Here's what I've been watching this summer: PART ONE
All I've done this summer is go to work, go to Dallas Wings games, attend film festival, sleep, repeat.
Hello friends, family members, and people who I have blocked everywhere else on the internet. I hope this Monday finds you with tons of hydration because damn! It is HOT!
My last publication was in February and if you’d like to know why there’s been so much time between my entries to online publishing, read that here.
I’ve also been busy since April with a new job at my local public television station as well as the current film festival run for my short film Julie Takes a Walk.
My focus the last few months has been to prioritize in life experiences instead of creating an internet archive. Slow creation is the best and I highly recommend more folks shift to this model.
ANYWAY!
Here’s what I’ll be diving into below:
If you’re not watching the WNBA, WHY NOT?
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) is a good look at being human
An ode to Zendaya’s booked and busy schedule
What Part Two (coming soon) will contain:
The Odyssey, Hadestown, and the lasting legacy of the Greek myth
The Tom Holland Spider-Man Movies
LIST! What I’m looking forward to still to come this year!
If you’re not watching the WNBA, WHY NOT?
If you’re looking for some of the best sports (possibly ever?) than you need to be tuning into the WNBA. This is the league’s thirtieth season and for the first time since its inception, respect is being recognized on a major level. That doesn’t mean the talent hasn’t always been there. Thankfully, the fandom is making sure that new viewers who are falling in love with professional women’s hoops are getting the full story.
I’ve was a casual viewer of women’s basketball until 2023. I had been interested in getting involved sooner but I had no clue where to get started. Now, with the growth in popularity that is noticeable even in the last three years, there are multiple entry points to becoming a WNBA fan.
One of the biggest shifts is how many games are available to watch. The 2026 season set a record with 216 nationally televised games. Sure, you have to have Peacock, WNBA League Pass, Amazon Prime, and more to catch all the games but that has less to do with the WNBA and more to do with where we are currently at as an audience in this streaming enshittification.
Don’t know who to root for? That’s okay! There are so many lovable players and teams that just getting involved will quickly reveal whose game you fall in love with. And everyone’s journey to find their team might look different. If you have a team in your hometown or current city, that might be a fun place to start. Plus, that makes it easier for going to the games in person. Trust me when I say that once you get hooked, you’ll be wanting to experience the excitement in real life.
The season so-far
The 2026 season has seen some trades, drafts, and other moves as well as the addition of two new teams, the Portland Fire and the Toronto Tempo. Of course, the Las Vegas Aces are our reigning champions. They accomplished their third title last season under the rule of one of the best female basketball players of all time, A’ja Wilson. Don’t overlook Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young though! The Aces are a hot team and I wouldn’t be surprised if they win again.
My team, the Dallas Wings, are currently in fourth at the start of the second half of the season. This is incredible considering we won a total of just ten games in 2025. But this is the sophomore year for last season’s Rookie of the Year and basketball sensation, Paige Bueckers. While she might lead the team, her chemistry with the current Wings roster including Arike Ogunbowale, Jessica Shepard, and Azzi Fudd (who just became the first rookie to win the three point contest) is making for some great basketball.
My husband picked the Golden State Valkyries for his team. They were part of a league expansion in 2025 and have made an incredible mark in just a season. Veronica Burton is a masterclass in on court tenacity and the addition of Gabby Williams has shifted their power.
The season moving forward
With All Star Weekend now behind us, the intensity is only going to get hotter as we inch closer to a post season run. I wouldn’t count out the Minnesota Lynx, especially now that Napheesa Collier will get to join rookie Olivia Miles on the court. Miles has come out with such a start of her professional career, I’ve heard her name mentioned for MVP already.
Of course, we have the Connecticut Sun’s final season before a big move to Houston. The Sun was the first team I followed and I am grateful for the Mohegan Tribe who believed in women’s basketball before it was trendy. I wish the WNBA had prioritized keeping a team in the Northeast for the fans but alas, this sunset season is the final chapter in such a vital part of the league’s history.
While I’m not sure if the Washington Mystics or the Seattle Storm will make themselves super known throughout the rest of 2026, these are teams that are developing for the long game. With players like Flau'jae Johnson and Dominique Malonga (WHO DUNKS!) on Seattle and Sonia Citron and Kiki Iriafen on Washington, these teams are at the beginning of their showcases.
One thing about the WNBA is this: it can all change in a millisecond so go ahead! Pick a team! Tune in! AND let me know when you fall in love.
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) is a good look at being human
In October 1988, while cinema visitors sat in a screening of the new Martin Scorsese film, Catholic zealots set fire to the Saint-Michel theater in protest of The Last Temptation of Christ. I wasn’t born yet but I knew about the controversy of this film because of my late-mother’s distain for it.
Being raised as a young millennial in Oklahoma during the rise of modern Christianity in the United States, The Passion of the Christ (2004) was something you screened as a right of passage. The purpose? To fully understand the sacrifice of Jesus and what he gave up to save the world. The irony is that while the latter is subjected to more acceptance in certain religious circles, I personally feel like Scorsese conveyed the struggle of being both man and God in a much more accessible way.
This doesn’t mean the movie is without faults, the biggest one being the unnecessary retelling of the Gospels that happens during the first part of the movie. Anyone that has ever been to a single Sunday church service knows these early Jesus tales beat by beat. And while watching this version with a bunch of white American actors prancing around in sandals with their New York accents is charming at moments, there is very little new perspective happening, especially in the first quarter or so of the runtime.
Where the Last Temptation of Christ is interesting is when it flips the script and shows an alternative reality where Jesus Christ never allowed himself to be crucified. The film shows Jesus married, as a father, living a regular life with sinful urges and manly faults which is more powerful than just watching the physical violence of the crucifixion story.
Those who condemned the film thought of this reimagining of Jesus with a wife as blasphemous when in reality, Scorsese’s empathy is evident. To no one’s surprise, the filmmaker is very religious, even studying to become a priest at one point. While intention doesn’t always outweigh the actual audience reception, I truly believe that this film is actually one of incredible understanding.
Plus, let’s not forget these actors sounded like they were getting ready to talk the Yankees at their local deli while they wait for their bacon, egg, and cheese on a roll (spicy ketchup on the side). The Last Temptation of Christ is not meant to be realistic. The whole purpose of this cinematic exploration of Christ’s own human tendencies and for us, as an audience, to understand the sacrifice that occurred beyond just the violence of the crucifixion.
Is this one of my favorite Scorsese movies? Not in the traditional meaning of “favorite”. Do I respect the hell out of the sort of experimental alt religious reality that he dedicated himself to making, especially during the rise of that American Christianity that I was born into? Indeed.
An ode to Zendaya’s booked and busy schedule
There’s been whispers that some movie goers are getting sick of seeing Zendaya in everything? This sort of rumor is baffling because I cannot imagine a world where I would ever get sick of her popping up on my screen so I wrote this platonic love letter to her because I love seeing her everywhere.
Oh! Zendaya’s booked and busy schedule!
How honored I am to exist in the same time as you.
From her on screen appearances to the red carpet looks,
What have I done to witness such greatness?
In a time where so many untalented people are successful,
Your continual employment blesses me with the same warm feeling
That I feel when I see the sun glistening on the top of the ocean.
Thank you for your full commitment to every role!
Sometimes you’re a bride with a secret in a dark comedy,
Your wit is something to savor and admire.
Sometimes you are the embodiment of a goddess,
Athena has absolutely nothing on you!
Sometimes you are Spider-Man’s girlfriend,
And while I don’t care for Marvel movies I will watch these because of you.
You are talented and beautiful and funny.
You are evidence of goodness still existing in the film industry!
Oh, Zendaya’s booked and busy schedule!
May you get the flowers you deserve.
Thank you for reading Part One! Part Two will be published tomorrow, Friday, August 1, 2026.
I think Last Temptation is a really interesting and radical kind of film. Welcome! I subbed you. I write about film too. I work in the industry and attempt to describe how decisions are made within the industry