Perfectly A Strangeness (2024)

This quiet and strangely beautiful short documentary is nominated for a 2026 Academy Award. The film maker has done this before, or something like it. In her 2017 feature length documentary Cielo, which was also shot in Chile’s Atacama Desert, her cameras follow the simple, sauntering gait of the donkeys to allow audiences to take in vast mountainous terrains by day and by night the marvels of the Milky Way filling the Atacama Desert sky. She is aware that light pollution that keeps most people from seeing starlit galaxies at night, recalled the first time she saw the cosmic movements in the Atacama Desert nighttime sky. This time around we follow the donkey trio, where they come upon a building--no people, no vehicles, just the building. Her cameras did interior shots at the Paranal Observatory run by a consortium of European astronomers at around 2,635 meters above sea level. The whole experience of watching these eerily calm animals saunter in and around the observatory, never seeing anything--no food, no water, where do they get sustenance? It left me with more questions than answers, but also at peace.

Myers + Chang At Home by Joanne Chang

This cookbook, which came out in 2017, but my Facebook Cookbook Group featured it as the cookbook of the month in November, 2025, at which point I found it. Joanne Change has written several baking books, of which Pastry Love is the one we have cooked out of most, but this one is full of recipes from the upscale Chinese restaurant she and her husband have in Boston. She grew up eating only Chinese food and was well into elementary school before she had more typically American food, so she comes from a different food tradition than many of us do--she met her spouse when she was cooking in a restaurant after college, and this is a blend of what they like. So if you are looking for a more traditional approach this is not it--Kenji's The Wok is the book for you, or give Fuchsia Dunlop's oeuvre a whirl--Every Grain of Rice is a good starting place. What I very much appreciate about this book is the non-traditional dipping sauces they have because they are unlike others, and we as a family really love a good dipping sauce. We often buy frozen dumplings at the nearby Asian market, and are satisfied with the quality when we steam then fry them up, but then have to cobble together an acceptable sauce, and having another place to start to do that is a big plus to our cookbook collection. I was able to buy this used for under $10, which is another plus.

Marty Supreme (2025)

On the surface this film, nominated in 9 categories for an Academy Award in 2026, including best casting, tells the story of a gifted but impoverished table tennis hustler in 1950s New York, who wants nothing more than to leave his parent’s shoe shop behind to showcase his ping-pong skills on the world stage. Played at full throttle by Timothée Chalamet, Marty Mauser is a motormouth, sharp in both wits and tongue. He’s selfish, manipulative, and not particularly nice to women, but boy can he smack a ball over a netted table. In fact, there are really no likable characters in this movie--while I can tolerate that for the greater good of the message, that too is lacking here. So, Marty goes to London for the British championship after cobbling together enough cash, where he ends up playing the world’s best, Koto Endo (played by the real-life player Koto Kawaguchi) from Japan. It goes badly, so Marty returns to America, determined to have another stab at glory, all the while shunning anything that looks like real work or responsibility. To do that, he just needs to raise more money. In the meantime, he impregnates his former flame, who happens to also be married to another man, seduces and exploits a sad, faded movie star, and lets down his best friend as he begs, borrows and steals his way back to the Big Leagues. The antics that he goes through to get to Japan for another chance are the core of the movie, and only at the end do we see where he begins to have a chance to make it big. The character Marty Mauser is loosely based on the real-life ping-pong hustler Marty Reisman—a fascinating, colorful and complex man. He died in 2012 at 82 years old of lung and heart complications and at one point was the champion of the world. Chalomee as Marty is believable if unlikable and stands a shot at Best Actor, but really, he should have won last year for the way he completely inhabited the character of Bob Dylan, and not for this.

West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge

This was recommended to me, and somehow I didn't manage to find the magic in it. One hundred and five-year-old WWII vet Woodrow Wilson Nickel realizes his days are numbered and urgently begins writing down his memories of traveling from New York City to San Diego with a pair of young giraffes. They are headed to the San Diego Zoo, which is starting to build it's animal collection to what becomes a world renowned zoo. Most of the book takes place in October 1938. America is still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression and the dust bowl that devastated the heartland. Woody was then a 17-year-old orphan from the Texas panhandle who has fled the dust to live with his uncle in NYC. A powerful hurricane leaves him orphaned once again. That same hurricane hit the ship the giraffes were traveling on and left the female giraffe with a wounded leg. Really, it’s a miracle the giraffes survived at all and that just added to their mystique. The giraffes are celebrities, a bright spot in a grim world, and the press adoringly chronicles their cross-country journey. There are a surprising number of hurdles to overcome when transporting very large animals over a very large distance, and you can imagine some of the regional challenges that might come up, all of which are not surprisingly overcome, but are heart stopping at times. Lots of people loved this book and I liked it well enough.

A Friend Of Dorothy (2025)

I loved this. There is a lot going on here, and it is packed into a short film. After losing his football in her yard, black teenager JJ finds a friend in Dorothy, an elderly white and middle-class widow who lives by herself and needs aid in opening a stubborn can of prunes. Their platonic bond is strengthened as Dorothy—who owns a wide library of plays and once funded the education of aspiring drama students along with her late husband—fosters JJ’s inner theatre kid by requesting him to read out a play to her whenever he visits. It is a no-brainer that Dorothy acts as a maternal figure and looking out for JJ’s best interests. Simultaneously, the movie serves as a love letter to the arts. Dorothy helps the young, budding actor out of his shell and gain confidence in his true passion—encouraging him to consider theatre as a serious career rather than merely pursuing it as a hobby. And this is the part I missed until I read a review of the movie--the colloquial term ‘A friend of Dorothy’ which initially was used as a code within the community during an era when homosexuality was deemed illegal, also takes on a renewed meaning here. Due to their friendship, open-minded Dorothy introduces her new friend to n historic play which challenges homophobic persecution and celebrates queerness or being ‘different’, further allowing JJ to be comfortable in his own skin. Then there is the way Dorothy's family treats her, which is as a doddering old woman to be placed in supervised living so they can worry about her even less than they do now--no wonder she fostered her friendship with JJ--not only did he open her prune can for her, the one thing she can't do that she needs to stay in her own home--but he also sees her as a teacher and a person worthy of his attention. This is nominated for the 2026 Academy Awards in the Short Live Action film category and is well worth your time.

Stitched Shibori by Jane Callendar

Shibori is a traditional Japanese resist-dyeing technique that creates beautiful patterns on fabric by binding, stitching, folding, twisting, or clamping cloth before dyeing, usually with indigo. The bound areas resist the dye, leaving white patterns, with methods like itajime (clamping), kumo (spider), and arashi (pole-wrapping) producing unique effects. The unpredictability and integration of imperfections are key to the art, making each piece unique, and it's used on natural fibers like cotton and silk. This book is a fantastic How To book. The following comes directly from her website, with lots of information. Resists can be created by pulling up the threads of prepared hand stitched fabric. Any number of looks can be achieved and floral, organic, geometric patterns and textures are all within the realms of hand stitching. On a single layer of fabric hira-nui shibori can produce shibori ‘drawings’, designs or linear patterns and can be used to create sugi-nui stripes. Working on folded fabric with hishaki-nui stitching which drifts away from and then back to the fold, differing symmetrical shapes occur to form linear patterns. A more considered approach results in many variations of Hinode, the Sunrise pattern. Compositions can be created with ori-nui shibori which is also traditionally used to create the marvellous Tatewaku pattern of undulating lines. ADVANCED STITCHED TECHNIQUES Advanced stitched shibori techniques include a range of miru shibori shapes and the circle is used in various placements for Karamatsu, the Japanese larch pattern. The ori-nui technique is further developed to produce elliptical awase nui shibori and another development which brightens the resist is kamiate shibori. Both approaches can be used for the complex shippō-tsunagi pattern of linked circles. Any number of renditions can bring about exciting new motifs.

Train Dreams (2025)

Paraphrasing one of my family members, nothing much happens in this movie but it is beautiful to watch. It is nominated in several categories for the 2026 Oscars, including Best Picture (no chance) and Best Cinematography (also no chance I think, but it has a way better shot at it because the film is gorgeous to watch in a lush outdoor kind of way). This is a film of echoes--across years, across place and across time. It generation-spanning, which means that there is a lot of change afoot and so as one gets older, one feels left behind, from a time and place that no longer exitsts. It takes place in the Pacific Northwest in the early 20th century, and life & death intertwine in the duality of the symbol of the train, something that represents both progress and destruction. The railroad tracks that expanded their way across the United States in the 20th century both made the world smaller by connecting people and altered the landscape by cutting down trees that had been there for centuries to do so. Working from a novella by Denis Johnson, the film telsl a story of an ordinary life in an extraordinary way, a man who believed his existence was shackled by guilt and trauma. A birth-to-death character study, it is a meditation on the beauty of everyone and everything, how we are connected to both the earth and those who walked it before us. Joel Edgerton does a remarkable job playing Robert Grainier, a stoic man who marvels at the changing landscape in his work as a train laborer, someone who cuts down trees, pounds tracks into the ground, and even helps build bridges, often away from home for months at a time. Much of his story is told via a narrator, whose voice is something both soothing and powerful at the same time. It has A River Runs Through It vibe. He speaks for the often-silent Robert, telling us about formative encounters on the job, including a key moment when a Chinese immigrant was murdered. Robert considers for the rest of his life if his inaction at that moment led to the tragedies that would befall him. Though it is set about 100 years ago it is barely recognizable, and in the subtext drives home the fact that violence and racism are embedded into the fabric of the country and what is happening in 2026 America is a slippage back to that time and place.

Good Things by Samin Nosrat

Wow, this is everything that you would expect from Samin Nosrat and more. Her first book, Salt Fat Acid Heat, is a game changer for how to think about cooking and food preparation. The unique thing about that book is that there are not so much recipes as there are ingredients that go together and how to balance the dishes that you make. So this cookbook is a bit different because there are traditional recipes, especially for sauces and dressings, but also other dishes--but what makes this different is that once you make the back bone recipe that are a myriad of things to do with it. So it is a combination of traditional and what I think of that is unique and special about this chef's approach to food. This is a book that should be read before you dive into it--she has a style that is well worth immersing yourself in before you take a stab at replicating what she has on offer. I highly recommend this, especially if you want to experience this fun way of approaching and thinking about feeding yourself, your family, and your friends.

Butterfly (2025)

This short animated film is nominated for the 2026 Academy Award in that category. It depicts the life of Jewish French swimmer Alfred Nakache, who competed in the 1936 Berlin Olympics in Nazi Germany. It begins peacefully enough. In the sea, a man swims. It is quite beautiful at first. But as he continues, memories come to the surface. From his early childhood to his life as a man, all his memories are linked to water. Some are happy, some glorious, some traumatic. This story will be that of his last swim. It will take us from the source to the river — from the waters of childhood pools to those of swimming pools — from a North African country to the shores of the Mediterranean in France — from Olympic stadiums to water retention basins — from concentration camp to the dream beaches of Reunion. He experiences glory and humiliation. The joy is from his love of swimming--the butterfly stroke--and he is denigrated for his religion and the color of his skin. It could not come at a better time, when the United States government is killing people based on the color of their skin. Again.

The Personal Librarian by Maie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

This is an ordinary fictional biodrama about a truly extraordinary woman. So it is well worth reading even though it is not spectacular literature. This tells the life of Belle da Costa Greene, born Belle Marion Greener, who was a Princeton-educated librarian who lands a high-profile job with steel magnate J.P. Morgan. She had an illustrious career that was all the more remarkable because she was a woman. She successfully out maneuvered everyone to build a world class and widely renowned collection that went from private to publicly available after the death of J.P. Morgan. Even more remarkable is that what J.P. and the elite New Yorkers she encounters do not know is that Belle is a Black woman passing as white. Belle quickly learns that being white will not allow her to overcome prejudices against women working in the male-dominated field of art and rare book collecting. She also learns at a party at the Vanderbilt mansion that women in this world are bold and use flirtation as social currency, an approach that runs counter to the modesty and invisibility Genevieve, Belle’s mother, has always advised. In several flashbacks, the reader learns more about Belle’s history. Belle’s parents, Richard and Genevieve, had a promising start in life. They were free blacks before the Civil War, and in the brief but heady time of Reconstruction, they had great opportunities. Richard, the first Black man to graduate from Harvard, married Genevieve, the beautiful and ambitious daughter of the elite Fleet family of Washington, D.C., and moved his family to South Carolina so he could work as a philosophy professor at an integrated state university. The family later left under threat of lynching when Reconstruction ended in the South and the school became segregated. Genevieve never forgot the precariousness of that time. Once the family moved to New York, she listed the family as white to avoid ejection from their fine New York apartment. When Richard discovered this lie, he abandoned the family. From that moment, Belle became the focus of Genevieve’s ambitions to secure the family’s financial future—by passing them as white. It decribes the ins and outs of why this was both painful and profitable to do.