Movies reviewed this week: Donkey Skin and Watermelon Man.

Movies reviewed this week: Stormy Weather, Hell Hath No Fury, and Three Colors: White.

I completed my superior court jury duty a little while ago, and enough time has passed so that I can write up some coherent thoughts on the experience. This is as much for myself to help me process as anything, but I do have some helpful tips if you ever find yourself serving on a jury. Mundane details: jury selection was over Zoom, while the trial itself was conducted in person. It was a homicide case, although we had scope to consider manslaughter as well. The whole thing lasted almost exactly four weeks, including a little more than a week of deliberation. We were unable to reach a verdict; the judge and the lawyers were very clear that we shouldn’t consider that a failure on our parts. There will be a new trial. I’m not talking about details in public for various reasons, but feel free to ask in private if we know each other.

Movies reviewed this week: The Parallax View and Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese.

Movies reviewed this week: Hotel Monterey, Three Colors: Blue, Cléo from 5 to 7, Daguerréotypes, The Vanishing Lion, Rue Daguerre in 2005, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and The Quiet Man.

Movies reviewed this week: Forbidden City, U.S.A., The Last Days of Disco, and A Bay of Blood.

Movies reviewed this week: Johnny Guitar, Shaft, Matador, After Yang, and Polytechnique.

Movies reviewed this week: The Naked Kiss and Mr. Jones.

Movies reviewed this week: Throw Down, Scanners, The Empty Man, and The Passenger.

I’m playing Magic: the Gathering Arena right now. I went through a few approaches while figuring out how to make it fun for me. I wanted to satisfy my competitive urge, spend as little money as possible, and not get overwhelmed with the complexity of deck-building. Here’s what I came up with.