10 August 2026
Watched John Smith's The Girl Chewing Gum (1976) this morning, and later my mom sent our family group chat three home movies from 1996. The first was a clip of my dad spraying a hose in the backyard of our second house. Our dog at the time—Spanky, a Border Collie—chasing the stream. Dad standing in a shadow at the edge of the yard, Spanky zigging and zagging around in the flat, pale yellow LA summer light. The camera briefly pans to my mom, who is holding a newborn Grey (then Zach) on her hip. The video is mostly ambient sound, but at the end a voice mutters something unintelligible from behind the camera. The voice doesn't belong to anyone in our family, but was (and still is) a friend.