Monday, July 13, 2026
70 Summer Escape Movies
- Get Shorty
- Sullivan's Travels
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Other People's Money
- Back to the Beach
- His Girl Friday
- Moonstruck
- Amelie
- Galaxy Quest
- The Full Monty
- The In-Laws (with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk)
- My Favorite Year
- Napoleon Dynamite
- Annie Hall
- Some Like It Hot
- My Cousin Vinny
- Local Hero
- Field of Dreams
- Clue
- A Good Year
- Major League
- Delicatessen
- Topsy-Turvy
- The Hospital
- Ruthless People
- The History Boys
- The General (Buster Keaton)
- Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton)
- Best in Show
- It Happened One Night
- Network
- A Long Way Down
- O Brother Where Art Thou?
- Young Frankenstein
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Dr. Strangelove
- Shaun of the Dead
- Lost in America
- A Hard Day's Night
- Tea with Mussolini
- Shakespeare in Love
- Beetlejuice
- Barbershop
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High
- National Lampoon's Vacation
- Love Actually
- Tootsie
- Trading Places
- Cat Ballou
- Little Miss Sunshine
- Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
- Ghostbusters
- The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
- Animal House
- Being There
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Rustler's Rhapsody
- Airplane!
- Office Space
- The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
- A Night at the Opera
- Tremors
- The Princess Bride
- It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World
- The Ladykillers (with Alec Guinness)
- The Naked Gun
- The Producers
- Groundhog Day
- Barcelona (Whit Stillman film)
- Caddyshack
[Photo by Ronald Crow at Unsplash]
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Saturday, July 11, 2026
First Paragraph
Snow falling upon water makes a sound so close to silence that no heart exists it cannot calm. It fell across the Chesapeake and in the harbors and inlets and far out to sea, surrendering to the waters with the slightest exhalation and a muffled hiss. Though few are there to see it, in winter this happens often.
- From The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story by Mark Helprin
Teaching Students to Debate
I plan on writing about this on Substack but for now will note that in recent years students have appeared to be more apt to level accusations than to argue for a particular side.
The idea that accusation is sufficient is very dangerous. The ability to convince instead of simple intimidation requires the ability to research and reason.
Absent those positive skills, we're at the mercy of smash and grab artists.
Just as a mother and a father are key members of a family, so too is reason a key part of education.
Unfortunately, a great deal of modern education has focused on accusation more than serious analysis.
[Let's call Rudyard Kipling a racist and dismiss anything he ever wrote.]
Healthy debates would be an important way to foster crucial skills.
And here is the simple question that should be frequently asked:
What are the best arguments for the opposing side?
We May Be Seeing Far More of These Outrages
Former Member of Parliament Ann Widdecombe was murdered.
An arrest has been made.
Friday, July 10, 2026
Grab These!
Nicholas Bate is offering a bargain on several of his books.
He's also working on another novel which I eagerly await.
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