Jon Beck

Gross.

Another wonderful and successful Frontiers conference. Can’t wait for next year in Helsinki!

Had a lovely time presenting twice at the Frontiers in Service conference in Montreal. First, I presented at the doc consortium on how to expand your network as a junior faculty. Second, I presented some ongoing research with a KU PhD student looking at consumer power, control, and choices.

had focused more on the engineering and less on former employees saying “I told you so,” there’s likely a good movie in here. They surely had enough footage. But ultimately we are watching half of two okay films. The story here would’ve worked better if Stockton wasn’t an off-brand James Cameron.

It feels like Titan (the film) is trying to paint this picture of Stockton’s obsession with making it to the Titanic. But for films about obsession, the protagonist needs to have some sort of moral grounding (family/friend) or the topic itself needs to be inherently interesting. If the story

Titan: The OceanGate Disaster (2025) - how does one make a serious film about an event where society rejoiced by memeing dead millionaires? Well, this certainly isn’t it. The engineering bits were interesting, but all of the present day interviews were people saying over and over “I told you so.”

Some people are truly disgusting. “With friends like these…”

Most Americans now say the government should do more to solve problems

Huge opportunity for a political party that believes government can do good things. Public opinion is finally shifting after 50 years of right wing anti-government propaganda. This isn't the time for cowering and throat clearing www.cnn.com/2025/06/01/p...

But at the end of the day, this wasn’t aiming to be a highbrow film. It’s fun and maintains most of the charm. If you liked the original, it’s worth checking this one out. Yet at the end of the day, if I’m going to sit down to watch Lilo and Stitch, I’m still going w/ the original.

which were all done pretty well. There is just a natural fluidity to animation in the way it tells the story that’s almost impossible to replicate with live action. Which is why live action remakes should, in theory, build upon the source material. Which I can’t say this movie does.

which was needed. There are also a few added jokes that land to varying degrees.

A few things did stick out to me, mainly regarding how animation can convey emotions that may be difficult in live-action. Believe it or not, the issue for me wasn’t the aliens,

Of course not.

Is it just a money grab by the Mouse? Surely.

Is the movie fun? Absolutely, if you like the original.

The movie manages to maintain most of the beats from the animated version, while adding about 20 minutes to the runtime. This is used to flesh out Nani’s character a bit,

Lilo & Stitch (2025) - first things first, let’s make sure we are all on the same page. The original L&S from 2002 can stand with any other modern Disney movie classic. Over the years it has slowly but surely gained the following this charming movie deserves.

Did the 2002 movie need a remake?

Braveheart (1995) - 30 years later and still a solid film. The melodrama is executed well, but the real accomplishments are the battle scenes, which still hold up well. This may be peak “Saturday afternoon on TBS” movie and it’s great.

How to get to Sesame Street? Kids can now head to Netflix as well as PBS The children's series has found a new streaming home — Netflix, PBS stations and PBS KIDS will air new episodes on the same day. And Netflix will also run 90 hours from the Sesame Street library.

The children's series has found a new streaming home — Netflix, PBS stations and PBS KIDS will air new episodes on the same day. And Netflix will also run 90 hours from the Sesame Street library.

I plan to give this another rewatch soon (I mean, it’s only 96 minutes!). The parallel stories stuck with me for different reasons, but Ohama’s plot is the one that has, for lack of a better phrase, messed me up. I wouldn’t say this is a sad movie, but definitely some downer moments. A great movie.

—which makes sense given the source material (ghost stories).
The men are the focal point of Ugetsu, but the story and fate of their wives is what really stuck with me. The film also doesn’t sugarcoat the horrors of war. Not in a bloody, gory way but in ways of consequences, whether deserved or not.

If made today, Ugetsu could’ve added more to the first act to flesh out the characters a bit. This could easily be a 3 hour movie. (I’m glad it’s not.)
That said, this tale of greed and reckless ambition against the backdrop of a civil war shows lessons that are timeless—

Ugetsu (1953) - another Japanese classic I watched recently. One thing I noticed is how “fast” the movie is. It clocks in at 96 minutes, and in this day and age with hour-long TV episodes and almost every movie being 2+ hours, that’s a breeze. Not to the film’s detriment, ofc.

Alfie, a white Hanavese dog, sits in front of a fountain in downtown KC.

Alfie out and about enjoying the City of Fountains.

P.S. this character limit is brutal. I wrote this in the notes app and hopefully I didn’t mess up trying to organize things this time….

Putting the experience of this film into words is difficult. I am reluctant to say there is a list of “movies everyone should watch,” but if there were, Tokyo Story would surely be among them. An undeniable classic.

… and the relationship between Noriko and Shukichi, is one of the true highlights in all of cinema. In a way, the conclusion is an infringement upon the realities of the world today that we viewers are experiencing and provides an uplifting perspective among the emotional breakdowns that occur.

… Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara, and contrasting Tokyo Story to their other work.

It takes a lot these days for a movie to affect me and keep me thinking about it afterwards. Yet, without spoiling (a ~70-year-old movie), the conclusion of the film…

The film is deceptively calm and “slow,” but its mirroring of the pace of everyday life is one reason it’s so timeless—as is the case with many Ozu films. And as I read more backstory on Tokyo Story (and other Ozu works), I love thinking about the working relationship between Ozu and his two stars…

My first watch was two decades ago, and now that I’m older, the emotional weight and complexity of the family dynamic is that much more relatable. I (the viewer) have matured from relating to the Hirayama children to appreciating the journey, both physical and emotional, of the parents (and Noriko).

Tokyo Story (1953) - What can one say about this wonderful film that hasn’t been said already? It is ranked top 10 in the S&S critics’ poll (4th) and directors’ poll (5th), and for good reason. There is so much nuance and love in this film that it can be appreciated over and over as one ages.

Oh and these definitely aren’t intended to be thought provoking or formal reviews… just documenting stuff as I watch it, ya know?

I’ve been (re)watching a lot of classic movies lately and maybe I should post about them or something and stop taking this silly platform so seriously (i.e., almost never posting).