BOE Temporary Relocation

 On Friday we had a glitch in our usual Breakfast of Excellence schedule. As is well-documented, we always meet for breakfast at 8:00 at the TASTee Grill, but when we arrived all four tables are spoken for. We waited for a bit, but eventually had to track down an alternative option. This made us all sad, because we love to give the TASTee Grill as much business (and love) as we can (plus, they have great food). We settled at some new place, which exists, along with a bank, in the skeleton of the old Pizzeria Uno. It was a bit off-setting because it's right on the edge of the neighborhood where I lived when Jen and I were together, and we ate dozens of meals there over the years. However, it was more bittersweet because I'm going to miss these guys so much. I will definitely not be counting down the diminishing BOEs with CFL players, as I'm in a state of denial about the passing of this most beloved of traditions.

From left to right: John, Sandy, Kevin, Erik, and Kelly. It was a nice meal, although paying two separate times for a refill on coffee ensures that we will not return (truthfully, what variety of savagery is making someone pay twice for coffee?; I mean, if you order two lattes, then I think the separate cost is justified, but paying separately for a second coffee?). 

Movies in 2026 113

 

Dune (Denis Villeneuve, 2021)

The 113th film of the year was an unexpected treat, not simply because it wasn't a film that I was planning to watch, but, more importantly, because my son asked me I wanted to come down to his and Ali's place to watch Denis Villeneuve's Dune. Last year, as part of my year of reading things I don't normally read, I knocked off the first two novels Frank Herbert's Dune series. I remember liking the first one a fair bit, and the second one much less (at least not enough to inspire me to continue in the series). I thought Villeneuve's effort was a worthy one, and we're already making plans for watch the second installment soon. We had this passing but also tangible moment when we realized that it would be impossible for us to watch the third film in the theaters next December. Highly recommended - that is, spending as much time as possible with your son at every age.

Movies in 2026 112

 

Return to Reason (Man Ray, 2023)

Yesterday, thanks to the Criterion Channel, I watched Man Ray's Return to Reason, which is actually a compilation of four of his short surrealist pieces from the 1920s. The 2023 version was a product of Jim Jarmusch and Carter Logan, both big fans of the original works, and this includes a new soundtrack. I enjoyed the four films, although I was also thinking that surrealism is one of those things that, here we are a century out from Man's work, would not have the same impact for the new viewer. It's not simply because surrealism has been so immersed (and in the process cheapened) into popular culture, but also because life itself in the age of the internet and smart phones and AI has simply become surreal. You should definitely check it out.

4

 Another week gone, and only two more weeks of the regular semester to go. I've officially lost the battle of the No Going Away Parties campaign, as two parties are now on the agenda. It's strange to think that by the end of this month I will be done with teaching - and my book will be finished (being published, obviously, will remain an ongoing mission, but having the great mass of it complete is going to feel wonderful/strange) - and then the summer and a very different life opens up. My main two goals, once May rolls around, are to devote hours a day to Italian - and to get back to the gym and the pool and long walks - as I begin to refashion myself into a new entity.

Thanks to Keon Hatcher for loaning me his #4 for the Countdown. In many ways his story is also a classic CFL story. Hatcher was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and played at Arkansas, but went undrafted by any NFL team. As an undrafted free agent, he spent a few years bouncing back and forth between the Oakland Raiders (twice), Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers (twice), and New York Jets. His career NFL statistics: 1 catch for 8 yards. In 2021 he headed north, and has been with the BC Lions ever since, including being a CFL All-Star in 2023 and 2025. Now, he's playing all the time, catching passes from the CFL's best QB (Nathan Roarke), and enjoying a lot of success. You have to love his story.

Oh, and I love the metaphor of this picture - 4 days left, but zero closing in fast.

Movies in 2026 111

 

RoboCop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)

One of the many wonderful things about the Criterion Channel is when they go rogue - or bonkers - and have unexpected (inexplicable) collections (1970s drive-in horror, snow westerns, etc.). Currently they are featuring a collection of films that they, back in the early days, that is, when they were only the Criterion Collection and before the advent of the Criterion Channel, had permission to print DVDs with cool extra features and commentaries (they created the commentary track on DVDs). One of them is, again unexpectedly and inexplicably, Paul Verhoeven's RoboCop. I always forget how subversive RoboCop is, as are many of Verhoeven's movies. I didn't realize that Peter Weller, who plays the titular character, later earned his PhD in Renaissance art. I had forgotten that Ray Wise, who would shortly after this achieve lasting cultural fame as Laura Palmer's father Leland in Twin Peaks. I also had this memory that my son, when he was a wee lad, had a RoboCop video game (maybe just a handheld? - where maybe he was fighting Aliens?), although he has no memory of it. 

Movies in 2026 110

 

Pictures of Ghosts, (Kleber Mendonca Filho, 2023)

Recently I watched Kleber Mendonca Filho's Bacurau (2019) and Neighboring Sounds (2012) - thank you to the Criterion Channel for both. What I had not realized is that I had previous watched another of his films, Aquarius (2016), but it was several years ago and I hadn't put the pieces together yet. So far I've really liked every one of his films, including the one I just watched the other night: the documentary Pictures of Ghosts (2023). The documentary focuses on his hometown of Recife, so I guess this fits in well with one of this week's other films, My Winnipeg (although it was not part of a grand design). I think it was called Pictures of Ghosts for a couple reasons, the first being a spectral image that he inadvertently captured on film. The film opens with a reflection on the history of his mother's apartment, which I recognized from Neighboring Sounds (and he slides in scenes from that film, and others, into more personal shots - including the ghost. The rest of the film is dedicated to a heartfelt and poignant reflection on three movie houses from Recife and their eventual passing. Highly recommended. Hopefully his latest film, 2025's The Secret Agent, eventually makes its way to Criterion, although I suppose I could track it down on Prime.

Movies in 2026 109

 

Resurrection, (Bi Gan, 2025)

Guy Maddin's Only Dream Things oddly works very well as a precursor for the next film, although clearly that was not my plan. I just finished Bi Gan's 2025 film Resurrection. The Criterion Channel has started featuring films fresh out of the theaters (not Vermont theaters, sadly, but theaters in larger and more intellectually vibrant markets in New York and LA). They always start off with a specific date and time when you can begin to stream it, almost giving it a feeling of being in the theater with thousands of other film nerds across the world. However, after that you can watch it at any time. I've done both, although I have to admit that I really like syncing up that first viewing when I can. I discovered Bi Gan late last year, on the Criterion Channel, not surprisingly, and absolutely loved his first two films: Kaili Blues (2015) and Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018). He's known for including an extended - literally somewhere between forty-five minutes and an hour - single, uninterrupted take, which dominates the second half of his movies. It's extraordinary, and speaks to his incredible imagination and cinematic chops. Having said all that, I definitely did not like Resurrection as much as his earlier two full-length films. It's staggeringly brilliant filmmaking, and features another long sequence at the end which beggars the imagination. However, the central theme is so opaquely delivered - or Bi Gan didn't feel that it needed one (which is fine, obviously) - that the film ends up depending entirely upon the cinematography. You end up not caring about the characters at all because you simply don't know anything about the characters. It's extremist instrumentalist filmmaking, which tends to work well in short art installations like Maddin's piece, but which borders on tedium in a two and a half hour movie. I'll definitely watch anything from Bi Gan, and I need to track down his earlier work, but in the end, while I was impressed by the technical wizardry of Resurrection, it simply left me cold. I absolutely felt a connection to the characters in his first two films, but every actor in Resurrection simply felt like prop to anchor a camera shot.

Movies in 2026 108

 

Only Dream Things, (Guy Maddin, 2012)

After watching My Winnipeg, I'll doubtless, and predictably, going through all the Guy Maddin films on the Criterion Channel. I started off with a very short film, Only Dream Things, which Maddin filmed as a museum installation piece. It's all based on his own home movies from his childhood, which were heavily manipulated to give it a very eerie, Lynchian, feel. I can clearly see myself plopped down on a bench in a museum, watching it all the way through three times.

My Life

 The news is so routinely horrible - and my students are so overpoweringly disinterested - that even writing seems like fun by comparison. Actually, one of the things that is making the transition to retirement easier is how much I'm enjoying writing.

As my project is coming to an end, no matter what form, if any, that it takes, sometimes I sit back and think about all the work that I've done - and, more importantly, all that I've learned - and it's kind of staggering. And, really, that ziggurat of books is only a small part of the process, simply the primary texts that drove everything else. 

Movies in 2026 107

 

My Winnipeg, (Guy Maddin, 2007)

By way of preparation for July's CFL Trip of Excellence to Winnipeg/Saskatchewan, it's not surprising that I felt moved to watch Guy Maddin's beautiful/disturbing/funny/sad film, My Winnipeg. I'd heard about Guy Maddin for years, but for some reason I had never managed to watch any of his work. I'm definitely going to make up for that cultural/cinematic shortcoming. I saw My Winnipeg described as a "docu-fantasia," which, even though I've never seen the term before, seems to fit beautifully. It's a very personal reflection on growing up/getting away from/going back to Winnipeg. It's almost indescribable, but in a wonderful way. It also features Ann Savage (who we all remember from the definitive film noir Detour) as Maddin's mother. Essential viewing, and not simply for those attending a Blue Bombers game in July.

Movies in 2026 106

 

Hotel du Nord, (Marcel Carne, 1938)

Last year the Criterion Channel introduced a Poetic Realism collection, which introduced me to the work of Marcel Carne. Somehow I was completely unfamiliar with the work of Carne, which is pretty inexcusable since he's one of France's most famous and beloved directors. I ended up admitting to my friend Erik that Carne had become my favorite French director, which is a bit of an odd statement considering how many great directors were/are French (although I don't think it's just me being a contrarian). This morning I re-watched his 1938 film Hotel du Nord, which I think I liked even more than the first time. The film itself if often overlooked because it's falls in between two of his much more famous films, which I'll hold off discussing until the inevitable re-viewing of them. It focuses around a cast of characters who work at or frequent the fairly rundown Hotel du Nord. We're supposed to care about the star-crossed young lovers Renee (Annabella) and Pierre (Jean-Pierre Aumont) - they make a suicide pact which is based on Pierre shooting Renee in the heart and then killing himself - somehow he shoots her, it doesn't kill her, he runs away, and somehow they end up together at the end (it makes more sense in the movie). However, the film is completely stolen by Arletty, who plays the prostitute Raymonde, and her tortured relationship with her lover and procurer Edmond (Louis Jouvet). If you don't know the story of Arletty you should check it out. Beyond being a big star, she's also famous/infamous for having an affair with a German general during World War II in occupied Paris. After the war she was accused of treason, had her head shaved to be publicly humiliated, but then continued her acting career (it's the French, you know). As she brilliantly explained: "My heart may be French, but my ass is global." Recommended.

5

 Monday, day number six of the Great Countdown, started out fine but then ended in a discouraging fashion. Both of my COR 303 classes did a nice job on the morning's assignment. I gave them three anonymous accounts of the birth of Jesus, #1 (from Mathew), #2 (from Luke), and #3 (from Surah Mary in the Qur'an). It's one of my favorite mad Scudder assignments. It makes them address the notion of what constitutes a religious/sacred text, and what would be the challenges in treating it like a historical text. Later, my COR 204 section of Images of Fascism was depressing. We had a great section from Snyder's book, and then followed it up by watching Jafar Panahi's wonderful film The Circle. Half of the students were on their phones or laptops during the movies, not taking notes, but playing games. If a class dealing with Fascism tied to a class on Iran - at this specific moment in time - doesn't grab your attention, you really shouldn't be in college. It's hard to imagine that this generation is going to put up much of a fight as the US finally slides into a full blown authoritarian regime.

Thanks to Justin Rankin for loaning me his number 5 as part of the Great Countdown. He's quickly become one of my favorite CFL players, and not simply because I saw him play last year in Edmonton and that he became my go-to running back in my CFL fantasy team. Rankin was born in Oberlin, Ohio, and played college ball at Kent State and Northwest Missouri State. After going undrafted by an NFL team (the classic first stop on a CFL career), he played three years in the Indoor Football League (IFL), for the Bismarck Bucks, Frisco Fighters, and Bay Area Panthers (winning an IFL championship with the Panthers). After that he moved north and signed with the Edmonton Elks. After a slow start he hit his stride, rushing last year for 1013 yards and catching 56 passed for another 713 yards. I really need to get one of his jerseys.

Movies in 2026 105

 

The Circle, (Jafar Panahi, 2000)

As we enter the last three weeks of my Images of Fascism class we've passed out of the Czechoslovakian film unit (all late 1960's movies) and are entering the Iranian unit. I'm starting off with Jafar Panahi's brilliant 2000 film The Circle, which, happily, my officemate Erik loaned to me. I'm a huge Panahi fan, and I was positive that I had already seen The Circle. I did a preparatory watch last night, and obviously I hadn't seen it before - it's not a film that you would forget. I knew about it, which is why I decided to start our last section with it, but apparently I hadn't seen it. I cannot recommend it too highly. It's devastating, and even my students should be profoundly moved by it. The film focuses on a number of women trying, and failing, to survive the crushing patriarchal nature of the Iranian theocratic state. 

Movies in 2026 104

 

High Noon, (Fred Zinnemann, 1952)

I had not watched High Noon in several years, so the other day I was happy to see that it had popped up as a Criterion Channel option for April. I ended up streaming the first half of it on my phone Thursday night, and finished it on Friday morning. Obviously, I'd rather watch a movie on the big screen, but I sometimes end up watching movies that way on Thursday/Friday. I usually crash at Kevin's place after my night class, to avoid the long drive back, and also to set up Friday morning's BOE. After a long day, featuring the drive-in and three classes, I tend to crash pretty early (my legs are very demanding), and often start a film that night and finish it in the morning. Every time I watch High Noon I'm struck by what a cynical/realistic film it is. Apparently John Wayne thought that High Noon was one of the most un-American films he had ever seen, which probably actually makes me like it more. Actually, mainly I think that Wayne (and apparently Howard Hawkes) read the film the wrong way. It's our insistence on films that promote surface-level, almost innate patriotism, is one of the reasons why we're in the mess we're in now. It's like the talk I gave last year on the essential lie of American Exceptionalism. Similarly, I don't think that Michael Cimino's absolutely brilliant The Deer Hunter is an anti-American film. Rather, I think it's a film that deals with some bad things about America, but which in the process also say something good about America. In the end, everybody in the town, with the exception of his wife (Grace Kelley), abandoned Gary Cooper, but he did what he felt was the right thing, even though in the process he risked almost certain death. High Noon is definitely recommended.

6

 Another week has passed, and Thursday turned out to be a good day, mainly because all three of my classes were good that day. Teachers are simple people: if our classes are good, we're mainly happy. Even my 8:30 class was energetic and engaged, which hopefully had nothing to do with my having thrown them out halfway through Monday's class because they were neither energetic or engaged. The only problem with the week is that I learned that my goal of avoiding a retirement plan is failing - twice. There's a brief gettogether in Wick on my last class day - and apparently some off-campus soiree a couple weeks later (which my wife has been secretly involved in, which I guess shows that you can't trust anyone). I have separately thanked Janet - and Kevin - and Erik - (among the chief conspirators) for helping me to understand that it won't be the worst thing in the world that we have these parties. I will miss all my friends, which I understand, but apparently they're also going to miss me, which I guess I can't understand.

Thanks to Tyson Philpot for loaning me his #6 for the Countdown. Tyson is a National (meaning, Canadian) player for our hometown Montreal Alouettes (our closest CFL team, and thus we've seen more games there - it must be around twenty - and I've taken the most friends there, the official Alouettes friend total is nineteen). Tyson was born in Delta, British Columbia, before playing at the university of Calgary. His played for the Alouettes for four seasons, along the way winning a Grey Cup in 2023, and being named the Most Valuable Canadian in the game. I often chose him for my Canadian fantasy football team last year. Tyson has a twin brother, Jalen, who is seven minutes older, and who currently plays for the Calgary Stampeders.

Movies in 2026 103

 

Aliens, (James Cameron, 1986)

Following up on watching the original Alien, the next night we watched James Cameron's 1986 sequel Aliens. I've always considered the time I saw Aliens in the theater to be one of my favorite in-theater film memories, mainly because I think we arrived late, thus the theater was dark, and that then slid right into the beginning of the film where Sigourney Weaver's Ripley character is found in space. It gave the film an even more visceral feel. I've never been a huge Cameron fan, and I'll never get the three hours back that I wasted watching Titanic. Still, Aliens is certainly a fun ride, although I think it's clearly inferior to its predecessor (although you could also make the same comment in regards to the long-delayed sequels/prequels that Ridley Scott himself made). Mainly, as I re-watched it the other night I thought of the answers to one of my favorite trivia questions: What actors were killed by an Alien, Predator, and Terminator?

Answer: Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton (that said, I don't know if I agree with the premise, since Henricksen's Bishop was torn in half, but, as an android, he "lived" on to say the little girl from being sucked out into space)

Movies in 2026 102

 

Footprints, (Jaromil Jires, 1960)

Well, my break from Czech New Wave didn't take long. This afternoon I took a break after lunch and watched Jaromil Jires's 1960 short film, Footprints. This film definitely had a different feel than The Hall of Lost Footsteps, the other Jires's short from 1960 that I watched the other day. The Hall of Lost Footprints was more of a warning for the future, in the shadow of nuclear proliferation and the recent memory of the Holocaust, whereas Footprints possessed a more tangible central narrative that followed an event in a Czech village during World War II (although, to be fair, every lesson from the past is really a lesson about the future. I really need to take greater advantage of all the shorts that the Criterion Channel provides.

Movies in 2026 101

 

Alien, (Ridley Scott, 1979)

I took a break from Czech New Wave last night and we watched Ridley Scott's 1979 film Alien, the one that began a never-ending franchise (one in which even Scott revisited decades later). The inspiration was an odd one. After a gym trip yesterday I popped into Shaw's and saw the ABC book A is for Alien in the grocery store's tiny magazine/book section. Of course, I had to purchase it (I think this has belated birthday gift for my son written all over it). Anyway, Janet and I read it and it inspired her to go back and watch the original, which led to me digging out my massive Alien boxed set (I think I also have a copy of Alien vs Predator somewhere). I suspect we'll be watching all of them. I think the original Alien holds up really well, certainly better than Star Wars. A couple of the special effects now look a little clumsy, but I also had to remind myself that the film is almost fifty years old (which made me feel even older than I already feel).

This is really the sort of writing that I should devote myself to during my retirement. The fact that this exists is both pretty funny but also subversive and more than a little perverse, but at least it's not that woman reading "children's books" that are thinly veiled and cringe-worthy wink-wink porn that YouTube thinks I should watch.

7

 I've now officially entered the last four weeks of my four-plus decade teaching career. I keep waiting for the nostalgia and bittersweet feelings to emerge. Mainly, I just want it over. Part of it is my own personality. As anyone who knows me will testify, I brood over things, but once I make a decision then the decision is made. I brooded over retiring for a couple years, and then, for several reasons, decided to retire, and after that there was no true regret, just a desire to get on to retirement and a different lifestyle. I'm still grinding away, including throwing my early morning Monday class out for not doing any work - and considering doing the same thing that night in my Fascism class. Maybe I'm just grouchy, but I guess I'm also just refusing to quit trying to teach these lunkheads something.

Thanks for Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback and Grey Cup champion Trevor Harris for loaning me his number 7 this week. It was hard to not feel happy for him winning the Grey Cup last year as a starting quarterback (he had been on two Grey Cup winning teams in the past as a backup QB) because his career is a classic CFL story. Harris was born in Waldo, Ohio, and played his college ball at Division II Edinboro. And then his odyssey began, which began with not being drafted by an NFL team. He signed with the NFL Jackson Jaguars, but was then cut after the preseason. He then signed with the Arizona Rattlers of the Arena Football League and then the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League the next year. In 2011 he signed with the NFL Buffalo Bills, but for labor reasons (not the only time in his career) his contract was rescinded after, literally, a day and a half. After that he signed with the Sacramento Mountain Lions, although the league folded before he could get into a game. Later in 2011 he signed with the AFL's Orlando Predators, but the entire roster was let go (another labor problem) and replaced with, well, replacement players. Finally, in 2012, he turned his attention northward to the far superior (as all right-thinking individuals know) Canadian Football League (and this was usually interrupted with Harris getting into the dynamics of the team having an older and established veteran QB who was on his last legs), and played for the Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Redblacks, Edmonton Eskimos/Elks (and, of course, this would be the time when Edmonton would change team names), Montreal Alouettes, and finally the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Hopefully, we'll see him play this summer as part of July's Trip of Excellence. 

Movies in 2026 100

 

The Fireman's Ball, (Milos Forman, 1967)

And yet another jewel from the Czech New Wave, Milos Forman's 1967 classic, The Fireman's Ball. Told through the lens of the most poorly-organized party of all time, Forman is clearly commenting on how things were actually running under communist control in Czechoslovakia. It's funny and disturbing at the same time. Recommended.

Movies in 2026 99

 

The Hall of Lost Footsteps, (Jaromil Jires, 1960)

Eventually I'll run through the Criterion Channel's Czech New Wave collection, at least until I give them yet another watch. One of the many things I love about the Criterion Channel is their supply of short films, often early efforts from aspiring filmmakers, which most of us would never have the opportunity to see otherwise. I particularly loved this early effort from Jires (and for some reason, maybe not o strange, I'm always drawn to works that came out the year I was born), The Hall of Lost Footsteps. It deals with the Holocaust and the threat of nuclear holocaust, and is very powerful. 

I just snapped this picture, one of the last shots in the film, because I thought it was so beautiful and also so evocative.

The Hidden Manuscript

 Which is not to be confused with The Secret History. Here's a not particularly exciting picture of a pile of books (all Shahnameh-related) that keep me company in my little loft office. Now, if you look closer, you can make out a poorly stacked pile of papers. That's half of my Epics manuscript. Long ago I stopped referring to it as my book (someday, inshallah, I will be able to refer to it as my book) and started simply calling it my manuscript. While I would prefer that it's published someday, obviously, in other ways the key is that I set out to write it - and I wrote it. My goal is to have to have it completely finished (as much as a book, uh, manuscript, is ever finished) by my last day of this last semester. Being able to turn my head and see the stack, growing larger week by week, gives me resolution to keep pushing grinding away.

I'm putting the final gloss on the entire manuscript. That's half of it, so you can get a sense of how big it will end up. 

Movies in 2026 98

 

Loves of a Blonde, (Milos Forman, 1965)

I mentioned that it was strange that I had never watched Jasny's All My Good Countrymen before. Last night I watched a film that I would have sworn that I had watched - and which the Criterion Channel assured me that I had - but of which I had absolutely no memory at all. I don't know how one would reach sixty-six years of age without ever having seen Milos Forman's Loves of a Blonde, but, again, I'm from Indiana, and thus poorly educated. It tells the story of Andula (played by Jana Brejchova, in her first role), a young Czech woman working in a pretty desultory Soviet-era factory. The entire story takes place within one week, from the dream of an exciting love that might get her out of her little village to the inevitable heartbreak. I'm not a huge Milos Forman fan, but I liked this a lot, and it's definitely recommended.

Movies in 2026 97

 

All My Good Countrymen, (Vojtech Jasny, 1969)

Several of the Czech New Wave films I've watched recently are ones that I had first viewed a few years ago. The other night I watched a film that I had somehow never seen before: Vojtech Jasny's wonderful and bittersweet 1969 film All My Good Countrymen. It's set in a small Czechoslovakian village, which passes from the joy of pushing out the Nazis (with the assistance of the Soviet Union) to the dehumanization and sadness of Communist rule. There are so many characters who pass in and out of focus, several of them dying, all of them disillusioned. It's sort of like a Gogol novel, except much, much more emotionally gutting. Highly recommended.

At Least 1007

 My wonderful friend and former student Ines sent me this picture, which she snapped outside the shawarma stand across the street from the University of Jordan in Amman. The first stop on the Jordan trip was always a walk down the hill to the little stand. I'm sure I've posted this picture before, but I love it so much. Even considering the chaos engulfing the region, I wish I were sitting there right now.

The thing that is amazing about that picture is that guy is clearly at least a thousand years old, and since that picture was taken at least seven years ago, it means that ancient dude is (if my limited Hoosier math will back me up) at least 1007. That said, I could walk then, so I had that going for me.

 

8

 Four weeks of the regular semester left. My students were alternately joyously engaged or sullenly disengaged this week. I have one class that is so much better than my other three that I'm tempted to manipulate my schedule so that they're the last college class I actually walk out of (it will make it seem slightly less certain that I've wasted the last forty years). The talk of me giving a going away speech, which would turn into the Gary Scudder Symposium, has reared its ugly head again. I'm honored, but the only thing I hate more than public speaking is being the center of attention, so I need to be even more deliberate in my no (although I've been pretty deliberate so far). 

Thanks to Zach Collaros for loaning me his number 8 for the Countdown. Collaros is a favorite of mine, not simply because he currently plays for my beloved Winnipeg Blue Bombers (they are one of my four favorite CFL teams), but also because he played college ball at the University of Cincinnati (where I attended graduate school). He was born in Steubenville, Ohio, and after his career with the UC Bearcats he went undrafted by the NFL. Callaros was on the practice squad of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for one year, but after that he's spent more than a dozen year north of the border. Along the way he's played for the Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Saskatchewan Roughriders, and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Along the way he's won three Grey Cups, one as a backup for the Double Blues and two as a starter for the Bombers (he also lost three straight Grey Cups after the initial success - to be fair, two of them were last second heartbreakers, and in the third he was hurt in the game). While in college he roomed with the Kelce brothers, which means he essentially is dating Taylor Swift.

Movies in 2026 96

 

Gunbuster: The Movie (Hideaki Anno and Shoichi Masuo, 2006)

And from the sublime to the ridiculous. After collapsing at my friend Kevin's apartment, my usual Thursday night habit so that I can enjoy the Breakfast of Excellence on Friday morning, I wasn't quite tired enough to drop off nor was I awake enough to tackle a serious film (all Thursday night/Friday morning movies are Criterion Channel streams on my phone). So, I took a Criterion flyer and watched Hideaki Anno and Shoichi Masuo's Gunbuster: The Movie. Just as last year I tackled a bunch of books that I normally wouldn't bother with, I'm trying to broaden my cinematic field of view this year (as you might have guessed, it's already pretty wide). I'm not normally an anime viewer, but I figured I'd give it a shot. It's a hard film to judge, mainly because it's a condensed hour and a half version of a six episode series.  A lot of the action felt too much like a Transformers reboot, and thus I was just waiting it out. At the same time, there was an interesting side plot about how the teenage girls blasting into space to try and save the earth ended up aging at a different rate than their friends and loved ones left behind, and it made me wonder if that's actually played up more in the series, which could have ended up being fairly interesting. Anyway, as I am wont to say, watching it didn't do me any harm.

Movies in 2026 95

 

The Shop on Main Street, (Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos,1965)

I definitely went down the Czech New Wave rabbit hole, which I had warned that I would (also keeping in mind that I've already seen all these movies). A couple days ago I watched Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos's The Shop on Main Street again. I think this is the darkest of the Czech New Wave films I've seen so far, although it has some light and sweet moments. It focuses on the time during World War II when the Slovaks were Nazi supporters. In this way it sort of reminded me of Kobayashi's The Human Condition, and the desire of artists inside a country to not let the past slip away. Jozef Kroner plays Antonin "Tono" Brtko, who is given control over Rozalia Lautmannova's (beautifully played by Ida Kaminska) small button shop as part of the Nazi Aryanization program. Despite Tono's efforts to avoid doing harm, the system itself makes it impossible. As the Jews are being taken away, Tono tries one last time to save Razalia, but is unable, and in the end he cannot accept his role, although limited, in a regime committing such horrible atrocities. A brilliant film, and one that I can't recommend too highly.

Movies in 2026 94

 

Closely Watched Trains, (Jiri Menzel, 1966)

Last night in my Images of Fascism class I showed my students one of my favorite movies: Jiri Menzel's 1966 film Closely Watched Trains. It was the decidedly deserving recipient of an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, and is based on a Bohumil Hrabel novella. Milos (Vaclav Neckar) and Hubicka (Josef Somr) do most of the work at a sleepy train depot in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, and get involved with a plot to blow up an ammunition train, although the younger, and dreadfully inexperienced and clumsy Milos, spends most of his time hoping to get laid. Mainly I wanted my students to think about the notion that anybody can be a hero, no matter how unlikely, which seems like a perfect lead-in to Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, which we're starting next week. This film is required viewing.

9

 So, shit is getting real, as I've now passed into single digits. After leaving campus last night I'm left with only 9 days left wherein I have to be on campus (again, not counting Finals Week). Speaking of Finals Week, I remember my senior year at Franklin College. The tradition was that if you were a graduating senior, and you were happy with your grade, you had the option of not taking a class final. I was satisfied with my four classes, having locked in my normal 3.75 (my students are always amazed that I never actually pulled off a 4.0 even once in my college career - I try to convey to them that graduate schools are also looking for people who actually left their dorm rooms and did stuff)) so I decided to not take my finals (I think there was an off-chance that I could have pushed the B up to an A, but it didn't seem worth my time). As I approach my last Finals Week I'm tempted to give all my students that option. My fraternity voted to make me go home for the week, arguing that me hanging around during Finals Week without anything to do was a menace (which, doubtless, it would have been).

Thanks to Jon Ryan for loaning me his #9 for the Countdown. I thought I should finally include a kicker in the Countdown, although, obviously, Ryan is far more than simply some random kicker. He was actually born in Regina, Saskatchewan, including playing for the University of Regina Rams, although he spent most of his career in the NFL. Ryan was the punter for the Seattle Seahawks for ten seasons, including winning a Super Bowl with them. He also kicked for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Edmonton Elks, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and his hometown Saskatchewan Roughriders. He's a member of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (and he's the first Saskatchewan player to win a Super Bowl). While playing for the University of Regina he caught a 109 yard TD pass - and he's the part-owner of two summer college league baseball teams - so he seems like a pretty cool guy.

Movies in 2026 93

 

Daisies, (Vera Chytilova, 1966)

Since we're in the middle of a three week run of 1960s Czechoslovakian films in my Images of Fascism class I guess it's not too surprising that I've ended up taking the opportunity to revisit other films in a very rich Criterion Channel collection. Last night I re-watched Vera Chytilova's 1966 Czechoslovakian New Wave classic, Daisies. It's a surreal and anarchic commentary on perceived women's roles and bourgeois expectations. Mainly, it's Marie I (Jitka Cerhova) and Marie II (Ivana Karbanova) running amuck and causing destruction. I liked it a lot more on this second viewing. Recommended.

10

 And another week down, only five weeks to go. My students were immeasurably dense this week, staggeringly dense, even factoring in that it was the week after spring break they were breath-takingly dense. It would be great to finish out my long career with great, engaged students (to be fair, I do have a few really good kids this semester), but in other ways finishing with under-prepared and unengaged students is making this transition easier. It's frustrating because I'm teaching two sections of my Journey to the West class, which I originally created because I thought learning about Sun Wukong would be of natural interest to the gamer kids and also support their professional interests, and two classes on Fascism, because, well, duh. Sadly, the majority of the students seem pretty disinterested in both topics, the former leaves me sad, the latter leaves me frightened.

Thanks to CFL Hall of Famer Bernie Faloney for the use of his number 10 in the Countdown this week. Faloney was born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, and eventually starred at Maryland. In 1953 he led Maryland to a share of the national championship and finished fourth in the Heisman balloting. He was drafted in the first round as the 11th pick by the San Francisco 49ers, but they viewed him as a defensive back and an backup quarterback - and only offered him $9000. Edmonton (at the time the Eskimos) told him he could compete for the starting quarterback job - and they offered him $12,500 (it's so odd to read about these early stories where CFL teams outbid NFL teams for players) - so Faloney headed north. He helped Edmonton win the Grey Cup, but then returned home but then returned home to serve his military duties. After two years, he returned to the CFL, this time signing with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, for whom he became a legend (one of the roads next to the Tim Hortons Field is name after him), leading the Tiger-Cats to two Grey Cup wins.

Movies in 2026 92

 

Stagecoach, (John Ford, 1939)

Whenever I ask questions like, "Who is the greatest American director?" - and my long-time friends will tell you that I ask questions like that much too often (although, truthfully, can you ask question like that too often?) - for some reason I never promote John Ford as an answer. Obviously, he would be a completely legitimate answer. If you just wrote down the list of his truly great films he would naturally compete with any other American filmmaker. The other night I re-watched his 1939 breakout film Stagecoach - which also launched the career of John Wayne - and reshaped the American perception of the Western. It's currently in a Criterion Channel collection on movies with great stunts, which I don't normally think of when I think of Stagecoach (simply because there are so many other things to love about the film), but it does have great stunts. It's odd to think that Wayne received second billing, with Claire Trevor receiving top billing - she is very good, and for some reason I always forget that she later received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Key Largo. And speaking of Academy Awards, Thomas Mitchell received one for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Doc Boone. The film itself did not receive an Academy Award for Best Picture, because it was 1939 and that's the legendary year where all the films were all-time classics (unlike this past year, where you had a bunch of pretty good films which will seem like strange choices when people look back in a decade). Clearly, watching Stagecoach is essential.

And a star is born. Here's your first scene of John Wayne in Stagecoach, as he waves down the stagecoach - an iconic scene. Wayne had been in movies before, but this is where his true stardom began. Yes, life is pretty dreadful right now as we pass into an authoritarian nightmare and turn our back on every promise that we ever made as a nation, but I guess there's still John Wayne starring in John Ford films to give us some fleeting joy. In the foreground you can see Mollie's ears, as she carries on her nightly duties of sitting on my lap while I watch movies on the  Criterion Channel.

A Single Volume Ramayana - And a Bit too Much Excitement

 You know, there are moments when I have to admit to a ever so slightly nerdy moments. Generally, I accuse many of my friends (for instance, Cyndi) of being much bigger nerds than me (well, Janet gets a pretty consistent accusation), but, maybe I may have an ever so insignificant, almost unmeasurably small, degree of nerd in me. No one should be so excited about the arrival of a thousand page version of the Ramayana. To be fair, I do love the Ramayana, but the arrival of a single volume is huge for my Epics project. I have been able to tie my research and writing to single editions of the Iliad (Robert Fitzgerald), the Aeneid (Robert Fagles), the Shahnameh (Dick Davis), and Journey to the West (Anthony Yu, although Yu's classic is four volumes - he did create his single volume The Monkey and the Monk, which I use every year). All of these are easy to track down and inexpensive to acquire. The outlier was always the Ramayana. There simply wasn't a single volume that featured the original text from the Indian poet Valmiki. There are several much shorter retellings, but I wanted my readers to experience the original text, and not a modern retelling. So, I tied my writing to Robert Goldman's massive Critical Edition, which is extraordinary, but something that would be hard to find unless you had access to a library at a research university. So, the arrival of The Ramayana of Valmiki: the Complete English Translation from Robert Goldman and Sally J. Sutherland Goldman is a godsend. I have my single, affordable edition that I can tie to my research (although lining things up to my original citations from the Critical Edition, and factoring in new translations, is a late challenge to my work) solves a big problem. Beyond everything else, I was simply way too excited to have the book arrive, and provide me yet another opportunity to delve into the Indian classic.

Robert Goldman, who is a major scholar but also a very nice guy, told me about the publication of the single volume Ramayana (which somehow I had missed). It's still a tome, obviously, but here it is next to the seven volume Critical Edition of the Ramayana from which it is culled. 

Earthquake Museum

 And how did I never post anything about the Earthquake Museum? I've talked about the famous Lisbon earthquake of 1755 many times in various classes over the years, most recently in my Nature of Evil class in the fall. It inspired a poem from Voltaire., and, for that matter, Candide and his crew witness the earthquake in the novel Candide. Some philosophers propose that it was to philosophers of the 18th century what the Holocaust was to philosophers of the 20th century. That is, they are not claiming that the two events are close in regards to loss of life, obviously, but rather that they provided an existential threat to a worldview. That is, they were both events that thinkers had to address, in that you simply couldn't ignore them. The 18th century was dominated by the Enlightenment and the emphasis on reason, and the random nature of the earthquake, killing tens of thousands who were all in Church on All Saints Day, certainly spoke to the absence of God in daily life. I had wanted to visit it for a while, but in this particular case I was hoping, unrealistically, of leading one last student trip before my legs gave out entirely. Sadly, I had a heart scare (which turned out to be overrated), and I had to cancel the trip before it ever got off the ground. When you visit Lisbon a trip to the Earthquake Museum is definitely worth your time.

The museum does a pretty good job building the anticipation. Plus, well, it's a popular tourist stop, and they move you along pretty quickly.

It's pretty high tech jazzy, although this reminded me of the movie Tron.

There's a fair bit of scientific learning and quizzes. 

You get a sense of what Lisbon looked like pre-quake. The woman in the background is part of a sophisticated video of people walking in and out of the scene.

The high point of the experience is sitting in pews in a church as the earthquake hits, the jarring ride begins, which is synced up with the video.

And a Different Afternoon in Portugal

 This was just popped up on my phone as a memory the other day, and I captured it. It's from the Spain/Portugal student trip that I led with my great friend Mike and Kelly. We were just walking up the hill in Sintra, and we seemed awfully happy. Maybe it just jumped out at me because I was doing something as radical as walking without pain. Also, the weather looks awfully nice for late November.

Sadly, Janet and I couldn't retrace these steps on our trip to Sintra because of all the wildfires in the area.

Afternoons in Coimbra

 Maybe this is just because it's another Vermont day where the temperature isn't interested in climbing out of the 20s, but I was just sitting here thinking about Portugal. This is the first year in several that I won't be making a trip to my beloved Portugal. I was tempted to make one last dive into my PD funds and present a paper in Lisbon, but in the end it seemed much better to keep up the momentum of my Epics book (my goal is to get it finished - granted, books are not finished until they're published - by my last day at Champlain, so that I can go into the summer with a freedom I haven't had in a while). Plus, well, I figured that Champlain needs the money. Anyway, I found myself scrolling through some pictures, and it's amazing to me that I still have stories from last summer's trip that I haven't told (although this is a pretty common occurrence for me, as I have dozens if not hundreds of posts queued up to be written). I was thinking that I liked my time in Coimbra quite a bit, and would definitely like to go back. Here are a couple pictures that I snapped at a little restaurant when I was killing time waiting to get into the famous library. It's just a sandwich on a side street, but I wish I were there right now.

I'm always taking pictures of menus and coasters, although not as much as I should, just as reference points.

It was just a simple lunch, but it just screams Portugal.

Movies in 2026 91

 

Blue Velvet, (David Lynch, 1986)

In honor of the 40th anniversary of my personal boycott of the Academy Awards, I thought I'd revisit (again) the film that started it all, David Lynch's 1985 masterpiece Blue Velvet (that is, the fact that the film wasn't nominated for Best Picture led me to take an oath never to watch the Oscars again - a promise I've kept for four decades). I don't know what needs to be said about this film, one that I consider a top five selection. What struck me last night was how many iconic, unforgettable scenes there are in, including the scenes that you'd actually like to forget. As I've long opined, there were movies before Blue Velvet, and after Blue Velvet - just as their was TV before Twin Peaks, and TV after Twin Peaks. The other thing that I thought about last night was that I used to show his film during my adjunct days at Franklin College in the late 1980s, before I headed south to Atlanta for my first full-time gig at DeKalb (soon to be Georgia Perimeter) College. Not only did my students like the film and as part of a discussion sort out the deeper symbolism - but they also sat there and didn't crumble, start crying, or run out of the room. That is, they acted liked university students tackling difficult material. In my Nature of Evil class in the fall semester I showed Lee Tamahori's 1994 film Once Were Warriors, which is a film I've shown in several classes over a twenty year period at Champlain. It's a difficult and often brutal film, but it's also one of the most decorated films in New Zealand history - and for a reason. It gets at profound issues of misogyny and poverty and racism and a painful colonial legacy. In this last fall semester my students competed with each other, in an almost performative fashion, to see who could run out of the room more often. It was a pathetic performance, especially since I had actually given them something I abhor, a series of trigger warnings. What the students don't understand is that all this concern about their feelings and emotional health is not actually about their feelings and their emotional health. Rather, it's a decades long process by corporate America to make them more compliant consumers, and, as we're sadly seeing right now, more compliant in their submission to authoritarianism. Film, more than any other medium, is fueled by an emotional intensity and immediacy, and when we warn the viewers of unpleasant things that are going to happen we're doing incredible harm to the films. The director made a decision to tell their story a certain way, and I'm playing a role in destroying that vision when I warn the students about unpleasant aspects in the way the artist pursued their craft. But, again, it's more than simply tampering with the artistic integrity of an artist. When we dilute the message we're telling the students that they can't deal with unpleasant or complicated or ambiguous scenarios, and it is currently gutting education. Heaven forbid, I'd hate to think the mass faintings that a showing of Blue Velvet would inspire. When you grows up glued to your phone, your used to answers that are presented simply and definitively and entertainingly and comfortably. Unfortunately, life is not like that. Trump may be a unique cult figure, but he's not entirely an outlier. He presents simplistic and entertaining answers to complex and unpleasant problems, and when we decided to stop challenging our students, to make them uncomfortable, we laid the groundwork for the nightmare we're living through right now. Obviously, Blue Velvet is required viewing. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

Movies in 2026 90

 

Kiss of the Spider Woman, (Hector Babenco, 1985)

I don't remember the last time I saw Hector Babenco's 1985 film Kiss of the Spider Woman, but it was probably shortly about it came out. We were living in Cincinnati then, and it was before my son was born, so it's not out of the question that we actually saw it in a theater, but I don't remember that. So, it might have been an old school visit to a video store. I have this vague memory of their being a little video store up in the neighborhood around the University of Cincinnati, but who knows (and why I even remember that, having thought about it in decades, is already entering into the realm of the supernatural). Maybe I'll ask my friend Dave if he remembers said video store. Anyway, the movie is awfully good, although in some ways the performances of William Hurt (who won his Oscar for his role as Molina), Raul Julia, and Sonia Braga outshine the movie itself. It seems that I am watching too many films set in authoritarian states at the moment, which is probably telling of the state of America right now. Definitely recommended.

Movies in 2026 89

 

A Report on the Party and the Guests, (Jan Nemec, 1966)

I suspect I was grousing about my students earlier because of my students criminal inability to understand Jan Nemec's brilliant 1966 film A Report on the Party and the Guests the other night. Not surprisingly, this is another film that the Criterion Channel was kind enough to introduce to me. It's also a great fit for my Images of Fascism class. A Report on the Party and the Guests is a surreal allegory on how Communism spread in Czechoslovakia, both both from the perspective of the Party and also from those who who complied, some by force but also way too many much more casually or easily. My students inability to see parallels to today's nightmare American political scene was very discouraging, and also very telling. I will be showing it again on Thursday night, so the generation has one more chance to redeem itself. Highly recommended, the film, not my students.

Movies in 2026 88

 

Archer, (Adam Reed, 2009-2023)

When Janet and I got together, I suppose I brought many things to her life, hopefully some of them were good and made it worth her while to take me in off the street. Of course, for every thoughtful discussion of Proust or Pessoa or Mann, there's also CFL games and Cincinnati chili and Archer. Actually, Archer may be my best contribution to our relationship, and it remains our go-to choice on those nights when you're not quite ready to go to bed to read and a bit too tired to jump into a foreign film. And, of course, how do you even manage to get through the day without the strategic use of "Phrasing!"