Last week I mentioned I had initially planned on writing about a different movie before revisiting Meet The Robinsons and feeling inspired to write about it. I promised I'd cover the original film in the future, and this week I decided it was time to rewatch 1995's A Little Princess. Unfortunately, it didn't have much of a lasting impact on society, and it might seem random that I'd choose to analyze such a forgettable film that's over two decades old.

Murphy USA sells a lot of gasoline and a lot of cigarettes and buys back a lot of stock. This has worked well. Since its 2013 spinoff, Murphy's stock is up 673%, a 28.5% CAGR. EPS grew 21.5% per year, driven by 12.5% earnings growth and a 7.6% buyback CAGR. Low costs and low prices are the keys to Murphy's success. These have been core values since day one. Murphy opened its first store in 1997.

I was in line at the supermarket grabbing a bag of ice for a family gathering at the beach, arguing with my eight-year-old about going barefoot in the Fall, when news of Ghislaine Maxwell’s first post-conviction interview broke. I knew this interview was looming. I had asked Daphne Barrack recently about the timing of it, but I did not anticipate it dropping on a Saturday after proudly announcing my weekend log-off.

Baba Suwe died. Given the information-overload age which we live in now, it is understandable that time did not practically stop when news of his demise broke- as it did, for example, when Michael Jackson died. You know where you are when you first heard. Not to say Baba Suwe is MJ, but such is his import to his craft and to Nigerian television history. Nevertheless, more than a few fans have paid tribute to him as the proverbial curtain fell on his act.

The summer movie season is just around the corner and, like summer movie seasons before, it’s set to be filled with sequels and series extensions. Like it or not, we remain in a blockbuster era dominated by franchises. Some seem vibrant. Others are animated only by the faintest spark of life. In a 2018 article about Men in Black: International, Tim Grierson coined the term “zombie franchise” to describe series that keep existing because they seemingly don’t know how to die and it’s stuck with me ever since.