Category Archives: Eesti

Baltic Modernist Films Seen In 2021

Posted on May 30, 2021 by Thomas Mets

I’m going in a slightly different direction for the posts about films I’ve seen this year, as The Anthology Film Archives is making a collection of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian films available on Vimeo for the next week and a … Continue reading →

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Why My Mom Hates International Women’s Day

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Thomas Mets

My mom is rather upset about the celebration of International Women’s Day. She thinks the idea to celebrate Women’s Day is good, but that there’s a history behind March 8 that makes it particularly awkward for her as someone who … Continue reading →

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Films Seen In 2020 Part 1

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Thomas Mets

As I’ve done in the last two years, I’m making notes on the movies I’ve seen this year. This section covers films I saw mostly before becoming a shut-in thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic. I’m continuing the goal for the … Continue reading →

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What’s Wrong With Green Book?

Posted on February 23, 2019 by Thomas Mets

One of the most interesting aspects of the latest Oscar race has been the arguments about Green Book. There seem to be three categories. Film twitter seems largely opposed to the film. There’s the sense that the critics are split on … Continue reading →

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Movies Watched in 2018 Part 2

Posted on April 4, 2018 by Thomas Mets

I’m continuing the series of observations on films I’ve seen this year, setting a challenge of watching ten films per decade (counting the silent era from 1915-1929 as one decade) in the calendar year, and allowing for special attention to recent … Continue reading →

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Movies Watched in 2018 Part 1

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Thomas Mets

I’m trying again this year to keep track of the movies I watch with the annual goal of ten movies per decade (counting the silent era up until 1929 as one full decade. Since I might’ve overlooked films from the early … Continue reading →

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Tableaux from In The Crosswind

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Thomas Mets

For a lesson for my Social Studies class, there’s a portion where the students are to perform tableaux: a group of models or motionless figures representing a scene from a story or from history. There is a slight problem with providing … Continue reading →

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Did President Trump Say Finland and Russia Have Gotten Along For 100 Years? Nope.

Posted on August 29, 2017 by Thomas Mets

Yesterday, there was a comment on twitter on something stupid President Trump allegedly said about Russia and Finland. James Oliphant, a White House correspondent for Reuters, posted the following. Trump said Russia and Finland have gotten along for “a hundred … Continue reading →

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Why Stories Favor The Last Man Standing

Posted on July 24, 2017 by Thomas Mets

Part of the writer’s responsibility is to know how he’s portraying the world. This is complicated by the fact that there are a few things common to the storytelling that are ultimately going to result in an inaccurate version of … Continue reading →

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What Kalevipoeg Means to Me

Posted on June 17, 2017 by Thomas Mets

After my Kalevipoeg essay for an Estonian Culture class in an English language Baltic Studies program at the University of Tartu,  I was asked about what the story had meant to me. This was my response. As a wannabe writer, … Continue reading →

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