Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends

It’s been a long time (over two years 😬) since I have made time to write an update for this space. I have some ideas swirling around my head, but I thought I would make this first return entry easy for myself and just talk about my recent media loves.

Things feel scary and uncertain right now. I am not sure how much writing I’ll do about it, but I am mostly responding by working on helping those in my community. But who knows where this space will lead.

I've read 15 books in 2025 already, so I will share a few books that have really stuck with me:

First up is Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves by Nicola Twilley. This is a great non-fiction book because Nicola Twilley excels at channeling her own curiosity through her writing, and she investigates the cold chain, a topic that has shaped the lives of every single person alive today. The cold chain refers to the transport and storage of food at cold temperatures, including ripening, deep freezers, refrigerated warehouses, shipping containers, and the ice business. The cold chain, I think more than anything else, has shaped the foods we eat and how we eat them. Essential reading.

I also recently read Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire for the first time since my senior year of high school (over 20 years ago at this point 😬😬) as part of my local indie bookshop’s Queer Book Club. I was invited back to talk about this play and the Elia Kazan movie because of my previous participating discussing the excellent Corpses, Fools and Monsters: An Examination of Trans Film Images in Cinema by Willow Maclay and Caden Gardner. Revisiting Streetcar now as an entirely different person several times over made me appreciate how much better I understand not only story and literature, but having actual life experience being an adult has made me a much more empathetic person than I was as a teen.

The Power Fantasy by Kieron Gillen and Caspar Wijngaard has very much impressed me so far. I skipped getting this monthly when it started because Gillen original work often leaves me feeling somewhat lost in the weeds (I’m looking at you, Wicked + Divine), but so far every issue of this “what if superpowers made you a world superpower?” has been stellar. The drama here comes from the kinds of ethical and moral questions we all face in small scale ways, but ramped up to the biggest level, which makes the drama that much more tense. Plus Wijngaard’s art is incredibly detailed and the colors are vibrant.

Metamorpho: The Element Man by Al Ewing and Steve Lieber is scratching a very particular itch for me right now, and its focus on midcentury vibes with The Mad Mod and tons of 60s references have made it an escapist delight. I became a huge fan of Lieber after his work with Matt Fraction on Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen, and while this book has not reached those absurd heights, it is reminding me somewhat of a time where adventure stories could be pure nonsense. Plus, look at the cover for issue #3! It has homages to James Bond, Indiana Jones, and The Bride from Kill Bill all together. It’s for me.

One World Under Doom by Ryan North and R.B Silva is the latest line-wide Marvel crossover, and although there has only been one issue of the main book released so far, it is already terrific. Doom, now the Sorcerer Supreme, is by far Marvel’s most “successful” villain–this is the third or fourth “Doom wins” crossover I can remember), and North’s writing captures why. In the first issue, Doom is playing chess, taking a worldwide dictatorship to populist ends by giving free education and healthcare and making it seem like the Avengers trying to stop him are the ones interfering. The tie-in books will always be hit or miss, but the main book feels both relevant and escapist, because honestly, Doom is way more competent than anyone in Washington right now.

The Pitt is a new medical drama on HBO/Max starring Noah Wyle as Dr. Robby, the head of an ER in Pittsburgh. Each episode takes place during one hour in Dr. Robby’s 15-hour shift, with the entire season unfolding over the course of that single day. While the comparisons to ER and 24 are obvious, those are both aspects of what make it great television. This is a show that feels episodic while also using the nature of serialized television to give a deeper look at issues that would otherwise be relegated to B- and C-plots on ER or other medical dramas. I am absolutely obsessed, and this is maybe my favorite show of the decade so far that isn’t Star Trek.

I am also watching the third season of Reacher, despite not watching the previous seasons (I have however, seen both Tom Cruise movies), after seeing Alan Ritchson’s performance in The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare last year. One of the benefits of roommates is using streaming services other people are paying for, and in the case of Reacher, I am happy to use this benefit. The show is very silly in a good-dumb way, as Reacher, a large ex-Army cop who is now a drifter dedicated to being a one-man A-Team, punches criminals that no one else is big enough to punch. Give me this kind of television over “we made a 10-hour movie about being depressed” any day.

Over at MovieJawn, I have started a new monthly column called The Shadow Gallery, dedicated to exploring depictions of resisting fascism in movies. First up is a double feature of Cabaret and Green Room, looking at why fascists are wound so tightly about art and what these movies have to say about letting Nazis into your club. Read it here.

I also wrote a rave for the new Steven Soderbergh spy thriller, Black Bag, out tomorrow.

Pay Attention, 007

While I am working on bringing my Disney history podcast, Dream With Mind and Heart, back to life in the next few months, I do have another podcast I have started with my roommates. It’s called Pay Attention, 007, and we are deep diving through every James Bond movie, as well as covering some associated topics. Check it out at the link above or wherever you get your podcasts!

More from me here soon, and I am open to feedback, topic suggestions and ideas! Future topics may include: the wiki-fication of fandoms, Rhapsody in Blue, uncertainty, and American mythology.