At long last, I return. As most people looking at this website and The Memory Tourist will notice, I have not been much in a writing mood. This isn’t because of any scheduling issues, but more that the passion is just not there. After having a substantial February, I decided to pull back a little bit and focus on more long-term projects. What this means is that efforts that usually were put towards keeping up appearances had to be sacrificed for a little bit. That isn’t to say that I don’t want to write something on there between now and the end of the month, but I recognize the plight of having such a long period of solitude.
With that said, it feels good to work on a schedule that is ultimately your own. I don’t have the pressure I placed on myself even in 2020, where I needed to have something out everyday and keep on top of things that ranged from exposing new sides of myself with material that was forced or even unnecessary. I’m still not sure I’m a great music critic, but whenever I put out something now, it at least feels more sincere.
My hope is that I’ll be posting something tomorrow on the topic of Gorillaz, who just released “The Mountain” a few weeks back and have, because of that, been on a heavy kick. Without digging too far into the outline, I’ll say that there’s a lot of excellent music out there, and I remain fascinated by the world that they built around these cartoon characters. Even if I’m more mixed on this new release, I’ve gone back and found new things to like about the old stuff. Even “Cracker Island” has grown on me. Also, I can’t help but say that revisiting “Demon Days” puts up a good argument for that being one of the best albums of that decade. Holy cow is it dense with passion and creativity.
But before I get into that, I might as well address what projects I have been working on behind the scenes. The two major ones at the moment are my next short story collection and Novel4. Despite some setbacks, I do believe that Novel4 is coming along beautifully, and I am in the back third of the outline. It continues to grow with each chapter as I go back through and plug small connections in hopes of bulking up the narrative. I’ll admit that right now I’m in a section that I didn’t properly conceive of, so it’s taking a while to find the path forward.
The anthology is going a little bit better than that by virtue of being a compilation of preexisting material. Even so, there’s a need to figure out how everything flows together, finding subliminal patterns that connect a fluid experience for the reader. Because of some mixed reviews for “Esoteric Shapes,” I have been self-conscious about how I want to present this next one, especially since my earlier work was defined more by impulse and experimentation. This time around there’s a lot more focus on themes and tone. On the one hand, it makes the overall work stronger, though I have to wonder if I’m also too precious about everything to not notice the redundancy. I’ve already killed some darlings, but can the selected 20 stand on their own?
If I have a reference point for how I’m conceiving this anthology, it’s like William Faulkner’s “Collected Stories,” which I’d pick as my favorite short story collection. The way it’s designed has this perfect implicit build that makes everything feel more essential. Even if some pieces are weaker than others, it’s a complete picture exploring the themes that interested Faulkner. I’m not sure I have written anything on par with “A Rose for Emily,” but it’s a guiding post alongside the various collections by Alice Munro, who is probably even more of a master of the short form.
What I can say right now, before I move on, is that it meets one criteria that all writing should for any author. Does it make me interested to keep reading? I know that I’ve probably done better work at times, but there’s more of a vision here, and I appreciate the balance of humor and insight battling with various ideas that have been on my mind in the past six years. There’s also going to be three new stories included, of which I hope provides enough incentive to not just buy the already published work in bulk – though who am I to judge against getting some extra change?
As I write this, it is Oscar Sunday, and I am awaiting my time to watch the ceremony. For what feels like the fourth year in a row, I have had to delay the start time because of scheduling conflicts. This does pain me a little bit because I do love being in the moment, spontaneously discovering every small detail in real time. Hell, I even love the feeling of commercial breaks where you get to walk around and occasionally realize that you’re being advertised the first trailer for The Irishman. There’s things about pushing the outside world aside that is thrilling, and I only wish to have that experience live again, because it sucks to tape delay. I get it’s better than missing it altogether, but I love to get to the end and just take a few minutes to process everything with everybody and share my own thoughts.
The best that I can say at this point is that this feels like one of those contrarian years where I’ve tried my best to be on the same page, but very few of the front-runners actually excite me. I remain insistent that One Battle After Another is Paul Thomas Anderson at his most risk-averse, and the final film feels studio-noted to death. I like Sinners a bit more, but even that has script issues that make it feel like a well-made version of a dumb movie. With that said, One Battle After Another doesn’t seem the most disingenuous pick you could’ve gone with, given how last year shook out. It’s not about I.C.E. invading California, but it has all of the hallmarks of political interference, and I relate to that, especially in Benicio Del Toro’s performance. I can’t stand Leonardo DiCaprio’s need to yell and call it comedy, but the world around him seems like it would’ve been a better movie.
I’m not wishing to get too much further into the weeds, save that I am in the camp that thinks Timothee Chalamet should win. I’m also in awe of The Secret Agent, which might have the most perfect final 45 minutes of any 2025 nominee, as well as the best final minute in general. In a surprise turn, I love Hamnet and am constantly tempted to rewatch it. Jessie Buckley is incredible, and I’m grateful that she’s going to win for something that’s deserving of her talent.
And speaking of Jessie Buckley, I did spend a fair amount of recent days watching her work. Along with a Charlie Kaufman short called How To Shoot A Ghost (don’t recommend), there was The Bride from director Maggie Gyllenhaal. I’ll allow people to call this a bad movie and that it’s a complete mess. However, it’s maybe the defining reason that I’ll call Gyllenhaal forever cool, capable of pushing her own perverse curiosity to new and odd places. I’m not sure myself if the themes work or if this pushed the boundaries as far as it could’ve. However, this is one of those big budgeted swings that I love supporting, where you get a weird amount of necromancy erotica and have it symbolize some richer tie between the past and present. It’s there in the cinematic references and the surreal tendencies to make it supernatural in ways I haven’t seen outside of maybe Monster Squad. I would also like to mention real quick that the world-building around it, including the music, is very interesting… though it’s funnily enough not even the best score that Hildur Guonadottir has done in 2026 so far. I haven’t seen 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, but oh my god is that music brilliant. Probably my favorite thing she’s done since Women Talking.
I love a film that takes risks even at the potential expense of losing its audience. That also reminds me of yesterday’s Razzies, which I don’t have much to say. I tend to side with those who find attacking bad films to be a bit in poor taste, though that was an opinion I developed later in my life. When I was younger and more eager to watch everything, I tried to be an avid “bad movie watcher” even if I never felt sincere about it. Which is all to say that, funnily enough, this year’s nominees have a few films that I really like in that so-bad-it’s-good way. The big winner was War of the Worlds with Ice Cube, which truly deserved the accolades through and through. With that said, part of me wanted Hurry Up Tomorrow to win because I’m not sure that I like that film ironically. It’s something that has grown into cult movie status and I may love its odd quirks in the same way I do Madame Web. Anyway, get me the Blu-Ray already. I need to see that magnificence again.
Before I shift from The Razzies, I may as well mention a small reason I keep bringing them up. Because of my earlier interest in watching bad movies, I had paid for two years to be a member. I’m not wishing to speak ill of the program, as I personally believe that everyone there is nice and respects each other. In fact, I think it’s mostly the buddy-buddy bullying that might seem off-putting to outsiders, but I get as someone who is in a generation of movie critics who comically belittle bad art for their own amusement. The Razzies are just an easier target because of their legacy. With that said, it’ll never stop being amusing that I am currently going on 14 years as an unpaid member who still regularly gets e-mails asking me to vote. I have kind of made it a game to see if I can tell on myself publicly and have them notice. So far, I’ve won out.
Another thing that I’ve been working on is dealing with the hot weather. There’s a constant conflict as to whether I should go out and just sweat things out or sit in air conditioning and save my energy. As it stands, I’m also competing with a recent rainstorm that has made the onslaught of weeds a bit of a nightmare to deal with. I don’t often get in the dirt and pull weeds, but there’s something meditative about getting out there and just spending a few hours moving inch by inch across the yard. This is the time that I’ve generally been listening to the Gorillaz discography, and it’s been helping to make the journey easier.
With that said, the heat and physical and repetitive exertion have caused me to currently feel a bit exhausted. Last night I had the unfortunate circumstance of waking up at one point with a leg cramp while at another point my ribs hurt. Finally, I had to deal with my shoulders aching for a little bit upon waking up. While there’s nothing necessarily debilitating, it’s a reminder of how hard work ultimately takes its toll on you. Add in the heat, and you have to be kind to yourself at the risk of really losing your momentum. Given that I can still recall in 2016 when I was remodeling my mother’s garden, I am well aware of the risk that sciatica can have on you. It was really bad during that time, and while there’s been flareups here or there, I’m grateful that it hasn’t been a prominent issue in the decade since. It’s kind of ironic given that you’d think that it would get worse with age, but whatever.
Another thing I’ve been up to is watching for the first time Red Letter Media’s video essay on Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. In general, I am opposed to this type of media, but there was some part of me that seemed fixated on at least seeing what the big deal was in 2009. In some ways, the culture has shifted enough that it’s hard to feel overwhelmed by that level of toxic criticism.
With that said, I still remember being in high school and people on Myspace sending me videos for their Half in the Bag series and finding the concept new and fresh. I get that was almost 20 years ago now, but it gave me hope that the maligning would be somewhat inventive and fun. That is true. There were plenty of moments in which I’ve laughed and had a good time. However, it feels more nostalgic for an age of media that was more simple-minded, where the editing was simple, and the Millennial humor of being transgressive was on full display. It was intentionally confrontational, and I have been fascinated to study that in relation to cancel culture. While I support bettering oneself, I think growing up during those years has left me somewhat sympathetic to people being idiots when they were getting started on a medium that they thought wouldn’t become a billion-dollar industry. That novelty is so much fun, and I still support creators who appear to be doing things for genuine causes. With that said, I get why people would be annoyed by the misogyny and bro culture of their comedy. I do appreciate that there’s an underlying narrative that their reviewer, Mr. Plinkett, is a dirtbag who might get arrested at the end of his own review. There’s something brilliant and new about that for 2009, and I think it informs a subtext for the type of people who spend their time actively making fun of Star Wars movies.
Which is to say that I am generally in favor of not spending your life making fun of art you hate. Sure, I am annoyed that there isn’t a good adaptation of “The Dark Tower,” but I keep my complaints to a minimum. I probably watched the RLM video to see what the big deal was, and I can see how it spoke to my demographic at the time, even if I find Star Wars culture excessively annoying. With that said, it knows what it wants to be, and I can’t be mad at that, even if the company seems to have pigeonholed itself in constantly making commentary for that particular series.
I’d also like to quickly mention a few albums that have been on my radar in recent weeks that I think you should check out. At the top of the pack is the new Mitski record, “Nothing’s About to Happen to Me,” which I’d put down as the first masterpiece of 2026. It’s a bit morose, but the introspection continues to have an endearing mix of whimsy. I also am a big fan of Waterbaby’s “Memory Be A Blade,” which is a short and sweet record full of equally inspired lyricism. Rounding out the list is Kim Gordon’s “Play Me.” While I wasn’t a fan of “The Collective,” but, for some reason, am really digging the full-blast immersion of this one. I’m not sure how long the novelty will last, but I dig it so far.
Before saying goodbye, I want to briefly mention that another fun event is coming up soon. Barely fitting into the month is March Madness. While I’d figure it makes sense at the start of the year, I’ll accept it's better late than never entry at the tail end of the month. As I write this, the final competitions are winding down, and I cannot wait to watch the selection show and see where everything lands. While I generally don’t care about most of those schools, this is a chance to hypothesize about everything and wonder who the Cinderella stories will be. Last year, the Big West had a phenomenal showing with men’s basketball for San Diego almost beating Michigan to get to the second round. I’ll always appreciate that because, in general, Big West is a one-and-done type of division.
While there’s not a lot that I can discuss at this time, I am going to be here rooting for them yet again. Women’s has San Diego repeating, becoming one of the rare teams to hold that honor in recent years. Meanwhile, Hawaii is saying goodbye to our division at the top of the men’s bracket. Fingers crossed that the Wahine come out strong, but it will all come down to who plays who in that pivotal first round. I’m hoping we don’t have a glut of SEC teams like last year, but I figure that’s how things seem to always go. That, and I would love to see more big name teams play each other in the first round, if just because it pushes smaller teams forward in ways that could make for more interesting pairings. I don’t know. Maybe I am just too underdoggy about all of this.
And with that, I’m going to say goodbye. I’m over here reading my first Jack London novel, “White Fang,” which is doing an excellent job of mixing fiction with anthropology and making a typical wolf story into something richer and more engrossing. I’m not sure if “The Call of the Wild” would’ve been a better starting point, but I am digging how London creates empathy for his canine without resorting to talking animal gimmicks. If nothing else, it’s the most recognizable tribute to nature that I’ve read in quite a few years. I’m hopeful that the closing stretch will be even more fulfilling.
I don’t know what I’m going to do before I watch The Oscars ceremony in a few hours. For now, I’m relaxing and watching the red carpet. It’s not my favorite event, but it gets me in the headspace, and I like it as background noise. Fingers crossed that everything goes well. I’m still unsure who I want to win most of the categories, though I have a feeling One Battle After Another will take home top prize and make me roll my eyes. It’s an odd thing to say, given how long I’ve supported Paul Thomas Anderson and wanted him to win, but given that Sean Baker is coming off of a similar trajectory, I have to imagine this even bigger auteur is about to have his moment. And then from there, it’s time for the rest of the week. Doing what, I have yet to figure out. Maybe it will involve more writing. One can hope.
So until next time. Hope all’s well and I’ll see ya when I see ya.
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