PicoBlog

Like many, I’m very interested in the forthcoming “The Fabelmans” because it’s Steven Spielberg’s first overtly autobiographical film, looking at his rise from a backyard auteur shooting schlocky serials on Super 8 mm to directorial titan. Hollywood loves to make movies about itself, and it’s no coincidence that these are often some of their most inspired works. While I’m waiting for that, I reveled in a similarly themed picture of a much lower profile, “5-25-77.

This is part of This Side of Japan issue #20. You can return to the main newsletter here. Music Magazine published a list of 50 best Perfume songs for its October issue. Though I’ve not checked out the actual list myself, I’m very curious to see Perfume songs evaluated more through a critic’s perspective and which songs they gravitated towards. Inspired by their project, I put together my own 50 Best Perfume Songs list.

We’ve all played Tic Tac Toe in some form or the other in our lives. A game that first taught me to think about what the other person may do and how to prevent that move earlier. Strategy, Math, and Logic all combined! But even something as mundane as this game has so many variations built on top of it! We’ve tried to find you 6 of them that you’d really enjoy!

A truly excellent six answers today from the truly excellent Jessica Gao, but before that, a bit of housekeeping. I’m teaching another introductory “Televisionary” class with Script Anatomy (over Zoom, so anyone can take it) starting September 10 and running for five glorious sessions. I just completed my second of these intro classes, and this one really grew on me! The class covers the basics of pilot writing—1/2 hour or hour-long—and it’s material that find myself returning to frequently in my own work.

Friends, I’ve shared some of this with you, but today marks 60 years since it happened — when the Klan murdered my protector. I was always the shortest kid in school, which made me an easy target for bullies. To protect myself, I got into the habit of befriending older boys who’d watch my back. One summer when I was around 8 years old, while visiting my maternal grandmother at her cabin in the Adirondack Mountains, I found Mickey, a kind and gentle teenager with a ready smile who made me feel safe.

Welcome back to “One First,” a weekly newsletter that aims to make the U.S. Supreme Court more accessible to all of us. Every Monday (including holidays like today), I’ll be offering an update on goings-on at the Court; a longer introduction to the Court’s history, current work, or key players; and some Court-related trivia. If you’re enjoying the newsletter, I hope you’ll consider sharing it (and subscribing if you don’t already):

Do you want to win? I'm certain that everyone who answers this question will emphatically say, "yes.” I want to help you win. Not a contest or prize, but to win life. Paul wrote, "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win" (1 Cor. 9:24, LSB). My aim is to give you some key points that will help you, as well as myself, achieve victory.

Augustine of Hippo started life in the pit of sin. He: Lived a party lifestyle Got a girl pregnant Joined a cult. And then became the most significant theologian in church history. Augustine’s Confessions was voted by Church History magazine as the most influential book outside the Bible. Yet it isn’t a stuffy theological tome, but a thrilling testimony of his life’s ups and downs. In this post, we will explore 7 life-changing lessons we can learn from Augustine’s remarkable life:

Is your living room feeling rather sorry for itself? Is it more ‘Homes from hell’ rather than ‘Homes & Gardens’? Does it warn you to turn around, walk away slowly and be careful not to knock the badly ‘up cycled’ IKEA armchair complete with retro antimacassars on your way out? If you’ve ever wondered how some living room spaces just seem to naturally work and some leave you cold, then you’re in the right place.