Left to my own devices

            Entertainment pundit John Campea recently posted a video lamenting the increasing cost of going to the movies (ticket prices, concessions, etc.). He worries that it will mean fewer people going to the cinema. The guys over at CarEdge have long been disappointed in the rising costs of car purchases, with similar concerns that Campea has about moviegoing, that higher automobile costs will mean a decrease in sales. That situation may be resolving itself soon, though. Meanwhile, CNBC recently did a report about how Disney may be pricing some families out of visiting its theme parks.      The aforementioned folks lay out the mathematics of how the economy is supposed to work, that lower prices for goods often means more people purchasing them. A surfeit of consumers means an increase in sales which, depending on the margins, often means an increase in profit. In short, a business should always be looking to expand its customer base. It's capitalism 101, right? Right? Or

As some of you know, I've been working on a shorty story collection of love stories. A few have been published here and, well, here's another. Someday, maybe the whole book will come out!

You may not have heard, but there was a US presidential debate earlier this week. Kamala Harris (current vice-president) vs. Donald Trump (former president). I couldn't stomach to watch it, but of course I read news articles about it afterward, talked with a couple of people in-person the next morning who'd seen it, and of course there was the barrage of social media friends who were commenting on it. It's that last part I wanted to talk about. First, I'm obviously not against someone's debate performance being analyzed. Heck, there are classes in public schools that are all about debate. So, that isn't the issue. What bothers me is how the performances are analyzed. Like, yeah, sure, have a poll asking folks what they thought of the debate, and who they thought did better. That's fine. It's the reactions I've been seeing primarily on social media that are concerning. It's like I'm back in school. Except, these are adults (at least in chron

Last night I saw an advanced screening of the new movie, My Old Ass . Terrible title, excellent film. It had an affect on me, which I wanted to write about. Be forewarned: there will be some spoilers to follow, so if you think you'll watch the movie at some point, perhaps it would be wise to stop reading now and come back to this later.

  "Be happy while you are living, for you're a long time dead."                                                                                          ---- Scottish proverb My dad died from pancreatic cancer 27 years ago today.  This year has been a bit different when thinking about his passing. It isn't because I miss him -- quite the opposite. It's because I realized, as the years have gone on, how I think about him less and less. Lewis is no longer present. That may sound like an obvious thing to take note of regarding someone who's been dead for almost three decades, but it's true that our deceased loves ones often continue to exist within our own psyche. We tend to think of them often, and it doesn't take much for their memories to rise to the surface.

Apropos of nothing, here are a few observations /opinions / things I've come to learn over the years.

"I could tell by the way you looked at him." A few weeks ago, Ashley & I saw a new foreign film, Touch , and it got me thinking about the past. The movie centers around an older man, Kristofer, who is making the journey from Iceland to the UK, right as the world is shutting down in March of 2020. He soldiers on, as he is on a major quest. He is on the cusp of being diagnosed with a serious illness and, as he and his medical professionals await confirmation, his doctor advises him to tie up any loose ends and take care of unfinished business. We follow Kristofer in the 'present day' of 2020, and then approximately 50 years in the past, as a college student studying in London. He is an aspirational youth, determined to buck the system that he has become so disillusioned with. He drops out of school. and takes a job working in a Japanese restaurant. There he falls in love with the owner's daughter, Miko, who is about his same age. Events happen, and they lose con

     Blogger Kevin Drum  took a crack at free will  awhile back, specifically, as to whether or not it exists. Physicist Sabine Hossenfelder has made a video about her lack of belief in the concept of free will that makes for an interesting (if sometimes difficult to follow) watch. I find this to be a fascinating topic of discussion, and have had in-person conversations about it every so often. While I don't pretend to be some sort of scientific expert, I wanted to share my thoughts about it here. Particularly, how the idea can be (unscientifically) compared and contrasted with various societal, cultural and religious touchstones.      First, let's center on what free will is. Merriam Webster defines it as follows: 1 : voluntary choice or decision 2 : freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention      I think we'd probably all nod our heads in agreement with the first definition. It's the second one that I find to

I'm a little late, but am finally getting around to announcing the winners of this year's Matt Awards , celebrating the best in cinema! No doubt you were all waiting with bated breath for the reveal. Without further aideu, here, then, are this year's winners...

The venerable band KISS have made the news for selling their music catalog, brand name and IP (intellectual property) to Pophouse Entertainment Group. Apparently, KISS and Pophouse have already been collaborating. The company is responsible for the digital avatars that ABBA used during their recent(ish) concerts, and now it sounds like that may be where we're headed with KISS. The band already debuted digitized avatars of themselves back in December 2023, and that may be a sign of things to come. From the article:  The ways in which Kiss' avatars will be utilized has yet to be announced, but Pophouse CEO Per Sundin says fans can expect a biopic, a documentary and a Kiss experience on the horizon. That bolding was from me. I'm not sure what a "KISS experience" refers to, but out of what was mentioned, it sounds the closes to something akin to a music concert. And this gives me the springboard to talk about a topic I've been thinking over for awhile -- namely

Some of you (let's be honest, probably none of you) may have noticed that my annual 'Top 10 Songs of the Year' posts have been absent. The last one I did was for 2021 . The lack of a yearly reflection on my favorite songs has been down to a couple of factors: 1) last year was... distracting for me, for a variety of reasons, and it was difficult to concentrate enough to think about making a list, and 2) honestly, I haven't been all that jazzed about recent music -- at least, not enough to warrant a Top 10 list for each  year. But, I still love music, and listen to it. A lot. So, the thought occurred that I could definitely comprise a list of ten favorite songs of the decade... so far, at least. We are in the fifth year of the 2020s, so there's definitely been enough time for several songs to tickle my fancy. In fact, it was a bit difficult to whittle things down to just ten tracks. Here, then, are my Top 10 Favorite Songs of the 2020s, so far....

Those of you who like cinema and follow awards season were probably pretty excited this week, because you knew that the most important movie nominations were about to drop. And, no, I'm not talking about the Oscars . Of course I'm referring to The Matt Awards! For the uninitiated: I've always enjoyed movies and, during the 1990s, I was a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio. Titanic was released in December 1997, and I saw it 5 times at the theater. In early 1998, the Oscar nominations were announced, and Leo was nowhere to be found. Salty at the perceived snub of my crush favorite actor, I decided I could do better than the Oscars, and so the first Matt Awards were born. DiCaprio was nominated for Titanic and, of course, he won. Over the years, the Matt Awards have allowed me to recognize (if only for myself) the best in cinema of the preceding year. Quite often -- though not always -- my nominations will bear some similarity to the Oscar nominees, though less seldom have my w