THE PENGUIN

The Penguin (2024) developed by Lauren LeFranc. This eight-episode series is a spinoff of The Batman (2022) directed by Matt Reeves. It follows the gangster-styled shenanigans of Oswald Cobb/The Penguin as he serves as driver to Sofia Falcone/The Hangman, pits the Falcone and Maroni crime families against one another, and tries to survive chaos of his own creation in an attempt to become "king of the mountain" of (drug) crime in Gotham. It's a brutal, bloody mess with a high body count. It mostly works, although I'm not sure why someone doesn't just kill Oz early on; it would have saved everyone a lot of trouble and turmoil. This is not your standard superhero/villain fare, but plays more in the realm of mob movies such as Scarface, The Godfather, and Goodfellas. I really liked it, but this won't be for everyone. Batman is my favorite comic book hero and I like the rogue's gallery of his villains. Colin Farrell as Penguin and Christina Milioti as Sofia Falcone really carry the storyline with excellent acting and delving deep into the histories/backgrounds of their characters.

Viewed on DVD from the Pierce County Library.

THERE IS BEAUTY

There is beauty in this moment. 

There is beauty in this morning. 

There is beauty in the sitting. 

There is beauty in the silence. 

There is beauty in the stillness. 

There is beauty in this small dog sitting in my lap, meditating alongside me. 

There is beauty in the chanting. 

There is beauty in the flame. 

There is beauty in the incense.

KANNON

Kannon no
iraka miyari tsu
hana no kumo

—Bashō, spring 1686

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Goddess of Mercy
the temple roof overlooks
a cloud of blossoms

—trans. Jane Reichhold

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Kannon's tiled temple
roof floats far away in clouds
of cherry blossoms

—trans. Sam Hamill

THE BRIDE

The Bride (2026) directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Jessie Buckley is spectacular as a woman possessed by the ghost of Mary Shelley. This film nods to every iteration of Frankenstein that precedes it, in book and film forms. It takes place in 1936 Chicago, and there are additional nods to gangster films and Bonnie and Clyde. The movie is perfection. It is so well crafted. "I would prefer not to" from Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener is at the heart of a feminist protest (and update).

Viewed at Tacoma's Grand Cinema.

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It was also the first time I took advantage of using their headphones so I didn't miss any of the dialogue or soundtrack. Diminished hearing is no fun at the movies, but the Grand makes accessibility easy!

AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE

A monk asked Yunmen, “What is the teaching of a lifetime?"

Yunmen replied “An appropriate response.”

—Blue Cliff Record, case 14

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After sitting zazen this evening, my Sōtō Zen sangha, engaged the above koan with "council," a group discussion technique borrowed from the Quakers.

Thinking about the current state of the world, our society, and ourselves, we answered the question, "What is an appropriate response?" The goal was to answer quickly, briefly, and with little forethought. It was amazing to hear what bubbled forth from people's minds and bodies and lives.

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What is an appropriate response?

THE TRUTH of CARCOSA

The Truth of Carcosa (2026) by Jacob Rollinson. This novel is a marriage of political thriller, dystopian hellscape, and cosmic horror taking place in a contemporary and all-too-believable United Kingdom in social collapse and turmoil. It's also an homage to The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers and 2666 by Roberto Bolaño, wrapped in an updated Lovecraftian method of presentation (reports, correspondence, videos, and the like mixed with first-person narration). We learn of the chaos caused by an evil book that may be a portal and means of summoning a malevolent alien being into our when and where of space-time. Throw in militias, invasive technologies, companies competing for control of our culture and lives, infringement of personal liberties, arrests and disappearances, and a demonic Corpse Man, and it all feels a bit too real. It's also a bit overly cinematic at times, but I can overlook that. All in all, it was a depressing yet compelling read.

 
Borrowed from the Pierce County Library System.

BREATHLESS

A Bout de Souffle / Breathless (1960) directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Jump cuts! References and nods to other films and directors! Auteur theory put into practice! I've seen it before, but it was an excellent companion piece to our viewing of Linklater's Nouvelle Vague last week. It's a crime film. It's a romance, maybe. It's a love letter to cinema. See it!

Viewed on DVD checked out from the Pierce County Library System.

THE WAX CHILD

"Hundreds of years I have lain here and heard you chatter; you humans like so much to talk, from the moment you are born until you die you are engaged in babble. All that is around us will someday fall. Some of it sooner than you think." [74]

"No one wants to eat me, but here I am for consuming. I was made a delicacy of shadows. Give to me not what you give me: eyes, attention, thoughts. I will have meat, human blood, a field of skin. The warmth that belongs to the firstborn under the willing arm, insufferable softness." [126]

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The Wax Child (2023) by Olga Raven. Translated (2025) by Martin Aitken. This is the novel equivalent of the cinematic black metal of Agalloch. The conceit is that it's narrated by a wax doll created by one of the main characters, Christenze, who will soon be accused of witchcraft in 1620s Denmark. Strangely enough, all of the above works perfectly. I was enthralled from the beginning, and, had I not been sick, would have finished this in one sitting. It's a fever dream of a novel that is evocative, haunting, and an unfortunate story. (But the wax child makes it sing!) There is a lyricism in the prose, and the author weaves in texts from historical documents in a like manner. I highly recommend it.

Borrowed from the Pierce County Library System.

THE THIRD POLICEMAN

The Third Policeman (1967) by Flann O'Brien. Dante's Inferno meets Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" meets Joyce's "The Dead." But with bicycles and ripples in space-time and Irish policemen. I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It wasn't bad but it also wasn't really my cup of tea. I've started it and failed to finish it four times prior over a period of a decade, so finishing it was something to celebrate.

It shares a tone with The Wasp Factory, which is why I decided on another attempt at reading it. And, as stated above: it is finished.

NOUVELLE VAGUE

Nouvelle Vague (2025) directed by Richard Linklater. This is a film biopic of the making of Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (1960). It's also a fun and feel-good homage to Godard and his fellow New Wave filmmakers that is shot in black and white. I don't know how true it is to the actual shoot, but I'll take it on faith because it feels meticulously researched, and it matches what I know from my many viewings of New Wave films, my film studies in college, and my collection of film books.

Bonus: The Wife wants to see Breathless now!

Streaming on Netflix.