On the 2025 college football season

 On USC

Going into last season I was very low on USC. I felt confident that a team with Lincoln Riley, a 4th year quarterback, and a wide receiver room stacked with former elite high school recruits would put up points in bunches; however, I did not think they would be able to field a power-4 (let alone superpower-2) level defensive line, and that the big ten would grind them to mush. The season ended up playing out almost the opposite of what I expected. 

The offense was capable but fatally inconsistent. Lincoln Riley's great innovation was figuring out how to marry power running schemes with the air raid passing concepts; the irony is that Riley may not actually be the best operator for the machine he created. Last year USC was extremely efficient at running the ball and mediocre at passing the ball. This doesn't mean they should turn into 3 yards and a cloud of dust, but it does mean that the running game was vastly underutilized. The result was an offense that looked pretty good on paper but struggled to finish drives and chew clock, which is what allowed inferior teams to stay closer than they should have. The pass-happy approach might have worked if wide receiver room had played up to its ceiling. Ja'Kobi Lane and Makai Lemon were spectacular, but Zach Branch and Duce Robinson didn't play anywhere close to their 5-star ratings. With a more dynamic quarterback that might've been enough to carry the offense, but they needed to strike gold on all four of those guys to be able to get away with Riley's lack of balance.

On the other hand, the defensive coaching staff blew me away with the turnaround. The 2023 Grinch defense is one of the worst college defenses I have ever seen; the fact that this staff only needed a year to put together a passable defense (despite being paper thin on the defensive line) is a miracle. Unfortunately however, Grinch's subpar recruiting and incomprehensible preference for undersized body types put a hard ceiling how much the defense could improve. This was a well-coached, fundamentally sound defense that inevitably wore down late in close games due to their physical limitations (and exacerbated by the offense's inability stretch leads or kill clock). I feel fully confident in the schematic and developmental ability of the defensive staff.

It's easy to talk myself into this year being a huge step forward. Jayden Maiava now has four games plus a full offseason under his belt, and his physical abilities will unlock parts of Lincoln Riley's system that Miller Moss couldn't really execute. They have two first round talents are receiver, and Waymond Jordan looks like a transfer portal steal. They finally have the quality and quantity of bodies that this scheme need on the interior defensive line. They have too many NFL-caliber players at edge rusher to continue having pass rush problems. Desman Stephens and (when healthy) Eric Gentry are studs at linebacker. Getting Kamari Ramsey to return is found money, and with another year in this scheme he has All-American potential. I also think having Bishop Fitzgerald there to handle deep coverage will allow this staff to utilize Ramsey as a more versatile chess piece that better optimizes his skills.

And yet...I still have questions. They don't have enough speed at corner, which will limit what coverages thay can run. The offensive line is painfully thin on experience. I do appreciate that this staff has put an emphasis on bringing in bodies on the offensive line after years of Helton neglecting that position, but this year will be a referendum on the staff's ability to actually develop the players they recruited. And even if the offensive line gels...will Riley actually be willing to actually lean on the running game if the results dictate so? One of my biggest frustrations with the Lincoln Riley era is that at Oklahoma he was more than willing to spam the running game if he could, and that seems to have disappeared the last two seasons. I think (hope) he might not have any choice this year - in part because Waymond Jordan might be too good to ignore, but in part because it's unlikely that Maivava can actually lead a pro-style passing attack. He just hasn't shown the touch and accuracy on intermediate throws (which is unfortunate given how talented the tight end room is).

I think the best-case (as in, literally every single thing goes right) scenario is that that they can combine the 2019 Jalen Hurts Oklahoma offense with the 2023 UCLA defense. If Lincoln Riley can get back to that style of playcalling - lean on the power-option run game to set up play action shots - this can work. If he keeps trying to call games like a classic air raid coach, then this is going to be a long season.

I think USC goes 9-3, by virtue of Lincoln Riley rediscovering his roots, the defense benefiting from more talent and another year under this elite staff, and better luck in close games.

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On Wicked

I saw this movie a little over 6 months ago on a date night with my wife and I was truly blown away by how much I liked it. I went in expecting to enjoy the visuals and the music, but I definitely did not expect to find it as thematically engaging as it was. I wanted to write a review immediately after I finished watching it but I never got around to it. Until now. 

I was expecting a fun time. I have loved the Wizard of Oz universe since childhood. I knew that this movie would be worth watching for the visual effects, costume design, and musical numbers. I didn't know anything about the plot at all (other than that it was a prequel). I was expecting a lighthearted and fluffy movie - not an allegory on demagoguery, filled with some really pointed historical allusions. The basic premise is that Elphaba is born as a green witch. Like another famous green outcast, Elphaba is possesses tantalizing powers but excruciatingly little control over them, leading her to be seen as a menace. From birth must she navigate constant ostracization (including from her own parents). She goes to college, where she is identified as a prodigy and begins apprenticing in witchcraft - for her, an opportunity to finally harness her curse into a blessing. Eventually she gets tapped to meet the famed Oz - only to learn that he is a mere charlatan who wants to co-opt her powers towards his totalitarian desires. In particular, Oz is commandeering a clandestine operation to strip animals of their ability to speak, thus relegating them to second-class citizens.

A lot of the imagery in this movie invites natural comparisons to The Holocaust. When Oz talks about uniting the population by identifying a common enemy (in this case, the animals), he might as well be reading straight from Adolf Hitler's rhetorical playbook. Recall that one of Hitler's and Goebbels's most common propaganda tactics was to denounce Jews as Vermin; they knew that animal imagery would help to (literally) dehumanize them, thus decreasing the public's intolerance for caging and slaughtering them. It's no coincidence that the most prominent victim is a (scape)goat. The graffiti that shows up on Dr. Dilllamond's projector looks like the kind of message you might have seen spray-painted on many a Jewish business in 1930's Berlin. Oz's spell that makes the monkeys sprout wings through an excruciating generation process mirrors Josef Mengele's horrific experiments. However, for me personally this narrative felt just as closely tied to the story of America's indigenous population. While the cages that the baby animals were put in could easily symbolize the ghettos and/or the concentration camps, I think the element of linguistic extermination made me connect it to the Native Americans being shoehorned into reservations. The nightly strategy meetings could be analogized to Tecumseh's confederacy. But I have an even deeper, more personal reason why I latched onto this less obvious historical allegory. For those of you who don't know, my PhD research studies how different biological systems take decentralized approaches to overcoming obstacles and carrying out the tasks necessary for survival. By understanding how these systems have evolved to operate, I hope to reverse-engineer distributed computing algorithms that can reproduce even a fraction of Mother Nature's efficiency and elegance. One of the highlights of graduate school was the chance to go to Mexico for field work and observe tree-dwelling ants deftly navigate the tortuous jungle vines without the help of a smartphone or even a paper map. I was humbled by how nimble and adaptable the real ants were compared to my rigid simulation algorithms. If there's one thing my research has taught me, it is that humans may have knowledge, but animals have wisdom. When I see a movie about human characters subjugating rather than mutualistically co-existing with animals, I can't help but think about the struggle between the Native Americans and the European settlers, specifically because both conflicts embodied the knowledge/wisdom duality. When the Europeans settled in the Americas, they brought with them a wealth of scientific knowledge. While Native American tribes didn't possess the same advanced agricultural technology, what they did have was superior wisdom on land use - not just from an ecological perspective, but also an economic (specifically, a Georgist) perspective. A better world would have resulted from integrating these two complementary strengths - but instead the former was tragically harnessed towards forcibly conquering the latter.

Whichever metaphor you prefer, I think the movie wants to depict how demagoguery and mob mentalities lead to destructive outcomes for the most arbitrary and senseless reasons. Circling back to the Holocaust metaphor, Galinda's arc made me think about Schindler's List. That movie, and specifically the contrast between Oskar Schindler and Amon Goth, spoke to me about the difference between sins of omission vs. sins of commission. Genocidal movements depend on wicked individuals actively choosing to perpetrate evil; but they also depend on onlookers passively choosing to do nothing in the face of evil. They're two isotopes of the oxygen that feed the same flame. Like Shchindler, Galinda is amoral and transactional, eventually siding with Oz over Elphaba not because it is right but because it is easy and comfortable. For every one Oz there are hundreds of Galindas who could, collectively, stem the tide of demagoguery and prejudice but choose not to out of pure convenience (and lie to themselves about their degree of complicity).

Looking forward to part 2! A couple of stray thoughts to close:

• This movie is a great depiction of the well-established contact hypothesis from social psychology. Elphaba spent much of her childhood being cared for and supported by animals. This type of direct, deeply personal exposure helped her develop immunity to the anti-animal propaganda that so many others in Oz fell for.
• Pretty much the only thing I knew about Wicked was that it was the subject of an infamous South Park episode. After we saw the movie my wife told me that she knew several people who had trekked to the theaters multiple times during the opening week. The next day I insisted that we watch Broadway Bro Down. Here's the best part: in the opening scene, Randy's co-worker reveals that he didn't watch the Broncos game because he was watching Wicked with his wife. My wife and I were watching Wicked while the rest of Austin was watching Texas try to beat Georgia in the SEC Championship Game (though we did manage to catch the overtime period).

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On the 2024 Oscars

 

The Pics 

Barbenheimer

• In my (cinephilic) opinion, Barbenheimer was the best thing to happen to the movie industry in years - and also the most misunderstood. It was such a joyful throwback to the days when summer blockbusters were a unifying cultural experience in a tangible, corporeal way. This wasn't just an internet phenomenon - Barbenheimer plans came up in pretty much every July and August conversations that my wife and I had when we went out with friends. On the day we watched the movies, we spent the day in downtown Austin, and everywhere we went out to eat, we overheard Barbenheimer conversations at most of the other tables. And of course, that's to say nothing of the actual experience of seeing the sea of pink in the theaters. It was the kind of communal experience that a been a casualty of the technological advances in the entertainment industry. 
• When it was first announced that Barbie and Oppenheimer would be released on the same day, I made plans with my wife to go to the movies that Friday and flip a coin to see which movie we got to see. Later, I thought I was streets ahead when I thought to just plan a whole day out of seeing both movies. My bubble burst when I went to an Oscars party last year, and one of the other guests mentioned his double-feature plan unprompted. That's when I knew this was going to be a touchstone moment in pop culture.
• So, how exactly did Barbie + Oppenheimer become Barbenheimer? A lot of the focus was on the juxtaposition between the visual style and tone of the two films. I saw suggestions should schedule more "his and hers" paired releases. This would be a mistake - the best part about Barbenheimer was the fact that it was organic, and any attempt to try to reverse engineer that energy is destined to end in disappointment.. Some people attributed it to Barbie's unprecedented marketing campaign, but to me that felt more reactive than proactive; it seemed like the studio started pouring money into marketing only after they realized what they had brewing. Here's the real lesson that the industry should (but won't) take away from Barbenheimer: audiences don't want a parade of IP Zombies and labyrinthine franchises. We want challenging, thought-provoking films from visionary directors who are given carte blanche to bring their passion projects to life. The fact that we were getting not one, but two such films in the same year day felt unthinkable a year ago; hopefully it's not a blip.
• The reason why I have always admired and cherished Christopher Nolan is that he manages to produce movies that are equal parts entertaining and intellectual, and he makes them from within the major studio system. He hoodwinks executives into greenlighting smart movies, like a sort of Trojan horse. It felt like Greta Gerwig was doing the same thing when she snagged the job of directing Barbie, and she pretty much confirmed as much in her Rolling Stone interview. Barbenheimer weekend felt like a passing of the torch. 

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On the 2023 Oscars

The Pics 

Elvis

• I cannot believe this movie was nominated for best picture. All year assumed all of the Oscar buzz about this movie was just click-bait. Whoops.
• The framing of the movie - recounting Elvis's life from the perspective of his craven manager - didn't work for me. In theory, I think telling the story from the perspective of supporting characters can be interesting. When the movie started, it immediately reminded me of Citizen Kane, a movie that I cherish. For me, the genius of Citizen Kane is the way each new narrator peels away another layer from the mystique of the titular enigma. Unfortunately, this device is misguided for a movie which tells Elvis's story in a very linear manner and mechanical manner. Colonel Parker perspective never made me view Elvis or his story differently, and the movie never succeeds in making him a compelling character in his own right.
• I thought the debut of Elvis's (in)famous hip gyrations was depicted quite well. In particular, I think Baz Luhrmann deserves a lot of credit for directing all the actresses in the scene. None of the teenage girls in the audience came to that concert planning to release budding sexual tension; instead, Elvis (unwittingly) summoned the holy spirit, serving as an outlet for feelings that they never knew they possessed. The shrieking felt truly involuntary.
• To its credit movie acknowledges how much Elvis borrowed and profited from the Black gospel music. But the movie asserts that the Black community viewed this relationship completely uncritically, and if anything was honored to have a white man bring their music to the mainstream. Perhaps this is true, but it feels dubious. 
• I appreciate that Austin Butler manages to go beyond doing an impression of Elvis - he really captured the physicality of the legend. Unfortunately, I don't think this script gives him much chance to capture Elvis's interior.
• This is the absolute worst performance of Tom Hanks's career. His speech pattern is way too goofy for a supposedly sinister villain, and his accent changes in every scene.

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On the 2022 Oscars

For the second straight year I barely watched any movies. I only went into theaters three: once in the Summer when I thought the pandemic was winding down (LOL), and once for what I (correctly) suspected would be the crown jewel of the cinematic calendar, and once to see Spiderman in IMAX. So for the second straight year, my opinions are strong, but quite limited.

The Pics

Don't Look Up

• I thought this movie did exactly what it wanted and needed to do - it made me laugh out loud because the plot was both completely outlandish and infuriatingly believable. The best way I can describe it is a poor man's Dr. Strangelove.
• I can't say I am surprised by the negative critical reviews. Don't Look Up unapologetically indicts the neoliberal worldview shared by (what seems like) the vast majority of film critics. 

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On the 2021 Oscars

Because of the pandemic, I barely watched any (new) movies this year, and I do not remember the last time I was less invested in the ceremony. Hopefully we can go back to the cinemas in 2022. Please go get vaccinated.

The Pics

Palm Springs: The only movie that I truly loved in 2020. The idea of a shared time loop feels like the start of a new era for the entire genre. I would give it all of the awards if I could. I wrote more about it here.

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On Quarantine and Chill

When life gives you quarantine, make chill. At least, that's been the motto for much of the world for the last however many months it's been. As bad as the epidemic has been for the world, the silver lining (and to be clear, it's a very small silver lining) has been the chance to catch up on and expand my pop culture literacy. Here are my thoughts on what I've been watching during the quarantine, in no particular order.

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On my 2019 College Football Bar Crawl

Last year, I wrote about my experience visiting different college football bars in San Diego throughout the fall. TLDR: In 2018, I was inspired by the Athlon Sports Cover 2 podcast's annual college football in which they map out their dream road trip: pick one game to see every week, under the constraint that you can't see the same game twice. That fall I decided to visit a local watch party for a different college football team every week, and I had so much fun with the project that I decided to do it again the following year. Here's how it went down in 2019.

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