Weeknotes: December 1–5, 2025
Monday, December 1
I don't remember thinking of Gremlins as a Christmas movie. Rewatching it now, the first thing I notice is that it was obviously filmed in California, and that the small town of Kingston Falls looks a lot like another fictional '80s town. Apparently, Back To the Future was also filmed on Universal's Courthouse Square backlot. Kingston Falls is Hill Valley, but coated in a layer of fake snow.
As a kid, I didn't question the set design — I just wanted to see Stripe plow the grumpy WWII dude over with his own tractor. I also didn't question why Phoebe Cates stuck around at Dorry's Tavern to serve all the bad gremlins alcohol and smokes — I just laughed at them getting drunk and doing dumb human things like playing cards and singing along to Snow White. Now, though… I’m afraid Gremlins just isn't very believable.
Last Known Address (Liberty Station)
Back in Weeknotes #1, I mentioned a new song I’d written about my post office box in Ann Arbor. It’s called “Last Known Address” and will come out later this year as part of a project of the same name. As rental prices have gone up, I’ve considered abandoning my long-held, but underused mailbox. Now that I’ve sung about it and listed my address in lyric form, I guess I’ll have to keep up the rent. In that same post, I suggested that readers might “lobby for its continued existence” by sending me a hand-written letter or postcard to counterbalance the trickle of catalogs and junk mail I usually receive.