Archive

By: Paco Campbell Published: Thursday, December 18th, 2025 There’s a scene in THX-1138 that barely registers as dramatic when you first see it. A man sits alone in a confessional booth. He speaks into the dark. On the other side of the screen is OMM 0000 — a soft-voiced, bearded,

By: Paco Campbell Published: Friday, December 12th, 2025 There’s a shot in The Santa Clause — the first one, the only one that actually mattered — where Tim Allen’s character arrives at the North Pole for the first time. The whole place glows like someone built Christmas out of warm

By: Paco Campbell Published: Monday, December 8th, 2025 If you’ve ever worked in tech long enough to survive multiple re-orgs, shifting OKRs, vanishing roadmaps, or that one VP who insists “this quarter is foundational,” then the Warner Bros. saga should feel spiritually familiar. This week’s headline — Netflix buying

By: Paco Campbell Published: Tuesday, December 2nd, 2025 The first time I saw Idiocracy, I laughed at the scene with the half-built highway — those giant concrete columns arcing into the sky like the ribs of a dead colossus. A perfect visual gag: civilization had stalled mid-sentence. A society too confused

By: Paco Campbell Published: Saturday, November 29th, 2025 There’s a moment in Office Space when Bill Lumbergh wanders into a cubicle with his coffee mug and his condescending little half-smile — and you can just feel the productivity leaving the building. No malware. No ransomware. Just a man whose personality

By: Paco Campbell Published: Monday, November 17th, 2025 I didn’t write last week. This newsletter is still new enough that skipping a week feels like I owe someone an explanation. So here it is: I needed time. Not because something dramatic happened — I just wanted to sit with what

By: Paco Campbell Published: Monday, November 3rd, 2025 Halloween in downtown Austin. The kind of night when the air hums with energy before you even step inside. Fog machines spilling into the street. Music leaking from doorways. Every few feet, a different universe of fabric and color. At Rain, the

By: Paco Campbell Published: Friday, October 31st, 2025 Last week, reports surfaced that foreign hackers breached a U.S. nuclear weapons facility by exploiting vulnerabilities in Microsoft SharePoint. The details are still unfolding, but the image is seared in my mind: a critical system — part of the country’s nuclear

By: Paco Campbell Published: Tuesday, October 28th, 2025 ⚠️ Before You Read This piece touches on loneliness, mental health, and suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling, please reach out — you don’t have to go through it alone. * United States or Canada — Call or text 988. * Worldwide — Visit

By: Paco Campbell Published: Friday, October 24th, 2025 It’s been forty years since Back to the Future hit theaters. I didn’t rewatch it this week — I didn’t have to. The movie’s baked in by now: the DeLorean doors, the lightning strike, the hoverboard I begged Santa

By: Paco Campbell Published: Monday, October 20th, 2025 There are movies that age beautifully — like fine wine, practical effects, or Jeff Goldblum. And then there are movies that age accurately — Jurassic Park manages to do both. That first reveal still gives me chills. Dr. Grant stands up in the Jeep,