3

 And we've entered the penultimate week, as we close down my four plus decade teaching career. Classes were good yesterday. In my COR 303 classes I taught the students a bit of paleography, to let them know in addition to understanding how historians approach their decisions-making process, they should also understand what we do on a day to day basis. It's one of my odder assignments, but one which has always proved popular with the students. And last night we watched Terrestrial Verses, and then I'd declared it Champlain College If Day - in honor of Winnipeg If Day - and asked the students how they would express the danger of creeping authoritarianism (like Winnipeg's 1942 If Day, I told the students to imagine that they took over the campus and show people what it would actually mean if we fully passed into an authoritarianism regime). They didn't do an extraordinary job, but they came up with some interesting ideas. I have come up with so many odd assignments over the years, most of which worked better than the ones that I had devoted more time to planning. I will miss that creative process after I shut it down.

Thanks to Vernon Adams, Jr. for loaning me his number 3 for the Countdown. I've actually seen Adams play a couple times, which, considering that I've attended over twenty CFL games I suppose that shouldn't be too surprising. Adams was born in Pasadena, California and played college ball at Eastern Washington and Oregon. He went undrafted by the NFL and attended rookie mini-camps with the Seattle Seahawks and Washington (at the time) Redskins, but never received an offer. He headed north, and began a peripatetic career with stops at the Montreal Alouettes, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes (again), BC Lions, and Calgary Stampeders. I've seen him have some great games. He was the starting QB in last June's freeze bowl game in Calgary that Kevin and I barely survived. Adams did not have a great day that day, but nobody did, including us.

Movies in 2026 115

 

Terrestrial Verses (Ali Asgari & Alireza Khatami, 2023)

Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami's Terrestrial Verses is yet another film that the Criterion Channel, in its infinite compassion, introduced to me. It quickly found its way into my film classes, and is a natural fit for this semester's Images of Fascism class. It almost makes me sad I won't be able to share it with students anymore. Last night, one of my students told me that we had finally watched a film that he was excited to show to his friends. I'm a little disappointed in regards to the other dozen films I showed along the way, but I'll take any and all small victories. It's a series of short vignettes, all featuring one camera shot, with a different person suffering through a variety of micro-aggressions from from nameless, faceless authority figures. My favorites were Selena, the little girl who wants to dance while her mom drapes dehumanizing layers of burqas on her, and Aram, the teenage girl who shows her high school  vice principle that the system has taught her a thing or two along the way. Terrestrial Verses is required viewing.

Movies in 2026 114

 

Daybreak (Marcel Carne, 1938)

I made the point a few days ago that I thought that Marcel Carne may actually be my favorite French director (I don't now if I can say that definitely, because there are so many great French directors and I'd have to brood over it - but I do really like his early films). Apparently Godard and Truffaut just brutalized Carne at the height of the French New Wave (I think they hated everyone, eventually including each other), so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they included Carne in their spleen. Last night as I was driving home from my night class I began reflecting upon this fact (it's an hour drive from Burlington to Calais, so I have plenty of time to ruminate). Godard and Truffaut were brilliant filmmakers who changed cinema forever, but I think I can say that I never cared anything about any of the characters in any of their movies, and I don't think I was supposed to. I cannot make the same statement about characters in Carne films. Sometimes it seems that our desire to be deconstructive replaces our desire to construct a narrative that tells a story that the audience cares about. Or maybe I'm being as unfair to Godard and Truffaut as they were to Carne? Anyway, I re-watched Carne's 1938 classic Daybreak, starring Jean Gabin, Arletty, and Jules Berry. I remember the first time I saw the film I was more than a little stunned to see Arletty in a brief nude scene, but then, she's Arletty, and they're the French, so I shouldn't have been. Gabin is, per usual, great, with that roguish tough guy persona. Highly recommended (no matter what the ghosts of Godard and Truffaut might tell you).

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.