My oldest is speedrunning through Harry Potter this summer. He didn’t start until after Independence Day and is already a quarter through the fifth book.
Watched: The Odyssey 🍿
It’s happening, folks. No IMAX 70 near me alas. But also, no spoilers at least until Monday or Tuesday.
The theater bar was closed, so we’re getting popcorn.
Ruh Roh! Looks like I need a dentist asap. Feels like I chipped part of my molar off. (Thankfully I got an appt for right away at the first place I rang.)
Double header this past weekend in between World Cup matches. 🍿
Watched:
Finished the entire saga with the boys. It holds up as a complete story even as some films fell short.
Once more into the breach, my friends, once more! 🏴 (I might be the only one cheering for England and I feel vindicated!)
Watched: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 🍿
Might be the best in the film series. At a minimum it’s the most memorable.
Disaster of a game for the USMNT. 💔
Proud of them anyway. 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Lot of great shots from the weekend but this one is my favorite.
The son of wife’s childhood friend watches the fireworks. You can see the crowd in the foreground. Big city fireworks make the news but it’s small towns and suburbs that epitomize the celebrations of Independence Day.
Watched: Young Washington 🍿
Don’t sleep on this. It’s good, and over the holiday weekend is a great way to spend some time. (And fwiw, it’s very accurate—a rarity of historical drama these days.)
Watched: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone 🍿
Big kid just finished the book earlier today, so we’re letting him watch the film.
Watched: Jumanji 🍿
The project of ensuring my children are “classically trained” continues. Big kid was enthralled, terrified, and full of glee.
My modest Criterion Collection haul this year
It’s that time of year when Barnes and Nobel has Criterion Collection films at half-off. I ran into one of the local stores today to see what was there. Maybe I’ll run into another one later to take a gander at what’s in stock. But with so much going on and uncertainty in our life right now, I would be happy if this were my full haul for 2026.
- Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. Pee-Wee was one of my first films that obsessed over. I was a kid when it came out. And I remember my sister’s chagrin when I would select that from Blockbuster for the millionth time. I didn’t realize it was a Tim Burton film but based on my memory of the film, it totally makes sense in hindsight.
- La Bamba. A good friend of mine and I have a theory that there are two types of Mexican-Americans, Selena Chicanos and Richie Valens Chicanos. Naturally, I need this in my collection. (And maybe one day Criterion will Selena as well.)
- Flight of the Phoenix. Flight is special. Along with Excalibur, it was one of the first serious movies I remember watching with my dad as a kid. I think I know this whole film by heart as a storyboard. I can see every major scene in my mind as if I saw it yesterday even though it’s been 25-30 years since I last watched it with my dad.
Watched: Thor: Ragnarok 🍿
After a short pause of a few weeks, introducing my 7 and 10 yo to the Infinity Saga resumes.
Currently reading: Academic Writing as If Readers Matter by Leonard Cassuto 📚
Currently reading: The Odyssey of Homer by Richmond Lattimore 📚
Getting ready for Nolan’s film. Already read Emily Wilson’s translation before Ralph Fiennes adaptation, The Return, a couple years ago. So we’re going with Lattimore this time.
Currently reading: Themistocles The Rise and Fall of Athens’s Naval Mastermind by Michael. Scott 📚
Finished reading: Flawed Strategy by Beatrice Heuser 📚
A week and half of family time and gratitude
My professional life might be going sideway right now—long story for another day—but the last week and half has been full of good family fun. The weekend before last my wife and I called an audible and took the kids to the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. It’s about an hour from Columbus, very close to the Buc-ee’s. We of course stopped to get our fill before the Europeans discovered the glory and greatness of that august American institution.
The USAF Museum is wonderful. At over a quarter mile in length, covering four large hangers, it is impossible to see everything in one visit. We wanted to take the kids to a Star Wars fighters. The exhibit has a tie-fighter and x-wing at life-side scale.
I really enjoyed the World War II displays; and my wife, usually indifferent about military things, pestered me questions about aircraft design. My boys, however, out gunned her (pun intended) with their rapid fire questions about planes, rockets, bombs, and everything a 7 and 10 year old can imagine. At the end of a very fast three hour visit, we surpassed ten thousand steps.
We followed up that weekend with time at the pool and then, last Tuesday, finally made it to Dime-a-Dog Night at the Columbus Clippers. We ordered 30 hot dogs and took more home than we ate, but perhaps on account that our friends who joined us gave us their leftovers. If asked to list how many I ate, I will plead the fifth. But the kids did not go hungry that night.
This weekend was an epic packed weekend. On Friday we had back-to-back events, watching the USMNT game at Columbus Commons and then met the Thunderbirds at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum. Commons was packed and we couldn’t get a good view of the giant screens. So we left at the half to finish at a local brewery that had the game and an outdoor seating area for families to watch. My 10 year old is starting to get into soccer. I was happy to oblige his budding interest.
Later that night, my kids met the 2026 Thunderbirds. My 5 year old was especially interested in meeting the “girl pilots”. They were so kind to her and bent down to talk to her at her level. I bet they did that for all the kids, but it makes for a special memory for kids when their heroes meet them where they are.
Saturday was my 12th anniversary with my wife. Between the newborn, my dad’s death in February, and the uncertainty about the future, we didn’t plan for a big weekend away. Instead we took the kids to see Toy Story 5 in the morning followed by a quick meet up with a friend from college who was in town (I’ve not seen him in 15-ish years). And then my sister-in-law watched the big kids while my wife and I went to dinner.
Toy Story was great. I was hopeful but worried that it wouldn’t hold up. So many franchises stumble and the odds of making a dud grow higher with each iteration. I was much relieved. My wife and I weren’t expecting the big reveal that reminded us of Paco. (No spoilers but IYKYK). But man did we cry.
Dinner was great. We went to the restaurant that we visited for our first anniversary. We moved a few months later for me to finish my PhD and haven’t been back. And since we might have to move again soon, we wanted to ensure we snuck this in. It was a surreal experience to be back after eleven years, fifth kid in tow. The manager paid for our dessert which made the night extra special.
Not to be outdone, since Sunday was Father’s Day my kids wanted to something for me. So they got to “surprise” me by taking me to the Air Show at Rickenbacker Air Force Base. And by “surprise”, I mean I bought the tickets and pretended to be surprised when my kids told me on Sunday morning. We had a blast. My wife stayed home—we thought it would be too loud for the baby—so it was just me and the big kids. My old Air Guard unit was there with a plane I used to work on. My daughter made us go back a second time so she could see “daddy’s plane.” I chatted with a few of the current maintainers who knew some of my old colleagues who were still in the unit.
Currently reading: Flawed Strategy by Beatrice Heuser 📚
Lessons from Sir Thomas More, Martyr and Saint
Finished reading: Thomas More by Joanne Paul 📚
Reading Paul’s biography of More over these last few months has been an extended meditation on the state of my life. I began it just before my father passed away in February. Try as I might, I couldn’t get in the regular reading sessions and ended up pausing about halfway through only to come back to it a couple of weeks ago. I made a deliberate effort to get it done.
I nevertheless found solace when reading the passages of death. So many of his friends, family, and loved ones died prematurely throughout his life. He took all their passings with stride, knowing few well that death comes for all of us. The practice of momento mori may not ease the pain of loss when that loss is fresh, but does help contextualize the loss and transform that pain into a reminder that we ought to make the most of what little time we are given.
More was mostly a self-made man. Although his father had a small start in upward mobility, it was More’s sharp mind and even sharper prudence that propelled him to professional heights few of us could only dream of, and he did so at the dawn of the modern age when upward mobility was still quite rare. It is therefore all the more impressive that he was able to stay true to his conscience in the face of overwhelming state coercion. When it was clear to More that King Henry VIII and his goons would contort and corrupt the tools of justice to get what they want, he made a solemn commitment not to partake, even on to death. Death will come anyway, but More reasoned we might as well meet God with a clear conscience.
There’s a huge lesson here. More wasn’t an advocate or agitator in the contemporary sense; he insisted he would not speak ill of the King. He had after all been a faithful servant. Rather than make counter accusations, or attempt a coup or some other kind of civil strife, he instead just made a simple commitment. Be silent. He would not oppose the King publicly, nor would he say why he would not go along either.
In the midst of some professional struggles I see a model worthy of emulation. I don’t mean to equate myself with his martyrdom. I simply mean that there’s a cleared-eyed stoicism in the way More always stuck to his conscience. (A well-formed conscience, I should stress, one steeped in the humanities and in Christendom.) I hope I can always meet that standard should ever I be challenged.