Thank you to @kairyssdal.bsky.social who went out on a limb to affirm the importance of the rule of law on Marketplace today. We are trained to withhold our own opinions in our reporting, so it feels like breaking the fourth wall when a journalist sounds an alarm. That’s courage. Well done.

I went to the college activities fair to support the student newspaper that I advise. A dean challenged me to write a haiku using an old Magnetic Poetry set.

I am deliriously happy to report that the Criterion Collection will issue Jean De Florette and Manon of the Spring in April. Long overdue!

Hank, the Austin Chronicle’s Best Boy Ever, died recently and was given a full obituary. RIP Noisemaker. obituaries.austinchronicle.com/obituary/han...

We watched The Tree of Life last night, and it evoked dreamlike memories of growing up in a small town before the television took over childhood. Running through alleys, playing in the river, living out of doors on the lawn with no patio, no deck to mediate. All hail Malick, Lubezki, and Fisk!

We watched Jamie Foxx’s Netflix special “What Had Happened Was” about the aneurysm and stroke he suffered last year. I’m calling it now: He will start a mega-church, and it will be a Good Thing.
Also—watch it with a young adult who can call out all of the hip hop references.

Gerry Gold majored in Sculpture at Penn State and returned to my little town to join his dad’s plumbing business. He used his talents to create decorations for our town. Tonight we honored him posthumously at his Christmas sculpture at the south end of town. That’s his widow Jean with the horse.

I live in a town of 2,300 people, and we have to make our own fun. On Sunday night, people put Christmas lights on their cars and drove around in a “Caravan of Lights.” My Scout troop put lights on its Klondike sled and pushed it through the streets. It was a blast.

A long-distance drive presented an occasion to introduce my college sophomore to Tim Buckley, k.d. lang, and the Fagles translation of The Odyssey. So much better than 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.

My colleague thought the name of this platform is pronounced “BLEW-skee,” and now I can’t hear it any other way.

What are some iconic films that include a caravan of itinerant performers like The Seventh Seal and La Strada?

Ginkgo circles on campus.