I Love Boosters

24 May 2026: A lot about this current cultural moment is awful and frustrating, but it really is a gift to get to watch a Boots Riley movie. I Love Boosters is a fun ride with a big swing of hope at the end. I'll happily take it. 

Commencement day...

9 May 2026: Another good and busy day--two graduation ceremonies, lots of time with folks I am fond of between the ceremonies and then after, then pizza and a movie with Carrie and Rachel (we watched Sentimental Value--very good!).

Just a lot to be grateful for...

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.

Project Hail Mary

21 March 2026: What a fun and hopeful movie this was! It's also goofy, funny, and weird. 

Actually a pretty good day all around, all things considered. Had a really fun lunch date with Jeannie, then the movie and dinner with Amy. 

"Golden"

15 March 2026: A lot of the big awards are still yet to handed out, but "Golden" just won an Oscar, reminding me of sitting in the car with Erin less than a week ago. By the fourth time that song came over the radio, I said to her, "I mean, it really is a banger." Undeniable appeal across demographics. 

"On the Dark Side"

1 March 2026: Just saw that Eddie and the Cruisers is streaming on Pluto TV. My dad always loved that movie and the hit from it: "On the Dark Side." 

Listening to it now and thinking of him. Makes me cry and it makes me smile. 

"Wuthering Heights"

15 February 2026: Saw the new "Wuthering Heights" (whose creators/marketers insist must be put in quotation marks) this afternoon. I keep thinking about Dana Steven's review--with the subtitle "Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is gorgeous, throbbing, and proudly idiotic"--and how spot-on it is. Beautiful, horny as heck, and dumb...but dumb fun. I just told myself, "shut off any obvious objection and just enjoy it." And I did. 

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. 

Anaconda

10 January 2025: I am glad I heard the Pop Culture Happy Hour episode about Anaconda, where the panelists were pretty enthuastic about it being silly, dumb fun. They were absolutely right. It was a fun way to spend 90-something minutes and I laughed a lot. 

The Housemaid

2 January 2026: In another step/stumble towards normalcy, saw this fun, silly movie today and enjoyed it quite a bit. 

Mandatory holiday re-watch...

23 December 2025: 

This image (from Carol) gets me every time. (This capture doesn't do it justice.)

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. 

Good Boy

12 October 2025: Was not expecting an indie horror movie to send me into tears that haven't entirely stopped hours after I saw it. 

To be clear, Good Boy is a heck of a movie (and only 73 minutes!). But the plot (spoilers) involving a beloved dog watching his owner, a haunted and sick man, take his own life, with his sister finding the body...well, when I saw that was where it going, the tears just started. 

I felt it in my whole body. Even as I write this six hours later, I am crying a bit. 

Ryan would have turned 51 this past Thursday. 

He's been gone for over a decade. 

Most days, as I've written about, the good memories ride side-by-side with the bad. 

It's been a long time since the grief has hit me like this. So raw and just so sad. My mind is going to the saddest places--thinking about that last day and the aftermath. 

It's humbling. You think you are past it, but no.

I felt bad about being so upset and bumming out poor Amy. When I dropped her off, I said I was sorry again. Then I realized she's such a decent person and that she was more concerned than someone who need an apology. So I said, "It's okay. It's a good thing to grieve." 

I think I was thinking about this passage from Amy Tan's book that I posted about last week. 

Have had a bit of a headache and jaw ache from the emotion of it all day, but at one point, I laid down on my bed and listened to "Better Together," to think about Ryan and Sugie. And me and Jo and BabyCat. I cried some more. 

It's a good thing to grieve and remember that it comes from love. And that love goes on. 

Father of the Bride: Part 2

5 October 2025: Just caught the last 30 minutes of this movie, one of my favorites. Could not get enough of it when I was young. Man, it still works for me even as, just as when I was younger, its melancholy pulls at me. This closing song? Makes me smile and makes me want to cry.

The Wedding Banquet

26 September 2025: 

[Catch-up post]

What a sweet movie The Wedding Banquet is! Carrie and Rachel came over on Friday night to watch it. I had never seen the original version, but this one was delightful. And more importantly, it was nice to chill with a couple of friends, eat pizza, and even take a break from the movie to watch a pretty sunset from the porch. 

Walking buddy...

21 September 2025: Took my walk today while on the phone with Vogel (such developments are much easier since I joined the 21st century and actually have earbuds with a microphone). Made the time just fly by and almost felt like she was on the walk with me. It was awesome.

Darkly funny that I also saw The Long Walk today, a predictably disturbing movie that also gestures towards the power of love and friendship. (Not sure how I feel about it yet, though I don't want to watch it again and looked away a lot.)

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!

East of Wall

15 August 2025: Went into East of Wall knowing nothing about it except that it had good reviews and that I really liked a couple of actors in it. What a beautiful film--in every sense of the word! 

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.