To regular readers, this one’s for you.

First, I humbly appreciate your readership, and I’m grateful that this eight and a half-year old column receives an average of around or above 300 visits a day now. So, I just wanted to let regular readers and subscribers know that I haven’t fallen into a Mustafar lava pit, but I’ve been very preoccupied with lots of ‘life stuff’ going on right now.

To begin with, I had painful knee issues which had me knocked me out of action recently. Fortunately, my knee’s been temporarily aided by a cortisone shot. My wife is currently on a trip to London. I had my terrific godson over for a few days (he and I had a few movie nights, of course). I’ve got a friend’s daughter’s wedding to attend this weekend, and a few other things. I even took a plunge off a tall water slide the other day at a local water park; I felt like Wilford Brimley in “Cocoon.”

Anyway, my whirlwind of real life goings-on have temporarily kept me away from the computer for a bit, but I promise more Musings are on their way; including a 35th anniversary deep dive into 1990’s “Total Recall,” which will include a look at the Philip K Dick novella “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale,” as well as the po-faced 2012 remake. Much like the movie’s Doug Quaid (or the book’s Douglas Quail), I’m on a bit of a ‘virtual vacation’ right now, too.

I will also make an increasingly infrequent trip to the movies for James Gunn’s reboot of “Superman.” Admittedly spoiled with my home digital projector, I don’t go the movies very much these days; but epics such as “Superman” or Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” are worth the occasional rare trip to the multiplex.

San Diego Comic Con 2025 is coming July 24th, and my wife and I will be there for that too, of course. I realize that getting into San Diego Comic Con can be more difficult than recovering the lost Ark of the Covenant, so I’ll do my best to convey the experience for all those readers who are unable to attend due to geography and/or economics.

I’m also planning columns on a few relatively obscure sci-fi flicks which is perhaps my greatest joy–uncovering those forgotten gems. Those wonderfully weird little movies like “The UFO Incident” (1975), “The Questor Tapes” (1974) and “Queen of Blood” (1966) are always a joy to revisit.

“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” beams back next month too, though I admit the less-than-stellar trailers give me genuinely mixed feelings, to put it mildly.

So, I thank you for your patience, and I wish all of you a belated happy Summer Solstice, as well as a belated but joyful Juneteenth, and a long-overdue Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. Hey… it’s the thought that counts right?

Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.