2025
The Warmth of Other Suns - Isabel Wilkerson
The subtitle is “The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration”, which feels appropriate. This book is a survey of 60-ish years of American history, as well as a complete biography of three Black Americans who are emblematic of various facets of the era. Wilkerson bites off a lot, but manages to chew it at least to my satisfaction. There are a lot of facts here that I “knew” about the Jim Crow south in the sense of covering it for a bit in high school or reading a Wikipedia page, but hearing it from those who lived it gave me a valuable depth of understanding. Our three protagonists are drawn with all their flaws and challenges, but with the kindness and respect that comes from many hours of deep research and careful listening. Having lived in St Paul and spent a lot of time in Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, Los Angeles, etc., this history also enlightens the present of many great and complicated American cities.
George, Ida Mae, and Robert all have some great anecdotes and various brushes with fame and history, but being such a cool doctor that Ray Charles drops your name in a tune is pretty fuckin' boss. An honest description of a day of truly hard manual labor offers me the useful reflection that I’ve never had even a single day of that kind of work in my life. Of course there are many parts of the Jim Crow era that feel shameful and deplorable, but good god, the sheer waste of human potential - how many potential healers, inventors, visionaries, leaders, etc. are lost to humanity because they are born on the wrong side of a caste system? One hopes that even if slow, kicking, and screaming, we eventually learn from our mistakes
Burn After Reading (2008)
Watched Nov 29, 2025. This Coen Brothers comedy of errors doesn’t get as much love as Fargo or The Big Lebowski, and maybe deservedly so, but I think it’s sharp, clever, and the high points still make me absolutely cackle. More explicitly politics-adjacent than other Coen joints, but I think it pairs well with interpretations of Lebowski as an allegory to the Gulf War. What if those in power are just as prone to petty, selfish squabbles as everyone else, and what happens to the innocent ones caught in the middle? (Pour one out for Richard Jenkins' pining gym manager)
Spouse made an excellent observation that it must have been fun for Joel to write a movie where his wife (the delightful Frances McDormand!) gets to bone down with George Clooney. Funny to see CD-Rs and Motorola RAZRs appropriately presented as relevant technology at probably the last possible moment in history you could do so. Also spot the poster of Vladimir Putin on the wall, then the relatively-new democratically-elected leader of Russia.
There’s probably an actual Drama School term for this, but the way that Brad Pitt plays a serious cool guy with deliberate, calculated movements and a hapless goofball by constantly fidgeting and darting his eyes around the room always makes me smile. I first saw this around the time that I was first getting into bike commuting so his delivery of “You think that’s a Schwinn!” remains very special to me.
Rental Family (2025)
A lovely and thoughtful story about the ways that everyone around us is burdened by weight we’ll never see. I have many fond memories of Brendan Fraser from my childhood, though not as specific as some of my peers, and it’s delightful to see him come back in very different roles but with the same kindness and charm. Didn’t go in the places I expected but I loved every little emotional turn. It’s a premise with inherent awkwardness but I think the movie is stronger for treating the clients of the rental family service with respect rather than just sneering at them.
Also, someone needs to bring me to Japan soon for riding trains and visiting charming little bars.
