129: August 2025

The end of summer feels more like the end of the year than any other season. I know I'll feel differently in the dead week between Christmas and New Year, but right now, there's a chill in the air in the late afternoon that I haven't felt all summer. I pulled up the corn plants in the backyard garden bed last weekend. The tomatoes and berries are still thriving, but I don't expect them to last longer than a few more weeks before it gets too cold. The crickets and the tree frogs have hit full volume. Everything feels like the pause at the top of a roller coaster before the rush down the slope.

Part of this is pre-travel jitters. I'll be covering the Toronto International Film Festival for Seeing & Believing this year; I fly out later this week. Keep an eye on my Letterboxd and Bluesky if you'd like to follow along in the moment, and check out the newsletter later in September if you're interested in our full coverage.

What I wrote:

For Seeing & Believing, I reviewed Weapons (a banger), Honey Don't!, and Caught Stealing and an indie documentary called Lynden.