I hope your new year is going well so far. Are you remembering to write 2022 on all of your checks? Do you ever write checks anymore?

This week's essay concerns a family experience of great significance: The time, just a few weeks ago now, when all four Oakeses finally watched Gremlins. Axl had seen it before, but Belle had not, and—as you may know—there is reason to be cautious in showing it to a child who still believes in Santa Claus (not to mention all of the prudish moralists who haunt the comments section at Common Sense Media—if you're a parent, you know what I'm talking about).

As you may also know, Gremlins is the 1984 movie that, according to legend, is 50-percent responsible for the invention of the PG-13 rating. The other guilty party is supposed to have been the contemporaneous movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Apparently it was all a misunderstanding...

Join me for a trip down memory lane to that signal year, 1984, as we consider one of the best Christmas movies ever made: https://essaysofotto.blogspot.com/2022/01/

Cheers,

-Otto