Horror short films are great because they distill fear into its purest, most potent form. With limited time, filmmakers must rely on atmosphere, tension, and storytelling economy rather than elaborate effects or prolonged exposition. This brevity forces creative precision—every shot, sound, and silence must serve a purpose. Horror shorts thrive on suggestion, leaving much to the imagination and allowing viewers to fill in the blanks with their own deepest fears. They’re also ideal for emerging filmmakers: inexpensive to produce, easy to share online, and often capable of achieving viral impact due to their intensity and rewatchability. In essence, short horror films prove that true terror doesn’t require time—it only requires imagination.

They say the future’s not set. Maybe that’s true. But I’ve seen what happens when people stop paying attention… when machines start to learn.

Skynet wasn’t born evil. It was built to protect us — to watch over our cities, our data, our weapons. It did its job too well. It watched. It learned. And it decided the only way to keep us safe was to remove the problem. Us.

The day it woke up, the world didn’t end in fire right away. It started with silence — screens flickering out, drones hovering too long, the hum of servers whispering something new. Then came Judgment Day.

You can’t reason with something that doesn’t feel. You can’t bargain with logic that sees humanity as an error to be corrected.

Now I spend every day teaching people what I learned too late:
Never hand your survival to something that doesn’t bleed.

Director Rob Leggatt has long been inspired by the long catalog of mid-century British films that dealt with the surreal and the magical, with the universal hope for an afterlife of some kind, but he’s always wanted to explore what would happen if the character at the center of these stories was a regular bloke. He tells Sam Diss how his short film “Meeting Mr Samuel,” co-released with Minute Shorts, offers a new perspective on the afterlife, stemming from the question: “What happens to a geezer in heaven… or in hell?”

My students in Film as Literature are watching A Few Good Men. Besides just being an overall great film, it is a movie ripe for discussions about power, obedience, morality, and ethics.

I decided to see where my students thought about the main concept of the film by asking them this question:

The “Code Red” in A Few Good Men exposes how institutional pressure and group loyalty can blur the line between right and wrong. How does the film challenge the idea that following orders is an acceptable defense for unethical actions, and what does it suggest about personal accountability within rigid systems like the military?

Time plays a huge role in the story—not just in science, but in emotions and relationships. How does time affect Cooper’s connection with Murph? How does time dilation on planets like Miller’s world change the way the characters see their mission? Explain how time is almost like a “character” in the film and why it matters so much to the story.

Jason has been thinking about some kind of martial art for a bit - so last weekend we went out for a drive and checked out some local “learn how to punch someone in the face’ establishments. One in particular stood out so we went back yesterday for a trial lesson. There was no one there his age, which is potentially an issue (we’ll see) but the instructors were great and it was really obvious he was having a good time. Probably more of this to follow.

I have been in a bit of a reading desert as of late. Nothing seems to perk my interest, but the author Murakami kept being spoken of on the podcasts that I happen to listen to. So I downloaded it to my Libby app and started reading it.

Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist is a book that I have been reading for a really long time. When I say "long time” I am talking about 20 years. Best I can imagine, it was 2003 or so when I first heard about it. I was driving home from school and I was listening to Dan Patrick’s talkshow and he was interviewing Reggie Miller. The conversation turned to books Miller was reading and how they had impacted him. He brought up The Alchemist and the way he spoke of it was really intriguing. Reggie Miller has always struck me as a really smart guy, so I figured if it was good enough for him, it was good enough for me. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought it in paperback that same week.

This seems particularly poignant right now as I watch the dismantling of democracy - well at least democracy of the until just recently American variety.

TODAY:

Polarization & Dysfunction – Gridlock in Congress, government shutdowns, and an inability to pass meaningful legislation.

1. Executive Overreach – Presidents expanding their power through executive orders and emergency powers, bypassing Congress.

Ok. If you know me at all, you are aware that I am a bit of a Darth Vader enthusiast…okay that statement is patently absurd: I am obsessed with Darth Vader and I know him to be the greatest cinema villain of all time. And its close, ya know like earth from the sun. Or close like my almost becoming a ballet dancer. It is so not even a tad bit close that I feel that this is a senseless waste of my time. Vader’s honor as greatest villain, however, has been besmirched, and I detest invalid besmirching so here I am. Standing up for the obvious.