Welcome to Cold War II

Sonoma State University just axed art history, philosophy, theater, and more—another victory for spreadsheets over soul. Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about a different kind of disappearance: the creeping sense that we’re surrounded by pod people. If Invasion of the Body Snatchers warned of communism in the ’50s and alienation in the ’70s, today’s version feels like a Cold War paranoia reboot.

Enter my latest thought experiment—Think Tinker, Tailor, Psychic, Spy. I have to wonder—what’s espionage’s next act? But First…

Encore

Recent Reflections on the War on Art

Sonoma State University just took a hacksaw to several liberal arts programs—art history, philosophy, theater and dance, and women’s and gender studies—because, apparently, the budget demanded a blood sacrifice. In this recent Bohemian commentary, I dig into how this isn’t just about bean-counting—it’s yet another sign that we now live in a world where spreadsheets win, and humanities gets the boot.

…And here’s your latest episode of the Press Pass podcast:

Pull Quote

“The Great Shrug leads one to the feeling that the worst is yet to come, or soon to come — and our elites know it. If we’re going to stand in the way of the very worst consequences, we better start thinking now about what it is we stand for and what exactly we’re doing here.” — Richard Rushfield, The Ankler

Creative Dept.

I, PSPY

The image of Veronica Cartwright approaching Donald Sutherland in the final moments of San Fran filmmaker Philip Kaufman’s adaptation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers keeps running through my mind. It’s the tentative hope in her big blue eyes that gets me. Cartwright approaches Sutherland, only to realize he’s become one of them too—a pod person.

This is how many of us feel as we try to navigate a world where it’s difficult to tell who’s been “snatched” by the creeping tendrils of Trumpism, conspiracy cults, and AI-generated realities.

Erstwhile Mill Valley author Jack Finney’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers was an allegory for creeping communism in the 1950s.

It eventually morphed into Philip Kaufman’s adaptation, warning about alienation in the 1970s. Today, the existential horror isn’t being replaced by a pod person—it’s being surrounded by them—which we are.

This experience has me mulling a plot in which espionage meets extrasensory perception. Spys aren’t just dodging bullets but reading each other’s minds, waging a psychological cold war in a world where the only way to survive is to stay unreadable. Think Tinker, Tailor, Psychic, Spy. Working title is PSPY, in which espionage gets a psychic twist.

Imagine psychic spies who aren’t just dodging bullets but also unraveling the tangled webs of each other’s minds during Cold War II. It’s Body Snatchers meets Scanners but with highbrow humor on a budget.

Speaking of spies—Amazon Studios has officially acquired James Bond, last seen under the direction of Sebastopol’s own Cary Fukunaga. With the tech giant now gripping the Walther PPK and Steven Soderbergh’s latest spy flick Black Bag, setting the stage for a genre resurgence, espionage films might be gearing up for a renaissance.

Every spy film reflects the paranoia of its time—I’m curious what these efforts portend.

Bond Measure

…Which brings me back to my own dalliance with MI6. Two decades ago, I cheekily pitched myself as the next Bond to 007 producer Barbara Broccoli (she declined). Perhaps I lacked the accent. Or the abs.

Either way, these days, I find myself less drawn to martini-drinking do-gooders and more interested in playing their shadowy counterparts. There’s more scenery to chew as a Bond villain. I could be the evil genius behind, like, a social network, an electric car company, or Amazon Prime Video… Oh, wait. Nevermind.