Justin Chang, Ins Choi, Daniel Garcia, Liz Vice, Over the Rhine, and more next summer at The Glen Workshop

Whether you’re looking for a chance to network with filmmakers, film critics, television writers, or artists in any other discipline, I cannot recommend The Glen Workshop highly enough.

Yes, it’s that time of year where I volunteer — nobody pays me to say these things — to sing the praises of this 8-day summertime arts retreat — the last Sunday in July through the first Sunday in August — in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Why? The Glen Workshop has changed my life in so many ways that I cannot measure the expanse of their influence. For sixteen summers running, Anne and I have enjoyed the most memorable and important weeks of our lives together in Santa Fe, surrounded by a community of inspired and inspiring artists and art-lovers who have become a meaningful family to us across North America and beyond.

Image has just announced the lineup of special guests who will be leading workshops in August 2020, and it’s an outstanding array of imaginations and talents.

Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang — an exemplar of professionalism, clarity, and insight, and one of the very best in the business — will teach film criticism. Ins Choi, the imagination behind Kim’s Convenience, a writer whose comedy comes from wisdom, will be there teaching writing for television. Award-winning filmmaker Daniel Garcia, who I interviewed onstage at the Glen last August, will be back teaching Mobile Phone Moviemakking. I’ve enjoyed their company and conversations at tables in L.A. and Seattle and Santa Fe, and I’m jealous of any of you who sign up for their workshops.

Over the Rhine will be back — not teaching the songwriting workshop this time, but as writers-in-residence, enjoying this community that has inspired so much of their music over the last fifteen years. Liz Vice, another glorious voice, will lead us in song during worship hours. Author Brian Volck, who is as much a mentor as a friend to me, will lead a seminar on “Science, Poetry, and the Imagination.”

And I’m just scratching the surface of the list of names and opportunities awaiting you at this, the most rewarding arts retreat I’ve ever enjoyed. Every year I encourage my friends to sign up and discover it. One by one, they’ve been showing up. One by one, they’ve been saying, “Why didn’t I do this earlier? Yes, it’s an investment… but the reward is so much greater than the cost.” Literature, music, cinema, friendship, Santa Fe cuisine, Santa Fe art museums, the glory of high-plains New Mexico weather in August… and so much more.

Sign up… before it fills up!

The Criterion Collection: 50% off at Barnes & Noble

Caution: Barnes and Noble’s 50% Off Criterion Collection sale is on.

It’s either a chance to increase the quantity and quality of your home video library, or it’s a chance to demonstrate a Herculean feat of restraint and self-control.

I’m picking up the new blu-ray of Do the Right ThingBut what I’m really waiting for is the release of Wim Wenders’ Until the End of the World, the entirety of which has never been released on home video in America. Hopefully, it will be included in the sale before time runs out.

Scorsese at the Cinerama

I Heard That You Paint Houses is going to open on the biggest, most beautiful screen in Seattle: the Cinerama.

Get your tickets here.

What, you think I’ve got the title wrong?

In case you missed it…

I’ve seen Joker and I’m working on a review. I was impressed by some aspects of it, but I also watched this Saturday Night Live parody and found myself nodding and saying, “Yeah, you know — it’s just too easy to tell this story in a way that announces its own Importance.”