Someone knows how to play the game

a dog walks into a bar. bartender reaches for the phone, but realizes that he doesn't know who to call about this. and, in any case, it's just a dog. he grabs a bowl from the back, fills it with water, and puts it on the floor. he is happy to have a chance to be kind. that's been hard for him lately

This week I learned something so basic and obvious so many years after everyone else I will not disgrace myself by repeating it, but also the excellent word 'Orthonym" the real name of someone known by their pseudonym.

Thank you Nick McCarthy for bringing this movie back into the world and (literally) putting it into my hand.

This piece of speculative architecture (one my better half showed me way back when) forever changed my thinking about repairs/reconstructions/additions/alterations in any medium. TLDR: celebrate the seams. historyofourworld.wordpress.com/2009/11/18/l...

Absurdl in 7, not bad, right?

Gainesville Airport scene report

I feel like most movies made in the 80s were "night movies." 90s movies were "day movies." and of course, all movies from the 2000s onward take place inside of the computer.

Strange text from an unknown number, but this evening I'm leaning towards deleting and finishing my frozen yogurt instead of, say, replying and potentially cracking open a conspiracy, unlocking revelations that change everything I thought I knew.

What is this tub reminding me of? It’s right on the tip of my tongue…

Just watched this terrifying video with the 15 yr old, and if it wasn't an inspiration for THE REHEARSAL season 2, it is a prime example of why the FAA needs to adopt the Fielder Method. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceN_...

Embracing radical boredom, the kids are alright www.nytimes.com/2026/01/01/s...

Meanwhile

Buried deep in my childhood memories, the helpful Portuguese phrases from Brannif playing cards 🤔

The Buggles video bookending the entire MTV lifecycle is pretty poignant

Travel day

Missed a few episodes of WEIRD STUDIES @weirdstudiesphil.bsky.social but this new(ish) one on FRANKENSTEIN opens it up in a few ways that are new to me. podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/o...

At the risk of overhyping it, DUNE might just be the most extraordinary pinball machine I've ever played. When the worm caught the ball magnetically in its maw and then slowly rose out of the cabinet floor while lights flashed and the whole thing vibrated, it was an out of body experience.

Anyway, Brian Eno said it best:

Watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the first time this century. Started with some great car race scenes circa 1908 and now I want a ferocious new action movie set in that world. Maybe by a Safdie? (Also Dick Van Dyke is legend.)

A Xmas miracle!

shame #criterion couldn’t get the 1969 German television adaptation of Traumnovelle (starring Peeping Tom’s Karlheinz Böhm) on the new Eyes Wide Shut blu as a special feature. At only 72 mins, it showcases how faithful Kubrick could be to source material he liked. #filmsky youtu.be/u50DsIKCa1w?...

Whoah! Holy cow, Sarah Squirm!!

This edit @peterkapow.bsky.social made is so funny. TURN ON THE SOUND:

First watch of JOURNEY INTO FEAR and like everyone, I was sure that the whole business at the nightclub with Kopeikin, Gogo and the Magician was all some elaborate proto-Mamet/The Sting kind of con. I didn't even believe that Colonel Haki was legit - sometimes you can be too suspicious I guess.

One of the funniest, most surprising, and ultimately moving non-fiction projects of the year. Mandatory listening for anyone obsessed with finding mind blowing rarities and forgotten masterpieces in the trash stratum of popular culture. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

When something you forgot pre-ordering shows up in the mail, It’s a present for present you from past you.

!!!!!!!

PORTRAIT: ORSON WELLES. Now this is the good stuff: Oblique, fragmented, very French Orson Welles doc produced in 1968 and delayed (like so much of his stuff) by forces outside his control, in this case widespread protests, strikes, and civil unrest. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWvV...

Well, that clears that up, I guess. Glad they waited til Glitch finished screening to release their findings. boingboing.net/2025/12/18/m...

Tonite at 7:30 in Encino is the last screening of GHOST BOY this year! I’ll be there afterwards for a QA. Hope to see you there! tickets.laemmle.com/tickets/0000... Check out the letterboxd reviews, it’s been very rewarding to see people responding to this one! letterboxd.com/film/ghost-b...

!!!

Now screening:

Orsonfest 2025 has just reached the kinetic, funny, inspiring, and heartbreaking THEY’LL L0VE ME WHEN I’M DEAD. Required viewing, particularly if you want to really get your head around OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND. Next up: It’s All True

Was this night that El Duce met Orson Welles?

GHOST BOY will be screening for two days at the Laemlle in Encino this week!! After that - a breath over the holidays and then more opportunities to see it in the New Year. Proud of this one and hope a lot of people get the chance to see it on the big screen! www.laemmle.com/film/ghost-b...

It's almost 6PM (PST) according to the inferior old clock, but if you're switching over to my son's new & improved one, it will be 1PM - 12 hours of night begin here. The new day will start at the new 1AM (previously knows as 6AM.) And yes, as you intuited, AM/PM switch over at 1 now, not 12.

WAKE UP DEAD MAN (projected in a theater with a glass of wine because we're fancy) was comically impossible to solve, filled with great character bits and (not that I know anything about the state of Catholicism) a nuanced back and forth about the place of faith and religion in 21st Century America.

Happy Hanukkah to our friends who celebrate. Rachel Posner, a rabbi’s wife in Kiel, Germany, took this photograph in 1931 -- a potent reminder that fascism must be fought in every generation, even if it's wrapped in an American flag and a red hat.

Folks, this is revolutionary. I can't share the boy's contact info here but will be happy to mediate inquiries from legitimate science/culture journalists about this breakthrough on his behalf.

Over breakfast helped the 15 yr old iron out his plan for fixing the clock. Simply rotate the clock face back 1 hour and adjust the time back 5. The day/AM hours now start not at 12 but at 1 (previously known as 6) which also corresponds (approximately) to sunrise and pm starts at (about) sunset.

Agnes Moorehead appreciation post

I did not know that Paul Dano wrote a Riddler origin comic but now (thanks to the library) I’m going to check it out.

Been a longtime since I had a TV night as good as back to back Chair Company Ep 7 and Orson Welles’ Fountain of Youth (a pilot for an anthology series.) Can you imagine a world where they were multiple seasons of this show? youtu.be/pKjtLOOBqgk

Dec 11th 1998 - Marion Crane steals $400k time in Gus Van Sant's #Psycho remake. 📽️📅 Psycho (1998)

Very enjoying finally reading THIS IS ORSON WELLES