system of current meat production by growing their own protein source." In particular, Unger focused on black soldier fly larvae as her research showed that they are the most efficient insect converters of protein at 42 percent, plus a lot of calcium and amino acids.

The video is so good — with its cheer-inducing music — that instead of feeling disgust at the idea of eating the larvae, I felt empathy for the li'l guys, which is a whole other reason to stick to steak.

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Continued carnage by pro executioners.

After yesterday's post about the The Executioner PRO Fly Swat Wasp Bug Mosquito Swatter Zapper, I see that 4 of you readers decided to step up and get your wasp-swatting done. And that's just those of you who bought your executioner's tools through the Althouse Amazon portal, where readers can shop and — in the muddled mind of Althouse — appear to be saying, we love you, even after you imposed the death sentence on the whole comments section in a draconian reaction to the infestation of wasps, mosquitoes, and bugs.

And if you'd like to add that you love my Lawnboy too, here's his recommended reel mower... and here's the fancy Fiskars mower he's contemplating. Meade assures me all the unusual looking parts are functional. It does have less of the classic look that's functional when your enterprise is making romanticized photographs.

"I remember my father's reel mower," I say. "It had a wooden handle."

Meade moves the headphones off his ears — he's listening to "Brokedown Palace" — and I repeat myself. He says: "Oh, yeah. I would love to have one of those."

Ebay? Nah. All the wooden-handled reel mowers seem to have the words "antique" and "vintage" attached to them, like you're just supposed to lean them up against the wall for decoration in your brokedown palace.

Fare you well, my honey, fare you well, my only true one.
All the birds that were singing are flown, except you alone.

Cue to my exiled commenters to say Althouse is mourning the loss of all the commenters.

Going to leave this brokedown palace,
On my hands and my knees, I will roll, roll, roll.
Make myself a bed by the waterside,
In my time, in my time, I will roll, roll, roll.

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The Executioner PRO Fly Swat Wasp Bug Mosquito Swatter Zapper.

Is this a sport? Is it wrong?

Of all the things bought at Amazon through the Althouse Amazon Portal yesterday, that's the one that caught my eye... and kind of scared me.

Remember: When you swat at the wasp, you must kill him.

And: Thanks to all who do their shopping through the Althouse Amazon Portal. It feels like a vote of confidence in this blog and inspires me ever onward, swatting (if not executing) all manner of insectoid foolishness found on the web.

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"These Pictures Might Tempt You To Eat Bugs."

Headline at NPR that sets up derisive laughter upon sight of the first photo.

Oh, NPR, why so seemingly earnest at yet so ridiculous?

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Moth looks like a hummingbird.

ADDED: A similar encounter, in 2010.

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