Movies in 2026 84

 

How to Shoot a Ghost, (Charlie Kaufman, 2025)

One of the many, many beautiful things about the Criterion Channel is that you never know what you're going to stumble across. Yes, there's the huge collection of Bergman and Ozu and Fellini films which are always there for the viewing, but then there are the monthly collections that come and go (or which are the ones, like Japanese film noir, that so popular that they don't leave), and you are introduced to new directors and genres and films all the time. Last night I watched Charlie Kaufman's 2025 short feature, How to Shoot a Ghost, which featured Jessie Buckley and Josef Akiki as spirits wandering aimlessly throughout Athens. I tend to like Kaufman more as a screenwriter than as a director, and this was no exception, although I did like the film and would definitely recommend it. When I drop dead I hope that I get to haunt someplace interesting - maybe if I can spend the rest of eternity spectrally roaming around Lisbon I might actually learn the language.

Bookmarks

 One of my (many) peculiarities is my willingness (joy) at using literally anything as a bookmark. Janet is much more likely to gather up free bookmarks at bookstores (like the motherlode we picked up yesterday afternoon at Bear Pond Bookstore in Montpelier), whereas I'll make use of just about anything; favorites would include: foreign currency, tickets to get into the Taj Mahal, plane tickets, etc. Yesterday I was putting a final gloss on my Ramayana chapter when the following restaurant receipt fell out of my copy of the Ayodhyakanda. I suppose, as I fast approach a major bookmark, that is my retirement, it would make sense that I found it oddly moving. An Indian epic definitely deserved an Indian receipt.

That's from the March 2020 trip to India, which will forever be known as the COVID trip, when the college irresponsibly sent us off on an international flight as the COVID pandemic was hitting (mainly because the administration wouldn't take my advice to cancel the trip and reimburse the money to the students; instead, they wanted me to cancel it, be the bad guy, and not give any money back).

The receipt was from late in the week, as we made our way back from Rajasthan to Delhi. I couldn't remember where we had stopped, although when I sent this picture to my friend and co-conspirator Steve, and he remembered the restaurant. The outside does look familiar.

Movies in 2026 83

 

Tiny Furniture, (Lena Dunham, 2010)

And here's another film which sat in my queue forever - and, for that matter, I think actually, back in the day, arrived as a Netflix DVD before being returned unwatched: Lena Dunham's 2010 film Tiny Furniture. It stars Lena Dunham his mother Laurie Simmons, and her sister Grace Dunham (with the latter two playing, appropriately enough, her mother and sister). It's often compared to an early Woody Allen movie, with the appropriate wink at the audience when one of the characters, Jed (Alex Karpovsky), is continually reading Without Feathers. I liked it a lot, although I wonder if the explosion of praise might have been a bit overdone, and partially related to her writing and directing it at the precocious age of twenty-four. Still, I shouldn't downplay it simply because she never topped it later. 

Movies in 2026 82

 

Variety Lights, (Alberto Lattuada & Federico Fellini, 1951)

The other night we finally watched a film that had sat in my Criterion Channel queue for way to long: Variety Lights. It's a 1951 move that was co-directed by Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada. I think it first entered the queue because I was in a Fallini mood, but then we finally watched it when we made the Alberto Lattuada connection. We had just watched Lattuada's Mafioso, which has become a cabin favorite. Variety Lights is the first film where Fellini received directorial credit, so there must have been a solid relationship between him and Lattuada, who was already a well-known filmmaker. It feels very much like a Fellini film, with that related joy and sadness that somehow always work out so beautifully together in his work. Plus, it co-stars Giulietta Masina (his wife), who also later starred in La Strada and Nights of Cabiria. Definitely recommended. 

Movies in 2026 81

 

Haxan, Benjamin Christensen, 1922)

My computer is, as is its wont, deciding to be weird and inefficient, which is keeping me from downloading/uploading pictures this morning. I guess this is what happens when you turn your laptop off and on to give it a break, and in the process it forgets how to do anything. All of this is by way of saying that I won't be able to post any movie posters (maybe I'll sort it out and come back and amend these posts). I will sometimes show clips from Benjamin Christensen's 1922 Swedish film Haxen, and I did so the other day in my COR 303 class. Not surprisingly, this led to me watching the entire film yet again, and thus it has made its way onto the blog. Haxen, which means "Witch," is one part documentary and one part horror film, and it adds up to a very rich cinematic experience. It's also amazing how clean the print is, both the one which seems to live eternally at the Criterion Channel and the one you can find on YouTube. Recommended.

Movies in 2026 80

 

Safety Last!, (Fred Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, 1923)

After Bleeder and Re-Wind maybe it made sense that I needed a Harold Lloyd recalibration, although I had already been working through a series of his films on the Criterion Channel already. Last night I watched Lloyd's classic Safety Last!, which also starred Mildred Davis (as The Girl), Bill Strother (as The Pal, Limpy Bill), and Noah Young (as The Law). Mildred Davis often co-starred with Lloyd, and eventually the two of them married. Safety Last! features some classic Harold Lloyd bits, including that classic scene of him hanging from a clock that is the natural result of any image search. Recommended.

July CFL Excellence

 The second CFL Trip of Excellence is becoming a reality. My cousin Nick and I are meeting in Hamilton in June for a Tiger-Cats game (he's already reserved the rooms, and now we're just waiting for the single game tickets to go on sale for I purchase a couple of nice seats on the 55 yard line). This will be followed up by the long-discussed Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders doubleheader in July. The plane tickets have been purchased - flying into Winnipeg and flying out of Regina (in between we're renting a car for the long drive in between) - and the rooms have been reserved. Again, we're just waiting for the individual game tickets to go on sale. Kevin and I will be attending both games, and Cyndi is joining us for the first part of the trip. In doing so, CB will join the inner circle of true CFL fans who have attended games with me at more than one CFL stadium (joining Kevin, Andy, and Sandy). After that trip, the only outlier in my quest to have visited every CFL stadium will be Victoria and to a BC Lions home game. I guess that will have to wait until the summer of 2027 when/if I'm back for a visit.