Busy Saturday...

28 March 2026: Grading ENGL 407 Critical Essay Proposals at the end of a long Saturday. Grading all morning, NWP event in the afternoon, then--a treat!--dinner and a movie (They Will Kill You) with Amy, followed by housework and more grading...and I've got so much more on my plate for Sunday to even begin to feel caught up.

But the proposals are strong, reflections of my smart and creative students. And the day, while long, was pretty darn good. And I just watched the Yankees sweep the Giants in their opening series.

I'll take it.

Long month...

31 January 2026: As we close out what feels like an exceptionally long January, our Arctic spell continues and most folks' yards have what are essentially ice-rinks on them. That's been hard, but at least the sun has been shining.

Cleaned the house this morning, did lunch and a movie this afternoon (The Bone Temple, which I found gory, scary, hilarious, and quite moving), and have been working on and off since then (mostly on). 

Work keeps coming. That's mostly good, but it is tiring (mentally) and the list is making me anxious.

***

On the phone with my mom today, she told me how the funeral home delivered a book they had made with pictures of my dad. 

When she asked me "What's new with you?" I couldn't answer her at first. I didn't want her to know I was fighting tears. 

But I had to say something even as I knew my voice would betray me.

"That just got me," I said so softly that I couldn't believe she heard me. 

"I know," she said. "It's very hard."

Later she said, "You know what's hard? Cooking for one."

Send Help

30 January 2026: Felt good and normal to leave campus at 3:00 on a Friday to go see a movie and grab some dinner after. Send Help is a lot of fun, too. 

The Black Phone 2

19 October 2025: I really liked Black Phone when it premiered, finding myself especially affected by the way it portrayed violence against children, making viewers sit through "ordinary" horrors of parental abuse even as those same children were preyed on by a serial killer. I rewatched it a few weeks ago and found myself tearing up just as I had the first time at the scenes where the children's father beats little Gwen because of her dreams. 

The Black Phone 2 removes those domestic spaces, but is still incredibly violent  while avoiding being gratuitous. I'm still thinking about that scene change and what it accomplishes. I think it might be a less complicated film than the original, but more aesthetically ambitious. It's a visually beautiful film at times, with chilling (pun intended) and haunting images. 

I think there's a lot that could be written about it, including its commentary on the ordinary violence of the 70s and 80s in the life of children. Lord knows, today's kids have their own version of violence, but there's something distinct about what these films capture. 

The Conjuring: Last Rites

5 September 2025: I am tired in my bones, but so glad that Amy and I went to see the latest (and last?) Conjuring movie this evening. So much fun. I would watch a million more of these movies. Keep 'em coming!

Weapons

9 August 2025: I really enjoyed Weapons, a completely original movie that you should just settle into, confident that you have no idea where it's going, but you are in good hands. It's scary and gross and sad and moving and funny. It knows just how much detail to give to let you know what you need to know. And the ending? Most other movies would add an extra scene or beat or something. This one, though? Perfect. 

Heart Eyes

7 February 2025: Made it through the week of conferences. Tiring, busy, at times stressful, but also really rewarding and fun. 

Also rewarding? Taking a little break to see Heart Eyes this evening. What an absolute delight of a movie! It nails the rom-com and slasher tropes. Terrific acting and chemistry from the leads. And under two hours? So much fun. 

Speak No Evil

13 September 2024: Seeing the trailer for the American version of Speak No Evil virtually every time I've been to the movies this summer got me interested enough in the original to check it out on Wednesday night. Actually, the other thing that made me interested in it was seeing pop-culture critics who I respect basically describing it as very good, but something you won't ever want to watch again. 

Turns out, that description was spot-on. What a bleak, dark, and powerful movie!

As for the 2024 Americanized version, which I saw tonight? Well, I feel like I could write paper upon paper about putting them in dialogue with each other. So strange to see the same beats--and the same dialogue in places--play out but also feel like the films are apples and oranges. 2024's film is fun and exciting and funny. It's enjoyable in a way the original isn't. But that first one? Much more powerful. 

AfrAId

8 September 2024: AfrAId was a perfectly delightful way to spend an hour and twenty-something minutes on a Sunday afternoon. Creepy, dumb, and just fun. 

When Evil Lurks

12 October 2013: Took in a 5:20 showing of When Evil Lurks today. What a movie! Makes Exorcist: Believer look even less impressive that I thought it was. Really liked it, but also, don't need to see it again--which speaks to its quality and effect in a good way. 

Us

24 March 2019: Oh man, Us is so good. I could talk about it forever. So good.

The Witch

20 October 2016: I first saw The Witch when it opened back in March--and enjoyed it very much (though perhaps "enjoy" is the wrong word for such a dark film). I couldn't stop thinking about what a perfect depiction it was of Puritanism taken to its most dramatic extreme and how much it reminded me of two of my favorite American poets: Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor.

So when some students and a professor in the History department asked me if we (my students and I) wanted to be a part of an event they had planned for tonight, a screening of the film followed by a discussion, I happily agreed to do my part, offering all of my students extra credit for attending and preparing some remarks beforehand on Puritan literature and the connections I saw in the film. To be honest though, as this day started, I wasn't exactly looking forward to it--it's been a long and busy week. But man, I am glad we planned this darn thing. It went so very well--great audience, great discussion.

Thursday Matinee

16 June 2016: One of the perks of a summer schedule: even in the midst of summer school teaching, I was able to take in a movie with a friend today. We saw The Conjuring 2--a pretty cool film.

The Boy

27 May 2016: My friends (the newlyweds!) Hannah and Cory came over last night to have dinner and watch a movie. Before the wedding, when her stress was at its peak, Hannah said that once the wedding craziness was over, she was really looking forward to coming over, watching a stupid movie, and relaxing. So that's what we did. We watched The Boy, which is absolutely ridiculous and a lot of fun. It felt like six movies squeezed into one and we laughed our heads off. (I also jumped and screamed a time or two. Creepy dolls will do that to you.)

The Cabin in the Woods

I saw The Cabin in the Woods earlier this week with a couple of friends. I had no idea what to expect and will just echo what everyone else is saying about it: the less you know going in, the better. And it's awesome. This blog post (by Joe Reid--from my favorite podcast, extrahotgreat) says a lot of what I might say about it (and better than I could!).

Links...

It's Writer-in-Residence week here at Shepherd and I've got major assignments due in every one of my classes. And my parents are coming this weekend. So long story short, I have just about zero time for anything else, but I did want to just post a few interesting links:

1) Oprah will reunite the cast of The Sound of Music. I love love love this! The Sound of Music is my sentimental favorite movie. I even like reading/grading to the soundtrack. Can't wait!

2) Maybe lots of people knew about this, but somehow yesterday I stumbled across this old (1950) Time magazine article. Kind of mind-boggling to think of Congress policing Hollywood morality. Actually, I am sure plenty self-righteous folks in Congress today would think this is a good idea. By the way, my mom was named after Ingrid Bergman, but she was born before this scandal. I wonder if my grandparents would have made the same decision post-scandal.

3) Lots of folks are talking about this piece: "Tragedy at the Virginia Quarterly Review."

4) Some good people got arrested for non-violent protests against mountain-top removal earlier this week, including Jason Howard, who I met last year when he visited Shepherd with Silas House.(In the photo, Jason is the first person on the left, and Silas is the third.) Thoreau would be proud of them. And so am I.

5) Someone needs to see this movie with me. I'll pay. I'll even buy you popcorn AND candy AND a soda. And I don't even do that for my niece when I take her to the movies. Seriously, this thing looks like so much fun.

6) "When Your Infant is Secretly Famous in Japan." To quote South Park, "Simpsons already did it!"



7) And yeah, this O'Keefe dude is a total douche. And a pervert, too. Loser.

I want to hang out with Connie Britton...

If you adore Friday Night Lights and the fantastic Connie Britton, you'll want to take a look at this item from EW's Michael Ausiello.

And in references to this post's title, I mean, seriously, doesn't she just look like she'd be fun to have dinner with? And knowing she's in it actually makes me look forward to the new Nightmare on Elm Street. That's no small statement since the original is one of the formative movies from my youth.

(Side note that should make you think my brother Christian is pretty cool: as I've mentioned before, my siblings and I love horror movies--always have. The original Nightmare on Elm Street scared me so much after I first watched it that Christian let me sleep in his bed and took the floor for himself. He also did this after The Exorcist. All together now: "Awwww.")

Movie recommendations from my students...

Today was only the second meeting of my MWF classes, so obviously, I am still in that desperate situation of trying to learn their names--and trying to get them to learn each others names. One of the ways I do this is by asking students interesting (I hope) questions as I take attendance: questions like "What is the best thing you read recently?" (this one works much better in a class of English majors than in a gen. ed. class, where you'll hear lots of "I don't like to read...") or "What song has to be on your ipod?" Today, I opted for "What is either A) the best or B) the worst movie you've seen recently?" I thought this would be easier than asking "What's your favorite movie?" a question students agonize over answering (which is kind of adorable).

Anyway, along with some expected recommendations on my must-see list (Gran Torino, Slumdog Millionaire), some of the folks in my ENGL 312 shared some pretty "out there." I immediately looked these three gems up online and might just have to pop one of them into the DVD player the next time I am hanging out with my siblings.

Here they are. You owe it to yourself to at least check out the trailers. (And yes, there's a common theme of zombies...)

1) Black Sheep. Hilariously, one student mentioned this as a movie he actually saw accidentally, having meant to rent this movie. Other students had seen it on purpose, though, and loved it--in the way that you "love something because it is so bad."

2. Poultrygeist. (Actually, if you are squeamish, you might skip the trailer on this one--it's pretty crazy!)

3. Fido. This one looks downright AWESOME.

Sounds like a good idea to me...

If there ever was a site that needed some "a pre-emptive approach" to ghost problems, it would be an old ayslum, right? What I can't get my mind around, though, is that somehow, public officials have signed off on the ghost-busting services. Sounds like the makings of a cool movie, one that my siblings and I would enjoy, perhaps on Christmas morning.

Teller breaks his silence...

...because of ZOMBIES! My siblings and I are big fans of zombie movies (and horror films in general), so this clip cracked me up.