Movies in 2026 44

 

The Great Dictator, (Charlie Chaplin, 1940)

There are some films that make me cry every time I watch them, and one of them is Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator. His impassioned speech at the end, when the Jewish barber is mistaken for the dictator, and he takes the opportunity - essentially breaking away from both characters to speak directly to the audience as Chaplin, trying to convince the world to not embark on this madness, simply breaks me. I'm showing it in my Images of Fascism class. Every time I watch it I'm reminded that while I always focus on that speech, there are so many great moments in the film. Obviously very highly recommended, especially now. One final note: it's interesting how it's often the comedians who are the only ones brave enough to provide actual critique in the face of authoritarianism.

CFL Attendance or Pre-Retirement

 I don't think you can be more thoroughly in a pre-retirement mode than taking time out from grading and writing to update the CFL map outside your office by sticking in little pins to celebrate the number of people that you have taken to games over the years. I just focused on number of people, not total visits, which would have been much harder to calculate. Again, this process is essentially retired.

I've dragged 19 different people to Alouettes games, 1 person to an Ottawa game, 2 people to Toronto games, and 2 people to Hamilton games (my cousin Nick is already excited about being the third to attend a Tiger-Cats games, one of our plans for the summer).

And 1 to an Edmonton game and 1 to a Calgary game. Kevin is the leader with five CFL cities visited (doubtless, he'll have to be a part of an Ottawa game this summer so that we can be tied at six) and Andy is second at three.

Movies in 2026 43

 

Peter Hujar's Day, (Ira Sachs, 2025)

Now here's a movie that I simply didn't like very much, or at least I simply don't like very much so far. The Criterion Channel is currently premiering Ira Sachs's Peter Hujar's Day. It tells the story of Linda Rosenkrantz's interview with her friend, the photographer Peter Hujar. It was beautifully filmed, and Ben Whitshaw and Rebecca Hall are very good in it. I loved the audacity of the entire film being the two friends simply talking about, as Hujar walks her through his day. If the point was to put the viewer into that time and place, I simply don't know if it succeeded. I think that if you knew Peter Hujar or Linda Rosenkrantz or Susan Sontag or Fran Lebowitz (who are friends of his who come up in his story of his day) you'd say, "Wow, that brings me back," or "I could just see them saying that," but instead it simply left me cold, and felt more like name-dropping than a deeper reflection on the nature of art or the struggles of the artist. The inverse of even the more ordinary, non-famous person sometimes having the most extraordinary day would be the most talented talented, famous person having the most boring, uneventful days. I've talked before about the notion of liking the idea of some artist or some film more than liking it, and I think this definitely fits into the category. It could well be that I'll have a very different take the next time I watch it. Hopefully it lingers on the Criterion Channel so that I can revisit it in a few months. 

22

 OK, the countdown goes on. I have eleven weeks left, and two classes every week. It's still too early to get too emotional about the passing of it all, but maybe it will start to hit me as I approach single digits.

This is an extra meaningful day because for the picture I chose Joe Kapp, shown here during his time with the BC Lions. He led them to their first Grey Cup win and is enshrined in the CFL Hall of Fame. He led the Vikings to their only championship, the 1969 NFL Championship. He's definitely one of those guys who was more than a leader than he was a truly great quarterback, and his NFL passing stats are pretty dreadful, for his career throwing 40 touchdowns and 64 interceptions - however, he's tied for the all-time record for passing touchdowns in a single game with seven. His CFL stats are much better, happily.

Movies in 2026 42

 

A Woman's Face, (Gustaf Molander, 1938)

You never know what you're going to find in the Criterion Channel back alleys. I was searching for something, but came across a collection of early (pre-Hollywood) Ingrid Bergman films. This led me to Gustaf Molander's A Woman's Face. I didn't know anything about Molander, although I guess he directed the original Swedish version of Intermezzo, which inspired the later Hollywood version. It was an odd film, with Ingrid Bergman starting as cruel blackmailer with a horribly scarred face, who, after having her face operated by a kind surgeon, turned into a very nice, self-sacrificing person who ends up saving a boy's life (even though she had initially been involved in a plan to kill him). In the end it's somewhat redeemed by avoiding the temptation of staying in Sweden to be with the man she loves and instead travelling to China with the surgeon to do more helpful things in the world. Apparently, Ingmar Bergman co-wrote the script, which is strange because it certainly didn't feel like an Ingmar Bergman film, but we all have to start somewhere. At a certain point, after her facial scars were cleaned up, it occurred to me that she had been transformed into Ingrid Bergman, that is, impossibly beautiful (her character would have benefitted from a few lingering minor scars). I don't know if I would necessarily recommend it, but I also don't think that I'm any worse off for watching it - plus, well, you get to watch Ingrid Bergman, FFS.

Democracy

 Last night Janet and I attended our Representative Becca Balint's town hall in Montpelier. Vermont is one of those odd little states which, because of a small population, only has one Representative (but two Senators). I liked Balint before the town hall, and now I like her a lot more. It's hard to feel particularly optimistic in this age of autocracy, but hearing her ideas and witnessing her fire gave me more hope. She's certainly not Doctor Pangloss, but she shared a realistically, fairly optimistic view of how things can get better. She talked about the need to win in 2026 and win big, a true national referendum against this authoritarian nightmare, but also the need then to go beyond simply peeling back Trump's policies, but to be much more progressive; she said, and she's definitely correct, that the system before Trump's destructive policies was hardly a fair one, and we have to move beyond it. Personally, I think that if the Democrats don't recapture their New Deal/Great Society roots I don't know if they can win, and, well, it's sort of difficult for me to see what purpose they even serve as a party if they continue this utterly corporate path.

It was a packed house, and I almost felt like I did after 9/11 or when I received my first COVID shot, in that just being in a crowd with other people made me feel a lot better. Several times I became pretty emotional, which is not particularly surprising, I guess, but it hit me how I'm going to miss this little brave group of lunatics.

Groan - an Endless Series

 I was just telling my friend Sally that I increasingly define myself by my Lasts. And while I will miss some of my Lasts, such as the Last Time I Teach Crime and Punishment or my Last Breakfast at the TASTee Grill - and while I have more bittersweet feelings about others, such as My Last Class or My Last Car - there are others that I will not miss at all, such as my Last Vermont Winter.

Another winter and another winter day and another winter storm. The storm lasted for a day and a half, and followed hard on the heels of some bitterly cold days.

I'm guessing around a foot and a half of snow fell. Because it was still awfully cold it meant that the snow was light, which made it easier to shovel away and also decreased the chance for a power outage.

I will miss our Last Cabin.

Movies in 2026 41

 

Diamonds of the Night, (Jan Nemec, 1964)

A couple weeks ago I re-watched Jan Nemec's A Report on the Party and the Guests, which I'm using in my Images of Fascism class this semester. Last night I finished Nemec's first feature film, Diamonds of the Night. It tells the story, in a very purposefully elliptical and nightmarish fashion, of two boys who escape from a train taking them to a concentration camp. Like the later A Report on the Party and the Guests, Diamonds in the Night features commentary on present/past events mixed in with a goodly amount of the surreal. I'm not a huge Nemec fan, while also recognizing his well-deserved influence, and I didn't like Diamonds of the Night as much as A Report on the Party and the Guests, but I would still definitely recommend folks to give it a watch. 

Movies in 2026 40

 

Sinners, (Ryan Coogler, 2025)

During our science fiction readings as part of the Unofficial Book Club we've, not surprisingly, talked a lot about world building. This is also something that I thought of when I read the first two books in the Dune series. I thought of this the other night when I finally got around to watching Ryan Coogler's Sinners. Obviously, it's challenging to create anything new and meaningful when you're working in something as thoroughly explored as the vampiric, but Coogler imagines and realizes a rich and layered world, and the metaphors, if sometimes a bit heavy-handed, also work. I don't know if Sinners is worthy of setting the all-time Oscars record for nominations, but it's also awfully damn good. Highly recommended.

23

 And now we're down to 23 days until retirement. It was a strange day for this particular turnover because I wasn't on campus. We received around a foot and a half of snow during this storm (more pictures later) and so I carried out my classes on Zoom. Still, I wasn't going to cancel classes, and the conditions, both here in Calais and in Burlington, were pretty dreadful.

Here's a picture of Jonathan Hefney, whose story reminds us that not every story has a happy ending. After playing at Tennessee he had some brief stints with Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, and Detroit in the NFL, never seeing the field in an actual game, but then achieved much greater success in two stints with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and stops with the Calgary Stampeders and Montreal Alouettes. Along the way he was a CFL All-Star a couple times. Sadly, he was injured in a helmet-to-helmet hit during his time with Montreal and ended up with nerve damage that ended his playing career.

Bliss Pond in Deep Winter

 I don't know why I take so many pictures of Bliss Pond, beyond the fact that I drive by it on my latest favored shortcut almost every day - and, well, it's beautiful. I snapped this one the other day as I was driving back from the gym on a wretchedly cold day. We're also in the middle of a massive winter storm, which is pounding half the country, so this seemed appropriate. 

I think I like this one because it features both the deep freeze but also, if you squint, maybe warmer and sunnier days ahead. Today is also the day of Janet's citizenship hearing in Sicily, so we might, potentially, theoretically, get some very positive news today - or we might get some terribly deflating news today - or we might just have to wait out more winter days to hear anything. So, yes, I guess this picture works.

Movies in 2026 39

 

We All Loved Each Other So Much, (Ettore Scola,  1974)

One of the wonderful things - one of the many wonderful things - about the Criterion Channel is that not only does it routinely introduce me to new directors, but it also often empowers me to do a deep dive. The other day I re-watched Ettore Scola's wonderful A Special Day, and then yesterday I followed up with his 1974 film We All Loved Each Other So Much. It's the story of three friends, Antonio (Nino Manfredi), Gianni (Vittorio Gassman), and Nicola (Stefano Satta Flores) told over the course of thirty years. It's a comedy, but it has the insightful observations on politics and class and relationships that you'd expect from an Italian film of that age. Stefania Sandrelli plays Luciana, the woman who plays a central role in their lives and the unfolding story. It makes me want to watch Antonio Pietrangali's I Knew Her Well again or more of her other films. Recommended.

Movies in 2026 38

 

Battleship Potemkin, (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)

I suppose I shouldn't include movies that I watch in class, although, well, they are movies that I watch. Plus, if I'm going to use them in class, the reality is that I'm watching them (re-watching them) three times in the course of a week, once as part of a final prep, and then once each in my two classes. I've used Sergei Eisenstein's seminal 1925 film Battleship Potemkin class so many times over the years. As I'm wont to explain to my students, "If you were more legitimate students taking a legitimate film class at a more legitimate college, you'd watch Battleship Potemkin." Lenin was the first world leader who understood the power of this new medium, and supported artists like Eisenstein. What's the point in printing millions of leaflets for an illiterate population? However, it's not simply that, it's also a recognition of the emotional power of film. We have readings related to propaganda for class on Monday, so this makes Battleship Potemkin a natural choice. Beyond its value as a propaganda text, the movie is also simply a great film, and it has been shamelessly copied an almost infinite amount of times. Required viewing.

And Again

 Groan. There are many things I will miss about Vermont, but the winter is not one of them. Seriously. The prediction for our latest winters storm has us getting buried under 10-17 inches of snow (although it will be a tad warmer, currently it's -12 here in Calais with a wind chill of -27). This has left me with substantial logistical planning for my classes on Monday. Initially the forecast had Burlington "only" getting seven inches of snow, which made a night at Casa Kevin's a logical option for Sunday night (and he, like a great friend, is always welcoming). However, the forecast has shifted, and now BTV is predicted for 8-13 inches, so there are no good options. By comparison, it will be sunny and in the mid-60s in Catania.

It looks like Zoom is going to get a workout on Monday.

Movies in 2026 37

 

A Special Day, (Ettore Scola, 1977)

There are films that are almost physically painful to watch, not because they're just dreadful (such as My Blueberry Nights, see above) but because they are so true. I remember watching a theater re-release of Casablanca (actually, twice) during the first Trump administration. Thinking about what America had been and what it was supposed to mean, as compared to what it was becoming, was agonizing. I cry while watching Casablanca every time anyway, but this time the tears simply felt different (watching it now might kill me). Last night I had a somewhat similar experience, re-watching Ettore Scola's wonderful A Special Day. I'm considering using it for the final film analysis in my Images of Fascism class, so I thought I should give it a second look. It's the story of two lonely people, Sophia Loren and Marcelo Mastroianni (both playing against type), meeting and spending the afternoon together on a special day, although the special day in question was the day that Hitler travelled to Rome to meet Mussolini for a huge public celebration. The celebration, and concomitant propaganda, is perpetually playing in the background on the radio, providing a powerful contextual commentary. Mastroianni play a gay, liberal radio commentator and reporter who is waiting for deportment (or worse), while Loren plays a conservative housewife who is a Mussolini fan, complete with her generated scrapbook and portrait made of buttons. No one living through our age ever has to ask how Italy and Germany fell so quickly and effortlessly into authoritarianism. Highly recommended, the film, not Fascism. 

Movies in 2026 36

 

My Blueberry Nights, (Wong Kar-wai, 2007)

It's difficult for me to express how utterly disappointing Wong Kar-wai's My Blueberry Nights is. It's not lacking in talent, considering that it features Jude Law, David Strathairn, Rachel Weisz, Nathalie Portman, and, in her first role, Norah Jones - and it's directed by Wong Kar-wai - but it's just an uninspired and uninspiring mess. Norah Jones isn't terrible, but she's also fairly limited, as one expect in a singer tackling her first acting role. The problems are more profound than her limitations as an actress, however. It's like, everything that Wong Kar-wai got right in his sublime In the Mood for Love he gets wrong in this misfire. It feels like an extended Norah Jones music video filmed with a CSI episode aesthetic. There are too many other interesting Wong Kar-wai films to waste time with this soulless effort.

24

 And now we're down to only 24 mandatory campus days left. I suspect it will really begin to hit me when we get down to the single digits, although maybe earlier.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers great Ken Hailey helped me mark the day. Hailey, a defensive back, was born in Oceanside, California and played his college ball at San Francisco State. He played the first nine years of his eleven year career with the Blue Bombers, before finishing with a year playing for the Ottawa (at the time) Rough Riders and then a year with the BC Lions. Along the way he won three Grey Cups, all with the Blue Bombers.

For CFL Completists

 And there you go: I now have a jersey from every CFL team. Considering that I've never bought an NFL or MLB jersey (I own jerseys that I cherish, but I didn't buy them myself - although I have bought two Vermont Lake Monsters jerseys, which further makes my point). My final birthday gift arrived the other day, an utterly sweet Ottawa Redblacks jersey.

My cousin Nick thought this was a great jersey, which, well, it is. The Redblacks have been pretty dreadful the last couple years, but they just poached the Toronto  Argonauts head coach, so better days may be on the horizon. Almost certainly, there will be an Ottawa game this summer. My friend Craig is very interested in an Ottawa trip, and the Redblacks is the only CFL stadium that I've visited that my friend Kevin has not seen, so his attendance is necessary.

This is the jersey of CFL great Henry Burris, who played for the Redblacks late in his career and helped orchestrate a Grey Cup upset.

Movies in 2026 35

 

Oslo, 31 August, (Joachim Trier, 2011)

Yes, the Joachim Trier film fest continues. I re-watched his Oslo, 31 August, which is simply a wonderful and powerful film. It is the second film in his Oslo trilogy, sandwiched between 2006's Reprise and 2021's The Worst Person in the World, the latter of which, sadly, I haven't seen yet. Oslo, 31 August follows the day of recovering drug addict Anders, played brilliantly by Anders Danielsen Lie, on one day as he is released from his expensive rehabilitation center for a job interview. He runs into many of his old friends, and tragically but not surprisingly many of his past problems, as he comes to grips with the pain he has caused others. The film includes so many brutal emotional gut punches, and the ending is brilliant and painful, but also true to itself. Very highly recommended. 

Movies in 2026 34

 

Inspector Montalbano: The Snack Thief, (Alberto Sironi, 1999)

We should probably just consider this post as a bit of a placeholder, as this film is the first in a series that we will doubtless be watching. Last year I gave Janet the first ten books in Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano collection, which focuses on a Sicilian detective. Since then we discovered that Camilleri's novels inspired a television series that stretched out, off and on, for over twenty years - eventually leading to the a Young Montalbano series. It's a pretty enjoyable, and painless, way to figure out a bit about our new home, even if a lot of the humor and situations are exaggerated (or maybe they're not, it is Sicily). We watched the pilot, entitled The Snack Thief, which was interesting. Years ago I read where a famous detective author propose that in the end the success of the series is really about the detective and not the mystery he/she is solving, and Montalbano seems like an interesting character. It nothing else, the first installment hasn't frightened me away from Sicily yet. 

Hell Is Getting Ready to Freeze Over

 I suppose there's not much to be said about these images, other than the usual: #YankeeHellhole

When we first moved up here to Vermont over a quarter century ago these cold snaps were more frequent (and, yes, I know that sounds like a true Vermonter, which I'm not) and you'd have stretches where the temperature never made it up to zero for days on end. I tend to not romanticize the past, especially in regards to Vermont weather.

My friend Kerry asked if I was dreaming of Sicily. I replied that my legs are. While my main problem with my legs is the mysterious muscular/neurological condition that plagues me, I also struggle with arthritis, and increasingly the Vermont winters beat on me.

Movies in 2026 33

 

Winter Brothers, (Hlynur Palmason, 2017)

I suppose, sitting deep in a Vermont winter, I shouldn't be watching movies based in winter in other cold places, but maybe misery does love company. In Hlynur Palmason's Winter Brothers, there's plenty of misery and winter, but sadly not much company. I had watched Palmason's Godland a few months ago, although I didn't make the connection until I began to explore another great Criterion Channel collection. Palmason is an Iceland director who will hopefully begin to get more notice. Winter Brothers focuses on two brothers, young brother Emil (Elliott Crosset Hove - who stars in Godland) and Johan (Simon Sears), who work in a mine. It's pretty grim, and deals with issues such as isolation and masculinity. It doesn't come together as cleanly as you might wish, and I suspect it wasn't meant to. Recommended. It's made me want to go back and watch Godland again.

Frequent Visitor

 As I proposed the other day, once the deer showed up and decided to hang around our yard for several hours I figured that it meant we'd have a return visitor. And, sure enough, as I was reading in the living room I looked out the window and their was our friend, just hanging out. Hopefully this is a good thing, as in she likes the flavor of our trees or the backyard possesses a nice combination of fun and a wind break, and not something bad, like she's lost her crew. Still, it's lovely to look out the window and see nature so close.

I guess we need to create some sort of loyalty program for return visitors. 

Hell Has Frozen Over

 Actually, here in Vermont I think Hell is getting ready to freeze over, but more on that in a few posts. The more immediate, and unbelievable, example of Hell freezing over is the fact that IU won the college football championship last night. Now, I don't give a tinker's damn about any college sports (and, as I've often opined, I think it's an incredibly destructive force - at least on the level of big time college sports - that has done terrible damage to the American university system), but I am happy that IU won, mainly because I have friends who are big fans and I know it gave them joy. It's almost impossible to get your brain around since, until two years ago, IU was the default answer for: What is the worst college football program of all time? Seriously, they had lost more games than any other program. And now they completed the first 16-0 season. Bizarre. I remember visiting Jack at IU in college for the Nebraska game, and we were joking about whether or not they were going to add a triple digit to the visitor's end of the scoreboard.

Jack and Juju's kids pooled their resources and bought tickets so that these proud IU alums could attend the championship game. 

 

Movies in 2026 32

 

Dazed and Confused, (Richard Linklater, 1993)

One of the advantages of 2026's year of movies, much like 2025's year of books, is that I'm encouraged to get out of my rut and watch movies that I've always meant to watch but somehow never got around to viewing. So, why had I never got around to watching Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused, even though it's all but a cultural touchstone. Of course, the first reason may simply be that it's a cultural touchstone, and that ran up against my well known contrarian nature. Also, I think much of the 1990s went by in the blur of child-rearing and kicking off my career. Finally, and maybe most importantly, shit, I lived through high school in the mid-1970s, and I don't have any happy or romantic memory of it. One of the thing that I like about the film is that Linklater didn't try and turn it into some idiotic George Lucas American Graffiti version of the 70s. Yes, Dazed and Confused featured a lot of fun and silly behavior, but it also included the stupidity and cruelty and small-mindedness and boredom that was also a big part of the age. I'm sorry that it took me so long to watch Dazed and Confused for the first time, and it won't nearly be so long before I give it a second look. 

Movies in 2026 31

 

Reprise, (Joachim Trier, 2006)

We may be starting a Joachim Trier film fest. Happily, the Criterion Channel has some, although not all, of Trier's film available (but where would I be without it?). Last night I watched his first film, Reprise, for the first time in several years. The film is both joyous and dark, and even if this early effort you can see the extraordinary potential that would make Trier one of the best filmmakers in the world. The film follows the trials and tribulations of two young writers, Phillip (Anders Danielsen Lie) and Erik (Espen Klousman Hoiner) as they launch their careers, and struggle with innumerable personal problems. Highly recommended.

Company

 You never can tell who will pop by the cabin for a visit, even on a snowy cold day like today.

The last couple days I noticed the cats running up to the window to take a look in the backyard, and now I guess who had been popping by for a visit. The local beasties, the outside beasties, tend to get into patterns (at least that's true of our occasional guest, the fox) so we may have more daily visits from our friend.

Movies in 2026 30

 

Louder Than Bombs, (Joachim Trier, 2025)

It's only lately that I've discovered the Danish-Norwegian filmmaker Joachim Trier (thanks, Criterion, as always). This morning I watched his Louder Than Bombs, which I liked but didn't love (although it had some wonderful moments). It was chock full of fine performances, and Isabelle Huppert (not surprisingly) was transcendent. Sometimes I tell my students that their papers were not fully realized, after explaining that I swiped the phrase from movies. With that in mind, I guess my critique of Louder Than Bombs was that it wasn't fully realized. I found myself thinking that it would have made a better novel, mainly because there were clearly worlds within worlds beneath the surface of four very complex characters, and only so much time to explore cinematically. I liked his earlier Reprise, Oslo 31 August, and Thelma quite a bit, but unfortunately haven't been able to see his The Worst Person in the World or his current Sentimental Value yet. 

Movies in 2026 29

 

Vivre sa vie, (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962)

I've made the point along the way that I like Czech New Wave better than French New Wave, although that certainly doesn't mean that I don't like the latter. I think after making that bold point the other night I'm being drawn back to watching some of the best films of Godard and Truffaut and Varda, etc., so expect a number to appear. Last night I watched Godard's Vivre sa vie, starring Anna Karina (his definitive muse). She plays a would be actress, who, after leaving her husband and infant, tries to make it in Paris. Her job in a record story doesn't pay the bills and in the end she becomes a prostitute. Despite a tragic ending, she lives her life unapologetically. Karina's performance is wonderful, and the film includes some of those odd but brilliant moments (such as Karina's character discussing life with Godard's actual professor) that you'd expect from one of his films. The end will stay with you. Highly recommended.

25

 

Daniel Adeboboye is another native Canadian, born in Mississauga, Ontario, which is right next to two CFL cities, Toronto and Hamilton (it's essentially a suburb of the former). He attended Bryant University, and then played for hometown Toronto Argonauts, winning a Grey Cup along the way. He was traded to the REDBLACKS last season. Ottawa was the worst team in the league last year, but they just spirited Ryan Dinwiddie away from the Argonauts so I suspect better times are on the way.

I had just switched the weekly countdown number over to 25 days left until retirement, as signified by Daniel Adeboboye, currently of the Ottawa REDBLACKS, when my friend Erik caught the change on the door. He asked if that was the right number, and when I answered yes, he pointed out that it's not many days left. I think it's starting to hit all of us. 

Movies in 2026 28

 

Youth in Fury, (Masahiro Shinoda, 1960)

Here's a film, Youth in Fury, that I was considering using in my Images of Fascism class this spring as a Finals Week assignment, although I think I may have backed away from it. I'm not a huge fan of Masahiro Shinoda, although his Pale Flower is my favorite Japanese film noir. The film is about a university student who is drawn towards right wing terror as part of his and Japan's turmoil, which would have potentially made for a perfect fit for my Fascism class, but in the end I don't know if we get into his mind enough to allow my students to tackle with his motives in relation to the readings we've done on authoritarianism, especially the appeal of authoritarianism to the young. It's a good movie, and the ending is beautifully evocative of the age, so I may give it another consideration. Either way, it's definitely recommended.

Movies in 2026 27

 

Bitter Rice, (Giuseppe De Santis, 1949)

I literally stumbled across Giuseppe De Santis's 1949 film Bitter Rice. I was searching for another film in Criterion and this one popped up, and, well, you can imagine that I always wander down all those avenues. It's somewhere between a neo-realist exploration of social issues and a film noir. I didn't realize that even today half of the EU's rice comes from Italy, although I'm assuming the conditions are not as grim as they were in 1949. Recommended.

Sweet Birthday Gifts

 Beyond the Ottawa REDBLACKS jersey which is making its way south, Janet also bought me a couple highly entertaining (and informative) books on the CFL.

Steve O'Brien's book is very interesting, and gives you a clear sense of how close they always are to shutting down, but also their plucky refusal to surrender.

Stephen Drake's book is quite entertaining. I've just started and I'm already amazed at how many times the Grey Cup Trophy has been dropped, smashed, burnt, lost, and kidnapped for random.

Aveiro

 I was culling out material from my phone and came across a bunch of pictures from last June's trip to Portugal that I never did anything with (for who knows what reason - probably the demands of blogging about all of last year's reading). Anyway, I came across some nice shots of a lovely day that I spent, taking the long way from Coimbra back to Lisbon. Clearly, that's not a straight shot, but on each trip to Portugal I want to cover different corners of that marvelous country. It's kind of painful to think of it now, mainly because Sicily has taken center-stage in our plans, at least for the next few years. Still, even if we end of settling in Sicily forever, I'm sure we'll make it back to Portugal. Aveiro is often portrayed as Portugal's Venice because of its canals, although they are more artificial and much newer than their much more famous cousins in northern Italy. Still, it's a beautiful place and I could definitely see it as a possible relocation alternative, although I suspect it must get awfully crowded during the high tourist season.

The canal boats are called barcos moliceiros, which are modelled on the traditional boats used to harvest seaweed.

The canals come together as part of a larger, Venice-like (or Venice-light) lagoon.

It's a very charming town, and I'm definitely hoping to return.

Movies in 2026 26

 

Boogie Nights, (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)

Paul Thomas Anderson is the Anderson filmmaker who I like, as compared to Wes Anderson who is the Anderson filmmaker who I've very cool towards (although my students love the latter). I think that Wes Anderson is a brilliant technical filmmaker, but he's definitely one who is simply satisfied with his films being clever and quirky and nothing more. It's not that I don't love quirky and clever, because, well, my love for Hal Hartley is well-documented, but the difference is that there are characters in Hartley films who, amidst the hurricane of quirkiness, I care about deeply, whereas I never care about any character in a Wes Anderson movie. Obviously, I guess that's OK, because I don't think you're supposed to care about the characters in a Wes Anderson movie, but rather just be impressed by the wizardry of the director. There are many directors (and writers and painters and singers and musicians, etc.) who are very generous, but I just don't think that's anything that interests Wes Anderson. On the other hand, there's Paul Thomas Anderson, who is also a very successful and well-respected director, but it's difficult to not feel the pain and victories (often small) of his characters. Last night I watched his Boogie Nights for the first time in forever, and it was better than I remembered (and I remembered it being good).  Once I think I described it as It's a Wonderful Life in the Porn Industry, not because it's great to work in the porn industry, obviously, but that the end was oddly life-affirming. In the increasingly cold and hateful Reagan universe, which has reached its horrible nadir today, you can find family in strange places. Highly recommended.

The Bullies

 

"So, are we eating lunch or not?"
 

The Criterion Closet

 There are two institutions to which I give consistent and boundless love: the CFL and the Criterion Channel. Why Canada has not just just given me citizenship in response to my CFL devotion is anyone's guess (apparently I'm going to have to write my book about the CFL first). Similarly, the Criterion Channel needs to invite me to the Criterion Closet. For those who don't know (that is, wrong-thinking individuals) the Criterion Closet is a series of videos where famous directors and actors (but sadly no retiring Vermont college professors) are allowed to enter a closet an take as many DVDs as they would like, while also explaining their selections. It's pure joy for a film buff. I think I even know that films I would choose and what I would say, which I clearly think about this entirely too much. Erik sent me this cartoon the other day, which speaks to the fact that I send around the Criterion Closet videos too much. It's sort of the equivalent of me watching a CFL game and suddenly having three people text me "Rouge!" is response to game action. Come on, Criterion, I'm not asking for citizenship, just a trip to the Criterion Closet!!

This will be our apartment in Sicily.

Movies in 2026 25

 

Speaking Parts, (Atom Egoyan, 1989)

I've been enjoying this month's Criterion Channel Atom Egoyan collection, despite my ragging on Chloe the other day. My judgment is probably unfair, mainly because I hold him in such high esteem as a director. Yesterday I watched his Speaking Parts, one of his earliest and best efforts. It's almost painful to watch, and not simply because it's so brilliant and it brings me back to the question of why Egoyan doesn't make interesting films anymore. Rather, it's painful because Egoyan's vision is so prescient and depressing. Among other things, it deals with how technology steals away our humanity and leaves us floundering in an artificial world. I'm always saddened in class to see my students paying no attention to each other before class and instead sitting quietly staring at their phones, which starts again immediately after class is over. I sometimes get angry with them - once, notably, when we finished watching The Deer Hunter, and none of them said anything but instead just returned to their phones and their perceived reality. It features some Egoyan regulars, with Arsinee Khanjian and Gabrielle Rose particularly giving great performances. Highly recommended.

The Little One

 Janet is down in Boston at the moment, running her winter residency, which means I'm in charge of the cats, or they're in charge of me, the difference being that I'm not trying to convince them to give me whipped cream every time the refrigerator is opened. The one who "suffers" the most from Janet's absence is Cici, mainly because so much of her daily schedule is centered around Janet. This mainly relates to Janet reading in bed in the morning and evening, and Cici plopping down on her the entire time. Mollie just follows me around the house, on multiple floors, and sitting on my lap, so her schedule doesn't change much. Yesterday I intentionally climbed back into bed midday to work on Duolingo, but mainly to give Cici a chance to recreate, imperfectly, her favorite thing. She appeared out of nowhere in about five seconds, and order was somewhat restored.

"So, when is Janet getting back - and why are you still here - and are you going to the refrigerator soon?"

Movies in 2026 24

 

Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, (Jacques Tati, 1953)

Last year I watched Jacques Tati's film Playtime, which I absolutely loved. Yesterday I watched his earlier film, Monsieur Hulot's Holiday, where he introduced his beloved character. Truthfully, I didn't like it as much as Playtime, although that's hardly a stinging critique. There's a certain pace that you need to adjust to, mainly a slow burn, where his character clumsily causes unintentional mischief. I read where Rowan Atkinson loved the film, and based his Mr. Bean on Monsieur Hulot, which makes sense, but since I don't like Mr. Bean nearly as much as his Blackadder, I suppose I'm naturally limited to how much I am drawn to the character. Atkinson's point was that it was amazing how much you could say and how much fun you could have with so little words, and he's definitely spot-on in this observation. I also like Tati's critique of the modern business sensibility and pace. Definitely recommended. This makes me want to go back and watch Playtime. 

Straight Down the Line

 The pain and sadness of my end is mainly alleviated by being surrounded by extraordinary colleagues and some of my best friends. Chief among them is my amazing friend Erik. With our (hopefully temporary) declining numbers we don't even have to share an office anymore, but neither of us could imagine that happening. We simply get along too well. In explaining to my students on Monday where my office is I told them that I shared an office with Professor Esckilsen, mainly because we're the two biggest film whores on campus and we spend most of the day talking about French actresses that we love and commiserating over idiot student stories. My kids understood.

The classic film noir Double Indemnity was playing on the ceiling of our office when I came back after my first class, a gift from EE. 

26

 And so it begins, my last semester teaching. Truthfully, it's stressful, the ending of something that has dominated so much of my life over the last forty years and reimaging myself as having some purpose for the last decade or so, but I guess I'm coming to terms with it. My physical decline, oddly, helps with the process, because I know in my heart of hearts that I can't continue to do this. When I walk into Wick and pause before the seven steps up to the landing to marshal my dwindling resources for the climb it makes it easier to imagine a world where I don't have to suffer through that pain and humiliation. Happily, my classes were great on Monday, which may simply be that they know that it's my final semester. Anyway, at the end of the day, it was time to put up a new CFL player's picture on my door, recognizing now only 26 days until retirement.

And this is Garney Henley, an all-time Hamilton Tiger-Cats great. He was born in Elgin, North Dakota and attended Huron College (a college in Huron, SD, now, as with an increasing number of small private schools, closed). So far, this sounds like the classic CFL story. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 15th round (back in the day when the NFL draft was that extensive), but was released. Upon the suggestion of Packers coach Vince Lombardi he was signed by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. From these reasonably nondescript origins, Henley built an almost unrivalled  career, being named an All Star ten times, the first nine as a defensive back and the last as a receiver (in a year he also won the league's Outstanding Player Award - it boggles the mind). He played in seven Grey Cups, winning four, and the Tiger-Cats retired his number this year.