Jot Thought’s Reviews

McFarland, USA Welcome to the latest installment of “Reviewing Movies that Everyone’s Definitely Already Seen By Now, But That We See and Absolutely Love Without Recognizing That We’re Months If Not Years Too Late For” … Spirit’s Well-Beloved* (*Not Beloved) Review Column is back, everybody! This time, it’s yet another popular sports movie. McFarland, USA,…

Visit any college campus in America and I’m sure you’ll see dozens of students milling around with headphones or earbuds in. Enter a college library, and you’ll see an array of students typing or drawing still with their headphones on. All these students have a few things in common: they’ve got matching expressions of locked-in…

“There’s some good in this world …. and it’s worth fighting for” – Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings France Ends Mandatory Printing of Paper Receipts France ended the mandatory printing of paper receipts on Aug 1, 2023. This makes France a leader in paperless receipts 🙂 This considerably will reduce the amount…

Heroes and Villains: A Senior T-Shirt Theme Every year at my high school, the student council hosts some kind of senior celebration. This year, along with a breakfast in the parking lot, we chose to draw all over our uniform polo shirts and have our classmates sign the shirts all day, on the last day…

A Man Called Otto “Fall in love with the grumpiest man in the world,” says the poster for A Man Called Otto. And as unbelievably presumptuous as that tagline is, it’s somewhat true. A Man Called Otto is a beautiful story, a story about life, a heartwarming promise that the sun will come out tomorrow.…

Red Notice: You Will Probably Guess What Comes Next A red notice, for the uninitiated or unaware, is “a request to law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a person pending legal action,” as all viewers are made aware at the very beginning of Red Notice, a thriller-mystery-adventure movie released recently on Netflix. That…

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio It’s yet another version of that classic folk tale: the old carpenter makes a wooden puppet, enchanted by a blue fairy to come to life and to grow a longer nose upon telling any lies. What sets Guillermo del Toro’s version of the very same story apart is the charm, wit,…

Heart of Darkness: A Slow Walk through Humanity’s Ethos Review by Jaanu “Heart of Darkness?!” I ejaculated, dropping my head to my desk. “I just don’t want to read a sad book… It isn’t sad, is it?” My English teacher paused reflectively. “I mean… it isn’t called Heart of Joy for a reason…?” Joseph Conrad’s…

Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment: A Weighty Problem By Jaanu I must admit I was quite intimidated to read Crime and Punishment. I don’t enjoy a punishing book. It’s children’s literature and mysteries that appeal to me – heartwarming, moral stories, instilling hope and delight. The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings books, Calvin and Hobbes,…

The Things They Carried By Jaanu I tried to make a claim about the theme of a particularly powerful chapter in The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. I truly loved this book. I think it might be one of my favorite books ever. It is a deeply moving, entertaining, powerful read and I highly…