Austin Barnes

    A baseball player wearing a Dodgers uniform is enthusiastically reacting as sunflower seed shells fly around him.
    May 16, 2025
    Tags: dodgers | baseball

    Paper Moon (1973)

    A man in a suit and hat leans toward a child holding a suitcase and wearing a cap, with "Paper Moon" and cast information written on the black-and-white cover.
    This was a Letterboxd Roulette recommendation as well as one of my Criterion Challenge movies for the year. It was a good pick n both accounts.

    Normally, I try to have something interesting to say about these, but all that happened when I finished this was me saying, “That was wonderful” to Christy and smiling. I loved this movie.

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    May 12, 2025
    Tags: Ryan O'Neal | Madeline Kahn | Peter Bogdanovich | Tatum O'Neal

    Saving Money on NV Energy's Electric Vehicle Rate

    May 1 marked a year of us being on NV Energy’s EV Rate plan, and they sent us a summary of what happened with our power use over the course of that year.

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    May 09, 2025
    Tags: energy | electric car | gas | power

    Down By Law (1986)

    A black-and-white film cover shows three people in a jail setting from the movie "Down by Law" by Jim Jarmusch.
    A Letterboxd Roulette recommendation, this time from Ty McGowen, who also hosts a podcast I will have to check out.

    I’m not very versed in Jim Jarmusch, but everyone I’ve ever heard talk about him makes a point to say that he’s a bit of an acquired taste or might put people off somehow (paraphrasing, all of it). The one I’d seen from him was Night on Earth, which is an anthology and stars Winona Ryder (put her in a movie, I’ll check it out) so it may not be entirely indicative of what to expect from him.

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    May 05, 2025
    Tags: Roberto Benigni | John Lurie | Tom Waits | Jim Jarmusch

    Godland (2022)

    A man in a dark cape stands on ice, operating a vintage camera on a tripod. The title "Godland" and several film festival awards are displayed at the bottom.
    Godland’s cover on both the Criterion website and Criterion Channel listings has been staring at me for a long time. That image has been seared in for a while and I have wanted to watch since I first saw it. This movie, as many do, scared me. It looked like I needed a lot of time and energy to make sure I watched it correctly. I think that was both the right read, and a bit incorrect. This did take energy, and it was a bit long. However, it was impossible not to be completely drawn in by the beauty. It’s indescribable, really. Iceland is magnificent.

    I watched over two days, and that might have been a mistake. I think I missed some key interactions that would explain Lucas’s relationship with Ragnar, and the ultimate demise of Ragnar for a seemingly mild transgression — or at least a transgression that escalated very, very quickly.

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    April 27, 2025
    Tags: Criterion Channel | movies | Criterion Challenge | Iceland

    Japan

    Japan is great. You should visit if you can. We just did and this is a little bit about what we experienced there. Read the rest...

    Yasaka Shrine, Kyoto
    The image shows a brightly lit traditional Japanese gate, likely the entrance to a temple or shrine, at night. The structure is characterized by its vibrant red color and intricate architectural details, including ornate roof tiles and wooden beams. Sever
    The start of our walking tour of Kyoto. These sites are incredible. Some are tiny little buildings in the middle of apartment buildings on a tiny street, and some are massive complexes that span entire sections of the city. https://jerz.us/z/7w0
    March 31, 2025
    Tags: kyoto | shrine | shinto

    A-Bomb Dome, Hiroshima
    A silhouette of the Hiroshima Peace Memorial (A-Bomb Dome) at sunset, showing the skeletal remains of the domed structure with shattered windows and exposed metal framework. The sky in the background transitions from warm orange to cool blue, while bare t
    The sun sets behind the A-Bomb Dome, one of the few structures to even partially survive the nuclear blast in the city center. https://jerz.us/z/84j

    Waterworld (1995)

    The image is a movie poster for Waterworld. It features a close-up of a man's face (partially tinted blue) on the right side, staring intensely. On the left, a large red-orange sun is setting over an ocean, reflecting on the water. A mysterious symbol is

    I have been on a mini run of “you gotta hand it to him” with regard to Kevin Costner. That run led me to dive with reckless abandon into Waterworld, a movie that I was ready to believe was treated unfairly over the years. It has not been treated unfairly. This wasn’t good.

    The movie has a decent enough idea and a not-awful plot line. The premise is not subtle (the intro voiceover describes the melting of the polar icecaps, creating a world without land), but that unsubtlety to start the movie can be seen as world-building. It’s quickly just part of the movies, with a minor line here or there to remind you that the people alive today at least abstractly understand that their ancestors had really fucked up.

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    March 28, 2025
    Tags: Dennis Hopper | Jeanne Tripplehorn | Waterworld | Kevin Costner

    Mikey and Nicky (1976)

    Two men, one holding a telephone and the other holding a gun, with the text "MIKEY AND NICKY" at the bottom.
    I had a tough time with this one. I feel like the evidence is mounting that I just am not a huge fan of the visual style of this type of movie. What I mean is the movie that shows you gritty, 70s New York or some other American city. I don’t really appreciate the camera work of the intimate close ups, I dislike the amount of contrasty darkness that obscures what I can see. And I think I dislike the “real people” genre when it’s a couple of mugs who are just shitty in their existence. Read the rest...
    March 14, 2025
    Tags: Peter Falk | Elaine May | John Cassavetes