Thing is, those temperature swings don't just loosen screws over time. They can actually warp the drywall itself, making it buckle in places. If you only fix the pops, you might miss bigger cracks starting along the seams. I've seen it where the whole ceiling needs redoing after a few years of ignoring the small signs. So while a few screws are easy, it's worth checking the attic insulation to slow down the heat transfer. Otherwise, you're just putting bandaids on a problem that keeps coming back...

So skipping breakfast nearly turned you into a wire detector?

How did you rule out bearing failure before going for the seal? Most guys just swap parts until the noise stops.

Remember scoffing at variants until I found a weird Silver Surfer one that made me stare at it for ten minutes straight. I get what @the_wesley means about a cover changing everything, it just grabs you.

Wait, you're actually getting a dried seamless result? Every time I try, there's still a weird lumpy texture (especially in corners) or you can see where the tape was. Are you using some kind of magic compound I don't know about?