In honor of the magnificent Sam Neill, I want to reshare my review of Jurassic Park (1993), a film that is designed for a communal cinema experience and is a perfect example of the magic of movies. Neill's legacy is immense and lives on in every child he inspired to never let go of wonder.

I tend to think one of the defining characteristics of this era is that when you scratch the surface of a famous person, you often find something dark and unpleasant, but when you scratched the surface of Sam Neill, it seemed like you found just more decency and delight. Rest in Peace, legend.

“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” said David McCraw, The Times’s top newsroom lawyer... www.nytimes.com/2026/07/11/b...

I'll say this about Evil Dead Burn. Like the last two entries, it has a really good final girl. It refuses to play it safe and crosses one line that's usually never crossed. That said, man do I wish it had a little more levity. My review: #horrosky #filmsky www.thehorrorlounge.com/post/evil-de...

My daughter speaking with Mitch McConnell.

Listen, I'm not rushing summer, but yes, I did finish my fall semester syllabi and uploaded two of my classes to Canvas already, with two more to go. 😱

Why has Graham Platner not dropped out yet? I thought he would have first thing this morning.

I do not live in Maine. I'm not a Maine voter, but it still boggles my mind how and why Graham Platner was elevated. The warning signs were there early. The story that dropped today is sickening. Meanwhile, hard to see how the Senate flips without Maine. www.politico.com/news/2026/07...

I feel like I rewrote this list five times, but still, I had a lot of fun writing it! #filmsky #horrorsky #America250 www.thehorrorlounge.com/post/america...

It’s HOT! Don’t forget to unplug your local Data center to stay cool.

In all the Freedom 250 hoopla, I hope we can all remember the true meaning of the Fourth of July: watching Jaws

Physical books. You own them. They don't require updates. They don't surveil you or collect and sell your data. They are a genuinely safe hallucinogen that leaves you smarter and more empathetic and with a longer attention span the more you use them. Free from the library. What's not to like?

It’s hotter here in PA than it was in St. Lucia over the last week! Also, the island is utterly gorgeous.

I thought the performances in Leviticus were great, especially Joe Bird. The monster concept is really familiar (It Follows), but it's a good feature debut overall. My review: #horrorsky #filmsky www.thehorrorlounge.com/post/levitic...

I’m going on vaca next week but also working on an article about the most influential American horror films for the country’s big 250 and my selections have changed some at least three times!

If anyone needs a new profile header, please accept my offering

There are parts of Disclosure Day I really liked, but also felt that, despite its long runtime, it doesn't fully explore the profound questions it asks. That said, Emily Blunt gives a fantastic performance. Here's my review: #moviesky #filmsky www.thehorrorlounge.com/post/while-e...

CNN as you know it is effectively over and will likely be run by Bari Weiss.

EVs = they’re going to crash the grid!! Data centers = “let’s build 3,000 of them!”

Carolina Caroline is one of my favorites of the year so far. Samara Weaving and Kyle Gallner are fantastic in it, especially Weaving. Here's my full review. #moviesky #filmsky www.thehorrorlounge.com/post/samara-...

Hatred of data centers is the only bipartisan political issue in America. Incredible work by tech CEOs in uniting the country.

I keep thinking about those still alive who marched and bled in places like Selma for the Voting Rights Act and how in that same lifetime, they saw the SCOTUS strike down what remained of the Voting Rights Act. We can't fix this without SCOTUS expansion and reform. apnews.com/article/supr...

"Erin Brockovich took on a corporation poisoning a town's water supply and won. Now she's turning her attention to the infrastructure powering artificial intelligence. She's launched Brockovich Data Center Reporting — a project designed to ma ..." www.facebook.com/permalink.ph... via Rate the Audits

The YouTube-to-Horror Feature Filmmaker pipeline is very real, but we must acknowledge who has access to it in the first place. YouTube is not a democratized platform, and we're doing the next generation of creatives a disservice by pretending it is www.slashfilm.com/2181604/back...

“… the decline actually ended years ago, and the latest numbers from the American Booksellers Association show independent stores expanding at a pace not seen this century.” www.reddit.com/r/books/s/BT...

Nick Cutter’s brand new horror novel, fittingly called “The Dorians,” pays homage to Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and its quest for eternal youth. #Velshi #VelshiBannedBookClub

Getting info from A.I. is like reading a novel with an unreliable narrator. You get info but always have to think, "Hmm... I wonder if that's true, or partly true, or sort of based on truth but twisted in some weird way, or just a total unhinged delusion." You need to see what other characters say.

Thanks, Vonnegut. 💜

I Love Boosters is one of my favorites of the year. It's colorful, imaginative, surreal, and continues the themes of labor and class that Boots Riley explored in Sorry to Bother You. #filmsky #moviesky

On this fraught, frustrating, profoundly American holiday weekend, here’s my 277th #ScholarSunday thread of public scholarly writing & work, podcast episodes, new & forthcoming books from the past week. Add more below, share widely please, & enjoy, all! 🗃️ + blackwhiteandread.com/scholarsunda...

When politicians say they can't hold corporations accountable, remember: they can. They just choose not to.

Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! is one of those movies I kept thinking about after seeing it in theaters. Now that it's on streaming, I wrote about why and how it's a bold Frankenstein retelling. #horrorsky #filmsky www.thehorrorlounge.com/post/the-bri...

here for AOC’s Erin Brockovich moment

Not bad. My own quibble is that The Replacements put out far better albums than Sorry, Ma Forgot to Take Out the Trash (Tim, Pleased to Meet Me, and Let It Be,), and I don't think Milo Goes to College is the Descendents' best album either, but it's their first. www.rollingstone.com/music/music-...

Between this news and Barnes & Noble's CEO expressing a willingness this week to sell AI-generated books, you really start to wonder what the future of writing and publishing will be. Another grim day at the human factory indeed. #booksky lithub.com/a-prize-winn...

I really didn’t think the Dems had any shot of flipping the Senate, due to the map, but these numbers make that a real possibility, though still tough. This is worse than George W. Bush’s numbers post-Katrina and as the country tired of the war in Iraq.

Obsession is one of my favorites of the year so far and I wrote about what makes the movie so effective. #horrorsky #filmsky www.thehorrorlounge.com/post/here-s-...

The stories & photos from today’s voting rights marches in Alabama deserve to be seen by people who weren’t able to stand there in person. If this piece moves you, please share it widely & help make sure these voices aren’t lost in the noise of a crowded news cycle. open.substack.com/pub/joycevan...

Contrary to what many think, banning books doesn't boost sales or interest in that book. It makes the books much harder for people to get. And almost always, it leads to erasure of marginalized stories, especially Black & brown and queer people.

My final grades are all submitted. Looking forward to attending graduation on Sunday, and then, helllooooooo summer. 😎

Inde Navarrette’s performance in #Obsession is as good as you’ve heard and maybe my favorite performance in a horror movie so far this year. Go see this one, #horrorsky.

Episode 02: Attack of the Mole People — My Life As a Mole Person. Out Tuesday, May 19. In 1999 I put on a foam rubber suit in a haunted house and nearly died of heat prostration. I came back the next night. baztothebonecast

I'm stoked about Society in 4K! Imagine how those body melding scenes will look. #horrorsky #filmsky www.thehorrorlounge.com/post/ignite-...

Okay, I only have THREE final papers left to grade, all from my American Literature course, and they were a good group of students. In the meantime, I'm powering through with a cup of coffee. Then, there's graduation on Sunday and that's all for the spring 2026 semester! I

Huge news! I'm co-producing Alexandre O Philippe's new doc IN SEARCH OF NOSFERATU. Our team (including @pattonoswalt.bsky.social) is scouring the world for uniquely aged prints of Murnau's classic. 🚨 CAN YOU HELP? 🚨 Any leads on old prints, VHS, etc, please hit me up! Our treasure hunt is global!

We’re now officially accepting pitches for PRIDE MONTH! Use the google form below to submit your pitch! All accepted submissions will be paid $50 via ZELLE. #LGBT #writersky #horrorsky forms.gle/Xij1WuGb7Vj5...

The foundation of our democracy is burning to the ground. The conservative Roberts Court did not light the match, but it has repeatedly declared fire hydrants, sprinklers and smoke detectors illegal. www.democracydocket.com/opinion/the-...

I can't freakin' wait to see Linda Cardellini play Pamela Voorhees in this. #horrorsky www.thehorrorlounge.com/post/friday-...

What a loss. RING was game changing but SPIRAL completely possessed me as a young horror fan. Read these books!

Thinking about this part... "Before the second recess, all four of Louisiana’s Black congressmen, past and present, since the Reconstruction era spoke to the committee..."