Left to my own devices

A long time ago, back when I was in grade school, I wrote a story. It was an assignment, probably in Mrs. Sims’s second or third grade class (I had her as a teacher for both years, and the memory is a little foggy on the exact date when the story was written).  Regardless, we're talking 1982 or 1983. Bar and His Car was a simple tale, about a man named Bar, and his automobile. It was a short tome, probably no more than 5 pages, complete with some pencil drawings by yours truly, to illustrate the title character and his mode of transport. The story ended up getting bound for some reason — it was in a deep blue cloth with white circles to break-up the monotony — and ended up in one of the revolving bookcases at our elementary school library. It was, for a time, a source of pride. On every occasion when our class would visit the library, I’d touch the book, caressing its soft cloth cover and think, ‘I wrote this.’

So, the California Recall Election is over , and the effort to remove Governor Gavin Newsom from office was soundly defeated . Good. Perhaps it's the politician in me, but I think that the recall option is terrible. One aspect of assuming elected office is the ability to get your feet wet, learn the ropes, and then try and put forward your agenda. Most terms of office are for four years, and there's something that comes with the assurance that, hey, at least you have that long to try and get some stuff done. The threat of a recall hanging over one's head is counter-productive to the confidence needed in order to push forward an agenda. I'm not saying that politicians should be free to do as they wish, without fear of reprimand or even removal, but 1) voters have the opportunity to dramatically weigh-in once someone's term of office is up, 2) recalls are, in my opinion, in danger of being abused, and 3) there are other options available to remove, say, a governor.

I was recently watching a video about queer baiting in cinema , and it got me to thinking about movies I watched while growing up -- specifically, as a teenager -- that I felt contained gay subtext, but could've been interpreted as heterosexual (and often were) by others. The video touches upon this, noting that it happened frequently in post-code Hollywood, and is known as queer coding. One such movie that stands out in memory is 1955's Rebel Without a Cause .

Beginning in 1998, I started my own movie awards show. I'd just turned 22, and was deep into my Leonardo DiCaprio phase. Disappointed that he wasn't even nominated for his star-level turn in Titanic , I decided to do my own alternative to the Oscars -- The Matt Awards. Initially used as a pressure valve (and kind of a joke), I've ended up doing the Matt Awards every year since. The latest edition is very, very late (I try and do it during the first half of the year), but, better late than never? Here, then, are my personal selections for the best in cinema for the preceding year:

On a blog post from earlier this month, Kevin Drum gets at something I've been thinking about off-and-on for awhile. It's the contemplation of whether there are truly more "extremist nutballs" today than there used to be, or if it only seems that way because now they have the megaphone of the internet -- specifically, social media -- with which to share their ideas. Without conducting a special sort of census, there's no true way to get numbers for the aforementioned notion, however, after careful thought on the matter, I tend to think the number of political and societal cranks has remained fairly steady over the years. Granted, there's probably more extremists now than there were in, say, 1985, but that's because there's 3 billion additional people on the planet. As a percentage of the population, we're probably looking at approximately the same number now as compared to the past few decades. Such a conclusion will probably cause some people ...

 A lot of people who aren't into Star Trek are aware of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . Mention it to someone, and you'll likely get a mild look of recognition, followed by a nod of the head and, "Oh yeah, the one with the whales, right?" It was a pretty popular film in its day -- its total box office was $139 million, which comes to $331 million in 2021 dollars. Tonight, I'm going to watch it again, at theater, for a special 35th anniversary screening. I am shivering with anticipation. The premise of Star Trek IV is pretty engaging: a mysterious probe has arrived at Earth. It is sending a signal, directed at Earth's oceans, which is disrupting both the power and eco-systems of the planet. Kirk, Spock and crew are away while this is happening, and deduce that the sounds emanating from the probe are directed at humpback whales. Apparently, this alien life form used to communicate with those mammals, centuries ago, across the stars, but humans eventually hunte...

"I'm of a mind to make some mooky. Phonebook."                                                          -- The Joker Tim Burton's Batman opened at the North American box office 32 years ago today. It remains one of the most viviv movie-going experiences I've ever had, or will have. Paradoxically, that day, now over three decades ago, seems like ancient history and also as if it had happened. yesterday. In those seemingly halcyon days of the late nineteen-eighties, superhero movies were not as commonplace as they are today. Getting something like the 1989 Batman movie was a real treat. It arrived at a time when I was an avid comic book reader. Marvel was my brand of choice, with Thor, Captain America, Spider-Man, and The Avengers as my monthly stalwarts. Batman is a DC comic, yet I was still very much stoked for this modernized version of h...