The Old Lone Ranger

Hollywood Odyssey

By Rich Marin | July 18, 2026 by Rich Marin

As everyone in the free world seems to know, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey released in theaters today. It’s an epic adaptation of Homer’s poem, shot entirely on IMAX 70mm. Christopher Nolan is a British-American writer-director known for cerebral, visually ambitious blockbusters that mix big ideas with large-scale spectacle. You either love or hate his movies. Memento was his breakout reverse-chronology thriller (which I put into the hate category). His The Dark Knight trilogy redefined the…

Memoir

Panning For Gold

By Rich Marin | July 17, 2026July 15, 2026 by Rich Marin

My daughter Carolyn has a penchant for finding unusual and fun activities when she comes out here for her summer vacation with her family. This year is no exception to that despite this being the fourth year of coming out for the month of July. But we’ve done most of the regular activities within striking distance of our hilltop already. This year she mentioned that they had never been to the town of Julian, which…

Power to the People

By Rich Marin | July 16, 2026July 15, 2026 by Rich Marin

I am doing a case with a group of lawyers located in Perth, Australia. Western Australia is an intriguing part of the world for me for some reason and I have no explanation for that. One of my old high school pals in Rome was from Perth, but it’s hard to believe that has anything to do with it. I suspect that it has more to do with the fact that the western side of…

Fiction/Humor Memoir

Cathexis

By Rich Marin | July 15, 2026July 14, 2026 by Rich Marin

Cathexis is a psychoanalytic term meaning the investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, idea, or activity. It originates, like so many words, from the Greek kathexis (which means “holding” or “occupation”). To “cathect” something is to invest psychic energy in it, to become emotionally attached to or fixated on it. The term is largely confined to psychoanalytic and academic psychology contexts today and you won’t hear it much in everyday speech,…

Fiction/Humor Memoir

Frisco Walkabout

By Rich Marin | July 14, 2026July 13, 2026 by Rich Marin

San Francisco has always enjoyed the reputation of a highly desirable city. It seems forever that I’ve heard people say they would love to live in San Francisco. If only there were the kinds of job opportunities that could keep them here. Back in the day, San Francisco was the big West Coast commercial city from which trade with Asia and the East Coast of the United States took place. We know that the state…

Love Memoir

Pilgrimage

By Rich Marin | July 13, 2026 by Rich Marin

This morning I am on a plane to San Francisco. This was not a planned trip, but rather was an anticipated trip that I knew would come sooner or later and may well not be the last of these trips in the near future. You see, I’m going to visit a long-time friend who is not well. I don’t use the term pilgrimage lightly just to refer to a casual trip to visit a friend.…

Memoir Retirement

In Praise of the Medical Profession

By Rich Marin | July 12, 2026 by Rich Marin

I’ve not always been complimentary about the medical profession. The advent of AI in our daily lives has added to that tendency. For some reason, the Google phenom with the likes of WebMD never captured my attention and certainly not my medical confidence. But that’s all changed now thanks to Claude. Claude is now my trusted advisor on all sorts of things, including medical needs. Claude sent me to the ER for stroke/TIA screening a…

Love Memoir

Doing What Matters

By Rich Marin | July 11, 2026 by Rich Marin

About a week ago my daughter Carolyn, who is the source of many of the great new innovations in my aging life (she’s the one who put me onto stretch – U, among other things), told me I needed to get an Oura Ring. An Oura Ring is a “smart” ring worn on your finger (preferably the left index finger) that tracks health and wellness data using sensors rather than a screen or buttons. It…

Memoir

The Surfliner

By Rich Marin | July 10, 2026 by Rich Marin

I’m back on a train today, which is somewhat surprising given our questionable experience with Amtrak on the California Zephyr a few months ago. The romance of train travel is a hardwired sensibility that must be embedded deep in the Amygdala, where memories with emotional weight are tagged. This is why intense or emotional experiences like train travel feel “deeper” or more vivid and are recalled more easily. A few things converge to make train…

Fiction/Humor Memoir

Helmet Hair

By Rich Marin | July 9, 2026July 8, 2026 by Rich Marin

I’m 72 years old, started riding motorcycles in Rome, Italy at the age of 14 (legal for any motorcycles up to 50 cc’s) and have been riding more or less continuously for 58 years now. Like most activities in our lives, the level of my engagement with motorcycling has ebbed a flowed a bit over the years, but mostly it has been my favorite and most engaging activity that gives me pleasure and, dare I…

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