Kyle McCowin

@cortjstr.bsky.social

315 Followers 267 Following

he/him Team Geek, JoCoNaut, Knucklehead since old times Mastodon: @CortJstr@mastodon.social

a panel from Achewood with Lyle the tiger saying "Gah! Man, Ray's destroyin'! I'm so pumped I could play a trumpet with my cock!
The album cover of Shel Silverstein's "Crouchin' on the Outside" His name and the title are written in the upper left over a photograph of Shel wearing denim on a beach as the surf comes in. His pose is hunched and his bearded jaw is stuck out. I would describe the overall vibe as "infected civilian in a horror movie"
The Star Trek TNG opening title screen. Above the starship Enterprise reads "A Series of Committee Meetings"
The Star Trek TOS opening title screen showing the Enterprise in orbit around a blue planet. The title reads "Toxic positivity spores"
Hal Lublin, Janet Varney, Jiavani, and Oscar Montoya in an improv scene
left to right: Janet Varney, Hal Lublin, and Oscar Montoya sitting behind a table on a stage during the "Not the Face!" A Voice Acting Panel event on JoCo Cruise 2026 Hal is wearing a Seattle Supersonics cap.
author Ryka Aoiki holding a t-shirt from the book store One More Page. Ryka is holding the shirt by the sleeves and also gripping it with her teeth.
A terrible soccer jersey. White with red stripes including a terribly awkward break for where the number goes.
A Bruce Lee postage stamp. He's jump kicking the words on the right and they're angled as if he just split a board
front of the Washington Spirit's 2026 cherry blossom jersey. The design is made up of lots of little dots
The band Los Straitjackets. One is behind a drum kit and the others hold different types of guitars. All are wearing black suits, thin black ties, and white dress shirt. They each also wear a unique luchador mask.
The Quebecois announcers on Shoresy
The comic Bizarro from Jan 22, 2026 A bald man stands at a podium (lectern if you're an incorrect pedant who disagrees with the dictionary) reading a paper. He says "If there are no more lingering resentments, we will move on to new gripes and grievances." His podium is labeled "National Society of Curmudgeons"
the stage of the Warner Theatre. Seated are (left to right): Josh Gondelman, Greg Davies, and Little Alex Horne. Behind theme the video screen shows a Taskmaster task and #TaskmasterWashington (despite the fact that nobody calls the city Washington)
bottom right portion of the taskbar of a Windows 11 laptop. The battery icon is now green instead of white and is wider
the back of Matthew Lesko in his signature question mark suit in 2009
903 artists, 1,740 albums, 4,960 tracks Top artist: Mary Prankster Top album: Live at the Ottobar
My Goodreads year in review with 69 book covers
Jackie Daytona, Regular Human Bartender, volleyball enthusiast
The BGG.con library. It's somewhere between 8-9,000 games
A box of Cascadian Farm Vanilla Chip granola bars
A black laptop lid covered in stickers. Spiraling in clockwise from top left: a switch labeled "on" and "more on", the Mr. Universe van, an axolotl in trans colors, the Flood logo, Super Art Fight logo, Atomic Robo head, Steven and Peridot riding in Lion's mane, The Dude and Catastrophe logo, "I was an honor student, I don't know what happened", a vampire holding a victim saying "stay hydrated", Elan, a picture of a book reading "introverts social club," Guillermo, "Facts I know, facts I may not know, facts I should know", the Mary Prankster logo, Labyrinth Games logo
A yellow birthday card with white writing and no images. It reads: Hope you have the best birthday and that no one sings to you in a public place
A soap dispenser that's blue/black glazed pottery shaped like a monster with a wide nose, red horns, and a shit-eating grin
Rewards list for the newest Atomic Robo Kickstarter campaign
A 3 panel comic. Panel 1: Wallace and Spud walk along the boardwalk Spud: Step on anything weird yet? Wallace: Oh, yeah! Panel 2: Wallace, with stars in his eyes, holds his hands up to a view of space. Earth has a "We are here" sign Wallace: Just stepping on the Earth is weird! A giant bio-spaceship chasing a nuclear sun through the galaxy Panel 3: Back on the boardwalk Spud: You know what I meant Wallace: Then the answer is manure
A sample Virginia license plate with the SR-71 Blackbird on it and the text "National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center"
Me with the 4 hosts of Hey Riddle Riddle and unfortunate backlighting through a window
White sign with black text hanging on a red brick wall. The sign reads "Future location of time capsule"
A Wondermark comic in 5 panels. Two men, Alegg and Herr Doktor, sit behind a desk with placards and microphones. A audience member is standing with a microphone. Alegg: ... All right, now we'll do some Q+A. Anyone have a question for herr Doktor? Audience: Not a question, more of a comment... Your discussion about apples reminded me of the time I attended a cider... Doktor: *Wait* wait wait wait wait wait wait hold up. THIS is the time during which there questions and those questions are to be answered. If *you* wish to make a statement then *I*, ze other parting in this exchange, must provide ze question! Thse are ze *rules*! Doktor: Here my question for you! You heard Alegg announce "now is ze time for questions" and interpreted that to mean "this is my chance to waste everyone's time by sharing my irrelevant opinion! What is wrong with you that you made that decision and then acted on it? Audience: Now, I don't think you're being fair to the spirit of... Doktor: *Answer ze question*
An add for a basketball game that says "non stop action and excitement" but because of poor design looks like it says "non action and stop excitement" The remainder of the image is things like prices and dates and isn't relevant for the joke.
Today's Heathcliff comic. He's strutting down the sidewalk in sunglasses with a huge toothy grin. On his head is a flowerpot and coming out of that is a sunflower with the same grin and sunglasses. It has a very long stem. A woman and man sitting nearby are watching, the woman's mouth is open to indicate she's speaking. The caption reads "That looks like trouble."
A framed watercolor painting of 3 koi. In the top right is a stamp of the artists name and characters he told me read "koi bring wealth"
Homer Simpson standing on a chair singing. His family and Shary Bobbins are watching. The caption includes notes to indicate it's sung. The lyrics are "as a husband and father, I'm sub-par"
US National Soccer Team jerseys. From left to right: Blue with white sash (away), Red with blue sash (3rd), White with grey sash (Home)
A poster called Capybara Catalogue. It features drawings of 25 capybara in various costumes and situations with a label under each. For example one inside a strawberry labeled "capyberry" and one pouring coffee labeled "capybarista"
I chicken tikka masala burrito with pickled onions an jalapeño on top. In the background are chips and salsa and a watermelon margarita.
cover of Mary Prankster - Live at the Ottobar
A Maximumble comic by Chris Hallbeck. There are 2 characters, A and B. Panel 1: A Whao, what kind of bird is that? B: Hmm, maybe a raven or— (B is holding their hand in front of their face in a pinching manner) Panel 2: A: Did you just try to pinch-to-zoom on reality? B is silent but looks surprised. Their hand is held as if frozen. Panel 3: Both are silent. A stifles a laugh. B looks embarrassed Panel 4: A is grinning, their hand on B's shoulder. B: (looking angry) I will give you fifty dollars to never speak of this again.
I snip from iTunes showing the April 12, 2025 episode of the podcast Tights & Fights titled "Las Vegas for WrestleMania ft. Sarah the Rebel & TK Trinidad"
The box, instructions, and cartridge for the VIC-20 "game" Home Babysitter. It was more an assortment of activities than a game proper.
Mallory O'Meara holding up a t-shirt for the book store One More Page in Arlington, VA. I am next to her pointing like a goof. We're on the lido deck of a cruise ship, specifically the JoCo Cruise.
So instead of shopping, come by and spend some time here in our peaceful space: ▪ Giveaway for Feds - Federal employees (past, current, in limbo) pick a book from our prize cart (while they last) ▪ Work on a National Parks puzzle ▪ Enjoy treats from our back office ▪ And (if we can get it to work) make your own button! For protest or just for fun button. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century by Timothy Snyder is such an important book that we will be selling it AT COST for the next two weeks. We'll do our best to keep it in stock. It's a small , but powerful, book. Please note: large orders may take longer to fulfill as there is “monitored stock” at the publisher, meaning they're experiencing big demand. “The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century…On Tyranny is a call to arms and a guide to resistance, with invaluable ideas for how we can preserve our freedoms in the uncertain years to come.”
snip of the upper right corner of the Discord application showing the green "Update Ready!" arrow
cover image of the They Might Be Giants album Flood. There's a man in a homemade boat that seems to be made of buckets and planks using a stick like it's a gondola
Two skeets from unrelated users that are unconnected but happened to come up in this order. The older one says "*wearily* please……. Can someone invent a way out that isn’t through……… please I’m dying………" then the newer one says "Keep going!"
a poorly photographed glass bottle of Moshi sparkling yuzu soda
Cover image of "Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers" an anthology edited by Jendia Gammon and Gareth L. Powell. The cover has an astronaut helmet, a sword, dragon, bat, caste, creepy tree, and graveyard all around an open book.
3 identical photos of Iron Sheik. The text on the right mimics the opening to current WWE programming. "Fuck the Hulk Hogan then. Fuck the Hulk Hogan now. Fuck the Hulk Hogan forever"
A snip of my StoryGraph 2024 wrap up showing that the first book I read in 2024 was The Dent in the Universe and the last book was The Aurora's Pale Light, both by E.W. Doc Parris
The marquee at The Birchmere. Appearing tonight: A John Waters Christmas 2024
The marquee at The Birchmere showing The Aimee Mann & Ted Leo Christmas Show
Me with NK Jemisin in a theater. She is holding up a t-shirt for the store One More Page Books. I am pointing to it an her and grinning like a goof.
Fezzik the dog on a blue couch in a pile of blankets
Poster for the FX show Lucky starring John Corbett
A Diesel Sweeties comic from 2000 featuring Indie Rock Pete saying "I'm a rocker, I rock out" which would become a t-shirt soon after.
A Dan Henry 1947 watch with a silver face and a black leather band
An EOB showing my provider billed $3,078, that my insurance agreed that only $502.34 of that was allowed, but that the insurance would only pay $500 of that and that I'm responsible for the remaining $2.34
Board game covers. Clockwise from top left: Spectacular, Black Forest, Stamp Swap, In the Footsteps of Marie Curie, The White Castle, Harmonies
Covers of 6 board games. Clockwise from top left: Fromage, Let's Go! to Japan, Cabanga!, Wondrous Creatures, Rikka