First off, I want to acknowledge the passing of Breaking Bad actor RJ Mitte, who played Walter White Jr. on the series and reportedly took his own life. Watching the cast of Breaking Bad react to his death has been particularly heartbreaking because we’re seeing something unfold in real time that we don’t always get to witness. It seemed like some of them were finding out alongside the rest of us, learning that someone they had loved and worked with for so many years was suddenly gone. What I always appreciated about his character was that his disability didn’t define him. Walter White Jr. had storylines and character development that had absolutely nothing to do with his disability, even though he was visibly disabled in every single scene. He was still allowed to be a teenager, with all the complicated relationships, frustrations, and interactions with his parents that you would give any other teenage character. That’s the kind of representation that matters, and it’s something I’ve always appreciated about Breaking Bad.

I guess I’ll use that as a segue into the more exhaustive list of things I’m disappointed about in my life right now, starting with the fact that it has become increasingly apparent that Wildwood is going to release without audio description. If that happens, it could become one of the widest theatrical releases without audio description in recent memory, particularly for an English-language American film. This is because Fathom Events is releasing the film, and Fathom has somehow been allowed to operate for 18 years with absolutely atrocious accessibility for blind and low-vision audiences. By atrocious, I mean essentially nonexistent. They’ve even handled rereleases of films that already had audio description tracks and failed to make those existing tracks available. Now they’re making a major push into an original theatrical release, claiming that this is supposed to be treated like any other major studio release. Except any other major studio would put audio description on this film. Fuck, even Neon would do it. It’s in English. And I give Neon a ton of shit because they seem more interested in prioritizing Oscar campaigns for international features than making those films accessible, while comparable distributors like Focus Features, Sony Pictures Classics, and A24 routinely provide audio description for international films. Neon remains an outlier in that regard. But Fathom Events has been getting away with ignoring blind audiences for nearly two decades. Why would they suddenly change? They’ve never faced any meaningful repercussions before, so why wouldn’t they continue doing exactly what they’ve always done?

I called attention to this a while ago, and despite reaching out to Fathom and Laika as best I can, that doesn’t mean either company has to respond to me. The problem is that even as a blind advocate working within the film industry, I don’t have a million followers. If I call somebody out, it doesn’t trend. A great example of the power of social media came this past weekend when Kelly Clarkson called out a store in Brooklyn after feeling that she was treated differently because of how she looked. Kelly doesn’t necessarily dress like a wealthy socialite, and she felt that the people working there made assumptions about what she could afford based on her appearance. The store has offered a myriad of explanations for why she had such a negative experience, but the fact remains that she did. She felt judged before anyone even considered that she might have the money to buy something in their store. And that reminded me of something that happened to me when I was growing up.

I’ve always been overweight, and I grew up in a small town in Missouri. I distinctly remember going to a mall during my high school years and checking out some stores that weren’t available at the mall closest to where I lived. One of those stores was Abercrombie & Fitch, which I’d never been inside before. What an experience that turned out to be. I walked into the store, and one of their salespeople approached me and asked if they could help. I said I was just looking around, and their actual response, which I’ve remembered for roughly 30 years, was, “I don’t think we have anything in your size.” Mind you, I was a high schooler who very much wore popular brands at the time. I was probably wearing Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Nautica, or something along those lines, because in the ‘90s, brands were everywhere. My generation was so obsessed with making sure everyone knew what brands we were wearing that we even needed the logos on our underwear to be visible above our pants. Kids are stupid. That’s basically the moral of that story. But I wore all the popular brands. I just didn’t own anything from Abercrombie & Fitch because I’d never been in one of their stores. And after that interaction, I never bought anything from them. Not once. I never wanted to. All because of one interaction with one of their salespeople, or models, or whatever Abercrombie called them back then. I mean, if nothing else, I could have bought cologne. Cologne doesn’t require you to have a particular body type. But they made their message perfectly clear. They didn’t want me in their store. I was too fat for Abercrombie & Fitch.

So Kelly Clarkson has an experience that trends all over social media, with everyone weighing in on whether she’s even allowed to be upset about it. Meanwhile, if the right person were to point out that Wildwood is releasing without audio description and express genuine outrage over that decision, Laika and Fathom Events would probably have to respond. Unfortunately, I’m not that person. Social media followings are everything. If I could go back and tell my younger self anything, it might be to start developing a following immediately. Become an influencer. Work at it, because someday you’re going to need that platform to get people to give a shit about something that actually matters. Instead, Wildwood is likely going to release without audio description, and fuck us all. That’s just how life goes, because we get fucked. Apparently, that’s the invisible dotted line you sign when you become disabled. Congratulations! Get ready to be fucked, because that’s your life ahead of you.

Did I bother watching anything yesterday for Indigenous Peoples’ Day? Sure. Those shows included, but were not limited to, Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, season one, episode four, which finally incorporated the Aileen Wuornos storyline for whatever asinine reason. Yes, it has excellent audio description, and yes, Sarah Paulson is an amazing Aileen Wuornos, but I can’t help feeling that the only reason we’re doing this is because the franchise is already called Monster, and there’s already been a movie called Monster about Aileen Wuornos. So I guess we can’t have Monster: The Aileen Wuornos Story as its own season. Ryan Murphy is clearly obsessed, so why not? When in Rome, or rather, when you have a Netflix development deal and can apparently do whatever the hell you want.

Adults, season two, episode three, was hilarious. It also has human-narrated audio description, which I appreciate. I love the weirdness of Adults, and I’m glad the show seems to be catching on. I’ve actually met some of the younger people I work with who watch Adults, which means it’s finding the right demographic. Hopefully, that bodes well for its future. You’d be surprised how many shows I bring up to people between the ages of 18 and 25, only to discover they have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. And I’m not talking about shows aimed at people my age. I’m talking about shows specifically designed to appeal to young adults, shows that are supposedly trending with that demographic. Sometimes I mention them, and I get absolutely nothing. So the fact that Adults is finding an audience with the people it’s actually trying to reach is encouraging.

South Park, season 29, episode two, dealt with data centers in a Butters-centric episode, and I laughed quite a bit. I needed that in my life. Thank you, Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Yet another very well-written episode.

On Crunchyroll, I jumped into Black Torch, season one, episode five, which continues expanding its world-building, this time spending more time developing a supporting character and fleshing out their story. The audio description is still synthetic, and Malvina Babu remains one of the best writers in the game. I don’t know how much I actually love this show yet, but there’s potential here, I guess.

The most recent episode of Last Week Tonight tackled generic drugs, and it was honestly kind of terrifying. For anyone currently taking generic medications, the idea that some of these drugs are being manufactured in unsanitary facilities is frightening enough. But what makes it worse is that there sometimes isn’t another option. There may only be one or two facilities in the entire world manufacturing a particular medication, and if those facilities shut down, people who depend on those drugs to stay alive could be left with nothing. So your medication could potentially be manufactured alongside bird shit, and regulators are stuck weighing the dangers of contaminated drugs against the dangers of having no drugs available at all. Apparently, we can’t force companies to manufacture medications, which leaves some manufacturers with an enormous amount of leverage. The FDA can identify problems, but shutting down a facility could create an even bigger crisis. It’s a terrifying situation, and one that leaves patients with very little control over something that could determine whether they live or die.

And that’s it. I didn’t have the patience in my life yesterday to watch anything else that didn’t have audio description. I’m just exhausted. Too tired. Yes, I know that technically Last Week Tonight didn’t have audio description when I watched it, but it will. I’m just impatient. I’m fully aware that if I waited a week, I’d probably be able to watch it with audio description. The same goes for South Park or Saturday Night Live. I could watch those shows immediately without audio description, or I could wait until the accessible versions become available. With Last Week Tonight, I care a little less because I’m primarily interested in the current affairs aspect of the show. I want to know what John Oliver is talking about while it’s still relevant, rather than waiting around for the audio description to show up. I’m sure it’ll have lovely audio description whenever it gets around to it. Anyway, that’s it. I woke up again, came back, and gave you all of that for today. I’ll probably see you tomorrow.