Like many significant directors of his generation, John Sayles cut his teeth working for Roger Corman, for whom he wrote one of his two high-quality Jaws knock-offs, 1978’s Piranha (1980’s Alligator is the other), while nursing his own ambitions as an independent filmmaker. With the money he’d scraped together on these screenwriting jobs, Sayles parlayed a minuscule budget (estimated at $60,000) into a debut hit with Return of the Secaucus 7, an ensemble piece about a weekend reunion among old friends that established his talent for sensitive, character-driven stories with sociopolitical underpinnings.

Oh friends. I’m so excited (and completely tearful) to announce that my debut collection, Instructions for Traveling West, is finally available for preorder. The book will be released in April 2024, but you can preorder right now. If you’ve ever dangled in the dark, felt homesick for your unlived lives, or ached to fling yourself into the jaws of Whatever Comes Next, I wrote this book for you. Preorder now

Is Gladiator a Stoic movie? The obvious case against it being a Stoic film is that its protagonist isn’t Stoic. It’s a revenge film.  Charged with restoring the republic, Maximus’s family is murdered and he’s left for dead, by the shunned Son of Marcus Aurelius, Commodus. Maximus’s life refocuses on killing Commodus, with dreams of reuniting with his family in the afterlife. The saga plays out in bloody gladiatorial arenas.

Owen Wolff’s been a weirdly controversial Austin FC player for someone who’s plugged in ably during the 2023 season. According to Transfermarkt — and we’ll definitely be referencing that site here in a couple of spots — the 18-year-old slotted in at four distinct positions for Verde in MLS play. The first three — attacking midfield, central midfield, an… ncG1vNJzZmiulaexpq3LpZuasV6owqO%2F05qapGaTpLpwvI6orp6mXay8rbLFZmlpamNiwKat0qilZqqVq7amw4xrZ2tsXai9pq%2FUpZitoZ%2Bj

Revenge travel is an unsettling phrase. Just who is being avenged? Presumably we’re striking back against our constrained life of the pandemic. But the real victims, it seems, are overrun European cities and seaside towns. Crowds are high, prices are high, anxiety is high. Nobody seems very happy. There was an article this weekend in the Financial Times about cities reconsidering tourist economies. Should there be higher taxes on visitors the were there are in Bhutan?