FRANKENSTEIN

Frankenstein (2025) directed by Guillermo del Toro. This is a visually stunning film with some wonderful special effects. There are some derivations from the novel, but the core story and themes still shine through. Oscar Isaacs does well as Victor Frankenstein, having played this role once before in Ex Machina. Jacob Elordi brings a tenderness to the Creature that transforms into grief and loss and rage as the film progresses. Knowledge kills!

 
Streaming on Netflix.

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The way that a pack of wolves is portrayed in the film is my main complaint. It play into the clichés and tropes of wolves that have been put forth throughout most of European history. The wolves here are bloodthirsty and violent. They display a projection of human violence onto them that has been discredited by modern science. It's a shame that del Toro falls into the easy trap of the mythic marauding predatory wolf.

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It's also interesting that del Toro shifts any violence perpetrated by the Creature to Victor Frankenstein. The blood is literally on Victor's hands, as well as figuratively since he wears red leather gloves throughout the film.

BUGONIA

Bugonia (2025) directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. What the hell, Yorgos? This film is dumb and unnecessarily cruel. There is a low-grade tension that churns beneath the surface of the entire film, similar to Uncut Gems, which makes it an unpleasant experience. I love most of the Lanthimos oeuvre, but I was glad when this was over. I think part of the problem is that the "satire" is too close to our current cultural situation to really work as satire. The black humor is all black and no humor, almost nihilistic. No thank you.

Viewed at Tacoma's Grand Cinema.

NOVEMBER

"Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people's hats off—then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball."
—from "Loomings" (chapter I) of Moby-Dick by Herman Melville.

“November always seemed to me the Norway of the year”
—Emily Dickinson.

THE LONELIEST WHALE

The Loneliest Whale: The Search for 52 (2021) directed by Joshua Zeman. A documentary that is part scientific mystery and part expedition, in an attempt to find the "needle in a haystack" theorized whale behind a 52-hertz song that is in a range not used by either blue whales or fin whales. Be prepared for whale songs, a clarinet, acoustic buoys, noise pollution, nature versus human interference ,and plenty of open sea. It's a fascinating film filled with loss and failure and a glimmer of hope amongst its academia and scientific method. Thar she (or he) blows!

Streaming on Netflix.

SAFFRON HEART

Saffron Heart (2018) directed by Paul McLay. This coming -of-age film follows ten-year-old novice monk Lobsang as he enters the Drepung Gomang Monastery. He is given a map of eight puzzle treasures to solve by his teacher, after he attempts to run away to home multiple times. He is befriended by twenty-year-old monk Tashi who acts as mentor even as he is perhaps an older version of Lobsang. We learn Buddhist teachings alongside Lobsang. Serious moments are often punctuated by moments of illness or death or humor or surprise, just as in real life. This is a sweet, wonderful film filled with color and joy. Highly recommended.

This is the October 2025 selection of the Tricycle Film Club.

SLOW FOOD and SLOW READING

It was a "slow" night. It was a bachelor night.

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After work, I sat (virtually) with my Zen sangha. We meditated and then discussed a koan ("The Old Woman Steals Zhaozhou's Bamboo Shoots," China, ninth century) and related commentary (by Furyu Nancy Schroeder). I love these Tuesday night conversations because I always learn something, and typically from every other participant. They each notice something that I don't.

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Then it was off to reading while eating. I ordered my favorite pho—wok-seared beef and egg yolk—both of which add immensely to the flavor profile. I ate and read sections of Suzuki's Becoming Yourself. I ate slowly, savoring both soup and text. It was a wonderful meal.

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The evening ended with more reading and more reflection at home.

PIERCE

"Pierce." Day Six of Inktober.

This is my favorite piece of Inktober 2025 so far.

A piercing stare. A piercing hand (in shuto).

WEAVE

"Weave." Day Two of Inktober.

I'm just having fun with art markers. I'm playing and trying to not take myself too serious.

THE LOWDOWN

The Lowdown (2025) created by Sterling Harjo. Ethan Hawke is in his element as Lee Raybon, a rabble-rouser writer/journalist/bookseller in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He's "investigating" the suicide of a politician's brother as he digs around in the underbelly of the city and it's environs. It's smart, funny, raunchy, and mysterious. The ensemble cast seems to be having a great time.

I'm three episodes in so far and enjoying it.

Watched on FX.

BECOMING YOURSELF

"It is easy to explain what Suzuki Roshi does not mean by [the practice of "becoming yourself"]. He does not mean perfecting your self-image or cultivating a unique style to broadcast. He does not mean learning how to be who other people think you are, or even who you think you are or should be. He does not mean trying to get a handle on who you are. Don't try to figure out who you are."

—Jiryu Rutschman-Byler

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"Our way of sitting is to become yourself."

—Shunryu Suzuki

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I sit. I sit to become myself. I sit in the lineage of Shunryu Suzuki, who introduced Soto Zen to America. I sit in the lineage of Dogen, the founder of Soto Zen. I sit in the lineage of Daruma, the founder of Chan (Zen).

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Becoming Yourself (2025) is published 54 years after Suzuki's death and 55 years after his seminal Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. In it's best passages, Becoming Yourself reads a lot like the works of Dogen, which I find compelling and challenging.