September 22, 2026

GOOD LUCK, I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW WE’RE ALL COUNTING ON YOU: Film Directors Are the New IP.

This is awesome for Hollywood. It’s a beckoning call to get viewers to engage with movies theatrically and the people who make them. There has never been a better time to be an auteur with an idea; people are coming to see them.

Imagine how much money the next Curry Barker movie is going to make.

Want more proof than just a feeling?

Look no further than the recent box office receipts.

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey took over the cultural landscape and became the event film of the summer. Everyone went to see it, many of them in 70MM IMAX.

The trend isn’t isolated to Nolan. Steven Spielberg’s sci-fi event Disclosure Day was sold almost entirely on his name, legacy, and direct return to original sci-fi.

As I said above, Ryan Coogler’s original supernatural thriller Sinnersproved that when a filmmaker builds an original vision, audiences will follow them anywhere.

We’re seeing trailers for a Shyamalan movie, and we know what that brings.

With name recognition like this and movies being sold on actors, it kind of feelsl like the ’90s again.

As Lynda Obst wrote in her 2013 book, Sleepless in Hollywood, in the 21 century, the industry replaced stars with franchises, to the point where there aren’t that many bankable stars left, and those who remain today are in their 60s or older. While stars are unreliable (see also: Gibson, Mel, Rourke, Mickey, and Sheen, Charlie), franchises such as James Bond, Star Wars, Star Trek, Batman, and the Marvel Universe seemed bulletproof. But then Hollywood went woke and began to hector its audiences rather than entertain them. Then came 2020, and Hollywood decided to close movie theaters and concentrate on streaming. Thus endless streaming series based on the aforementioned IP, culminating in slop such as She-Hulk, The Acolyte, and Starfleet Academy. And then superhero fatigue began to set in among audiences, at least until Spider-Man: Brand New Day made bank this year.

Roger L. Simon once wrote that Woody Allen was the only true auteur among American directors — the only filmmaker who both writes and directs his movies. Every other director needs writers to draft the blueprints of their projects.

But those directors considered “auteurs” in Hollywood’s past (such as Hitchcock, Kubrick, Coppola, and Welles) usually had the final cut on their movies. Unlike Spielberg and Nolan, which modern-day “auteurs” will be granted final cut by nervous studios?

Posted at 5:48 pm by Ed Driscoll

HEH:

Posted at 5:37 pm by Stephen Green

YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY: Fishing charter catches Air Force attack drone off Florida coast.

Daniel Arsenault, the charter boat captain, told Task & Purpose that the four customers aboard were military search-and-rescue helicopter pilots. Arsenault said their first instinct was to check for anyone who might need help.

The charter captain said they radioed the Coast Guard from about 20 miles southeast of Pensacola Pass but were told the service was already occupied with an active search. That’s when they decided to bring the drone back with them.

Of course, that wasn’t the first thing they did.

Arsenault said they cast around the waterlogged drone, which had attracted smaller fish seeking cover in the open water, and caught mahi-mahi and tripletail before hauling it aboard.

The roughly 10-foot-long drone was partially submerged and filled with water, Arsenault said. Six men aboard the charter held it alongside the boat until the water drained before wrestling it aboard.

Arsenault said the military members aboard opened accessible panels looking for a phone number or other identifying information but found no markings indicating which service owned it. Once they returned to shore, the local sheriff’s department took possession of it. Later that day, Arsenault said someone from the military called him and asked for “their drone back.”

Exit quote: “Arsenault ranked the drone among the five most unusual things he’s recovered from the Gulf.”

Now I really want to know the other four.

Posted at 4:51 pm by Stephen Green

THAT’S (D)IFFERENT BECAUSE THE LIGHTBRINGER MEANT WELL:

“Yes, Obama attacked so many journalists that his scope included a ‘James Rosen’ and a ‘James Risen.'”

Posted at 4:35 pm by Stephen Green

TWO STEPS FORWARD: Congress has dropped the ball on a lot of other issues, but on fighting waste, fraud and corruption in federal spending, there is progress, however small it may on the surface appear. Details here.

Posted at 4:18 pm by Mark Tapscott

THE REPORTER ACTUALLY DID THE OLD SNL GULF WAR PRESS CONFERENCE SKETCH:

Gold: “Look, son… this is such a basic military lesson that even a reporter should understand it.”

Sadly, the 1991 SNL sketch isn’t on YouTube, but I did find the transcript: “Farud Hashami, Baghdad Times. Where are your troops, and can I go there and count them?”

Posted at 4:04 pm by Stephen Green

OUR APPETITE FOR CHIPS REMAINS INSATIABLE: AMD Crosses $1 Trillion in Market Value for the First Time as AI Chip Stocks Rally. “The Santa Clara, California company joins a short list. Only three other US chipmakers have topped $1 trillion: Nvidia, Broadcom and Micron. Nvidia got there first, in 2023, and is now worth more than $5 trillion, which makes it the world’s most valuable company.”

Posted at 3:49 pm by Stephen Green

SWEDISH ELECTION UPDATE:

Stay tuned…

Posted at 3:33 pm by Stephen Green

SO THE STUDENTS CAUGHT THE PROVOST CHEATING?

We need to redefine “beyond parody” for the 21st Century.

Posted at 3:04 pm by Stephen Green

IT’S GOOD TO BE THE NOMENKLATURA: Ex Santa Clara County Undersheriff Gets Slap on the Wrist in Years-Long Concealed Carry Corruption Case. “Few places took more advantage of the opportunity to rake in cash and merchandise in exchange for coveted pre-Bruen concealed carry permits than the dedicated public servants who worked in the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Laurie Smith was at the top of the stinking pay-to-play corruption mountain, raking in campaign dollars and lots of valuable, uh, gifts.”

Posted at 2:47 pm by Stephen Green

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

WHAT A MESS:

Posted at 2:32 pm by Stephen Green

BEWARE: 100-Foot Cascadia Megathrust Tsunami Threat Looms Off the West Coast. Oregon officials estimate shaking could last five to seven minutes, followed by a tsunami reaching parts of the coastline in only 10 to 20 minutes. DOGAMI coastal geologist Laura Gabel says knowing and practicing evacuation routes is ‘critical for keeping you and your loved ones safe.'”

Posted at 2:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: No cheery time for election pollsters in run‑up to US midterms.

Pollsters approach this year’s midterm elections dogged by high-profile misfires in recent elections while facing challenges from brash rivals intent on reshaping the landscape of political forecasts.

There are no guarantees that polling’s troubles – and persistent popular skepticism about the dependability of election polls – will be alleviated anytime soon.

In fact, it hasn’t been very cheery for pollsters for the better part of 10 years, since Donald Trump confounded poll-based expectations to defeat Hillary Clinton for the U.S. presidency in 2016.

In 2020, pollsters turned in their worst collective performance in 40 years by overestimating margins of Joe Biden’s victory over Trump. It’s an outcome I discuss in “Lost in a Gallup,” my book about polling failure.

Polling in the 2022 midterms was more spotty than spectacular. In 2024, pollsters overall underestimated Trump’s popular support — for the third successive election. That outcome prompted The Atlantic to describe the 2024 polls as “quietly still bad.”

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 2:23 pm by Ed Driscoll