He’s like Homer/Toby Maguire in The Cider House Rules.

I am going to stop lamenting that Bruce has not been adopted and choose, instead, to think that he knows he serves a higher purpose in providing comfort and joy to the adoring throng of Jezzies.

I don’t think that all white directors are incapable of telling a black story well (see Michael Roemer’s 1964 film, Nothing But a Man), but, wow, this sounds so problematic.

LOL. I shared the movie with some recent students, and one of the girls said (rather breathlessly), “I know Lucy didn’t give consent, but that was a thirsty moment.”

So sorry for your loss.

My Gen Z students call themselves “zoomers.” Not sure if this is a west coast thing or not, but I kinda like it.

I dunno, I worked in the restaurant industry for 20+ years—mostly as a bartender—and I almost always transferred the check to the new server—customers are paying for service and having a meal/drink/outing interrupted often downgrades that experience.

One of my former students (from a horror class) sent me a visual mashup of Last Christmas and Body Parts (a particularly terrible 1990s horror film with Jeff Fahey) and a note that read, “Mother of dragons in complete horror show. Sad that Heart donor wasn’t a serial killer”).

thank you for the golden retriever photo and anecdote.

this sounds like a wonderful trip.

Bruce is just so contemplative (that is, when he is not an Action Cat).

You know, I think Gates is probably a decent human being, but one thing that he has been doing that has been destructive/disruptive is his noodling around in education—using his money to shape educational policy.  Some of the outcomes have been, shall we say, dubious.

HI, Krispy,

Caitlin, what a lovely invitation to partake in and appreciate

How do I not know this?

Condolences.

I loved that movie, esp. Sissy Spacek’s performance.

Yes. Point well taken.

Sure, nicotine can be a de-stressor—so can doing yoga, going for a walk, deep breathing, holding a puppy, etc.

I don’t disagree with you overall; I just think that for many older smokers, the issue was ubiquity: everyone smoked, so why not? I’m old enough to remember smoking on planes, in movie theaters; hell, my professors smoked at the podium and in their offices. I was often the anomaly as a non-smoker in a given group.