Ned Gallagher in Havana.

Ned Gallagher:
What I’m Up To

 

Hello 2025!

“. . . the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter’s wind,
Which when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold”
- William Shakespeare, As You Like It

 

The Moby-Dick Marathon

I just finished a weekend at the 29th Annual Moby-Dick Marathon at the excellent Whaling Museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts. Over the course of a bit more than 25 hours, the entirety of the Melville novel is read aloud by participants, each taking the microphone for a few minutes before passing the proverbial baton. I was lucky to win a lottery for a coveted seat in the Seamen’s Bethel (the sailors’ chapel across the street from the Museum) for the chapters containing Father Mapple’s sermon. There were also sessions with Melville scholars, a staged performance, and other activities scheduled throughout.

 

Jidaigeki [時代劇]

Toshiro Mifune as Sanjuro

Besides some welcome time for pleasure reading, my focus during the recent New Year’s week was the cinema of Akira Kurosawa, specifically his landmark samurai films such as Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, and Red Beard. The genre is called jidaigeki in Japan; this is where George Lucas picked up the term “Jedi” for his Star Wars mythology (as he is an avowed fan of Kurosawa’s work).

 

Reading Theology

This coming week I start a Philosophy & Theology spring term seminar at the Graduate Institute at St. John’s College, as well as a winter quarter University of Chicago course which is the second part of a three-term sequence on The New Testament. The focus of both programs is a close reading of the relevant texts as literature, rather than Bible study as a religious exercise. In addition to perusing a lot of scripture, I will be figuratively wrestling with the likes of Augustine and Aquinas in the weeks ahead.

 

More City Breaks

The term “city break” is more commonly used in Britain, referring to a getaway of several days spent in a city away from home. I try to schedule such mini-vacations at least a few times a year. In the closing months of 2024, I visited Montréal, Chicago, London, and Boston this way. These trips usually include some mix of cultural immersion, a bit of sight-seeing, a few decent meals, and a lot of walking. My recent weekend to London, for example, actually began with a night up in Stratford-upon-Avon, where I saw a performance of Twelfth Night at the RSC. Then I took in a matinée of All’s Well That Ends Well at the indoor Wanamaker Theatre at Shakespeare’s Globe, followed by an evening production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Barbican. (All three shows were first-rate—a better-than-usual batting average!)

 

 

What I’m Reading

Working On Now:

  • Alexei Navalny, Patriot: A Memoir
  • Percival Everett, James
  • Simon Russell Beale, A Piece of Work: Playing Shakespeare and Other Stories

Recently Finished:

  • James Cahill, Tiepolo Blue
  • Adam Gopnik, All That Happiness Is: Some Words on What Matters
  • Alex Ross, Fantastic Four: Full Circle [Expanded Edition]
  • Allen Bratton, Henry Henry

On Deck:

  • Nicholas Kristof, Chasing Hope: A Reporter’s Life
  • Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
  • Elijah Wald, Dylan Goes Electric!: Newport, Seeger, Dylan, and the Night that Split the Sixties
  • Pat Barker, The Voyage Home
  • Patrick Radden Keefe, Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels, and Crooks
  • Erik Larson, The Demon of Unrest
  • Voltaire, Candide

For Courses I’m Taking This Winter:

  • The Hebrew Bible: Genesis, Exodus, & Job
  • The New Testament: Gospels of Matthew & John
  • The New Testament: the Epistles of Paul
  • N.T. Wright, Paul: A Biography
  • Augustine, Confessions
  • Aquinas, Summa Theologica
  • Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
  • Henri Bergson, Laughter: An Essay On The Meaning Of The Comic
  • Franz Kafka, The Trial

For Courses I’m Teaching This Winter:

  • Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis
  • Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
  • Kazuo Ishiguro, Klara and the Sun

 

 

What I’m Watching

Ongoing—Television:

  • The Agency (Showtime on Paramount+)
  • Population 11 (Prime)
  • Porterhouse Blue (Tubi)
  • Toast of Tinseltown (Roku)

Recently Finished—Television:

  • The Tunnel, seasons 1–3 (PBS Passport)
  • What If . . . ?, season 3 (Disney+)
  • Big Boys, seasons 1 & 2 (Hulu)

On Deck—Television:

  • Severance, season 2 (Apple TV+)
  • The Night Agent, season 2 (Netflix)
  • Real Time with Bill Maher, season 23 (Max)
  • Mythic Quest, season 4 (Apple TV+)
  • Invincible, season 3 (Prime Video)
  • The White Lotus, season 3 (Max)

Recently Finished—Films:

  • Red Beard (d. Akira Kurosawa, 1965), DVD
  • The Hidden Fortress (d. Akira Kurosawa, 1958), Blu-ray
  • Throne of Blood (d. Akira Kurosawa, 1957), DVD
  • Last Summer [L'Été dernier] (d. Catherine Breillat, 2023), streamed on Criterion Channel
  • Sanjuro (d. Akira Kurosawa, 1962), Blu-ray
  • Yojimbo (d. Akira Kurosawa, 1961), Blu-ray
  • Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story (d. Ian Bonhôte & Peter Ettedgui, 2024), streamed on Max
  • The Fire Inside (d. Rachel Morrison, 2024), cinema
  • Incoming (d. Dave Chernin & John Chernin, 2024), streamed on Netflix
  • Carry-On (d. Jaume Collet-Serra, 2024), streamed on Netflix
  • A Complete Unknown (d. James Mangold, 2024), cinema
  • Homestead (d. Ben Smallbone, 2024), cinema
  • Babygirl (d. Halina Reijn, 2024), cinema
  • Kraven the Hunter (d. J.C. Chandor, 2024), cinema
  • Nosferatu (d. Robert Eggers, 2024), cinema
  • Juror #2 (d. Clint Eastwood, 2024), streamed on Max
  • Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim (d. Kenji Kamiyama, 2024), cinema
  • Anora (d. Sean Baker, 2024), cinema
  • Queer (d. Luca Guadagnino, 2024), cinema
  • Elton John: Never Too Late (d. R.J. Cutler and David Furnish, 2024), streamed on Disney+
  • Wicked (d. John M. Chu, 2024), cinema
  • Beatles ’64 (d. David Tedeschi, 2024), streamed on Disney+
  • Gladiator II (d. Ridley Scott, 2024), cinema
  • The Killing (d. Stanley Kubrick, 1956), streamed on Pluto

 

 

What I’m Listening To

Music:

  • Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home

Podcasts:

  • Slow Burn, season 10: “The Rise of Fox News”
  • SmartLess

 

 

What I’ve Been Attending

  • Moby-Dick Marathon 2025, New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA, January
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream, RSC production at Barbican Centre, London, December
  • All’s Well That Ends Well, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, London, December
  • Twelfth Night, Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, December
  • Festival of Lessons and Carols, Seymour St. John Chapel, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT, December
  • The Whiffenpoofs Holiday Concert, Ann & George Colony Hall, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT, December

 

 

Where I’m Traveling

Recent Trips:

  • New Bedford, MA
  • Boston
  • London

Upcoming Trips:

  • Washington, DC
  • Key West

 

 

What I’m Learning

  • a deeper dive into the literature of Franz Kafka in my spring preceptorial at SJC

 

 

What I’m Looking Forward To

  • vicariously enjoying warmth and sunshine f the southern summer while watching Australian Open tennis this month
  • my annual trip with government students to the nation’s capital in late January
  • a long weekend jaunt to the Florida Keys in early February

 

 

Thanks to Derek Sivers for his concept of the /now page.
Revised: 5 January 2025