Left to my own devices

Those of you who really like movies and follow awards season probably have your own ideas about what were the best (or at least your favorite) films of the past year.  Yours truly does, as well. Enter The 2026 Matt Awards! Like the Oscars, these nominations and awards are for movies from the year before (so the 2026 Matt Awards are honoring films from 2025). This all started in 1998. I was a huge fan of Leonardo DiCaprio at the time (still appreciate his work to this day).  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 ye...

We are born into a world and a universe that have existed for billions of years. While we don't yet know -- and may never know -- all the secrets of our aged celestial home, what we have uncovered so far is staggering. In the age of the Internet, especially, knowledge is at our fingertips. And, if trusting potentially sketchy online sources isn't your thing, then places like libraries have been around for some time. As we grow, and learn how to talk and read and communicate and learn, the history of the world is there for the taking. It is with a mild amount of perplexity that I admit to having taken all of this for granted for many years. I just... knew things, you know? Anyone with access to books, television and the Internet can know things. The entirety of our known existence is available, should we care to research it. And that's why, starting just a few years ago, I began to realize there will come a time when I won't know everything. That time will, of course, ar...

Here is Oscar nominee Timothee Chalamet, nominated for his awesome performance in 2017's Call Me By Your Name . Here's wishing him luck at next week's Academy Awards.