PicoBlog

Film Yap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Actor Johnny Strong is probably best known for playing Leon in the first “The Fast and the Furious” flick (Bring this character back to the franchise! Almost every other character has been brought back … even the dead ones!) and posthumous Medal of Honor recipient Randy Shughart in Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down.

Hey y’all, I’m reading a beautiful expanded edition of Anni Albers’ On Weaving. I originally came to her through my research of Black Mountain College and got very inspired by her ideas about materials. This latest reading has introduced me to another creative tension: thewarp and the weft of fabric. As I understand it, the warp is the thread held in tension by the loom, and the weft is the thread that moves over and under the warp.

This newsletter sponsored by Citizens Fuel Co., a family-owned Asheville company. Warren Wilson College officials are considering selling or leasing chunks of its bucolic 1,100-acre Swannanoa campus as the college continues to seek ways to offset a $5.5 million budget deficit. School officials are simultaneously considering adopting conservation easements that would protect, in perpetuity, some 600 acres for educational, research and recreational purposes. A 32-acre tract and a 180-acre tract are currently up for consideration for either sale or lease.

[Warning: This essay contains spoilers for Warrior Nun seasons 1 and 2. I also recommend reading my essay, "Warrior Nun: The Tragedy of Adriel" before reading this one. It will contextualize a few claims that I make as I theorize about Reya's role in the Warrior Nun universe.] Reya is the most mysterious character Warrior Nun has ever introduced. The first time she appeared in the series was not physically, but instead as a face on Dr.

Last Friday, my family and I decided to go see Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and we didn’t have to worry about anything. Earlier in the day, I opened the app of a popular national theater chain to which I now pay a monthly fee so I can enjoy some VIP benefits, picked a screening, and bought three tickets for a 7 o’clock show. Our seats were together at the end of the row closer to the back than the front (always my preferred spot), and though we arrived at the theater with time to spare after dinner at a popular chain restaurant within walking distance (home of the puzzling flavor option “Asian Zing”), we didn’t have to.

Was Jesus Palestinian? And while we are at it, was Moses Chinese? I’m joking, of course. Everyone knows Moses was Italian. But what of Jesus? Anti-Israel protestors - both here in Australia and overseas - have used Christmas to claim that Jesus was not in fact a Jew, but a Palestinian. Immediately after October 7 we were told Hamas terrorists were resistance fighters. Then we were told that Osama Bin Laden made some really good points.

Nine years ago, I wrote the following essay after the Sewol Ferry capsized on April 16, 2014. I’m sharing it with you on the anniversary of this tragic day. More than 300 passengers — the majority of them students and faculty members of the Danwon High School in South Korea — are dead or missing after the Sewol ferry crashed and sank on April 16. Since then, media coverage has been intense, focusing on the cowardly and criminal act of the captain — who literally jumped ship — and eulogizing the brave young crew members who risked their own lives (and died), while tending to the passengers.

Remember in my last newsletter when I was like, “for some reason I can’t get out of bed… Must be because my sheets are so nice!” Well, turns out I had COVID. So I wasn’t able to stalk the Row sample sale this week like I wanted to. But I was able to get on the horn and gab about it with a bunch of different people, including determined shoppers and the owner of a professional line sitting business, which over 30 Row fans used to have someone stand in line for them.

Most people are wary of wasps, and with good reason. You would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t had at least one encounter with the social wasps in Ireland that has ended in a painful sting. That said, those stinging, social wasps make up just 0.25% of the wasp biodiversity in Ireland. Yes, you read that correct, one quarter of one percent. This, of course, means that there are nearly three thousand other wasps all around us at varying times throughout the year.