Table and Teaser
Preview of January’s articles and December’s table of contents
Merry Christmas from Las Vegas. I’m writing this while toasting friendship, life and commercialism in this manmade desert oasis with loved ones I’ve known for over 30 years. I’ll be writing a new Las Vegas travelogue.
December’s table of contents features:
Analysis of Apple TV Plus’s documentary about Selena Gomez.
My obituary (and remembrance of meeting) footballer Franco Harris.
Review of Empire of Light, a new Sam Mendes film—perhaps his best—about finding lightness in a damaged life.
An article examining The Kominsky Method, Netflix’s show about aging.
Teaser of January’s articles
Next month, Autonomia’s articles include new reviews of a Tom Hanks movie which has yet to debut and the Ron Howard film which originates NBC’s outstanding Parenthood television series. I saw the new Tom Hanks movie, A Man Called Otto, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ (AMPAS) new Academy Museum movie theater in Los Angeles. Tom Hanks and family also attended the screening. A question and answer session with Hanks followed, which I did not attend.
The Academy’s new theater is extremely disappointing. It’s located inside the new museum, which I did not visit, and this was my first attendance of an event there. The museum and theater are located in LA’s mid-Wilshire museum row district, where a Staples used to be located. Signage, exterior lighting, traffic and architecture—a giant globe—are mixed to awful. The museum lobby, named for the late Sidney Poitier, looks like a badly decorated college dormitory. Opening an “automatic” restroom door, like most “automatic” doors, requires an exertion of enormous strength. There are no drinking fountains or water for sale. After the long walk into the globed theater, a drink of water could be a welcome refreshment. No concessions. Printed signs and materials are barely legible with tiny point sizes, which does not bode well for the target audience of those most likely to attend screenings and exhibitions. Getting there, parking and navigating this huge, bland space bereft of glamor is a grind. It’s hard to suppose how this cheap place could become popular. Hollywood, the movies and the late Sidney Poitier deserved a grand theater and museum.
New articles are in progress. I’m enthused. I think you’ll love what’s coming soon.

Autonomia, a free and independent press, will publish for a third year in 2023. Readers who haven’t yet paid can upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also give a subscription to Autonomia as a Christmas, birthday or new year’s gift. Table and Teaser is a free monthly preview of coming stories with a table of previous contents.