Perhaps California

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[I wrote this poem in 2023 in response to this news story. I suppose it's too late to sell it anywhere as the moment has passed. But I like parts of it enough I don't want it to go to waste.]

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Perhaps California has already fallen into the sea
sliced off by our recent hurricane
then sucked clear around to the other side by Florida’s.

Columbus didn’t sail from San Francisco to prove the world is round
as we all heard in second grade
but because he thought New York was closer than the eggheads said.

I don’t know how else to explain Bay Area schools
joining the Atlantic Coast athletic conference.
Well, I do have one more theory, speaking of eggheads.

The price of jet fuel has dropped to record lows
and science shows that air travel is the best way to prevent hurricanes
so let’s move our boys crosscountry

as often as we can we can as we
think we can think we can think we can,
and when they touch down to touchdown we’ll all know:

This is the world the Jetsons promised us.
This is our utopia where Snoop and Fat Joe are neighbors
and distance has no meaning.

A world where Atlantic is Pacific
and we all believe each other
rather than our own eyes. 

Unfinished Library

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Ah, books.

Ah, libraries.

Ah, eyes too big for one’s calendar.

I’m what librarians call a superuser. Though checking lots of things out doesn’t necessarily mean reading all of them. To be frank, that’s impossible. Unless I chuck this laptop (and probably my family) out a ferry window, it will remain impossible.

But I’ve long been writing about Unfinished Books (and sometimes Rejected Books) and today I have a library’s worth of such books to gab about. Here we go.

✤ ✤ ✤

Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir by Eddie Muller

Loved this book. Read the beginning. Read the ending. Read much of the middle. Looked at maybe all the pictures. Added lots of movies to my to-watch list. Or should have, rather, because I’ve already forgotten most of them and I didn’t write them down. The original version of this book was prior to our current era of broad availability and many of the movies he wrote about were essentially impossible for most people to access. Today, we can access most of them We should do so.

✤ ✤ ✤

Moo by Sharon Creech

I’m a big fan of Creech’s Love That Dog—I’ve done it with both sophomores and AP Lit. I don’t much like its unnecessary sequel Hate That Cat. Moo is sold with those two because, not, as it ends up, because it is a sequel, but because it too is poetry. But with Moo the poetry isn’t part of the this-is-for-school conceit but because it’s just told in poetry. The thing is—I don’t much like the poetry. It works in Love That Dog because this kid is experimenting with not hating poetry. But in Moo that’s not a question. And so the poetry should be . . . better? Anyway. I could have finished it. Lots of white space in this book. But I just couldn’t.

✤ ✤ ✤

The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory by Thomas Fuller

A book club I recently joined was to read this book next but they forgot to invite me which was okay because I had a hard time with the narrative voice which made reading it a real slog. Fuller’s a journalist and I’m sure a great story in five thousand words would be fine. I wasn’t thrilled about an entire book.

✤ ✤ ✤

The Maniac by Benjamin Labatut

A previous novel the group had read and that my friend recommended was this one. I read maybe the first fifty pages and it was excellent but I had too many library books out at the time and a busy month ahead of me and so I, sad, returned it unread. It’s about a weird genius working on the a-bomb. And it features a topnotch narrative voice, so there.

✤ ✤ ✤

Of All Places! and No Place Like Home by Patience, Richard, and Johnny Abbe.

I was reading a series of articles about humor in the Relief Society Magazine and that’s where I came across the Abbe children. Three kids who wrote massively popular books about their lives back in the Thirties. Of course I had to see this for myself. I read fifty or so pages and enjoyed them but it’s remarkable from the vantage point we call 2025 that these books were as massive as they were. They are charmingly written (allegedly, Patience was the main architect; check out this anecdote of her at 21 with Bette Davis) and a marvelous snapshot and clearly observed, but still. Their tour through Nazi Germany write before everything goes to hell is enlightening. But the little observations about trains and winter and hobos and hotel rooms and the mails are even better. If I owned these, I would certainly finish them. Eventually. I think NYRB or Dover or someone should republish them and aim them at today’s kids.

✤ ✤ ✤

Too Much College; or, Education Eating Up Life, with Kindred Essays in Education and Humour by Stephen Leacock

This was another book I found on the recommendation of the Relief Society. I appreciated this most as proof that people make the same complaints today that they always have about kids and their inferior-to-ours education. It could have been more tightly written. I think I would enjoy Leacock much more if someone would put together a collection of his work that still works well today. But I should mention that I had similar feelings about Benchley when I got him from the library. Now that I have my own copy of his work that I’m working through at a more leisurely pace, I like him all the more. Perhaps the same would be true of Leacock. Though, to be honest, I’m unsure simply because his essays are so much longer. When Benchley has a dud, at least it’ll be over in a hundred-fifty words.

✤ ✤ ✤

Movies Are Prayers: How Films Voice Our Deepest Longings by Josh Larsen

I was unable to renew this one after a mere three weeks which is a bummer because I was into it. I made it through the first couple kinds of prayers and fully intended to finish the book when I discovered it was a day late and unrenewable. And since it was sent over from another library system, the fines accumulate much too quickly to hold onto. I discovered Josh Larsen through his podcast which was recently recommended to me by a KQED friend. Although I sure note that in their last two episodes they’ve fallen short on their understanding of both The Phoenician Scheme and Materialists.

✤ ✤ ✤

Shakespeare's Tragic Art by Rhodri Lewis

As with many of the books here, it was foolish of me to pick it up during May 2025, one of the busiest months of my life. I was being pulled so many directions. With this one, I read a bit of the introduction, most of the first chapter, and then read analysis of some of the more recent plays I’ve read—Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, I forget whatall. Anyway, deep waters here. I enjoyed his analysis of the plays very much and would love to own the book so I could finish it sometime solely for those bits. His overall argument? No idea. Didn’t manage to fit that in during the brief moment I possessed the book.

✤ ✤ ✤

Tales of Glass Town, Angria, and Gondal by The Brontës

I’ve always wanted to dig into the Brontës’ childhood fantasy writings but like I dope I decided to pick it up at the absolute worst time. I barely even skimmed this. But that was enough to know I’m unlikely to ever really read this book. It’s fine stuff and interesting considering who wrote it and impressive considering their youth but, in the end, who cares? I don’t have a dissertation to write!

✤ ✤ ✤

Everything Must Go: The Stories We Tell About the End of the World by Dorian Lynskey

This is a bit different from the Shakespeare book above in that, while again I enjoyed the bits I did read, I’m not sure Lynskey has an overall point. Unless it’s that we’ve always told world’s-ending stories and that’s it. Still. I read the entire pandemic section (zombies inclusive) and chunks of the rest. If the topic interests you, you’ll have a fun time.

✤ ✤ ✤

Dangerous Fictions: The Fear of Fantasy and the Invention of Reality by Lyta Gold

I’ve already written an entire essay about what’s wrong with this book, but I wrote it when I was still convinced I’d read the entire thing. But I read maybe two or three more pages and that was it. I’m intrigued by the topic and by Gold’s argument, but her rhetoric is a mess. To give just one example, she talks about how people try to cancel authors but they only try to cancel women authors or authors belonging to a minority group. But you can’t cancel authors because good work will rise to the top. But books by canceled women and minorities never get seen so they are canceled. But the famous and powerful cannot be canceled no matter what people say online. But we’re totally going to cancel J.K. Rowling because she has it coming. And so on. I really wanted to like this book and I largely agree with everything she says. But there’s so much, for lack of a better term, performative wokeness, that it eventually becomes unreadable. Unless you’re the sort of person who likes to give your friends a high-five every time you hear a liberal catchphrase. It was maddening. Anyway, if anyone wants to read that unpublished essay, let me know and I’ll post it.

✤ ✤ ✤

Happily: A Personal History, with Fairy Tales by Sabrina Orah Mark

Happily is excellent. A white Jewish American mother raising two black Jewish American boys. A memoir filtered through the language and emotion of fairy tales. It’s terrific. The sort of book I would keep on my nightstand and work my way through over three years. But, alas, that is not how libraries work. This is the only library book on this list I’m still holding on to but I know perfectly well I’ll not be finishing it.

✤ ✤ ✤

The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa (translated by Louise Heal Kawai)

This had a really cool cover and a fun magical-realism premise and . . . is terrible. This is the only book today that I own and that makes no difference. I am not finishing it. It’s possible some of the fault is Kawai’s but the novel itself just makes me feel stupider as I read it. It’s like someone fed a bunch of American YA fiction and the summaries of Miyazaki movies into an LLM and voila. Perhaps if you’re still under the age of fourteen it might work for you.

It’s ironic to end on a book in which a boy and a talking cat go on missions to rescue disrespected books but hey. That’s the reading life.

This is a bad use of tithing

 

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Right now, if you make an event on a calnedar hosted by churchofjesuschrist.org, and you click the "public event" box (meaning people can see the event without logging in as a church member), and then you start typing a description, a troubling thing pops up on your screen:

I have so many issues with AI and each of them is amplified when placed in a church setting.

First, no matter where you stand on AI, except for people who imagine they can make money from it, the average person fumbles along in this direction:

(Incidentally, I found that observation via Anne Lutz Fernandez's solid three-parter on why AI should keep out of schools to which I amen loudly and with enthusiasm.)

But hey, you ask a large-language model something and it gives you what sounds like a reasonable answer and that's really neat! But if you stick with them long enough, one of two things will happen. You will either grow skeptical of AI's ability to give you anything worth having. Or you will lose the ability to recognize when such skepticism is warranted. Which makes sense. A"I"-generated writing has only two uses that I can see: To do things that shouldn't be bothered with anyway. To embrace laziness.

I have a friend who works for OpenAI and he was suggesting that AI would be terrific for teachers, a huge time saver. To which I can only answer, how? I suppose I could make it do things for me but to what end? I honestly cannot think of a single use case that wouldn't damage my credibility, my relationship with my students, the quality of the work i assign, the quality of work I receive back, and/or the quality of the grading. The only way AI could do any of those things as well as I can do them is if I'm already not doing them well. Yes, LLMs can do rote crap fine if you don't care much about the outputs, but if a teacher is teaching students to provide rote crap that does not require much attention to grade, I would propose that that sounds like a crappy education.

Anyway, AI companies are desperately looking for ways to make money and school districts are suckers who delight in wasting money on magical fixes, so I'm sure I'll be getting access to free crap soon enough. People who don't teach always know how to make our jobs better. (My district went over $40,000,000 overbudget on consultants last year. That's fun. And exactly why they'll be excited to pay for AI. Why not pay less for crappy work that never needed to be done?)

Speaking of, it's worth mentioning that these companies are far from profitable as of today. For instnace, OpenAI, which is doing better than most, loses $2.50 for every $1 it makes. That's overall, but they're even losing money on their highest-priced corporate accounts. The new version of their question-answering bot? The one they say that is a huge leap forward and will blow our minds and that they haven't let any reporters check out yet? The cost in computing and energy for every single answer it produces is $10,000.

$10,000.

No matter how good those answers are, I don't see anyone paying OpenAI $10,001 per answer so they can turn a profit. Do you?

Anyway, I was borderline rude in my outrage a couple months ago during stake council. I'd volunteered to choose some pullquotes from the recent stake conference for use in the stake's social media. Somebody said I could just have an AI do this and I was shocked at the suggestion. How hard is it to read some talks and pull out some choice quotes? How could an LLM do that better than I can? And once it gave me quotes, unless I'm grossly irresponsible, I would have to check they were even in the talk! And if I'm the least bit concerned with doing a good job, I would either have to get it to give me multiple options to choose from (each of which I'd have to check) or compare it against the talk myself. How does an LLM save me any time here? How?

It only saves me time if I don't care about doing a good job. What I said at the time was something like, "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing," and I stand my that. (Although my tone of voice should probably be rescinded.) Even granting that this kind of task is very much in my, Theric's, wordsmith roundhouse, it's not a hard task. So if it's worth doing, I should do it. Even if I let an AI take a crack, if it's worth doing, I'll still have to do it.

And that gets to why I'm so distressed that the Church is apparently paying for AI services. This is church. How can we rely on the Spirit if we're relying on an artificial intelligence?

The best argument I can come up with here is some people are intimidated by writing; it's hard for them. And an AI-written calendar item lets them succeed at their calling.

It's an argument. But is it a good one?

Besides, giving tithing money to companies that plagiarize and pollute while we believe in honesty and environmental stewardship is troubling.

(Incidentally, if you want something in-depth about the waste and nonsense that is the modern AI business, check out this newsletter.)

I appreciate that the Church isn't trapped in a moribund past, but while this always upsets me—

—in a living faith, it also depresses me.

Are we shoving God into the machine?

Get Educated

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I started off the month right, slipping those two movies into a narrow window of time I had available to me. Sadly, it meant I had to leave during the credits of both (I wanted to honor the craftmen of Ochi and enjoy more Sinners music, but regardless: I like credits.)

UPDATE: I apparently missed a post-credits scene in Sinners. Boo.

Also worth mentioning: this is the month I begin my Writing About Film class. So some curated goodies in here. That probably I'll say nothing about because I'm all talked out.

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THEATER
Cinemark Century Hilltop 16

The Legend of Ochi (2025)

I really liked this movie even though it has a bunch of flaws of the type I associate with "family" movies. But the creatures are so cool and the actors are good and the scenery is incredible and the beats are so familiar that who even cares about the flaws? We're having a freaking blast. So who cares if Finn Wolfhard's character is an afterthought and Emily Watson looks like a hobbit?

This is the sort of movie that would have terrified me as a kid while all the other kids loved it and couldn't believed I hadn't seen it yet. Related, I wanted to take the 8yrold but I had a chance now, it was the only showing all day, and I was the only one in the theater. I'll betcha this was my only chance.

Plus, she's like me. I'm not sure I'm a good dad if I make her sit through the scary/gross parts.

Incidentally, some of the aesthetics are less 80s-kid-movie and more Willy Wonka vs Wes Anderson. But my favorite stuff is the outdoors stuff.

THEATER
Cinemark Century Hilltop 16

Sinners (2025)

I loved this movie. It's so well written and beautifully paced. It takes its time to build out the place and the people so when the vampires finally show up, the stakes are real. I suppose there are a couple possible inconsistencies in terms of how the vampires work, but the innovative aspects are terrific. These are new and interesting vampires, yall.

But more than that, the twins are terrific creations, the epilogues definitely add to the story. Hailee Steinberg is great in her first true adult role (that I've seen). The music is awesome. The details are consistently evocative and true. Everything about this movie feels honest. Even though it's a vampire movie, a pure piece of popular entertainment.

I haven't enjoyed a movie this much in a while. If you still have a chance, try and see it with a packed house. I'll wish I was with you.

And don't walk out during the closing credits. The music's too good.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Mean Girls (2004)

The parallels to Julius Caesar are more and more the more you look (here's someone to start you off). I'm trying to turn it into a writing assignment this time.

What I'm thinking about now though it how so much the movie is told through Cady's point of view. The animals, the hit-by-bus moments. Much of what occurs in the film is entirely filtered through her memory, as emphasized by the occasional narration. Which raises questions about how much of the film is in her p-o-v. When the camera suddenly tilts as she confesses to Aaron, is that Cady? When we see moments where she is not present, is that her recreations or are the some additional source of narrative besides her own mind?

It'll probably be years before I watch it again, but I hope I think of these questions before hitting play.

HOME
friend's dvd

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)

I remember when this movie came out. It appeared at the Albany Twin (rip) and played forever, like a Woody Allen movie. (Ah, those were the days.)

Anyway, only finally getting around to seeing it now. It's everything I assumed: the tale of a great craftsman, excellently staged visuals of food. But it's hard to watch without thinking about all the unintended consequences. Luckily we decided to watch it on our friend's dvd rather than Kanopy because there's about as much footage in the film once again, including expansive discussions filling in some of the gaps about training and overfishing and the various masters (tuna, rice) Jiro works with. I've watched about half that extra footage and intend to watch the other half.

As someone who has never been impressed by sushi (admittedly, I've never had Jiro-level sushi) I'm not persuaded to spend real money to see if I can come around, but I did enjoy seeing someone with true passion excel at a true craft.

We need more stories like that. I'm not sure we remember excellence is possible

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Do the Right Thing (1989)

It's that wonderful time of the year where I teach film. This is the first feature for the earlier class. And it's a terrific way to start because it is provocative thematically and aesthetically. And, darn it, provocation is exactly what we need.

(And yes, I do skip a certain 90 seconds.)

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

It's always great to introduce students to the new favorite thing. Whether it's a book or a movie, to see someone actively take something into their heart and make it their own—it's just beautiful.

It's also great to watch someone dismiss something as an old thing they suffered through as a kid only to discover a new version of themselves through a revisitation.

I like both those.

THEATER
Cinemark Century Hilltop 16

Thunderbolts* (2025)

I liked this movie more than any Marvel movie since at least Captain Marvel six years ago. Spoilers, many irritatingly vague, from here on out.

I'm so glad that they didn't kill the supervillain. And although it wasn't that deep, I'm glad they explored the issues with him that they did. And I like where it seems to be headed.

Geraldine Viswanathan looked so different than she did in Drive-Away Dolls, but her facial expressions are unmistakable.

I hadn't read a lot about the movie before going in, but I did hear that most of the cast was great and Julia Louis-Dreyfus was lazy and bad. I'm not sure was people mean. The cast did range from good to great, but Julia Louis-Dreyfus got almost nothing to work with. I wonder if people just wanted something amazing from her. I'm not sure we can blame this on her.

I'm intrigued by competing Avengers teams. I have low expectations, but the ceiling's high here.

I really want to know if Bucky's still in Congress. It doesn't see like it but I think it's strange if he is not. I mean—Congree and Avenger are both big jobs and I don't know how you do both, but these are the movies, man.

I wish Marvel luck at maintaining their mojo.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Rushmore (1995)

Gen Z strikes again! Our conversation about this movie ended up being almost half about Max trying to kiss Miss Cross and thus the need to cancel him and doubt any personal growth he may yet experience in life. When I called this out they denied that's what they were doing, but I wonder.

I've always done Rushmore because I think it's maybe the best Wes Anderson movie to see first. But I wonder. It's been almost thirty years since it drops which means we've had two generations of filmmakers who have been, to a greater or lesser extent, whether delightedly or through deliberate rejection, Wesified.

In other words, I wonder if I would be better off picking one of his later films. Moonrise Kingdom is still accessible but much more stylized. Asteroid City is superweird but something I would show in school. But . . . the more stylized they get, the harder they are to get (especially for a rookie audience) on just one viewing.

ELSEWHERE
Hoopla

Clueless (1995)

I think I'm taking this off the list. The problem is that it's playing with same set of tools that students are used to movies using. It's an older and nicer Mean Girls. My accompanying readings are more conceptual thanfilmmakery which doesn't help. That was intentional because even young women tend to assume things about young women are de facto less important. But if I want movies about high-school girls it's easier to talk about them AS A FILM if I'm choosing Heathers or Lady Bird because the filmmaking itself is less obviously pure–pop culture and sometimes even flashy. So that's the way to go.

THEATER
our dvd
littlehill theater

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2001)

We have a state-of-the-art theater at the high school; professional ballet troupes have used it, for instance. But the movie screen, given the setting, is comically small. Still way bigger than anything I can do in my classroom but it feels smaller than it is. Anyway, I could only get the theater for two days and so one class is doing this film and another 2001. (The top choice was very clear in both votes.

But if I get the theater back, Crouching Tiger will not be back. Apparently the fire code doesn't allow all the lights to be off during the school day with students inside and so . . . it was not as dark as one might like. And, therefore, the night scenes, expecially the fight scenes, were nearly impossible to read. Which was upsetting, to be sure.

THEATER
our dvd
littlehill theater

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Always nervous showing this to students and even thought there are (and will be) some who hate it, overall everyone had a real experience and for many that experience was excellent.

The nature of the school day forced us to split the viewing in half but it sounds like that might be a net positive. Day one they're bored and confused but day two they come in knowing what to expect.

Even though I don't embrase all of Kubrick's catalogue, I do love this movie.

HOME
Wikipedia

The Ten Commandments (1923)

This is a really cool and pretty dumb and very silly movie. Although it dragged, I loved the Mosaic prologue. (Yes! In DeMille's first version, Moses is only the prologue!) The sets and effects were very cool. The use of color was fun. It was great.

Then it transitions to the modern melodrama that took up the bulk of the runtime. It's, um, very obvious. The bad guys say things like

Clearly, this man is a sinner.

Anyway, can we talk about those cool letterforms? This has all my favorites except capital W, but just imagine that lower-case w could be even cooler and you'll get the idea.

Anyway, this is the sort of movie that allows you to tut-tut the wicked while simultaneously getting to see the wicked's beautiful flesh. Isn't that just how the wicked are, showing off their beautiful flesh. How horrible that we get to see it in all its sexy glory. Tut tut.

I also learned from this movie that most lepers are beautiful women with excellent hair and that it's easy to get psychosomatic leprosy if you develop a conscience.

Also, using crappy cement when building nineteen-story cathedrals will bring the wrath of God upon in the form of your mom dying.

Oh, that's another thing. It's bad to be a sinner but it's also bad to have sourpuss piety. Don't do that either.

In short, this is a ridiculous movie and more often dumb than not. But hugely entertaining. No wonder it was a huge hit.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Bambi (1942)

Who knows how many times I've seen this movie now. That I adore showing it to high-school seniors means I'm piling on the views, but the film is so strange and beautiful there is always more to discover.

This time I discovered something not new to me per se, but I discovered how large an elements of the film it actually is. I didn't start thinking about it on minute one so perhaps I missed something, but there is zero foley work in this movie. Or, rather, all the foley is performed by the orchestra. Besides vocalizations, the only other sounds are made my instruments. And it's so truthful to this film that it took me this long to realize that it is exclusively so. Amazing.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Duck Soup (1933)

Is there any greater pleasure than listening to teenagers laughing at (with) something older than their grandparents?

THEATER
Cinemark Century Hilltop 16

Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning (2025)

Just checked and I basically made this joke at the last one, but I have to wonder if this film set a new record for number of macguffins.

Lady Steed and I disagree as to which of these films has the worst technobabble (I say the previous one) and Luther is essentially a Marvel-movie genius and almost any piece of these story falls apart if you look at it too long, etc etc, but I loved it. It's exciting and fun and it let us know what happened to a fellow we've been worried about for thirty years.

I know they advertized this like it's the last one but I'm curious what the betting markets have to say about that.

HOME
Disney+

Anastasia (1997)

It's pretty clear that my memories of watching Anastasia in the theater and confused with my memories of watching Ferngully in the theater. Although the memory still has inaccuracies built into it as I remember watching it three years before either of them arrived. So much for my credibility on the witness stand.

From a visual perspective, it's interesting how it's employing some digital techniques much as Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin did, but it's also quite obviously rotoscoped. It's a mix of animation styles from perhaps a fifty-year period.

My memory is that Rasputin was scarier than he needed to me and that was about it. I did not remember that we knew Anastasia was Anastasia all along, for instance. I am happy, however, that this revisiting led to me liking the movie much more, as opposed to my recent viewing of The Secret of NIMH, which didn't really lead to a happier experience. Which isn't a claim that Anastasia is some kind of masterwork—I have my complaints—just that it was much better than my memories (lousy as they are) suggested.

HOME
library dvd

Instant Family (2018)

Because of the film unit, a student who watched this film got excited about a scene transition and recommended the movie to me based on that cut. It was certainly the most interesting cut in the movie but of itself, perhaps not enough to watch the movie.

Luckily, the movie was good. This sort of family drama isn't a usual part of my film diet and it was nice to watch one for a change. It's good to see people be good, to grow together, to earn a happy ending.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)

Almost no laughs this time.

Concluding in stunned silence.

All reactions appropriate, thank you.

ELSEWHERE
YouTube

Sherlock, Jr. (1924)

Do to me being dumb, I failed to play the ragtimey soundtrack and we had absolute silence. It won them over eventually but we had more complaining upfront.

THEATER
Premier Theater at One Letterman

The Phoenician Scheme (2025)

Our neighbor invited us to this early showing which was followed by her interviewing Roman Coppola, Wes Anderson's longtime writing partner. Obviously we were planning to see this in theaters when it arrived (and will again regardless), but pretty fun to see it early and get some dirt on the side. But in some ways the real thrill was being inside Lucasfilm's theater. When people spoke without a microphone it was almost as if they weren't speaking at all. Their voice was perfectly clear but with zero echo which made it feel disappearingly small. I touched the walls on the way out and whatever that funky fabric they carpeted them in really works.

This was the biggest screen I've ever seen Wes Anderson on and that was lovely as well. I did feel slightly stressed, trying to read all the text I feared i would never get to read again.

The sound thing makes me hopeful that one element of my experience was simply wrong: It felt like, once again, Lady Steed and i were the only people laughing in the theater. Gosh I hope that was not so. Surely this crowd gets it!

Anyway, I don't want to spoil anything. I will say the structure is straightforward compared to the delicious madness of French Dispatch or Asteroid City. Michael Cera fits in well. Benedict Cumberbatch's hair (by which I mean beard and brow) is insane. The production design is perfect as always. Those are the actual paintings you see on the walls. And while I already cannot remember whether the scheme worked or not, the film has a happy ending. Not one I saw coming but one I was glad to experience.

I'll see you in a lesser theater two weeks from now.

ELSEWHERE
our dvd

Casablanca (1942)

I was really locked in on Ilsa this time. Totally changed when I cried and how I cried.

ELSEWHERE
SOURCERY

Get Out (2017)

I have to make this an option every year. Not just because everyone loves it and because it's a blast to watch in a rool full of friends, but because once you start looking, the film is PACKED with new stuff to see. Everytime there's something new. Did you know the gazebo Rose walkes Chris to is black with a white cupola? I didn't until a student noticed and pointed it out.

Criticism & Comics

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041) Arts and Inspiration: Mormon Perspectives, edited by Steven P. Sondrup, finished May 18

In the early days of the pandemic, I cleaned off an unused back porch and set it up as a nice little reading nook for myself. For a while, when I went out there, I was completely invisible, disappeared to my family. (You can see it here.) But then it was discovered and I went to school to teach and the oldest son took over that area for his going-to-school and now it is completely packed with junk again.

Anyway, when that was my space, I read an essay or more from Arts and Inspiration every Sunday. I didn't love ever essay equally but certainly they are all fascinating. This 1980 volume might not hold up as stop-the-presses criticism, but it does succeed as a timecapsule and it often succeeds as a call to action. The authors include some names still remembered well today (Wayne Booth, Merrill Bradshaw, Reid Nibley, Richard Oman, Boyd Packer, Trevor Southey), as well as some we probably should. One cannot fail but note that some of these less remembered people (Yoshie Akimoto Eldredge, Johann Wondra) are either not white or not male or not American. I might also note that the exciting-sounding Native American artists Oman discusses were utterly unknown to me and largely difficult to find in-depth information on in 2025. But that's not what my review is about. In fact, if it were to be about this, I would have to commend it for seeking across the world and finding artists and thinkers in all media, all of whom are articulate and intelligent and worth listening to.

The book is here, if you want to read it:

The nature of reading a series of distinct essays over five years is that I have no idea what to say about this book now. Except it's under 200 pages and still worthy of your time. I'm glad I read it. And the final essay, the one I read today, is a provocative argument for how today's LDS artists should should move forward and what we should aspire to. Pep talks still welcome.

a hair over five years

 

042) The Waiting by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim, finished May 19

I read Gendy-Kim's Grass, a stunning book about comfort women. This one takes place a bit later, during Korea's partition, as families were separated in the desperate run to the south. The story contains a lengthy flashback set at that time but largely takes place in the last ten years, the story of a daughter and her mother who longs for her three-year-old son who was lost on the trail.

 It's a solid piece of work.

perhaps a week

 

043) Odessa by Jonathan Hill, finished May 22

Disappointed to learn this is a volume-one sorta deal but that's how it goes sometime. I did like what was here. It's a postapocalyptic West Coast with enough details to feel real but not bogged down. I appreciated a note Hill left at the end of the book:

I think two-tone or a limited palette fits comics better. Comics exist and function in the in-between places. In comics, we're given some information, but the reader is required to participate in bringing it to life.... Two-color works in the same way. There is generally enough information there to help create things like form, shadows, and atmosphere, but the reader is still an active participant in filling out those details.

Wise words. 

one day

 

044) Barnstormers: A Ballad of Love and Murder by Tula Lotay and Scott Snyder, finished May 22

The first point I wanted to make is how similar the art was to Somna and, whaddaya know, it's the same artist. So a very insightful observation. Thank you, Theric.

But then I was going to talk about what made this art feel so different from that art. 

In both cases the lead characters are stunningly beautiful women, the skin seemingly lit from within. They are composed of perfect lines filled with flesh begging to be touched. These are women impossible to turn away from.

But Somna's protagonist, while a reasonably interesting character, never possessed an internal life real and compelling enough to overcome the fact that her entire purpose was ultimately to be lusted after. The story and character were mere scaffolding propping up a series of pornographic images.

Tillie of Barnstormers however is more incidentally beautiful. No doubt her adventures could not have been rolled out as they did had she not been such a perfect specimen, but the story has it's own drive and her character has its own backing and momentum. The purpose of the book is more than just look at the pretty lady. And thus it also grants her her privacy (or, if you prefer, modesty).

The story's pretty simple and straightforward but it does have some clever and compelling twists on what could have been a tired genre piece. The first time a robot appeared I was shocked and wondering just what this book actually was. In the end, yes, it's a story about crime and the lam and mental health and class struggle and domestic abuse, but the actual core is what it is like to fall in love and what falling in love demands of the participants. And the nature of paying that bill.

It's a lovely little tale. Whether they actually die in the end or not.

three days

 

045) Bingo Baby, finished May 26

This is a curious one. Initially improvised according to the rules of a role-playing game and then assemlylined into a comic. It's . . . fine. I liked it okay. I would call it more a worthy experiment than a great success, but, you know, definitely a worthy experiment.

one day

 

 

earlier this year..........

 

Bro! Tell me we still know how to speak of kings!

001) Beowulf translated by Maria Dahvana Headley, finished January 1
002) Cthulhu Is Hard to Spell: Volume Three, finished January 1
003) Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell), finished January 8
004) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, finished January 11
005) You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown, finished January 12
005) Into the Headwinds: Why Belief Has Always Been Hard—and Still Is by Terryl Givens and Nathaniel Givens, finished January 24
006) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters: Book Two by Emil Ferris, finished January 25

Maybe we should just pretend this set begins and ends with Wednesday Addams

007) Chas. Addams Half-Baked Cookbook, finished January 29
008) Monica by Daniel Clowes, finished February 3
009) The Unexpurgated French Edition of Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland, finished February 19
010) Peach and the Isle of Monsters by Franco Aureliani and Agnes Garbowska, finished February 20
011) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, finished February 28
012) Comic Poems edited by Peter Washington, finished March 7

Love, Beauty, and a complete lack of sasquatch 

013) Love that Dog by Sharon Creech, finished March 11
014) Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper, finished March 21
015) Antelope Spring by John Bennion, finished March 24
016) Shelley Frankenstein by Colleen Madden, finished March 28
017) Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #21: Double Take, finished April 5
018) The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clark, finshed April 8
019) Rave by Jessica Campbell, finished April 13
020) The Creeps: A Deep Dark Fears Collection by Fran Krause, finished April 14

Do not ask what she does with the babies.

027) Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, finished April 21
028) Somna: A Bedtime Story by Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay, finished April 23
029) Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu, finished April 24
030&031) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, finished April 25
032) Raised by Ghosts by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26
033) Ephemera by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26

Brighter and brighter until we all get our heads lopped off 

034) Brighter and Brighter until the Perfect Day by Sharlee Mullins Glenn, finished April 27
035) Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett, finished May 3
036) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, finished May 5
037) Equus by Peter Shaffer
038) Travesties by Tom Stoppard, finished May 8
039) The Art of Intimacy: The Space Between by Stacey D'Erasmo, finished May 10
040) A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt, finished May 16

 

PREVIOUS OTHER YEARS IN BOOKS

2007 = 2008 = 2009 = 2010 = 2011 = 2012 = 2013 = 2014 = 2015
2016 = 2017 = 2018 = 2019 = 2020 = 2021 = 2022 = 2023 = 2024

 

 

“The Baptism of Sister Kim”

.

Jeanine Bee is the current fiction editor of Wayfare and she was terrific to work with. This story was already worked into a publishable shape and if it had gone to press as I sent it to her, that would have been just fine.

But the thing about working with editors (Jeanna Stay also chimed in) is this: no piece of writing is ever perfect. It can always improve. And so in the first pass we refined a few things. We fiddled with commas and paragraph breaks. And then because we were working on it, we discovered that we could slice off the opening. While there’s a lovely bit of poetry about temperature that disappeared, the story is stronger. And that’s the sort of discovery that can only come through multiple eyes working together over multiple moments.

Here’s the story:

 

Brighter and brighter until we all get our heads lopped off

.

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And each of us play many parts,

Our acts being seven stories. At first in heaven,

Mewling and puking in heavenly arms;

And then the whining Lancreans, with their dances

And shining would-be witches, staring like dopes

Into the sun. And then comes Caesar,

Whining like a warrior, with bad luck promised

By his mistress’ dreamscapes. Then horse,

With bleeding eyes, and roaring like a god,

Jealous of human lovers, quick in quarrel,

Seeking nothing for god already

Even if only to the young. And then the clever men,

In youthful nonsense with cucumber sandwiches,

He plays his part. The sixth age shifts

In to the intimacies of love and violence,

With absence as powerful a tool as touch,

The words on page turning toward trembling,

And whistles in our minds. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is greatness doomed to undeserved oblivion;

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything

But his holy soul intact upon the perfect day.

.

034) Brighter and Brighter until the Perfect Day by Sharlee Mullins Glenn, finished April 27

It's a funny thing to read a book so quickly to remember all its typos (a misturned apostrophe and, hilariously, a 0 instead of a -, a simple misplaced finger suddenly creating, in the acknowledgements a chapter 107 of Moses.

But those are obviously minor things. Especially when we are speaking of a new epic poem covering much the same ground as Paradises both Lost and Regained in a fraction of the space. And it's a deeply Latter-day Saint rendering. For the endowed reader, it will be impossible to read without constant internal crossreferencing.

Largely, I think it is successful as a story, as a work of verse, and as a work of speculative theology. Some commonly proposed solutions to uncertain identity (eg, what if the heavenly Mother is the Holy Ghost?) are part of this story; the most talked-about aspect of the book (or, for me at least, the most heard-about aspect) is its feminism. Specifically that Elohim is plural (as, you know, it is), interpreted as the Gods male and female both (which, in my [unaskedfor] opinion, is proper interpretation), and that more premortal characters beside Michael (viz., including women) are given names and responsibilities.

All that is great, but it also leads into my sole problem with this book. I've no issue with any of the speculation—I don't agree with it all equally but it's all valid and reasonable and exciting and decidedly noncrazy—but I do take issue with one character: Ora.

Ora is one of the more advanced premortal spirits. It's not stated so, but I get the sense she was probably #3 behind Jehovah and Lucifer. And she independently comes up with the concept of the Holy Ghost and offers to do it herself before the Parents reveal that Mother will lay down her body for a time to play this role herself. I found this aspect interesting but unsettling. But then Ora is foreordained to be the prophet to restore knowledge of Heavenly Mother in the latter days. This of itself is fine but it was impossible not to read this without considering the possibility that the author of the text, the inventor of Ora, was setting herself up as Ora. Now, given what I know of Sharlee Mullins Glenn (incidentally, I read another fine book of hers about a week ago), I think a better reading would be an impassioned plea for this prophet's arrival, but there's something about Ora's presentation that really feels like a lot of arrows pointing straight back at themselves. I found it kinda weird and offputting. But, as I said, otherwise, in my opinion, this poem is excellent, perhaps even vital. Poe said a poem can only be a good poem if read in one sitting. I read this in two with a break of perhaps two hours inbetween and I was still able to experience the "totality, or unity, of effect" that Brighter and Brighter has to offer. Her wielding of blank verse is wonderfully adept and, in short, this poem must by any reasonable standard be considered a great success.

Props also to the BCC Press team for a lovely book. The cover art by J. Kirk Richards and interior illos by Sara Forbush support the text wonderfully.

This is a slender volume and, I think, approachable. Not that I'm expecting it to be a blank-verse bestseller or anything, but I suspect anyone who might give it a shot will find their way in and be able to have an experience.

Let them who have ears to hear, etc etc.

Anyway, I liked it.

one day for the pre-stuff and one for the epic itself

 

035) Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett, finished May 3

This was kind of a strange experience. About a 130 pages in or something I started to think maybe I'd read it before. In terms of theme and character and plot, it shares much with other Discworld novels, particularly the Tiffany Aching books. One might see this as a rough draft of what he'd pull off later. And while much of the book was new to me, I couldn't be sure I hadn't read it. I've been reading Pratchett since 2002 and only logging what I read since 2007, so I suppose it's possible I did read it in that window (though I don't think so). I kind of hope so because it's evidence that I can reread books and enjoy them afresh which is something I often cannot do.

Anyway, Margrat is getting married, the elves are seeking entrance, the other witches won't allow for it, and some wizards are coming to town.

Does this sound like something you have read before?

Yes or no, it's delightful.

months

036) The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, finished May 5

Technically I missed most of act iv scene ii which is a long and important one when I was called out on union business, but I'm claiming it anyway. Even if I never got to be with a student as they read Caesar's ghost.

over a week

 

037) Equus by Peter Shaffer

This is one of the most famous plays of the 20th century. Besides Shakespeare and Shaw, I find free copies of Equus more than any other play by any other writer. But all I really know about it is is involves violence to horses and an opportunity for a young actor trying to prove his seriousness an opportunity to get naked onstage. Given those two facts I'd always nervously assumed this was a play about bestiality. Not so. I mean, what does happen ain't great, but it also ain't bestiality. If you call that a win, call that a win.

The play is deliberately unrealistic, with the cast sitting in a circle around the stage, standing and joining the action when called for and sitting back down to observe when not.  The horses are actors on stilts and wearing wire horse heads which they put on ritualistically when the time comes to play horses.

The film is deeply religious in the sense that it is about a deeply religious character and how that form of religion may or can or may not or cannot fit into the modern world. It's about the many failed ways we have to interact with one another in this life we're building. From psychiatry to pornography. We need a bit more self-reflection.

So it's an impressive bit of writing. Makes me want to watch and see more Shaffer. Perhaps I should start with Amadeus. It's easily accessible.

maybe three weeks

 

038) Travesties by Tom Stoppard, finished May 8

Having just read The Importance of Being Earnest and then learning Stoppard had written a play that played on that play, I knew I had to read it. I love or at least admire all the Stoppard I read and this one, recreating Earnest in WWI-era Zurich and starring folks who were actually there (Lenin! Joyce! Tzara!), well it sounded delightful. (And the intro in which Stoppard tells us that the other real person in the play, an obscure figure he could learn nearly nothing about, had a wife who sent him a letter after the play's premiere, is wonderful.)

I guess it was.

I imagine it's better on stage, but it's hard to see on the page how this would even work. Or even how many of the jokes a person can get if they haven't just watched an Earnest or were reasonably up on the Lenin/Joyce/Tzara. This is a play for overeducated people and the best way to enjoy it would be in a room filled with them.

So it's okay.

perhaps a week

 

039) The Art of Intimacy: The Space Between by Stacey D'Erasmo, finished May 10

Back to reading something from this The Art of series. I wasn't instantly enamored of it, but her method of discussing books I haven't (with two exceptions) read ended up working for me by the end. She has a keen observational sense and he plucks apart the magic of what books do, how they create intimacy between writer and reader, how they discern all kinds of possible intimacies between characters.

Ultimately, I think it is not as accessible as others in the series—and more a work of criticism than a piece of instruction—but ultimately a fascinating work that pushed the edges of my thinking.

under a week

040) A Man for All Seasons by Robert Bolt, finished May 16

Two tangents.

I said above that Equus is the most-found non-Shakes/Shaw play. Probably. It might be this one. (Or Death of a Salesman. Or are we counting multiple Ibsens in a single volume?)

I only took one class from him, but Royal Skousen is a brilliant and decent person I'm glad I got to know, however slightly. But one thing he said which makes me roll my eyes to this day is that he does not like movies; they are an inferior artform; they are not worth his time. But the film A Man for All Seasons, the last movie he had seen (almost 40 years old at that point and, iIrc, the only film he had a firm memory of), was a masterpiece, a work of genius, one of the most important achievements in human artistry. I've never understood how, even given the small sample size, a 100% genius rate leads to an it's-all-crap conclusion.

It occurs to me now that perhaps he was curious if any of us would call him on it.

Royal Skousen is not the kind of person you call things on.

Anyway, the play is a terrific read. Easily the most entertaining of the three in this set. The characters are written such that instantly you know them. More is a wily man but a good man, trapped in an impossible situation given he has actual intergrity. Rich is a tragic fool. Cromwell is Iago-like in his villainy. And Henry is a coward as proven by his disappearance from events.

In a world with no integrity, putting this story before people must count as holy rebellion.

Anyway. Long live the king.

a week 

earlier this year..........

Bro! Tell me we still know how to speak of kings!

001) Beowulf translated by Maria Dahvana Headley, finished January 1
002) Cthulhu Is Hard to Spell: Volume Three, finished January 1
003) Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (translated by Megan McDowell), finished January 8
004) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, finished January 11
005) You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown, finished January 12
005) Into the Headwinds: Why Belief Has Always Been Hard—and Still Is by Terryl Givens and Nathaniel Givens, finished January 24
006) My Favorite Thing Is Monsters: Book Two by Emil Ferris, finished January 25

Maybe we should just pretend this set begins and ends with Wednesday Addams

007) Chas. Addams Half-Baked Cookbook, finished January 29
008) Monica by Daniel Clowes, finished February 3
009) The Unexpurgated French Edition of Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure by John Cleland, finished February 19
010) Peach and the Isle of Monsters by Franco Aureliani and Agnes Garbowska, finished February 20
011) Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, finished February 28
012) Comic Poems edited by Peter Washington, finished March 7

Love, Beauty, and a complete lack of sasquatch 

013) Love that Dog by Sharon Creech, finished March 11
014) Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper, finished March 21
015) Antelope Spring by John Bennion, finished March 24
016) Shelley Frankenstein by Colleen Madden, finished March 28
017) Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew #21: Double Take, finished April 5
018) The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clark, finshed April 8
019) Rave by Jessica Campbell, finished April 13
020) The Creeps: A Deep Dark Fears Collection by Fran Krause, finished April 14

Do not ask what she does with the babies.

027) Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito, finished April 21
028) Somna: A Bedtime Story by Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay, finished April 23
029) Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu, finished April 24
030&031) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, finished April 25
032) Raised by Ghosts by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26
033) Ephemera by Briana Loewinsohn, finished April 26

PREVIOUS OTHER YEARS IN BOOKS

2007 = 2008 = 2009 = 2010 = 2011 = 2012 = 2013 = 2014 = 2015
2016 = 2017 = 2018 = 2019 = 2020 = 2021 = 2022 = 2023 = 2024