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.