Greetings from our new home! Aaron retired in summer 2025, so we got to choose a new location -- which is Iowa City.
If, like us, you are finding that these times try your soul, we hope that the following list of things we wanted to share from last year will lighten your load and expand your capacity for action. Let us know what cultural events we should seek out (and what actions to take about our trying times)!
Aaron Caplan & Leah Lee Caplan
We took the southern route when moving from the City of Culver City to the City of Iowa City. It's cheaper and weirder than the northern route through Colorado and Nebraska. You can click on the pins on this map to see photos from the road. Some of the stops have multiple pins with multiple pictures, so you'll need to zoom in really close to see them all. It'll be worth it!
Go down to the crossroads; forget about Jim Crow for a few hours at the juke joint, where you might hear this song; pick up groceries you might need from the southern Chinese grocery (they're everywhere, who knew?); but stay clear of those hillbilly vampires. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Four episodes (filmed in unbroken takes) take different perspectives on the characters, whose experiences won't add up to a tidy explanation. The characters try to figure out what happened, how it began, why it happened, and what to do next. Never-ending and messy, like life. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Say Nothing (Hulu 2024)
One Battle After Another (2025)
Movies to watch before you join a revolutionary cell, or before you leave one. Say Nothing is based on the lives of two real sisters who dedicated themselves to a united Ireland during the Troubles. One Battle After Another asks how to keep the flame alive after your revolutionary cell is decimated. They're both kind of funny and kind of serious.
The US and the Holocaust (Ken Burns 2022)
The American Revolution (Ken Burns 2025)
These multi-part PBS series look at times our nation had chances to do right, and sometimes did.
Marty Supreme (2025)
A Real Pain (2024)
Shiva Baby (2021)
Marty Supreme is the movie Scorsese would make if he was in the mood for a movie about a fast-talking ping-pong player. A Real Pain takes a tour group to the old country, where it's hard to tell if the voyage helps more than it hurts. Shiva Baby shows how not to mourn after a funeral.
Hugh Grant finally ages into the perfect role. Don't worry, not all atheists are this scary.
The Beast In Me (Netflix 2025) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Black Doves (Netflix 2024)
Bodies (Netflix 2023)
Criminal: UK (Netflix 2019)
Dept. Q (Netflix 2025) HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
The Lowdown (Hulu 2025)
Task (HBO 2025)
Woman of the Dead (Netflix 2022 & 2025)
Black Bag (2025)
Conclave (2024)
Companion (2025)
Death by Lightning (Netflix 2025)
Die My Love (2025)
Emilia Perez (2024)
El Topo (1970)
It Follows (2015)
Molly's Game (2017)
Murderbot (Apple TV 2025)
Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV 2025)
The Perfect Neighbor (Netflix 2025)
Leah says: She puts the "KKK" in "Karen."
Pieces of a Woman (2020)
A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
Rebel Ridge (2024)
Years ago, Aaron told a law professor that he was considering a career move from litigation to academia, because when you write a brief, the only people who will ever read it are the judge and opposing counsel -- and perhaps academic publications would reach a wider audience. "Maybe," said the professor. "But the judge and opposing counsel are required to read your brief. Nobody will ever be required to read your articles."
The story comes to mind because this year a judge was kind enough to acknowledge in writing that Aaron had forced him to read something. See this opinion in Zaid v. Executive Office of the President (December 23, 2025), or -- since you aren't required to read the whole thing -- skip directly to this paragraph from page 35:
The government moves to dismiss this claim, arguing, first, that the Constitution’s prohibition on bills of attainder applies only to the legislative branch, not the executive branch. But as Zaid points out, other protections lodged in Article I, including the prohibitions on titles of nobility and suspending the writ of habeas corpus, are logically applied to the President as well. Professor Aaron H. Caplan’s amicus brief details the history of attainder under English law, the Framers’ loathing of such practices, and the Framers’ understanding that English and early American law did not permit the king or a state governor to impose attainder unilaterally. Based on this history, which the government does not rebut, it is hard to imagine the Framers would have prohibited legislative bills of attainder while leaving the executive branch free to attaint whomever it likes.
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| Angus is flummoxed by an oversized loaf of bread we made in our new Pullman pan. | Leah sent a box of whistles to the Raygun store in Des Moines for free distribution. | Lexi turned her back on us this year. But she's delighted to be in a home with a loving uncle and no drooling dog ... so we're happy for her. |
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| Leah pays her respects to Etta James. | Angus loves walking in Oakland Cemetery. It's dog-friendly in life and death. |
It's official! |
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| The back yard has room for lots of outdoor activities, like this bitchin' sukkah! |
Aaron couldn't leave California without seeing the Salton Sea... | ...or the East Jesus art colony. |