Happy November, Kidlets. It’s time for another round up of picture books I’ve discovered at my local libraries since fall started. ‘Tis only a smattering of recommendations at this time, as the past couple months have been busy and life-changing. The media arts college where I worked faithfully for 27 years (mostly in communications, admissions & student services) closed at the end of August — but luckily after only a few weeks of unemployment I’m now working as the audio visual coordinator at an independent K-12 IB school much closer to home. It’s a huge blessing, and although my daily commute routine has changed, I’ll always be seeking out weird & wonderful picture books wherever I find them.

THIS IS NOT A CARROT by Dylan Hewitt is a quirky little gem for the existential child in all of us. Based on the work and philosophies of René Magritte, it combines photographs with graphic illustration for a head-scratcher of strangeness. Really bizarre stuff.

A DOOR IS TO OPEN by Kyo Maclear and Julie Morstad — another fantastic collaboration between these two brilliant artists. Morstad is local to Vancouver and I actually ran into her by chance at the post office a few months ago — quite the unexpected delight, as I really love her work. With this new book, I was reminded so much of Maurice Sendak and his retro style from the ‘60s, and then Lo and Behold, some Easter egg homages can be spotted therein.

HER MUDDY MAJESTY OF MUCK by Beatrice Alemagna, an artist from Italy whose books I always enjoy. There’s something in the water with Italian picture books — they are very good at blending poignant themes with a really strange sense of humor. This one explores childhood’s dark emotions within a dream world of monsters to create a truly wonderful work of art, weird and meaningful just the way I like it.

THINGS I LEARNED FROM MY DOG by Victor D.O. Santos and Dena Seiferling is a real tear-jerker of a book for the dog lovers in your life. Seiferling is a Canadian national treasure whose work I always look forward to seeing something new — for the life of me I still don’t understand what medium she uses, but it has such a great texture and a soft, haunting quality, gorgeous and otherworldly.

A DAY OFF SCHOOL by Oliver Jeffers and illustrated by Kevin Waldron was a pleasant surprise — it’s neat to see Jeffers branch out and write a story for another illustrator. His classic approach is still intact, and this book with its hilarious twist ending is a hoot. Really great for the early school year and any little ones in your life.

That’s all for now, folks. As I find more things I’ll be here to share them as I go forth in my new chapter.

Music time, kids! Here’s what I have to recommend to you today.

CAMERON WINTER - Live at Carnegie Hall

GEESE frontman Cameron Winter has an addictive voice. What may sound like a strange caterwauling to the casual listener, once you let it soak itself into your veins, you find it a soothing brew of gorgeous weirdness. And then you pay closer attention to his lyrics, and you find a treasure of storytelling all at once melancholy, urban, gritty and whimsical.

Combine all of this with the acoustics and integrity of Carnegie Hall housing nothing but a man and a piano, and you have something all together transcendent and Christ-haunted. The little nuances of difference between his studio recordings from solo album Heavy Metal are also unexpected joys. There’s some alternate corner of the universe where this music comes from, and it’s not of this earth.

ROBERT PLANT - Saving Grace: All That Glitters

While on the subject of Christ-haunting, the legendary Robert Plant and his Saving Grace band with Suzi Dan has put out a 4-song EP of bold spiritual mystery. Opening with the traditional well-wishing folk song The Blackest Crow and following with Gillian Welch’s Orphan Girl, we are presented with lonely souls enveloped by a common grace and belonging. This continues on with a new arrangement of the traditional Two Coats, painting pictures of a Savior replacing an old coat with a new one of rebirth and resurrection.

But then, in a curious and dangerous bend of the road, the EP ends on a dark note with a cover of Bert Jansch’s Poison — a brooding, sinister tune which echoes the voice of the tempting serpent who teases the refrain Don’t you know your Creator is running out of ideas? (or biblically speaking, Did God really say….?) It’s a brilliant turn of ambience, leaving you at the end of the collection with that tension and a bitter taste in your mouth, reminding you of what’s at stake and asking you what will you do about it?

Not only that, but there are moments in this final track when the spooky crooning of the Led Zeppelin-era Plant emerges from the shadow of the ‘70s in a manner our forefathers were quite used to. That feeling that’s left everybody — the cosmic energy.

@ - Autosmile

Moving into more ‘60s/’70s-inspired spookiness, first of all that “at” symbol is not a typo — it’s the name of the band. @ is the indie-folk duo of Victoria Rose and Stone Filipczak from Baltimore, Maryland. My friend Matt sent me this and it hooked me instantly — their latest album Autosmile is a masterful journey of strange psychedelica invoking hookah pipes and bead curtains in the woods. It reminds me much of the 1971 First Utterance album by Comus, a UK forest folk troupe who opened for David Bowie back in the day. Here there be flutes, strings, guitars in minor keys which bring this sound into the modern age and make it seem like no time has passed. I’m leaning in and paying attention to this ensemble, as there’s plenty of genre-hopping to be had in their repertoire thus far.

LIZZY McALPINE - Angel

One of my favorite female singer/songwriters of today has dropped a new album, continuing a trajectory of melancholy beauty, soothing melodies, and more songs about kissing. Angel finds Lizzy McAlpine sounding more confident in her song-weaving, defeating some of her demons and finding some light.

Plenty of head-nodding and unexpected chord changes abound in this velvet-laced work of mystery. Her voice still has that husky jazz thing going on, but hits a few surprising high notes of birdy chirpiness painting new colors into her tapestry. A mellow delight.

PHOEBE BRIDGERS - The Lost Tour

And finally, last night was the Sold Out Vancouver show of Phoebe Bridgers’ Lost Tour which I was fortunate to enjoy with my daughter and brother-in-law. As it was a phone-free show, I can’t share any photos or video with you — and quite honestly I’m fine with that. The visuals and emotion in the packed arena were such that any distractions would have tainted it from full experience. It was beautiful, full of surprises, and incredibly meaningful — with some light-show elements which gave me Pink Floyd vibes. I’ve put together a playlist of the evening for you to enjoy.

Phoebe Bridgers: Vancouver Show, Oct 24 2026 »

Always more to come! See you on the next musical post of goodness.

The wanting has come in waves, and now the wait is over. A film I’ve been anticipating for over a decade has finally met my eyes and ears — and I’m pleased to say it’s been worth it.

Sometime around 2011 or 2012 I read and enjoyed the middle grade novel WILDWOOD written by Colin Meloy, lead singer/songwriter for my favorite band (The Decemberists), and illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis (who also writes & illustrates picture books and The Decemberists’ album covers). They are among my top favorite artists and I love everything they do.

Wildwood is a simple but grand adventure story with echoes of Narnia woven into a dark, whimsical folk tale — and full of the same quirky ambience of the Decemberists’ music. The protagonist is a 12-year-old girl named Prue, whose baby brother is kidnapped by a murder of crows and taken to the Impassable Wilderness, a fanciful version of Forest Park in Portland, OR. It’s up to Prue and the companions in her stead to save her brother from the evil & exiled villain, the Dowager Governess.

In the years to follow, the tale expanded into a wondrous trilogy, which I read to myself and also out loud to my daughter, who would have been around 9 or 10 at the time. Each book is better than the last, and this is a series which means a lot to me: it’s beautiful, haunting, heartbreaking, exciting, weird and wonderful.

All that time I’ve lived under the shadow of knowledge that LAIKA, the stop-motion animation studio behind films like Coraline and Paranorman, had bought the film rights to Wildwood. But years went by and I started to wonder if anything would ever come of it — until the official announcement was finally made in 2021.

16 years in total of development and production, and I finally saw the film last night. It’s opening weekend NOW, and I implore you — please — go see it in theatres before it’s too late. This is not a film for waiting to watch on a small home screen. It needs and deserves the big cinema experience, and an audience.

I’ve always appreciated the fact that LAIKA tries their best to stress the handcrafted process behind making their movies into how they market them. To those unfamiliar with the animation process, it’s easy to assume that everything is generated digitally with no actual art involved — this is a grave mistake in any medium, but especially stop-motion. Though CG effects are used to enhance crowds and composite certain images together, you’re mostly looking at real hand-made sets and puppets moved in tiny increments one frame at a time.

The film is mostly faithful to the book, blending certain sequences together to simplify things, but makes a few significant character changes in the final act which are a delightful, poignant surprise. The choices made to change things up make it a deeper, richer experience for a film adaptation (more on this in a moment) — and you can enjoy the film just as much whether you’ve read the book or not (though I do recommend reading the whole trilogy).

Fans of The Decemberists’ songs will spot a few Easter Eggs as well — including a new song for the end credits (The Better Part of Bravery) and a deep cut Fits and Starts (from their Florasongs EP) making an appearance within the soundtrack.

In addition to the Official Score/Soundtrack album which is available, there is an amazing album of music inspired by the film called The Wildwood Sessions. The Decemberists are featured again with a new song, along with several other artists from Portland, OR and other places. I’m loving the journey of discovering these talents and adding them to my musical horizons. A few favorites…

This one is not Tom Waits, but sure sounds like him! (Makes perfect sense, since the actual Tom Waits does a voice in the film itself)

and one more…

I’m a little biased of course, but even so, WILDWOOD I’ve decided is my new Top Favorite Film of the Year. While Coraline is still an untouchable masterpiece, Wildwood is LAIKA's epic magnum opus of greatness. Like the book, it doesn’t necessarily break new ground story-wise and it’s rough around the edges, but that’s also part of its charm. There are thematic elements and lessons which surprised and delighted me. It expertly invites you to ask yourself ‘what would I do if I was in this situation?’ and the outcomes are remarkably authentic.

The film is literally like a Decemberists album come to life and it’s glorious and ambitious in all the ways it should be, for what LAIKA spent so long labouring over. It does things stop-motion animation has probably always dreamed of doing, and finally gets its chance. I love it, and will come back for more. I see many echoes of my own art and passions in this -- almost like it was made for me. It’s also dark as hell, rated PG-13 for violence, but damn it all — take the kids. They’ll be fine.

I’m especially gobsmacked by a particular moment in the film which is incredible but mildly spoiler-ish, so maybe stop reading now, go get a ticket and see it (which you need to do anyway) and come back.

Much of the story arc for the main characters Prue and Curtis has been adapted to focus on their coming-of-age and realizations of mature choices in the twilight of childhood to adulthood. Prue learns her lessons, and Curtis learns his. For Curtis, his youth has been formed by fantasy games and dreams of being a hero — which includes the conquering and slaying of his enemies. When an actual sword is thrust into his hand and he’s challenged to kill a soldier by the Dowager Governess, he encounters the barbaric nature of this “heroic” act and refuses.

But then, Curtis is thrown into the real-life folly of war. Prue is under attack by a coyote solider, and just before the beast strikes the fatal blow, Curtis comes to her rescue by slaying it. Because of this brave act, Prue is alive to save her brother, and Curtis is a hero. But therein lies the paradox — he has saved Prue, but he has still killed another living being. He drops his sword and recoils in horror as he commands Prue to go rescue her brother. I was amazed by the gravity and poignancy behind this little moment. The tension between the grim reality of war/murder and the flipside of its coin to heroism is expressed so well in how this scene plays out. To use a Decemberists’ song title, This Is Why We Fight. We honour heroes for their bravery and the unfortunate resort of war to save others, but there is still a cost — lives are still lost. I was impressed, grateful, and riveted to see this lesson displayed with such gravitas in a film such as this. It elevates the story to transcendent levels, and even more so for the medium of stop-motion animation I adore so much.

I trust there will be more to say and unpack as I see this film multiple times — let’s commence to coordinate our sights and unpack it together.

Howdy folks, it’s music time again! Lots of new discoveries lately along with new releases by old friends abound. As always, I hope you press play and give these nuggets of wonderment a listen for the ears of your ears.

CHELSEA WOLFE - The Dark

I’m late to the party on this artist — but late is better than never. Chelsea Wolfe is a singer/songwriter from California who blends gothic rock, doom metal and folk music, and I’m captivated by the beauty and gloom of her sound. Her voice has echoes of Caroline Polachek but with a more melancholy goth flavor. Her new album The Dark is appropriately titled — meditations on darkness and death but tinged with hope. Chills down the spine.

POKEY LAFARGE - Rent Money

I’ve often said if you need more joy in your life, listen to Pokey LaFarge. While I still think his magnum opus is my gateway album Rock Bottom Rhapsody from 2020, his new release Rent Money has some of his best stuff since then — a return to form for his bouncy melodies and gritty lyrics. His music practically has a smell to it, a mix of barber shops and car garages with a dash of cigarettes and whiskey.

HAUTE & FREDDY - Big Disgrace

Go back in time to the mid-1980s and mix up a cocktail of The Thompson Twins, Cyndi Lauper and Kate Bush and pour it all over an urban circus troupe at a Renaissance Faire, and you get this new alternative pop duo from L.A. — vocalist Michelle Buzz ("Haute") and percussionist/drummer Lance Shipp ("Freddy"). Their debut album Big Disgrace is a powerhouse of vicious glee and a push back against the darkness — bold anthems of grace and rebellion with a make-up caked sneer. It’s a thing of wonderful truthiness.

THIS IS LORELEI - The Singer in My Band

Another ‘late to the party’ door for me which I’m still diving into, Nate Amos is an artist who lives in New York and makes music as This Is Lorelei and Water From Your Eyes. I’m captivated by his new release The Singer in My Band, a blend of country, folk, and alternative indie rock which is a wonder to behold. Surprising chord changes, soothing melodies & harmonies, great guitar playing and good vibes all around. Yep, this does the job.

Music is good food! I hope this meal has satisfied your belly.

There’s a new debut album I’ve had on repeat for a few days: Baby You’re a Winner! by Bristol UK-based post-punk ensemble Grandmas House. I stumbled upon them on YouTube and they caught my ear right away.

Description from their agent’s page is as follows: Grandmas House, Bristol’s finest and loudest 4 piece, have been busy honing their grunge and post-punk influenced sound, citing influences that range from Idles and The Raincoats to Nirvana and boygenius; Yasmin, Poppy, Zoë and Polly are a genuinely unique proposition. Refusing to be pigeon holed, they are here to shake up perceptions with their intelligent, stylish and raucous take on rock music and a live show to remember.

The new record has more balance than their first few singles and EPs, which are brasher and set more in the rowdy punk universe. My own quick description would be “Smoke Fairies gone punk rock.” Through the raspy lead vocals by Yasmin Berndt, you could even take this literally, as she sounds like a fairy who smokes too much. The opening track sets the tone for the brasher side of their world.

I really love this track too, for a head bobbing good time…

There’s some rockin’ trashy punk sounds to be found here, but also some melodic beauty with a spooky ambience and an almost jazzy surfish twang sometimes.

The song Dance is a perfect hybrid of the rough and smooth textures which bounce around in their sonic planet.

The album’s coda Spring brings things to a close with a gentle lullaby, abounding with harmonies to clear the smoke and usher the ears into a warm outdoor breeze.

Check it out and hope you enjoy — they’re just getting started.

Friends, it’s in times of uncertainty and emotional cluster-cusses I am most grateful for music and the life-giving sustainability it gives. Whatever storm you’re in, I hope you take some time to check out these recommendations of new albums I’m finding solace and transcendence in — and that it may lift you up.

HAKEN - in a fever dream

One of my favorite British ensembles of prog-rockers has a new EP called in a fever dream, and it’s some of their best work to date. Only 5 songs, but they all connect thematically into a suite of symphonic fury and beauty. It fits together with better integrity than their last full length album Fauna, which I enjoyed — but not to the same level as Affinity or Virus. This new opus takes the best elements from those albums and condenses it into something focused, melodic, and solid, with killer grooves, soaring vocals, and a few growls of terror. It’s a lament of velvet darkness, a wine-stained coffin of sorrow carried by a weary knight, while a chorus of crystal angels carries them through to the light.

NOAH KAHAN - The Great Divide

I love this guy. He’s been on SNL a couple times now, and each time I’m captivated by his energy, his soulfulness, and sense of gleeful mischief. I greatly enjoyed his last album Stick Season, and his new one The Great Divide is long but I dare-say even better, richer, and deeper. It’s Americana with a dark edge to it — anger and tears tinged with highlights from a crimson sunset, on a dirt road cutting through a dry field of grass. It’s an epic album that smells like cigarettes and gasoline, but still attracts lightning bugs. Maybe there’s something about his native state of Vermont — home of Phish and Bernie Sanders — that gives him that taste of contagious trouble.

Here’s a slice of time with him playing live…

…and this one seems appropriate for this time of the year.

THE ARCADIAN WILD - Make it Out Alive

In the same house of soul-lifting roots music, the highly-anticipated new record from Nashville’s Arcadian Wild, Make It Out Alive, is an absolute masterpiece. I thought their last album Welcome (which features my #1 favorite song of 2023, Big Sky, MT) was great — but this is them at the height of their powers. It’s jaw-dropping how good it is. The melodies, the harmonization, the energy, it’s like they’ve risen to a whole new level.

One of the most delightful surprises is hearing more frequent vocals from their fiddle player Bailey Warren Zahurancik. Usually her smooth gentle voice is in the background blending like lavender tea with the graceful harmonies by Isaac Horn (guitar), Lincoln Mick (mandolin). But here it comes to the forefront more often than usual. The band is shaking the tree, shuffling the deck, trying new things and unlocking more treasure chests.

Their confidence as an ensemble is summed up nicely by this playful video, a great primer for the vibe and presence they inhabit. The song itself starts off as standard classic Arcadian Wild - fingerpicks and intricate melodies bouncing like grain - and then after the third verse and a quirky little breakdown, the double bass growls like a hungry tiger. Straight up with a twist, there’s a sly edge to the feast now, an anthem that stands up to the chaos and grinds its heel into the gravel.

…and then there’s this song, Impressions, which brings me to my knees as one of the best compositions they’ve ever created. Surprises abound at every measure — minor keys and harmonies of such power and boldness that stop me in my tracks. This is like ARCADIAN WILD 2.0, folks! Whatever these guys are doing to bring their artistry to this gobsmackish level, they better keep drinking from the same well. It’s like a jolt of adrenalin and caffeine to the heart that finds a home in the belly — the birthing place where all is well, all is well, and all matter of things will be well.

I actually have to restrain myself from posting another song, as we must move on to other…

Aw what the hell, here’s another one.

ALLISON RUSSELL - In the Hour of Chaos

I can’t think of a better title to sum up 2026 so far, in terms of current events and headlines that threaten to break our spirits. Luckily we can always count on Alison Russell to heal our wounds and give us whispers of hope. Her new record is triumphant, an urban jungle of pearls and an Emerald City where the wizard ain’t hiding behind a curtain. You don’t need green glasses to see anything. It’s all the real deal — a beacon of heart, brain and nerve.

And speaking of bein’ green, I had a squee moment when Russell posted this online about the album’s opening track Rainbows: Why are there so many songs about Rainbows? Kermit knew, actually: Because they’re MAGIC. This is a song about reconnecting with our own essential magic — a magic we thought we’d lost — so we can pour it back into the world.

In true Muppet-like spirit, the new record battles the hour of chaos with community, bringing together a gaggle of guest artists to lend their electric mayhem of voices and spirits to nearly every track. In No Springtime, Julie Williams and Joy Oladokun are invited to the party…

In usual fashion, every track is so solid it’s hard to pick a favorite — I love ‘em all — but when this one drops in particular, I do stand a little taller and the tuning fork of my heart vibrates a little stronger.

PHOEBE BRIDGERS - Lost Weekend

And then there was Phoebe. Good Lord.

If the Skeleton Queen of Sad Bedroom Pop takes 6 years to release every record, I won’t complain, if that’s what it takes to steep and marinate a brew this rich. Probably one of the most-highly-teased and anticipated albums of the year, ‘tis worth every bit of hype and waiting.

This is a sonic suite — a comprehensive work of emotions around memory and loss that surprises you at every turn. While Punisher and Stranger in the Alps were relatively consistent from track to track, alternating from breathy ballad to peppered pop and back again, with Lost Weekend you never know what you’ll hear next. The genre-hopping takes you on a journey, a soundscape of parades turning corners into neighborhoods of pop, country, folk, and experimental ambience.

A Bon Iver/Imogen Heap-inspired vocal opens with the introductory track The Outside, and then we go inside — further up and further in to Bridgers’ diary of lament and memoriam. And every now and then, Julien Baker yelps in the distance.

I was more than a little tickled to hear a lyrical reference to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining in this track, followed by its chord changes evoking the ambience of a Gold Ballroom. You half expect Lloyd to be there fixing you a drink.

And it’s more than a little awesome to have Cameron Winter (or Son-John Johnson, I should say) show up for a guest vocal duet here.

I Can’t Wait for October 24th, when I’ll be seeing her on tour in Vancouver, phone-free and in rapt attention to soak in every note and light.

So many good tunes, folks. My head might explode.

Please listen, enjoy, and add these albums to your rotation and collection. I’ll see you in the great divide after I make it out alive from my hour of chaos. My door is always open and the music is always on.

Happie Summer, kids. Time for another overdue round-up of picture books for the art & story lovers and dreamers in your universe. Here are a bunch of bookish wonders I’ve enjoyed these past few months.

SOMETIMES YOU FIND A DRAGON by Viviane Schwarz. If you have artists in your life, especially young ones, you need this book. But no matter what age you are, you’ll find some inspiration and a kick in the pants to keep creating things.

BEAR BY HIMSELF by Geoffrey Hayes. A quick read and quiet delight. Just a strange tiny tome about a cute little bear being at peace with himself in the world. I love the design and color palette. Good reference for simple compositions.

NO ONE SLEPT by Rafael Sica is a quirky gem translated from Portugese and feels like a book you may have grown up with if you’ve been around awhile. Feels very retro, but also very modern. It’s spooky and strange, weird and whimsical. And there is a ghost.

OTHERS by Kobi Yamada and Charles Santoso. I love the character design in this book, and the story is one which will challenge you, disrupt you, and afflict your comfort while it comforts the afflicted. You know, for kids. And for all of us. This is an essential and important book that seeks to shake up our divided hearts and give us a wake up call. Proceed with caution and prepare to have your compass altered.

THE WHITE RAVEN by Kathyrn Otoshi. Gorgeous watercolor artwork, and a powerful poem of solidarity for those born different. This book is also important and essential.

HIGHER GROUND by Tull Suwannakit is a graphic novel of incredible hand-crafted beauty. It takes you on a bittersweet journey of sadness, tragedy and hope. For a world in transition from chaos into new uncharted territory, this is a must-read to sit with and find solace in.

THE LITTLE GIRL AND THE RAIN by Milena Lukešová and Jan Kudlacek is a new printing of a vintage Czech Republic book from 1974. My library got it in, and I was surprised and delighted not only by the artwork, but by the binding and texture of the cover. Somebody has unearthed this gem from the past and given a new life of real care and craft. Feels like it was made yesterday!

THE WISE PICKLE by Sarah Howden and Sabina Hahn. What can I say about this book, friends? It may be my picture book of the year, in terms of its weirdness. It simply needs to be seen to be believed. If the title and concept alone makes you chuckle, wait ‘til you read it.

…but even wise pickles are tough competition when Júlia Sardà puts another book into the world.

THE WITCH IN THE TOWER is her new masterpiece, as Book Two of her ongoing Three Sisters trilogy series. While the first book QUEEN IN THE CAVE centered around the oldest sister Franca, this new one is for the middle sister Carmela. These books take each main character on a coming of age journey — all at once delightful, lush & beautiful, frightening, unsettling and poignant, they are post-modern fairy tales about growing up and about the terrifying twilight between childhood and adulthood — haunted by the dark sophistication of books by Maurice Sendak and the thematic undertones of Jim Henson’s LABYRINTH. They are striking and powerful works of art, and I can’t wait to see the next one about Thomasina, the youngest sister!

Sardà is one of my favorites, and one of the absolute best picture book artists working today — The Three Sisters series uncovers possible truths about the universe and reassures you that everything is gonna be ok. Each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made and has a place in the grand scheme of the cosmos.

And then there’s Mac Barnett, another one of those book-makers you can trust and know you’ll be in good hands. His new collaboration with Shawn Harris, THE FUTURE BOOK, is silly and hilarious — guaranteed to make you laugh out loud no matter what. If you have kids to read it to especially, you’ll have a great time. I just read it to myself and I still laughed. Out loud.

Mac Barnett has also written a book about children’s books for grown-ups to read, called MAKE BELIEVE with cover art by the legendary Carson Ellis. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read on the subject, and highly recommended if you care about storytelling.

And there you have it. Happy reading, and please let me know what you think of these.

Hi Ho friends, I hope you’ll enjoy joining me in a little memoir experiment.

For the past few years here at in and out of weeks, I’ve gotten into the habit of compiling and posting Top Favorite Film Lists of the Year, with one particular film at the top as my #1 Film of the Year.

Awhile back on Letterboxd, I expanded this list and looked at films released for each calendar year of my life – and thought, out of my favorite movies, which one from each year would I pick as a favorite?

The tricky part was, some years I saw lots of new movies, while other years I hardly saw any. Other years were crammed with so many “all-time favorites” it was hard to choose only one – but I did the best I could.

Looking at the list again however, I decided to mix it up with some new criteria and rules, which changed the game a little bit.

RULE #1: The year must match

The film for each year needs to have been released (theatrically or otherwise for national viewing) in the same calendar year.

RULE #2: I need to have seen it within that year

I need to have seen it in the theatre (or on home video release/streaming) within that same year or close to it, give or take a few months maybe, at most. It can’t be a film I saw several years later and consider to be my favorite film from that year, which leads to the next rule…

RULE #3: No retroactive favorites

I would have had to choose it as my favorite film of the year at that time — meaning within the year I saw it, it meant a lot to me and resonated with me greatly. All things considered, it’s a film I associate with that year – and with that period of my life — i.e. when I think of the year, which film does my mind leap to?

(For example, I might decide that My Neighbor Totoro is my favorite film from 1988 — but I didn’t see it –or even know about it– until the late ‘90s. So for 1988, I selected Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which would have been my favorite film of the year if you had asked me then.

Likewise, I would definitely say today that City of Lost Children is my favorite film of 1995, but I didn’t see it until 1997, so I need to pick something I actually saw in 1995.)

Rule #4: There can be only one (unless there’s a good reason for a tie)

I can only choose one film — but that being said, I’ve broken that rule in a couple of instances. In 2024 I had a tie with Riddle of Fire and Gasoline Rainbow, which I consider to be spiritual sequels or sister films to each other. In a similar fashion, there are a couple of years where there are two films I consider to be joined at the hip, and I associate them within the same breath of memory and meaning.

Now, the only exception to all of this:

The first few years of my life I was obviously not consciously brain-developed enough to even know what movies were – so for these years only, I’ve looked at my favorite films and chosen which one I associate most personally with that year itself.

So, with that in mind…

• 1975: JAWS (the year I was born)

• 1976: CARRIE

• 1977: STAR WARS

• 1978: HALLOWEEN

For the rest, I’ve added in a few notes and a few milestones to important events of my life, to give it a bit more personal context.

• 1979: THE MUPPET MOVIE (this may have been the first movie I ever saw in theatres)

• 1980: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

• 1981: THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER

• 1982: THE SECRET OF NIMH - THE DARK CRYSTAL (both extremely formative to me at that age and joined at the hip)

• 1983: RETURN OF THE JEDI

• 1984: THE LAST STARFIGHTER - THE NEVERENDING STORY (released and saw in theatres within a week of each other, and a year later I had them on the same VHS tape and watched them repeatedly)

• 1985: BACK TO THE FUTURE

• 1986: LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (this was the year I started middle school)

• 1987: SPACEBALLS

• 1988: WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?

• 1989: BATMAN (this was the year I started high school)

• 1990: EDWARD SCISSORHANDS

• 1991: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS

• 1992: BATMAN RETURNS

• 1993: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (this was the year I graduated high school and started college)

• 1994: THE LION KING

• 1995: BRAVEHEART

• 1996: DRAGONHEART

• 1997: GROSSE POINTE BLANK (this was the year I graduated college)

• 1998: DARK CITY (this was the year I moved from Michigan to Vancouver)

• 1999: THE IRON GIANT

• 2000: ALMOST FAMOUS

• 2001: SPIRITED AWAY (this was the year I got married)

• 2002: LILO AND STITCH

• 2003: A MIGHTY WIND

• 2004: GARDEN STATE

• 2005: WALLACE & GROMIT - CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT

• 2006: CARS (this was the year my daughter was born)

• 2007: SON OF RAMBOW

• 2008: THE DARK KNIGHT

• 2009: THE SECRET OF KELLS (this was the year my son was born)

• 2010: TANGLED

• 2011: THE MUPPETS

• 2012: MOONRISE KINGDOM

• 2013: INSIDE LLEWELLYN DAVIS

• 2014: THE LEGO MOVIE

• 2015: INSIDE OUT

• 2016: PATERSON

• 2017: THE FLORIDA PROJECT

• 2018: WON’T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR?

• 2019: KLAUS

• 2020: THE VAST OF NIGHT

• 2021: SUMMER OF SOUL

• 2022: MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

• 2023: SHOWING UP

• 2024: RIDDLE OF FIRE - GASOLINE RAINBOW

• 2025: SKETCH

So far, my #1 for 2026 is BACKROOMS, so time will tell if anything takes its place.

Do I still love all of these films? For the most part YES — I still harbor as much fondness for them now as I did back then. In some cases, even more so! Very few (like Braveheart and Dragonheart, for example) haven’t aged quite as well for me now, but I treasure what they meant to me at that time of my life.

It’s also great to look at this list and remember who I saw these films with, who I was back then, and other connections that could be made between them.

If you’d like to try this experiment on for size, I’d love to hear which films you would choose.

It’s a glorious thing when there’s new music from Shearwater, the band fronted by musician/singer/songwriter/ornithologist Jonathan Meiburg. I also wrote about their last album The Great Awakening in 2022 — and the 4-year wait for The New World has been worth it.

Searows’ Death in the Business of Whaling still hasn’t been toppled from my #1 favorite album of 2026 spot, but The New World is pretty damn close, in terms of touching a personal and spiritual nerve.

The mellow & melodic sound on this album is closer to The Great Awakening than to the art-rock pop vibe of Jet Plane and Oxbow (still in my top 5 best albums of the 21st century so far). There are plenty of surprises to be found, and yet it’s still the sonic equivalent to levitating above oceans, shorelines, islands, rocks, and forests. Meiburg’s voice is in top form as always. He’s one of my favorite people — like a new Peter Gabriel in terms of his artistry and global outlook.

The New World was completely crowd-funded and produced over 4 years alongside scientific environmental work and a global exploration of the natural world, mixing in international field recordings — from German church bells and blackbirds to Tasmanian rivers and forest ravens, and coyotes in the California mountains.

As usual, the best listening experience is to journey through the entire album, but I’ll share a couple stand-out tracks as a gateway.

I’m particularly tickled by the video for Slugs in the Marigolds since it was filmed in my own Vancouver neighborhood on BC Ferries. The route he takes (to relocate a banana slug) is from Horseshoe Bay (a terminal I’ve been to a few times) to Bowen Island. It’s a perfect picture of Meiburg’s kind sense of humor and steadfast spirit.

The biggest surprise on The New World is a spoken word collaboration with Laurie Anderson called You and Your Dog. The poem that’s recited by Anderson in front of the music is haunting and thought-provoking — it strikes me as an earthly clue to how the universe is stitched together and what lies beyond the veil. The story of an estranged relationship, on a landscape where barren beach meets sky, makes me wonder if part of the afterlife deals with similar journeys, re-visiting the various people we’ve met here and mending things as we go. It’s a beautiful and hopeful thing to wonder about.

True to form, Meiburg weaves together a fascination for the world with a loving skeptic’s ear leaned tight into spiritual mystery. There’s a lyrical tension here between a love for nature and paradoxical disconnect with its creator, as expressed in the opening track: Are you listening only (even so)? Are you higher above me (even so)?

It reminds me of Maurice Sendak’s enigmatic quotes, “I don’t believe in an afterlife, but I fully expect to see my brother again.” and in the same breath, “I am in love with the world.”

~Meiburg’s thoughts in a review from his Bandcamp page~

As expressed in Daydream Unbeliever…

Nothing is ordinary
Elephant ear, coyote eye
Sing in an older language
Hold the lens up to the light or wander around in hell
And never decide what strength is

…I’m a daydream unbeliever, I love my unbelief nevertheless.

Greetings, friends! With thanks to the invitation of my friend Matt Conner, I’ve just had two reviews for brand new film releases posted at Under the Radar Magazine. I hope you enjoy reading them!

The first film I watched and reviewed was WILD INSIDE, the latest documentary from independent filmmaker Penny Lane. It chronicles the remarkable true story of Flaco, a male Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped from the Central Park Zoo in New York City. Bird lovers, especially, will want to have this film on their watchlist—but keep some tissues nearby. It’s an inspiring, moving, and visually stunning documentary that is ultimately as heartbreaking as it is beautiful.

It made me very sad, but it’s well made and I highly recommend it.

Read my full review here: https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/wild_inside

I also reviewed the new folk horror film NIGHTBORN by Finnish director Hanna Bergholm, which I don’t recommend as whole-heartedly, although it has a few strong qualities, a deliciously grim ending, and a grounding in dark Finnish folklore.

Read my full review here: https://www.undertheradarmag.com/reviews/nightborn

I do, however, recommend Bergholm’s previous feature HATCHING, which I’ve watched a few times now, and is easily one of my favorite horror films of the decade so far. 12-year-old Tinja is desperate to please her mother, a video-blogger obsessed with presenting the image of a perfect family. One night, Tinja finds a strange egg…and it hatches to horrific effect.

It's a grim fairy tale with layers of cautionary darkness, with elements most modern North American horror films lack these days: practical effects, effective suspense, and a hard-hitting metaphor that actually sends chills down your spine while holding a moral center. It works on many levels upon re-watch, for its visual symbolism becomes even more poignant when you know what’s coming — and even then, it’s riveting and always keeps you on edge. Fun for the whole family!

(I’m kidding, of course. Don’t let your kids watch this. And be a good parent. HATCHING will show you what happens if you’re not.)

Sweet dreams!

My first impressions on Letterboxd for A24’s BACKROOMS, right after seeing it in theatres, were as follows:

I’ve since watched it again, along with director Kane Parsons’ entire YouTube series which led up to it — and I’ve decided it’s my new #1 favorite film of the year so far. I'm fascinated, riveted and terrified by it, and by the layers of meaning & metaphor lurking therein. It's a phenomenon and something so completely new in cinema, it deserves to be talked about.

There’s a personal connection for me too, in that the film was made in my home city of Vancouver, and some visual effects artists I know (as graduates from the art school where I’ve worked for 27 years) were involved in its production. I also met the actor who played the Archibald Leeland Sutter Still Life a couple years ago, when he came to one of our Open Houses.

I love this satirical video which summarizes the two most common reactions to BACKROOMS:

As for me, I’d say I’m in the middle of these two reactions. I’ve gone down a few internet rabbit holes of video essays unpacking the timeline and the theories around what the Backrooms are all about — some of them are interesting, many are fascinating, but I only have so much time in my days. And much like my love for Twin Peaks, I’m content to live with the mystery and the not-knowing how everything fits. It’s also likely that I’ll read someone’s analysis where everything makes sense to me, and then a few hours later I’ll forget all of it anyway. I’m not locked in to any one theory in particular, or have many of my own which I’m strictly beholden to — I mainly love the vibe behind the idea, and the visual & sonic qualities that resonate with this whole universe itself.

Whether you’ve seen the feature film yet or not, the Backrooms YouTube series can be found in a full playlist here — and it’s well worth your time to chip your way through it. There are certain episodes, in particular the Found Footage segments, which are even more frightening than some of the stuff you see in the feature.

But the other video series by Parsons I highly recommend you devote time to is THE OLDEST VIEW, which you can watch here. This one is about a guy who discovers hole in the ground leading to an abandoned shopping mall inhabited by a living puppet — and it’s absolutely terrifying. I watched it by myself and jumped in fright more than once. It’s a fascinating work of art.

What’s even more mind-boggling about the Backrooms series and The Oldest View is that it’s all done in Blender with 3D models and simulated hand-held camera moves, not physical locations! For the feature film, they were able to build a real movie set (where crew members literally got lost), but not the case for the web series — yet it’s so realistic you would never guess. It’s still amazing what people can do these days.

What fascinates me about Parsons’ work is the ambience behind liminal spaces, and particularly in The Oldest View, the subject matter of physical spaces which have been left behind to memory — and the haunted void that’s left behind.

I still plan on catching up with more of Parsons’ work on his YouTube channel, and whatever universe he conjures up next, I’m eager to enter in.

Had a great time seeing indie pop band from Brooklyn, NY Nation of Language at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver this past Sunday July 19. My friend Matt introduced me to them last year and they’ve become one of my new modern favorites playing today. You may have heard me mention them here a few times before — if you missed them, I highly recommend you check them out.

Nation of Language is Ian Richard Devaney (lead vocals, guitar, synthesizer, percussion), his wife Aidan Noell (synthesizer, backing vocals — check out her Substack here for more musical recommendations), and Alex MacKay (bass guitar).

Their sound has echoes of ‘80s synth & indie pop bands like The Thompson Twins, OMD, Human League and Talk Talk with occasional flavors of U2 — but also with a modern vibe that’s unique to them, due to the emotional depth of their songs, great hooks, and the general ambience of how they approach everything. Ian has an incredible voice, and it blends seamlessly with the music. They’ve released 4 albums since 2020 — their most recent Dance Called Memory came out last fall.

Their Vancouver show was supported by opening band Peel Dream Magazine from L.A. who I was mostly unfamiliar with but I’m now digging deeper into their back catalog and liking what I hear!

Here’s a few Nation of Language nuggets…

SOLE OBSESSION

THE GREY COMMUTE

ON DIVISION ST.

INEPT APOLLO

Here’s the whole setlist, with thanks to a fellow fan for giving it to me — my first stage setlist!

I’ve also created a YouTube playlist for y’all, so you can sample the tracks they played. Listen in close, and tell me what you think — would love to give them more well-deserved fans and see you at the next show!

LISTEN HERE: Vancouver Show - July 19 2026 »

It’s music time again, folks! Here’s some awesome tunes to make your summer better.

Beck Zegans

I discovered this artist through the new Substack by Aidan Noell from Nation of Language (who I’ll be seeing in concert next weekend). Like me, she recommends movies and music — so I’m here for it and grateful for the expanded horizons.

New York-based Beck Zegans’ debut album Engraving of Armor, as it turns out, also features bass playing and co-producing by Nation of Language’s bassist Alex Mackay.

I’ve listened to this album dozens of times already — I love its dark groove which mixes catchy riffs, droning fuzz of guitar-driven gloom and soaring ambience of hazy urban nightclubs. Her sound is very reminiscent of Smoke Fairies, with touches of Velvet Underground, Wednesday, Snail Mail and similar sonic flavors.

Here’s a couple of sample tracks (which is often a challenge in choosing for posts like this, as I’m a “full album” kind of listener, so much that I don’t always remember titles of the songs I like the most. For Substack-ish purposes, I always try to find two tracks which show off the range of styles inherent therein, and give you a general sense of what the artists sound like. More often than not, it’s hard to pick only two! But obviously they are meant as a strong hook to hopefully entice you to dive deeper into the full album. Anyway, I digress.)

I can’t wait to hear what Zegans does next, because this is amazing.

Autoheart

An animation student at the art school where I work just recently told me about this band, and I got hooked immediately — especially when I dove into their 2013 debut album Punch. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say this is one of the greatest albums I’ve ever heard. Better late to the party than never, and I’m grateful to have finally discovered it.

Autoheart is a London-based indie-pop group formed in 2011, consisting of Jody Gadsden (vocals), Simon Neilson (piano, keyboards & saxophone), and Barney JC (guitars & keyboards). The fact they’re a three-piece ensemble makes it even more impressive the genre-hopping sounds they’re able to conjure. In some cases I can pinpoint certain bands they sound reminiscent of — but many other times, it’s harder to compare them to anyone else. They stand in very much a league of their own — but their British flavor can’t be denied. Punch is so far my #1 favorite album of theirs, but it’s also worth exploring their other releases for more surprises.

On Punch, the songs range from quirky, bouncy jazz-type romps to mellow ballads — in all instances the lyrics are densely packed with whimsical wordplay and irresistible melodies. With these two gateway tracks, The Sailor Song is a good example of their peppy side…

…while January is a soaring tearjerker of a ballad where I swear Gadsden’s voice channels Mark Hollis from Talk Talk.

Thundercat

I’m a bit late to the party on virtuoso bassist and producer/performer Thundercat as well — first meeting him through the Yacht Rock documentary and getting hooked on his 2017 Drunk album.

So now, I’ve been enjoying his new release Distracted quite a lot — really good for summertime drives, work jams or just chillin’ on the porch.

She Knows Too Much is my favorite track on the new record, and has a fun animated music video too. The bass line has echoes of Stevie Wonder’s I Wish, which is good enough reason to make any song awesome.

A.D.D. Through the Roof is a great example of Thundercat’s fast-finger-flying-frenzy of bass playing, and the general vibe of what most of the album sounds like.

mercury

This musical discovery is so fresh, I only found it frickin’ yesterday through an ad on Instagram — and I was so blown away I’m already an instant fan. I think this showed up in my algorithm due to being liked by Searows, who I just saw recently in concert and been interacting much with their stories & posts. Makes sense, as the sound is often similar. Here’s the gateway track which the ad pointed me to…

I mean…DAMN, right?

Turns out mercury is a band architected by singer/songwriter Maddie Kerr out of Franklin, Tennessee — a tapestry of incredibly emotional songs full of rage, fury, and overwhelming beauty. Like Beck Zegans, the sound goes well alongside the Searows, Wednesday or Snail Mail-type vibe, but I would venture to say there’s an even heavier edge to it, oozing with a gorgeous tear-your-heart-out kind of darkness. My kind of jam — I am gobsmacked on my knees over this, so much that I’m giving you an extra track.

Play it loud, kids.

Isn’t it too dreamy?

June 24 at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver, my brother-in-law and I enjoyed seeing Portland Oregon-based indie folk singer/songwriter Alec Duckart, known professionally as Searows. As I’ve mentioned here before, his new album Death in the Business of Whaling is my most-repeated, most-loved new release of this year so far — so this concert was highly anticipated, and did not disappoint. It was deep, intimate, and incredibly moving.

Searows’ sound is reminiscent of admitted influences like Phoebe Bridgers or Elliot Smith — but with a unique sound all the same — beautiful melancholic melodies & lyrics oozing with a maritime salt spray. It’s like a collection of ghost stories from a hazy, foggy Pacific Northwest town full of secrets, diary entries from a haunted lighthouse.

The new album was played in its entirety, mixed in with older tracks from Searows’ debut album Guard Dog, and other EPs or singles. At the same time outside the venue, Vancouver’s Granville Street was full to the brim with people celebrating the FIFA World Cup.

Here’s a few snippets from the show, with song titles and some interesting notes from the Genius lyrics page.

Photograph of a Cyclone

The song is built solely on verses and one bridge, and speaks of someone who seems to have become “poisoned” by the narrator.

Dearly Missed

~this is my No. 1 Favorite Track from the new record, and will likely remain my Song of the Year.~

Lyrically, the song follows the story of a guy who had gone through a traumatic event, causing him to become so emotionally detached to where he is unrecognizable. Another interpretation could be that he ended up committing suicide.

Dirt

Midway through the show, Alec did a couple of songs solo without the band.

This song was first heard in a TikTok posted in 2024 by Alec captioned ‘been very busy writing lots of songs so here is one I wrote like 20 minutes ago after watching my creepy tv shows’ :)

In Violet

Alec writes, “In my head, this song is visually a very dramatic tale that is not nearly as mundane as the feelings I wrote it about. The song is essentially about not living up the version of yourself you wanted to show to someone, and the various types of disappointment that go with that. But I imagine it as this fantastical epic that lives up to the weight and the drama that those emotions feel like they have in real life.”

Geese

Final song of the whole night, as part of the encore. While the album sustains it as a mellow, whispery ballad, the live version swelled into a wall of full-band sound near the end, combined with a full venue light show.

It was an awe-inspiring night of music — and I recommend you dive into their discography to listen closer.

FULL SET LIST (tracks from Death in the Business of Whaling are in bold)

• Belly of the Whale

• Kill What You Eat

• Photograph of a Cyclone

• Collector

• Dearly Missed

• End of the World (alternative live version)

• Coming Clean (solo)

• Dirt (solo)

• In Violet

• Keep the Rain

• Roadkill

• Hunter

• Junie

  encore:

• House Song

• Geese

YOUTUBE PLAYLIST — LISTEN HERE »

Photo from SEAROWS — with hand added pointing to our music-loving heads.

Photo from TIMBRE CONCERTS

During a social camp with my Scouts Canada troop, one of our scouts told me about this musical artist called YAELOKRE — and upon investigating, I discovered a wondrous gem of inspiration and imagination that is totally in my wheelhouse. I’ve thus been spending time with the music and various YouTube videos, trying to understand as much as I can about the history behind this artist's work. In this post I’ll share with you a primer for what I’ve learned so far, and include some of my favorite tracks as an introduction.

Yaelokre is the stage name for Keath Ósk (Icelandic pronunciation: ousk), a non-binary Filipino-Icelandic singer-songwriter and illustrator. Their artwork and songs went viral on TikTok and grew into an overnight success of fandom worldwide, including world tours and as an opening act for Norway’s Aurora.

Yaelokre’s songs are based on journal entries and childhood stories, which grew into a storytelling project called Meadowlark, taking place in a fantasy world called Felicity. The lore behind this world is still in development, and everything created so far only serves as a prologue and first chapter of what may still unfold — essentially establishing the main characters and some of their backstories. The backstories themselves are alluded to — mostly in poetic Shakespearean language — through the various EPs Yaelokre has released, in addition to their live performances.

Most of the narrative thus far centers around four children, known collectively as a theatre troupe called The Lark.

Each child wears a mask representing one of the four Harkers, who are supernatural fairy beings: The Storyteller, The Bellringer, The Enkindled, and The Croon.

• Peregrine August (Age 12) wears the mask of a moose, representing The Croon.

• Cole Seymour (Age 11) wears the mask of a rabbit, representing The Storyteller.

• Clemente Dearworth (Age 10) wears the mask of a goat, representing The Bellringer.

• Kingsley (Age 9) wears a mask of tree bark, representing The Enkindled.

The song Harpy Hare (which kicked off much of the viral popularity online) is based on a children’s game of sorts, and gives various singing parts to the different characters, each in a different voice as performed by Ósk themself.

The song Bird cage blue and yellow alludes to the origin story for Clemente Dearworth (The Bellringer) — being the adopted child of a Baroness whose father was a dollmaker. Apparently Clemente ran away from home due to their mother treating them as more of a doll themselves, which led to encountering the other children of the Lark, each with a similar mysterious past.

The song Kid & Leveret is another origin tale about the meeting of Clemente (the goat, or “kid”) and Cole (the rabbit, or “leveret”) and alludes to more of their own backstories.

The following video for Hearken starts with lyrics but then unfolds into showing some of the ensuing art and a glimpse into Yaelokre performing live for the fan community. It’s quite the delightful spirit-lifter.

There are various YouTube videos by fans floating about which try to explain the lore and backstories of Meadowlark, but the best ones have disclaimers which admit that much of the details are speculative and subject to change. They remind the viewer to respect the original artist and their intentions, which is important since the rampant fandom has apparently inspired some toxic disruptions by internet trolls. So I would encourage you to go to the source as much as possible, follow Yaelokre’s official channels to fill in the gaps, and see where this tale-in-progress ends up going. I’m captivated by the art and sound of this universe, and can’t wait to see where it leads. If you’re already familiar with Yaelokre and know anything more you wish to share with me, let’s geek out together!

For all the things, you can follow yaelokre.com and whichever social channels help you stay afloat.

As for the official discography of released songs, here’s a bit of a breakdown. (For some reason, two of their songs are repeated on two separate EPs.)

Hayfields Songs:

1. Hartebeest

2. Harpy Hare

3. And the Hound

4. Neath the grove is a heart

Origins Songs:

1. My farewells to the fields (Cole’s origin story)

2. Bird cage blue and yellow (Clemente’s origin story)

3. To douse a scalded tongue (Peregrine’s origin story)

4. Kamahalan

Composing Colentine Songs:

1. My farewells to the fields (repeat)

2. Bird cage blue and yellow (repeat)

3. Kid & Leveret (Cole & Seymour’s origin story)

4. Cole’s Response

5. Hearken

Happy June, friends. As we meander into the summer, here’s a smattering of things I’ve seen over the past couple months which I recommend you watch for a lazy day, a cloudy day, or just a day you feel like watching something.

Alien on Stage

Not to be confused with the group of New Jersey high school kids who put on a stage play of ALIEN in 2019 and Sigourney Weaver showed up (which is also awesome) — a similar thing was documented in the UK around the same time and it’s absolute joy.

Here, a group of chain-smoking bus drivers in Dorset run a small amateur community theatre, build handmade props and costumes to perform their own version of Alien on stage, get invited to put on the show to a sold-out crowd in London’s West End, and they bring the house down.

That’s the film -- with the real-life spirit of Waiting for Guffman combined with the power of play. It’s little moments like these which the entire universe was created for.

Fantasy Rising

In the same vein of nerd culture, there’s a really neat 2-part documentary out now called Fantasy Rising: very good overview and comprehensive, well-crafted, mostly well-edited retrospective on the fantasy genre through literature, cinema and video games over the past century — and how it’s evolved from the margins into the mainstream. Gives proper credit to The Dark Crystal as a masterpiece, the importance of Tolkien to birthing the genre (but also all that came before him), and how diverse the audience for fantasy has become. A worthy watch that will make you hungry to go back and consume these stories again.

Pizza Movie

Also in the realm of silly nerd stuff, Gaten Matarazzo aka Dustin from Stranger Things has grown up and gone to college, experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs in Pizza Movie.

A bit uneven in the middle, not every joke lands — but when it does, it’s a hilarious good time, and a throwback to the Dude Where’s My Car? brand of stupid stoner-comedy surrealism. I admit to laughing out loud more than once, and the cast is great. I’m here for it — worth a watch if you need something mindless and unhinged.

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie

Also for nerds, this Canadian cult film is an insane exercise in “how the hell did they film this?” and it’s delightful. I’m not familiar with the series at all, so part of me felt there was a joke I wasn’t getting — but you can still go in blind and enjoy this for the silly romp of its concept and production.

The Chronology of Water

In the realm of more serious dramatic art films, Kristen Stewart has transitioned from acting into directing with a gut-punching powerhouse of a movie called The Chronology of Water— and a visceral work of poetic cinema with a distinctive voice. Amazing performances throughout by Imogen Poots, Thora Birch and James Belushi, and an incredible journey.

If telling more stories like this — and in this rough, gritty, 16mm fashion — is where Stewart is headed, I’m here for it.

Dry Leaf

This art film from Georgia (the country, not the state) will be harder to track down until it comes to streaming, as the theatrical release has been pretty limited, but I was able to catch it at the cinema. Dry Leaf is a new surreal, hypnotic film by Alexandre Koberidze, director of one of my favorite films from 2022, What Do We See When We Look at the Sky?

The shortest synopsis I can give is “It’s a three-hour road movie shot with a grainy cel phone and half the cast is invisible.”

In this case, it asks ‘what do we see when we look — through a screen darkly — at the earth, through pixelated images that pulse like a heartbeat? Humans and animals, trees and dirt, leaves and water, they seem to blend through the lo-res imagery so they are indistinguishable. The fact that the main character (and his invisible passenger) are looking for his estranged daughter is the emotional hook that builds suspense and holds it all together. It’s a fascinating journey, and even more ironical seeing it on a movie theatre screen.

Early in the film, before leaving on his journey, the protagonist (played by the director’s own father, adding another layer of symbolism) is seen teaching a class to an unseen group of students, and at the tail end of his lesson, he draws a straight vertical line on his chalkboard. A few days later, he’s teaching another lesson — and again, the tail end of his lesson involves drawing a wobbly circle around the line. For the rest of the film, your attention is drawn to vertical lines and wobbly circles — they are everywhere, and the journey itself begins to feel like a wobbly circle.

Repeated imagery of football goal posts drive home the symbolism of father and daughter separated, but together. Fuzzy images suggest shapes which are unclear until they move. It’s a movie for anyone who’s spent time looking for faces in rocks, and dragons in clouds.

I can’t think of any other film where I’ve gotten weepy and nostalgic over memories I’ve forgotten — all by looking at wooden posts. It works on your subconscious subliminally, like a dream.

Demon Seed (1977)

And finally, from the sublime and spiritually enriching back to old-school ridiculous, on a whim I caught up with a whack-job of a movie called Demon Seed from 1977.

Beef (Gerrit Graham) and one of the Juicy Fruits from Phantom of the Paradise have bit parts in this totally bonkers movie where Julie Christie is impregnated by an artificial-intelligence polyhedron super-computer and a wheelchair with a robotic arm. Only in the ‘70s could something this stupid be taken seriously — but if you’re in the mood for some mindless so-bad-it’s-good sort of “what am I watching” kind of an experience, this fits the bill.

Stay in school, kids! Don’t do drugs!

More to come folks — stay classy.

Greetings friends — I rarely use this Substack to post much about political matters, but this is bigger than politics and too important to be silent about.

When I saw this trailer many months ago, I was eagerly anticipating this film being available to watch. Finally, the film showed up — ironically and appropriately — streaming on Kanopy, through which I have access to free films with my library card.

I’d been simultaneously afraid to watch it, for I knew it would depress and infuriate me. It did. It has. It does.

As someone who writes books for children, has read many books to children (especially my own), collects books and checks out picture books from two local libraries every week — and has had their entire life shaped by teachers, libraries and librarians, this hits very close to home. I watched it on a lazy Saturday afternoon and was angry and depressed for hours afterwards, just sitting on my couch and stewing in silence.

The film is well made and only scratches the surface of the topics and level of detail it could have explored — but it’s essential viewing and an excellent launching pad of awareness for what’s at stake. If you dig even deeper, you’ll come to find that much of what the film focuses on is actually smoke and mirrors to distract us from a much darker reality behind it all — the abomination of white supremacist Christian nationalism. There’s a rotten pit of vile ugliness that festers in the heart of America (and even gnawing its away into Canada) and it needs to be defeated.

There are many heroes and villains afoot in the film, but one of the subplots that broke my heart the most was a right-wing witch from “Moms for Liberty” who visibly disowns her gay son right in the middle of a school board meeting. Likewise, there are librarians fighting to keep books in the hands of queer kids in her school for fear they will lose more of them to suicide — and a black reverend who feels deep betrayal from the bans of books about black & history and representation.

I implore you friends — even if hearing about this makes you angry to begin with (as I would hope it does) — to watch THE LIBRARIANS and tell others about it. And fight for the librarians, pastors, and teachers putting their lives on the line to protect books & ideas, our vulnerable kids on the margins, and the gift of free speech.

There are additional resources on the film’s official website: thelibrariansfilm.com

Shalom Friends — here’s some music for the weekend. I hope you enjoy these new discoveries I’ve made as of late.

Editors

UK rock band formed in 2002 which finally crossed my radar — I love the synth-heavy vibe and moody, brooding lyrics with an ‘80s goth/new wave flavor. It’s the kind of music that invokes vampires in black trench coats gliding through a night club.

OXN

An Irish ensemble which borrows singer Radie Peat from LANKUM and dropped their debut album CYRM in 2023 — and shares the same vibe of moss-covered folklore and spooky drones of dread. The kind of stuff you put on when you feel like a ghost. Their video for Love Henry is one of the most frightening things you’ll ever see. Absolute folk horror nightmare fuel. Very unsettling. I love it.

Wednesday

Not to be confused with the Addams Family’s deadly daughter, but there’s a similar Tim Burton-esque quality to the artwork adorning their breakthrough 2025 album Bleeds, which I finally caught up with. I love the storytelling and ambience of this collection of songs, which range from twangy block parties to ashtray-littered basement vibes. It invokes a universe of suburban lost souls who sleep late and stay up all night on rubber lawn chairs watching for meteors. It’s rough on the edges, sweaty, vicious, and beautiful.

Snail Mail

The indie rock solo project for Lindsey Erin Jordan, who also played the role of The Pink Opaque’s Tara character in I SAW THE TV GLOW.

Her third album Ricochet just dropped this year, a deep & profound meditation on death and the afterlife. It’s a sonic tapestry of smooth tunes and snarling teen angst with a bitter bite to it — like black licorice and root beer.

Happy Listening, friends! Let me know what you think, and what you’re listening to these days to keep the bad monsters away and invite the good ones in.

And Now For Something Completely Different, folks!

On a warm spring night, newly returned from my own Moonrise Kingdom weekend camping with my Scout troop and covered in spider bites, I invited my good friend, author and film critic Jeffrey Overstreet, to have a conversation and become my first official video guest here at in and out of weeks!

I’ve been friends with Jeffrey for almost two decades, and I invited him here to talk about his brand new book, Lost and Found in the Cathedral of Cinema — 11 years in the making and a fantastic personal journey of interactions with movies, stories and spiritual mystery. I highly recommend you read it, and join the unfolding conversation about art, films, faith, and everything in-between.

So sit back, watch and listen to us geek out — and don’t blink or you’ll miss some random visuals and movie posters illustrating the various films & artists we discuss.

Here are some links to other talks and websites mentioned in the video:

• BEHIND THE MOON with Tim Grieving — Why Jeffrey Overstreet Loves Spielberg/Williams (2026)

• How Shall We Tell Stories? - Jeffrey’s talk from International Arts Movement (2010)

• …and of course, JeffreyOverstreet.com — the hub for all the things, including how to order his books.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (and I don’t blame you if you are. Rocks are awesome.) you’ve probably seen and/or heard of the viral sensation that is Angine de Poitrine — the Canadian rock duo from Quebec known anonymously as guitarist Khn and Klek — or are they space aliens? Can we trust them? Are they here to destroy us, or save us?

If you are hitherto non-initiated, check out this video by music expert Rick Beato, where he reacts to it and breaks down what makes it special. I really love this.

Here’s the full viral performance that kicked off the craze.

…and if that’s not enough to blow your mind, look at what their concerts are like.

BOTH of their Vancouver shows are sold out, and I am so bummed. Aaarrggh.

They have two albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2. Listening to the music by itself might take some warming up to without the visuals, but I implore you to give it a chance. I finally did, and I’m hooked.

anginedepoitrine.com