A Final Thought (Not THE Final Thought)

"I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." - Groucho Marx

I don't take anything I've done for granted in the nearly 30 years I've been writing professionally. In 1998, I created a simple GeoCities page about my favorite programming block, Toonami. CN2 Toonami Inner Circle was part love letter for the block/part news and opinion outlet. I also was trying to convince the folks of Cartoon Network to launch a Toonami channel. 

An ambitious task in 1998, mind you, but I was prepared to fight. Cartoon Network eventually launched a spinoff channel in 2000, albeit one based on its Boomerang classic cartoons format. That change forced me to change my site into CNX: Toonami Revolution. A few years later, I changed my site from CNX to The X Bridge (TXB for short) largely because, well, they actually made a Toonami channel and actually named it after my site (I was a consultant on the channel who helped with the development before it launched). I could have gotten angry, but I didn't. I just moved on.

Plus, I considered myself lucky to have a bunch of great folks helping me create a community and became more or less my second family. The Toonami Inner Circle Alliance. Toon Zone. The World's Finest. Animation Insider. Awesome by Default. The old CNX board. The TZ Toonami forum. A whole lot of folks who came in and shared their collective fandom dedicating ourselves to something we loved.

And we really did love Toonami, Cartoon Network, DC Comics, and Warner Bros Animation. 

Though blocks come and go (and in Toonami's case, come back again), networks change, and ownership is swapped, my love for those brands remain.

Everything changes. Nothing lasts.

ECeb I never lost my love for the brands within Warner Bros, whatever name they have this week. I'm still a fan of DC Comics, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Bros Animation, especially Looney Tunes. Most of my favorite movies, TV shows, and cartoons come from Warner Bros. The productions, books, and characters are all a part of my collective creative DNA. I've been inspired by the works that come out of this company either subconsciously or on purpose. I think I probably did more to celebrate Warner Bros' 100th anniversary than Warner Bros did, even if it was just a bunch of celebratory banners, history posts, and celebrations of some of the folks behind the studio's success.

I never lost my love for brands within that company.

My love for the company itself, however, has waned a lot over the past couple of years, especially under the management of Discovery.

But now, in light of recent news, I'm feeling a bit somber. I don't need to repeat what happened. You know already. It's infuriating to know that a company that has been a part of my pop cultural upbringing could be owned by nepo techbro baby of a fascist technoligarch. 

It's not a done deal. At the time of this writing, February 2026, it's not a done deal. 

There's still a lot of antitrust litigation and legal tape to clear through the courts and trade commissions, not just in the United States but throughout the world. 

The perks of buying a major global media group, folks.

In the nearly 30 years I've been doing this professionally, I've seen the company known as Warner Bros Discovery get bought by AOL and AT&T and merge with Discovery, Inc. I've seen it known as AOL Time Warner, Time Warner, WarnerMedia, and Warner Bros Discovery. Everything largely remained the status quo with very minimal changes overall. At least, for a while.

Everything changes. Nothing lasts.

This deal feels different and off to me. Not just because it's another acquisition of Warner Bros in my lifetime (this would be the fifth, including Time Inc's purchase of Warner Communications in 1990). It's the way the deal went down. It's the circumstances that allowed it to happen. It's the money being used to finance this deal, mostly coming from Saudi, Qatari, Abu Dhabi, and UAE governments. It's the fact that the sitting President of the United States inserted himself into the dealmaking process. It's the fact that it's being bought by a media company that not only bought another media company but also became a partner in an American-only division of a global social media platform in a deal also greenlit by the current Administration.

It's like they gave Superman to Lex and Lionel Luthor.

It's dirty. It's evil. It's treacherous. It's criminal. 

And it's sad.

My heart really isn't in it anymore, and it hurts. I know that there's still a chance that this deal still might not happen because of state laws or get approval by foreign trade commissions, but these folks are criminals prodded on by a convicted felon who has padded the courts and federal offices with corrupt sycophants who'll make it happen. And I'm fairly sure Netflix got some kind of a kickback from the Administration to fold on the deal. Even when these men of greed and power go away, the damage would already be done. 

Everything changes. Nothing lasts.

I've been covering, examining, criticizing, and celebrating the many incarnations of Warner Bros for nearly 30 years, but I don't have it in me to do it anymore. I feel like I lost a part of myself. Not the entirety, mind you. I was a fan of the media and characters that came out of Warner Bros, but I'm no fanatic. I think me being critical about this company, especially when others are so blinded by their support of even the most stagnant parts of their company, was freeing. And boy, did I get heat from them over that. As I said back then, blind faith is no way to survive in this life. 

And I can't blindly follow a company that would be potentially owned by a group of individuals who treat folks who look like me as subservient subhumans and want some of my friends to no longer exist. 

That said, I needed to make some personal decisions that I want to talk about. It didn't come lightly, and I didn't decide this in a day. I've been thinking about these for a long, long time. And yeah, yesterday's announcement kind of exasperated this decision.

I think I need to step away from all of this.

Again.

Witnessing the downfall and imminent sale of a studio that has been the home of nearly every bit of media I enjoyed in life to a company owned by fascist technoligarchs has all but broken me mentally. I know who these people are. I studied them. I have witnessed the destruction they have done and will do to everything they touch. I hate the fact that such spoiled, stalkerish behavior is being rewarded and continues to do so. 

I don't want to celebrate that. I don't want to support any company or individual that encourages that. And if I continue to write about them, I feel like that's me giving my endorsement or support of what they make and what they do. Why give them another platform? 

I literally said this back in December:

The story goes on, but I'm not sure I want to continue telling it if the Ellisons' threats are rewarded. I don't think I have it in me to do so.

I'm not a masochist, you know.

And I meant that.

Doing those Project Paramount pieces really infuriated me. I did them all in one day, broke them up into four pieces, and spread them all out mostly because I wanted to get them out of the way. I wasn't happy making them, but I had a commitment to write them. 

I want to make things that make me happy. 

I want to write stories, draw comics, make paintings, create art. I want to have some kind of control over the stories I tell and make the things in the world that I want to see. I know I won't get them from corporate media, and with potentially one less media company out there, especially a media that had historically made productions that celebrated and respected folks who looked like me (for the most part... I've seen how WB treated A Man Called Hawk, Living Single, Milestone Media, Eve, Class of 3000, OK KO, Black Lightning, Batwoman, Naomi, Craig of the Creek, Jessica's Big Little World, Invincible Fight Girl, and any series/book/movie with predominantly melanated characters, they're not infallible, and I have records).

I just feel that talking about what's going on in the media is draining me, and I feel I need a bit of a break to recharge.

So, at this point, Thoughtnami is on hiatus for the foreseeable future, at least until about mid-April/early May. Also, I'm putting a pause on the revival of TXB. I had planned to revive the full site in the fall, but considering I do a lot of writing about the entertainment industry, what I'd like to see, and what I'd do if I could reimagine some companies, I feel that has to be on an even longer hiatus. 

Finally, I don't want to talk about this company or this deal any further, and if you DM or tag me in any discussion on social media, I will not hesitate in blocking you. I feel I have to note this because I'm tired of talking about it.

I need to refocus on other things because I'm more about doing things that keep me sane in an insane world. 

That quote from Groucho Marx I began this piece with resonated with me in the hours after the Warner Bros news I kind of felt was coming. 

I could be angry, frustrated, and be completely infuriated with what's happening and put those frustrations onto the world, or I could step back for a while, enjoy something I actually like doing, and just try to be happy. When I feel like I'm ready to come back, I'll be back. It's like I've been repeating throughout this whole piece:

Everything changes. Nothing lasts.

Thank you for your time and for giving me the privilege to do this. I don't know what tomorrow will bring. Yesterday's gone, tomorrow's not here nor is it promised. 

There's only today. 

And I choose to be happy today.