2025 movies

Let's go through the ones I've seen so far.

Game Changer

Theater. I must admit boring. But great songs. Great.

Sankranthiki Vasthunam

Theater. Par for Ravipudi. The comedic mode and editing is a joy. Some great extended sequences that exemplify what I like in this industry. 

Snow White

Surprising how much I liked certain moments. When they slide into songs occasionally a spirit emerges. When they're going through the actual script, it's the worst movie you've ever seen. 2025 Hollywood.  

Jaat

Theater. Seeing a 2025 Sunny movie is a nice experience. Militaristic extravaganza. 

Mission Impossible - The Final Reckoning

Some awful parts, sure. You can feel the Marvel influence on the script. Complete cancer. But there are some great action sequences that make those fade away. The underwater scene is just magnificent. That's all I need. I'm find with the other 2 hours of crap if I get that. And also the flying stuff at the end is interesting. 

Highest 2 Lowest

Not very memorable, though I think parts of this worked. I liked seeing 2025 New York City. Some large sections were slogs though.

F1

This was a very good time. In some ways though, a shocking lack of substance. Like you get to the end and feel "that's it????". But there are far worse ways to spend your time. And Kosinski fundamentally just makes everything pleasant to look at. 

Happy Gilmore 2

A shocking lack of a script. Like they set things up and then it's like there's no second half of the script. Like something has to happen! But there are many great Sandlerisms early on. It's still a success. But please like can't we do better?!

Caught Stealing

Hmm. Fine I guess. Like give me way more baseball stuff. Just talk about the Giants the whole time... I want this movie but it's just Austin Butler with a drinking problem + Zoe Kravitz + 90s NYC. Scrap the gangster stuff.

The Smashing Machine

Great milieu. Early UFC before technical refinement. Just jacked guys. Hard to not like a movie that's secretly about a couple who argues. That's it. Just arguments. 

One Battle After Another

Pleasant. Except for when Jonny Greenwood occasionally plays the maracas or whatever. There wasn't much of that, thankfully. A grating score has ruined many a PTA movie. Silence literally would improve so many scenes. Really like the 3 main actors. Leo, the true revolutionary, and their daughter. That is key for me since I tend to find lead performances annoying in PTA movies. End to end among the best of the year for me.

Tere Ishk Mein

Theater. My wheelhouse. I've watched several other ALR movies. They all hit. Just note perfect (though brutal). Maybe number 1 so far for this year. 

What remains to see? A lot.

A House of Dynamite - Bigelow

Eddington - Aster

Thug Life - Ratnam

Jay Kelly - Baumbach / Sandler

Blue Moon / Nouvelle Vauge - Linklater

Roofman - Cianfrance

Jurassic World Rebirth 

After the Hunt - Luca

Bugonia - Yorgos

Sinners - Coogler

Parandhu Po - Ram

Not yet out.

Avatar: Fire and Ash

Wicked For Good

Mirrors No. 3 - Petzold

Marty Supreme - Safdie

Ella McCay - James L. Brooks

The Mastermind - Reichardt

Best QB Numbers

The best ones are 20+. Sadly those aren't allowed in the NFL. 

The Friday Night Lights QB wore 22. Very alpha. The current BYU QB wears 47. Incredible. 

There used to be a Michigan QB who wore 98. That's a bit much. So some of these need to be excluded. New Rules. 1-49 is allowed. 70-89 is also allowed. 

So which from 20-49 are the best? 20 is very good. Shocking. 29 is perverse. 25 is pretty upsetting. 31 is great. 37 is fantastic. 39 is look-at-me. 41 is a great one; same with 48. 

72 is a good one. 89 is growing on me. 

Back to reality, where only 1-19 is allowed. 

So what are the best numbers in here? Let's go through each...

1 - Very good. 70th percentile? Among the stranger options. Kyler dings it tho. Hurts bolsters it.

2 - Somewhat NPC, but has enough zing to escape. Can't decide if Fields dings or bolsters it.

3 - Solid number. Joey Harrington is the prototype.

4 - Idk too much baggage. I think I like it. Favre and Milroe.

5 - Idk man. McNabb is anti-cool.

6 - Look at me number. Classic Baker.

7 - Hard to argue against. Elite number. Malik Willis prototype.

8 - NPC number. Hard to take you seriously. Some exceptions tho. AR dons it well, but his 12 baggage buttresses.

9 - Up there. Has quiet flash.

10 - Way way up there. Silent flash. Eli Manning prototype.

11 - Hard to go wrong here. Wentz wears it well.

12 - Played out. Cliche QB number. Looks good only on shitty QBs.

13 - Not bad!

14 - Another look at me. But if a running QB wears it it works. E.g. Joe Webb. Mostly looks horrible tho. E.g. Darnold.

15 - Good number. Looks broad. Tebow, Ty Simpson.

16 - I think this looks better on Manning. Looks amazing on Montana in highlights. But those don't count.

17 - Gigagigachad number. Josh Allen prototype. Rivers until you see goofy release.

18 - Not good on Manning. Only works on running QBs.

19 - Quite good.

The Art of Winning

You aren't reading this book to learn about clock management best practices or the finer points of keeping a team out of field goal range. So I won't go too deeply into those kinds of specifics.

...actually, Bill--that's exactly why I'm reading this! Why would I want white-collar slop!?

Short Stories #7: Jack London et al

To Build a Fire Jack London 

The guy is portrayed as an idiot to a degree much greater than I recalled. The psychological mode overall is interesting. His thoughts repeat a lot but it makes sense. Physiological breakdown. One of the more story stories I've read. It's definitely a story in the old sense. Rather than say whatever Updike writes. It feels like an emblem of the form, similar to A&P.

Happiness Guy de Maupassant 

Love his/the translator's writing style. None is mentioned, but it's gotta be the public domain one, which I tend toward anyway. Almost bizarre how such a basic concept can be so affecting. 

A Haunted House Virginia Woolf 

The most difficult story I've read. Had to read several parts over again (or thrice) to understand the mode of everything. Makes me a little discouraged to try Mrs. Dalloway, though enough optimism remains. Haven't really read prose like this. Constantly seems to present ordinary images in a completely new form you haven't imagined before. I tend toward things that present novelty and this is a thicket of that.

The Office Without Interviews

I edited this episode (S4E4) to remove those interviews the characters do in front of that window with the blinds down. There weren't that many actually so I don't think the flow was disrupted. I would've done something from Season 1, but of course that's mainly available as a 16:9 crop of the 4:3 original. So it'd have been some legwork to track down the 4:3. Season 4 is when they switched to 16:9.

https://mega.nz/file/dLI1zJKL#1qJqeJEO4nC4C5k4t-tIZhneuPXR61H7lNorlXphwKE

Short Stories #6: Robert Silverberg and John Updike

Thelme and and the Ghayrog Robert Silverberg

This such new terrain for me. I had incredibly high expectations. I imagined a work of persistent novelty. A barrage of newness. It ended up being more simple. Plain. But it still was a look at something real. Like what is going on with Thelme. What is this person.

It took me a bit to work through (it's 40 pages). But it gave me a sense of what I want here. I just want the world-building I think. Like when Tyrion, Maester Pycelle, Cersei, and Varys discuss what's been going on. Skeletons increasing glow in the darkness for a moment or two; then receding. The story did do this for a few brief gasps, but too much was just ordinary bare plot-hole-patching conversation. 

I think I'm done with Silverberg for a while. But I see why he's got a reputation. Seems deserved. 

A Sense of Shelter John Updike

Ah remarkable. I don't know what I've been doing with my life. I've been reading books with empty characters in them. These are what I want. This is my interest. Rabbit Run doesn't seem as good as the short stories I've read, but what if it is... 

I'm not sure what's next. Surely another Updike is coming. But my new London and De Maupassant books arrived today, so I could dip into those. To Build a Fire has been on my mind lately. I liked it as a child. Call of the Wild was big for me as well. I loved an abridged/illustrated version of White Fang too. Maybe reading the real thing will be just as good.

Best MLB Uniforms

Oakland A's home white

Chicago White Sox home pinstriped

New York Yankees road gray

Kansas City Royals home white

St. Louis Cardinals home white

San Francisco Giants home tan

New York Mets alt blue

Los Angeles Dodgers home white

Chicago White Sox alt black

New York Yankees home pinstriped