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Hey Weirdos,
Welcome back to the weekly drop. Two new episodes hit this week, and while they live in completely different worlds, they share one uncomfortable truth: the future belongs to people who stop waiting for permission.
One story is about a man who saw a historic moment in a sci-fi movie that nobody was celebrating, so he threw a party that accidentally launched a nationwide movement. The other is about a guy who took the bumps in a professional wrestling ring and realized he needed to own his own brand if he wanted to survive the entertainment industry.
Both are about looking at the landscape, asking "why doesn't this exist?", and then rolling up your sleeves to build it yourself.
Let's get into it.
From Fandom to the Future of Space
What do you do when you see a historic moment on screen and nobody seems to care? If you're Dan Deevy, you throw a party.
In 2016, Star Trek Beyond featured the franchise's first openly gay character on screen. It wasn't an alien metaphor; it was just a simple gay man with his husband and daughter. Dan, a former celebrity journalist who had built deep friendships with the Star Trek cast, thought it was a massive deal. When he realized no one was celebrating, he organized a small gathering at the Las Vegas Star Trek convention. Hundreds showed up.
In this week's first episode, Dan and I talk about how that single party galvanized a community and birthed Gaaays in Spaaace, a nonprofit that has now hosted over 300 events across the country. He also created D&ICon, a convention strictly capped at 1,000 attendees to preserve the personal connection that massive corporate cons have lost.
Here's what stopped me in my tracks during this conversation:
The decline of Hollywood storytelling started when the "greed is good" Wall Street mentality infected the studios, turning movies into spreadsheet algorithms rather than art.
The Roddenberry difference: Classic Star Trek started with a good story that organically contained today's issues. Modern Trek often starts with an issue and builds a story around it, which can feel preachy.
The power of safe spaces: At D&ICon, an attendee wore women's clothing for the first time ever, telling Dan, "This is the first time I've been able to be myself."
"It was like discovering this huge community that just had been waiting to be galvanized and organized together in some way."
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The Expressway of a Media Empire
Everybody in the entertainment industry is vying for the same position. Most people stay in one lane, maybe two if they're lucky. But what happens when you decide to build a whole expressway?
In this week's second episode, I sat down with Brimstone (Will), a guy who started his career on Sesame Street, spent 20 years taking bumps in professional wrestling rings, and then built a syndicated podcasting empire from scratch. He's the CEO of Hound Comics and the host of The Grindhouse Radio, which reaches millions of weekly listeners across 25+ networks.
Brimstone figured out early on that if you don't own your IP, you don't have a brand. Most actors play characters owned by studios. Brimstone trademarked himself. "I am Brimstone," he says, which allowed him to spin his persona into comic books, animated series, and toys.
Here are the biggest takeaways from our chat:
The reality of the grind: Even after 45 years in the industry, Brimstone still auditions and still works for free when he wants to help the little guy.
AI as a tool, not a threat: He views AI like alcohol — fine if used responsibly. It's a tool that allows people with ideas in their heads to execute them even if they lack the technical skills.
The Stan Lee connection: Stan Lee personally blessed The Grindhouse Radio before it launched, and now Brimstone is hosting the official Stan Lee Presents Legacy podcast.
"Most of these people, they're playing characters on shows. They don't have their own trademarks on those characters so they can't brand."
The Common Thread: Building What's Missing
Two very different worlds. Two very similar instincts. Dan saw no one celebrating diversity in space, so he built a movement. Brimstone saw the limits of being a hired character, so he built his own IP empire.
I've been feeling that same itch lately. I realized that while people are trying to fight algorithmic PSYOPs by grayscaling their phones, there was no way to grayscale individual apps on Android. I didn't want my whole phone in black and white — I just wanted to block the dopamine hits from the bad apps while keeping my camera and maps in color. So, I built GrayGate, an app that does exactly that. (More on that soon).
It's the same reason I'm writing my book, Bleeding Digital, about how we confused our online selves for our real ones. I couldn't find the book that explained the collapse of our online and offline identities without just blaming the phone, so I decided to write it.
What's one thing you wish existed in your industry or community that you might just have to build yourself? Hit reply and let me know.
Until next week,
Stay weird.
Cody
The Weird Canadian Podcast drops two new episodes every week. Subscribe on YouTube so you never miss one.