Watching the Detectives (2007) **

A case of low expectations being rewarded, the flick is enjoyable thanks to the able cast and quick pace. Formulaic rom-com.

Stephen Hillenburg Dead: SpongeBob Squarepants’ Creator Was 57 – Variety

Hillenburg graduated from Humboldt State University in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation, with an emphasis on marine resources. He then became a marine biology teacher at the Orange County Marine Institute (now the Ocean Institute) in Dana Point, California. This interest, combined with his artistic talent and love of the sea and its creatures, led him to write and illustrate stories as teaching tools with characters that would later become the denizens of SpongeBob’s home, Bikini Bottom.

One of the best television shows ever made. Expertly crafted, tightly written, absurdly imaginative, humane and hilarious.

Widows (2018) ***

Nifty noir-heist-thriller is well paced and chock full of stars. Once the setup is complete, the second half takes off.

Nicolas Roeg, director of Don't Look Now and Walkabout, dies aged 90 | Film | The Guardian

Having risen through the ranks and devised his own, unique film language, Roeg held firm convictions in cinema as a distinct art form. “Movies are not scripts – movies are films,” he said in a 2006 interview. “They’re not books, they’re not the theatre. It’s a completely different discipline, it exists on its own. I would say that the beauty of it is, it’s not the theatre, it’s not done over again. It’s done in bits and pieces. Things are happening which you can’t get again.”

Purple Noon (1960) ***

Well directed Highsmith thriller with a knockout ending. Beautiful people in beautiful places doing not very nice things.

Jeremiah Johnson (1972) ***

Exceptional flick marred by an obnoxiously intrusive score. Pollack's most beautifully shot and composed film.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018) *

Bad CGI fest masquerading as fantasy. Unfortunate because the art direction is pretty good.

Camille Paglia:It’s Time for a New Map of the Gender World - Quillette

My substitute for religion is art, which I have expanded to include all of popular culture. But when art is reduced to politics, as has been programmatically done in academe for 40 years, its spiritual dimension is gone. It is coarsely reductive to claim that value in the history of art is always determined by the power plays of a self-referential social elite. I take Marxist social analysis seriously: Arnold Hauser’s Marxist, multi-volume A Social History of Art (1951) was a major influence on me in graduate school. However, Hauser honored art and never condescended to it. A society that respects neither religion nor art cannot be called a civilization.

Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) *

Laughably cliched and simple minded biopic of Queen, focusing on the trials and tribulations of Mr. Mercury who was quite the annoying diva.

Personal Best (1982) **

So-so sports flick, notable for using some actual athletes in major roles (very well) and manages to avoid a few relationship cliches but not all unfortunately. Nice shots of SLO in the 70's, and it's interesting to see what premier athletes looked like back then (NOT bulked up).

Hall Of Fame Slugger Willie McCovey Dies At Age 80 : NPR

McCovey was nicknamed "Stretch" because his height at 6-foot-4. Left-handed throwing made him a natural at first base. He was best known for his 521 career home runs, 18 of which were grand slams — the most by any player who spent his career exclusively in the National League. McCovey was the National League's home run leader three times and RBI king twice in his 22-season career. He played 13 of those years on the Giants with teammate Willie Mays and together they formed one of the most powerful hitting duos in baseball history.

He hit one of the longest home runs I've ever seen into the high upper deck of right field in Busch Stadium II. Always thrilling to watch him at bat.