The vibe shift continues as we heap praise on SHE-HULK, ANDOR, and one of the best Film Nerd 2.0 screenings of all time

Plus a little more on what's keeping us busy

It’s Friday, October 21st, and here’s where we are…

It’s going very, very well.

As I mentioned in the last newsletter, I have a new opportunity that is taking a fair amount of my creative energy and attention right now. I’ve reached a certain milestone in the process, and it looks like I’m going to be able to continue to pursue this opportunity further, which means more time and more attention. I know that’s not been great in terms of my giving you new content here. At a certain point, if this thing takes root and flowers into something you can actually see, this newsletter will shift focus in ways that will become obvious. I am excited because this feels like the natural evolution of everything I’ve done in my career and my life so far, and this promises to bring it all together in a way I never could have expected.

This is a new feeling. I have been very lucky. I’ve had plenty of wins in my career, and I am grateful for each and every one of them, but many of them were tied to other people. I was in a writing partnership for almost 30 years, and when I think of the things we created, those are shared accomplishments. This new project is very personal, something that is mine in a very direct way, and there’s something new about that. It’s exciting but it is also taking over my brain in a way that makes it incredibly hard to focus on anything else.

In the meantime, I’m trying, Ringo. I’m tryin’ real hard to be the shepherd.

Old habits are certainly hard to break, though, and I’ve spent a long time being a bullhorn about every opinion I had about every single thing. Positive or negative. There is a charge that comes from unloading on something you didn’t like, but that charge is not worth the long-term impact. I’m trying, as I said in the last newsletter, to focus on things I enjoy right now. I think it’s a better overall use of my time and energy, and so even though I’ve seen some things that I found confounding, I trust there are critics out there who are writing about those films or shows, and that the discourse around them is already negative without any contribution from me. You don’t gain anything from me being the 50th person telling you I hate something, but you might well gain something from me telling you about things that excite and energize me.