I’ve got a grab bag of juicy YouTube Shorts for you this Friday, my friends. It’s a bit of something for everyone: a cute dog, some weird ceramics, and a coffee grinder:
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Author: The Portly Politico
Tyler James Cook is a singer-songwriter and bon vivant living in Bennettsville, South Carolina. He sings and plays sax, keys, and bass, and rhythm guitar. He won the 2012 Artsville Songwriting Contest's People's Choice Prize for his original song "Contest Winner." When he's not teaching, composing, transcribing, and arranging music, he spends time with Dr. Wife and their two dogs, Murphy and Nugget, as well as their koi fish, minnows, and aquatic snails.
He also maintains _The Portly Politico_, a politics and culture blog, at https://www.theportlypolitico.com.
TBT: The Joy of Coffee
Blogger Esoterica over at Existential Ergonomics has once against inspiration for today’s post. She posed a fun question to readers in her post “Q&A: Are you a tea or a coffee person?“
It’s a smart title because it’s dripping (no pun intended) with engagement potential. Naturally, the comments section was poppin’—and yours portly was not shy about discussing coffee (and tea) with the other readers, especially after purchasing a new coffee grinder (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link, at no additional cost to you):
That got me thinking about a post I wrote way back in 2021. I looked it up, and was shocked to find that I’d never featured it in a TBT. Well, it’s time to change that and look back at a post about my favorite breakfast beverage.
With that, here is 24 March 2021’s “The Joy of Coffee“:
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The Impossible Dream: Restoration of Classic Editor in WordPress.com
Note: the following post contains affiliate links. I receive a portion of any purchases made through these links, at no additional cost to you. —TPP
Last week I wrote about adapting to blocks in WordPress.com, as well as looking at some other changes WordPress.com has introduced recently, like badges and/or achievements for reaching certain milestones. My overall verdict was that, while I miss the Classic Editor, blocks do offer a degree of versatility that make editing easier, even if there are some shortcomings to them.
While writing and researching that post, I noticed that there is a plugin native to WordPress.com that restores the Classic Editor—indeed, an almost even more “classic” version of it than I realized!—and realized that I had to give it a whirl. Could it be that WordPress.com still had the coveted feature that many bloggers still crave? And how would it stack up to the new block editing regime?
Everything you’re about to read is possible in any of the paid WordPress.com plans, including the Personal plan, which is $4 a month when paid annually (or $9 a month otherwise). I use the Premium plan, which $8 a month when paid annually (or $18 a month otherwise). I’m not sure if the Classic Editor plugin can be re-enabled in free plans; that said, if you use a free plan and it works, let me know!
New Music Tuesday XV: “Groovable”
Like last week’s piece, I’ve got another experiment in multitrack recording recording using Audacity and my Logitech Blue Yeti USB microphone (that’s an Amazon Affiliate link; I receive a portion of any purchases made through that link at no additional cost to you). I followed a similar workflow, this time using the Voice Memo app on my iPhone to record a percussion part on one of Dr. Wife’s mixing bowls. The blow in question is made from some kind of lightweight metal and has a rubber bottom, so it made for a pretty good drums.
The four sax parts are a bit chaotic. My timing does not always align perfectly, but there is a driving sense of forward motion in the piece. The melody is built on an improvised F major (concert Ab major) arpeggio, then I had a great deal of fun bleeding in different harmonies that sometimes work beautifully, and other times add strange (but, I think, still pleasing) colors, like major seconds and such.
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Monday Morning Movie Review: Backrooms (2026)
Dr. Wife and I took in another indie horror-ish flick on Saturday, checking out the Internet sensation Backrooms (2026). The film is based on director Kane Parson‘s YouTube series, Backrooms, which itself is based on a 4Chan thread from 2019. “The Backrooms” are a series of liminal spaces that exist extradimensionally, but are accessible from the real world. They consist of seemingly endless corridors decorated in the drab yellow wallpaper and builder-grade carpet of every 1990s dentist office. Indeed, the original photo that inspired the Backrooms is from a Wisconsin furniture store renovation in 2002.
Neither of us have watched the YouTube series, and I knew very little about the Backrooms extended universe. I wanted to go into the film blind, although I knew a little bit of the plot and characters just from watching reviews. That said, here is a playlist of the original YouTube series:
Having seen the film, you don’t really need to watch the YouTube series to appreciate what the director is doing, and to get some hazy understanding of what the Backrooms are. However, be aware going into the film that you’re going to leave with more questions than answers, and that is the point.
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Lazy Sunday CCCXCI: Saxamophone!
Yours portly has been noodlin’ on the old sax a good bit over the past couple of weeks, so for lack of a better topic—and, uh, to catch you up on my latest adventures in noodling!—here are some recent posts featuring a total of six saxy jams.
The title for today’s Lazy Sunday comes from this classic scene from The Simpsons, which I probably think about every time I pick up the saxophone:
Now—onto the list!
- “Phone it in Friday CXXXII: YouTube Roundup CXCII: Saxophone Solos, Part I” – a fun mix of Wagner, sacred music, and video game tunes.
- “Phone it in Friday CXXXIII: YouTube Roundup CXCIII: Saxophone Solos, Part II” – this time it’s Henry Mancini, Beethoven, and some more video game music—this time for Ponty.
Happy Sunday—and Happy Listening!
—TPP
SubscribeStar Saturday: Minecraft Camp 2026
Today’s post is a SubscribeStar Saturday exclusive. To read the full post, subscribe to my SubscribeStar page for $1 a month or more. For a full rundown of everything your subscription gets, click here.
Part II of The Portly Political Summer Reading List 2026 will be out next week! If you missed Part I, read it here. —TPP
Minecraft Camp was this past Monday through Thursday, and it was another fun week of crafting and King’s Hawaiian Rolls. I can never quite remember when the first Minecraft Camp was, but it was likely either the summer of 2013 or 2014, which means the camp has been going on for over a decade.
When it began, a former colleague of mine got us setup with this gloriously old version of MinecraftEDU, based on Minecraft 1.7.10. That ancient version, one of my knowledgeable counselors informed me, was right before a number of major updates to the game. It’s fun seeing kids come in each year and trying to figure out why their preferred building material and/or mechanic isn’t available (no dolphins, sorry). That said, they all come to adapt to the older version; indeed, many of the veterans insist that we keep it.
Our version is also based on an old Java install that exists on a handful of USB sticks and a backup hard drive. Microsoft purchased Minecraft and MinecraftEDU some years ago, but our school computers at the time lacked the proper version of Windows to run it (I think we needed Windows 10 and our computers were running Windows 7). I’ve kept using this version out of inertia and, again, due to popular demand. I just did a search, and it seems it is available for download, so if you want to try the version we play, download and give it a shot.
All technical talk aside, let’s get into the heart of this year’s camp.
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Phone it in Friday CXXXIII: YouTube Roundup CXCIII: Saxophone Solos, Part II
Want to play sax like me? Check out my updated guide on getting started with a budget sax!
I had a gig a couple weeks back, and it’s gotten me practicing my sax a lot more. It’s also been an opportunity to churn out some sweet, sweet YouTube content. Indeed, last week I featured three quick sax pieces; check them out if you missed them.
This week, here are three more videos of my saxophonic noodling, curated for your listening pleasure:
“Moon River” by Henry Mancini
Just a quick rendition of the classic tune from the classic film.
“The Way of the Ghost” from Ghost of Tsushima
A sax arrangement of “The Way of the Ghost” from the classic Ghost of Tsushima; I play it a bit faster than the original. Good old Ponty requested this cover, so I took the opportunity to arrange it for solo alto sax.
Indeed, you can purchase my solo sax arrangement at the following online retailers:
- Sheet Music Direct: https://www.sheetmusicdirect.com/se/ID_No/2021268/Product.aspx
- Noteflight: https://www.noteflight.com/music/titles/6ca26a9a-47ea-49c0-95b0-873b58cf8231/way-of-the-ghost-feat-clare-uchima
Here’s the score embedded for easy listening to the digital sax version:
Ludwig von Beethoven’s “Für Elise”
A saxophone rendition of Beethoven’s ““”Für Elise”; my only regret is that my man-nips are protruding; very disrespectful.
There you have it! Three more delicious saxophone tunes. Which did you enjoy the most, dear readers? I know Ponty’s answer!
Happy Friday!
—TPP
TBT^256: Reclaim the Rainbow
It’s truly wild to think how much the world has changed in just a few short years. When I first wrote this post in 2021, we were living through Peak Woke. The Left tried to discredit Trump with the Epiphany Demonstrations and Joe Biden served as a sleepy, somnambulant puppet for a shadowy cabal of hyper-progressive ghouls intent on devouring the corpse of decent society.
Now it’s like we’ve stepped into some kind of time machine or portal to another dimension. It’s not only tolerated, but almost borderline accepted that, say, people will openly complain about Indian H1B workers writing horrible code, or denouncing the oft-repeated lie about homosexual men not being into lurid acts with underaged kids (to be fair, it seems like our ruling class is also into that stuff—horrible!). People are saying things on the Internet and publicly that would have cost them their jobs in 2021—and, let’s be real, for as long as I’ve been alive.
I don’t know if this moment will fade once Trump leaves office or if we’ve really seen a cultural shift. I suspect that large corporations will simply go wherever they think the prevailing winds are blowing, which makes me pessimistic about the long-term prospects of such hardcore red-pilling in that arena. But people overall seem to be waking up to Reality.
Once again, the “Pride” celebrations seems muted. The flamboyant pastels and wiener-tucking kids’ clothes of yesterpride have been replaced with the drabbest of beiges—praise the Lord! I get The New York Times‘s The Morning newsletter sent to my school e-mail address, and the author for 1 June 2026’s newsletter wrote, “Happy Pride Month.” No even an exclamation point! He knew he had to write something about it, but it’s like that scene from The Office where Dwight puts up the banner that says, “It is your birthday.”
Once again, I’ll renew my call that we restore the symbol of the rainbow as the sign of the covenant between God and Noah never to flood the earth again, rather than as a symbol of depraved sexual licentiousness and casual buggery.
With that, here is 5 June 2025’s “TBT^16: Reclaim the Rainbow“:
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Adapting to Blocks in WordPress.com Editor
Note: the following post contains affiliate links. I receive a portion of any purchases made through these links, at no additional cost to you. —TPP
Longtime blogger Esoterica of Existential Ergonomics wrote a piece last Saturday that caught my attention: “Why Is WordPress Adding Achievements Now?” WordPress.com has long tracked “streaks” of daily consecutive posts starting with three days-in-a-row; indeed, that’s partially why I decided to start blogging daily way back in January 2019 (as of this post, it’ll be 2712 for yours portly), but now they’ve introduced little “badges” and achievements for more granular milestones.
Gamification through Achievements Incentivizes Writing
My comment on her post was to indicate my “mild resentment that the rewards and badges [aren’t] retroactive for the life of the blog, because I’d have several of the achievements already, haha!” But as I’ve reflected on that (admittedly selfish) initial reaction, I think what WordPress.com has done with introducing these achievements is very clever.
Consider: if I have been motivated to keep my daily streak going for 7.43 years just by a daily counter, imagine how much more motivating earning badges for specific milestones could be? Gamification works for a reason.
Positive Changes: Plug-Ins
WordPress.com has instituted a number of changes lately with the aim of improving user functionality. One yuge change was opening up plug-ins to users with any paid plan, not just the $25-a-month Business plan. For years I’d been dying to add Disqus and Buy Me a Coffee (which, you know, you really should do, dear reader), the former because it’s used even more widely for comments sections than WordPress.com, the latter because I appreciate your support (cough cough). Adding that functionality was a real gift from the Happiness Engineers at Automattic.
So WordPress.com seems to be driving hard to improve the user experience, in ways that both benefit long-time users (like yours portly) and incentivize new users.
Most users will likely start with a free plan, which is how I began when I made the switch from Blogspot/Blogger back in 2018. As the blog grew, my desires to have a stronger presence and to monetize prompted me to spring for the $8-a-month (paid annually) “Premium” plan, which boasts a generous 13 GB of storage. Because I’m not selling handmade doilies and what-not through WordPress.com, Premium has been an excellent plan for my needs (the Business plan gets to the next level with all sorts of e-commerce features with WooCommerce, but that’s beyond my expertise). Coupled with WordPress.com‘s incentive structures and the addition of achievements, I could see many new bloggers posting more frequently and upgrading to at least the $4-a-month (paid annually) Personal plan (which has 6 GB of storage, which is very respectable if you’re primarily posting text and some pictures).
Adapting to the New Order: Blocks vs. Classic Editor
Now, one point of contention Esoterica and I both touched upon is the transition away from the Classic Editor to Blocks. WordPress.com rolled out its block editor some years ago, but maintained the option to use a “Classic” block. I had grown very accustomed to working with the Classic block editor, which essentially created one big “block” that allowed for doing everything that typically goes into a post: embedding video, uploading image galleries, etc. It worked very similar to a word processor, for example, but not as finicky.
For reference: a “block” is essentially a paragraph; indeed, one of the blocks is called “Paragraph,” and it’s the default block in WordPress.com. This paragraph block is teal because I designated its style as “Info”—TPP
Well, Blocks have grown on me, and I am beginning to understand the logic behind them. One issue I’d run into use the Classic block is that, if my PC crashed and I hadn’t exited the block to save my work, I could lose a substantial amount of writing. That happened frequently enough that I’d leave the block, save, and then return to it. However, that seriously disrupts work flow.
Of course, learning a new way of blogging, including how to embed video and upload images, was a bit disruptive, too—at first. When one uses a certain format or program for so long, inertia can set in, so that even changes that are ultimately beneficial can seem annoying. For example, the first time I wanted to upload multiple pictures in one block, I realized that I could not simply use the “Image” block, but instead had to use the “Gallery” block; the former only allows one image to be uploaded, while the latter permits multiple image uploads.
For new users, however, the learning curve—which is very shallow to begin with—will be a breeze; it’s just us old grognards that will take a few weeks to adapt. I think I have already; in yesterday’s post, I was able to move blocks around seamlessly to get the kind of layout I wanted. With the old Classic editor and/or the Classic block, pulling off those New Music Tuesday posts, which include embedded video, images, and audio was much more difficult (I wrote about formatting these posts more extensively back in January).
Also, it seems that the Classic Editor is still around in the form of a plug-in! I wasn’t brave enough to engage it while writing this post, but I’m going to activate it at some point and report on my findings; stay tuned!—TPP
Conclusions
WordPress.com has really been stepping up its game in terms of engaging bloggers to do what we do best—blog! Anything that incentivizes writing, while also making multimedia posts more intuitive and user-friendly, deserves praise. While it took some adjusting, I’m learning to embrace the new block editor (well, new-ish to me—it’s been the norm for years) and explore its possibilities. There are blocks I’m only just learning exist, and it’s stimulating intellectually and creatively to explore what this spunky platform can do.
If you’re thinking of starting a blog, first of all—do it. I’m all about more people creating. We need that as a civilization! Secondly, WordPress.com is the institutional leader in the blogosphere. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of other platforms in a future post, but WordPress.com still comes out on top.
I’ve been really pleased with the functionality of WordPress.com, which also comes with Jetpack built in. Jetpack has functionality I’ve only begun to explore; that said, I love its Akismet anti-spam system. According to Akismet, it’s blocked 13,830 spam comments in the past six months alone—and 141,377 over seven-plus years I’ve been writing this blog[.]
I think those Akismet numbers are way higher now—ha!
Happy Blogging!
—TPP
The Portly Politico is me, Tyler James Cook. I’ve been blogging on WordPress since 2018, and daily since 2019. I love to write about politics, culture, and music, and frequently feature my original music. Check out my musical creations here on the blog or on Bandcamp. —TPP