Ned Gallagher:
What I’m Up To
Thanksgiving 2025
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”
- Cicero
Country #101
I was on the island of St. Lucia much of the last week. This happens to be the 101st country in which I’ve spent time. There’s much to be said about the restorative virtues of lush green hills and beautiful Caribbean beaches. I used the time to relax, read quite a bit, and catch up on some films and shows. I also attended a couple of classes remotely: one on The Odyssey and the other on the works of W.B. Yeats.
Spatial Computing
A few weeks ago I treated myself to buying the newly updated Apple Vision Pro, with its updated M5 chip architecture and its more comfortable headstrap arrangement. This was entirely a luxury purchase, not a need. The primary appeal for me is the device’s cinematic features. The immersive videos are simply amazing; I watched Bono: Stories of Surrender (Immersive), which was recorded in 8K resolution with a 180-degree field of vision and spatial audio, and it was positively eye-popping, eliminating any sense of space between the viewer and the screen, the observer and the performer. A documentary set aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Nimitz was similarly thrilling. So was a short scripted film, Submerged, made specifically for the platform. I’ve also rewatched some familiar film favorites streamed on Disney+ (mostly of the MCU and Star Wars variety) in 3-D mode; it’s been like watching these flicks for the first time, without the uncomfortable glasses and dim lighting I associate with 3-D presentations in a movie theater. Even “regular” programming over streaming platforms looks amazing; I watched Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz competing in the ATP Finals on Tennis Channel and my virtual screen was the size of a wall, with an incredibly sharp and bright picture.
I also have tried using the Apple Vision Pro with my desktop and laptop Macs, essentially creating the equivalent of a huge ultrawide monitor to display a bunch of different apps simultaneously with massive screen real estate at my disposal; the integration is seamless. There are lots more cool things the device can do, including persistent widgets, adding a spatial dimension to the photos already in my library, and video conferencing over FaceTime or Zoom with a “persona”—a (kinda) realistic looking avatar of myself. And I feel like so far I only have scratched the surface of the features on the Apple Vision Pro. Adventures in Distance Learning
In addition to my duties at school, I’ve been keeping unusually busy on the lifelong learning front in the last third of 2025. I have been attending a series of webinars on Thomas Jefferson offered by Teaching American History and also examining Japan’s transition from war to peace on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II through three distinct modules run by the National Council for Teaching About Asia. In the last couple weeks I started a mini-course on the poetry of William Butler Yeats through the Brooklyn Insitutute for Social Research as well as a 10-week course on The Odyssey. Next week I embark on another mini-course, this one on Albert Camus and the myth of Sisyphus. Throughout the fall and into early December I have kept up with my regular Wednesday night Modernism tutorial/seminar combination at UChicago, as well with a trio of classes at Stanford on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
What I’m Reading
Working On Now:
- Marilynn Robinson, Reading Genesis
- Dan Jones, Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages
Recently Finished:
- Dan Brown, The Secret of Secrets
- Björn Borg, Heartbeats: A Memoir
- Mark Waid & Chris Samnee, Batman and Robin: Year One
On Deck:
- James Joyce, Ulysses
- Ron Chernow, Mark Twain
For Courses I’m Taking This Winter:
- W.B. Yeats, Yeats’s Poetry, Drama, and Prose
- Homer, The Odyssey
- Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays
For Courses I’m Teaching This Winter:
- Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales
- Plato, “Crito”
- Plato, The Republic
- Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince
- Leon P. Baradat and John A. Phillips, Political Ideologies: Their Origins and Impact
What I’m Watching
Ongoing—Television:
- Pluribus (Apple TV)
- Blossoms Shanghai (Criterion Channel)
- The American Revolution (PBS Passport)
- The Beatles Anthology (Disney+)
- The Chair Company (HBO Max)
- Down Cemetery Road (Apple TV)
- Talamasca: The Secret Order (AMC+)
- Stranger Things, season 5 (Netflix)
- Star Wars: Visions, season 3 (Disney+)
Recently Finished—Television:
- Death by Lightning (Netflix)
- Chad Powers (Hulu)
- Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 12 (HBO Max)
- English Teacher, season 2 (Hulu)
- coverage of ATP Finals tennis tournament (Tennis Channel and Tennis TV)
- Sneaker Wars: Adidas v. Puma (Hulu)
On Deck—Television:
- Maigret (PBS Passport)
- Percy Jackson and the Olympians, season 2 (Prime Video)
- Lynley, BritBox
- The Lowdown (Hulu)
Recently Finished—Films:
- Ford v Ferrari (d. James Mangold, 2019), streamed on Disney+
- The Family Plan 2 (d. Simon Cellan Jones, 2025), streamed on Apple TV
- The Family Plan (d. Simon Cellan Jones, 2023), streamed on Apple TV
- Stiller and Mara: Nothing Is Lost (d. Ben Stiller, 2025), streamed on Apple TV
- Frankenstein (d. Guillermo del Toro, 2025), streamed on Netflix
- The Great Gatsby (d. Jack Clayton, 1974), streamed on Pluto
- The Running Man (d. Edgar Wright, 2025), cinema
- A Man Escaped (d. Robert Bresson, 1956), streamed on Criterion Channel
- Bono: Stories of Surrender (Immersive) (d. Andrew Dominik and Elad Offer, 2025), streamed on Apple TV in Apple Vision Pro
- Edge of Darkness (d. Lewis Milestone, 1943), streamed on iTunes
- The Legend of Kingdom Come (d. Remsy Atassi, 2025), Blu-ray
- The Man from Earth (d. Richard Schenkman, 2007), streamed on Prime Video
- Meet John Doe (d. Frank Capra, 1941), streamed on Prime Video
- Bugonia (d. Yorgos Lanthimos, 2025), cinema
- Black Phone 2 (d. Scott Derrickson, 2025), cinema
- None Shall Escape (d. André de Toth, 1944), streamed on Internet Archive
- The Mortal Storm (d. Frank Borzage, 1940), DVD
- Regretting You (d. Josh Boone, 2025), cinema
- A Separation (d. Asghar Farhadi, 2011), streamed on iTunes
- The Great Dictator (d. Charlie Chaplin, 1940), streamed on Criterion Channel
- To Be or Not To Be (d. Ernst Lubitsch, 1942), streamed on HBO Max
- The Black Phone (d. Scott Derrickson, 2021), streamed on Netflix
- All Through The Night (d. Vincent Sherman, 1942), streamed on iTunes
- One Battle After Another (d. Paul Thomas Anderson, 2025), cinema
- Live Aid at 40: When Rock ’n’ Roll Took on the World (d. Thomas Pollard, 2025), streamed on HBO Max
- Spinal Tap II: The End Continues (d. Rob Reiner, 2025), cinema
What I’m Listening To
Music:
- The Beatles, Anthology 4
- The Who, Who Are You [Super Deluxe Edition]
- Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska ’82 [Expanded Edition]
- Sarah McLachlan, Better Broken
- Elton John, Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy [50th Anniversary Edition]
Podcasts:
- Going Rogue
- Empire
What I’ve Been Attending
- National Consortium for Teaching about Asia seminar: “Japan 1945,” online, September–November
- Teaching American History webinar: ”Jefferson: the Atheist?,” online, November
- Graham School Movie Night: A Separation, online, October
- Born With Teeth (RSC production), West End, London, October
- Troilus and Cressida, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London, October
- University of Chicago Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression, “The Legacy of Free Speech in America,” online, October
- Teaching American History webinar: ”Jefferson: the Enslaver,” online, October
- University of Chicago Graham School webinar: “Enduring Excellence: A Conversation with Arthur Brooks,” online, September
- Teaching American History webinar: ”Jefferson: the Reformer,” online, September
Where I’m Traveling
Recent Trips:
Upcoming Trips:
What I’m Learning
What I’m Looking Forward To