First Christmas present of the year received – The Matrix Resurrections debuts December 22nd. It’s shaping up to be a great Q4 for movies. The trailer looks very, very good.

Almost simultaneously, a new movie in one of my favorite genres (end of the world, comet on the way, how do we react?) will be released on Christmas Eve. Titled Don’t Look Up, it has a cast of…well, pretty much everybody: Leonardo DiCaprio (!), Jennifer Lawrence (!), Timothée Chalamet, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Meryl Streep (!), Gina Gershon, Cate Blanchett (!), Ron Perlman, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Rylance, Ariana Grande (?), Tyler Perry, Michael Chicklis, and Kid Cudi. I can’t imagine how they got that entire group to sign on – shoujld be interesting.

I suppose it was inevitable, with all the traveling and visiting done last week. I was around a lot of people including a few sick people, and I’ve come down with something since returning. Classic cold symptoms, but I’ll get a C19 test just in case. Sitting, reading and writing are all within my capability at the moment, but anything else and I’m wiped out.

After buying and assembling three of them, I’m a big fan of Zinus beds and bedframes. We now have two in the new KY house and one in CA. Great value, comfortable and convenient. I’ve always *hated* the shopping process and the price of traditional mattresses and stores, and Zinus disappears both those problems. Online shopping rules!

I’ve arrived back in Socal just in time for a heat wave – gonna be mid-90s the next few days. Good time to hunker down with my cold and stay inside.

Another McSweeney’s classic: A SHORT QUIZ FOR MY STUDENTS IN LIEU OF ASKING ABOUT THEIR VACCINE STATUS OR REQUESTING THAT THEY WEAR MASKS.

On one of my Southwest flights yesterday, I sat among a large group of 40-something guys who were traveling to a golf outing. They were boisterous (that’s fine), but they also pretty much ignored the mask requirements during the flight (not fine). I was surprised that the SW flight attendants said absolutely nothing to them.