Some Personal News on This Saturday

Thanks for joining me on this Saturday, friends.

I’m not sure how to say this so I’m just going to say it: I have breast cancer. It is very early. It is non-invasive. It’s ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS — cancer of the milk ducts, sometimes called stage zero breast cancer.

I feel totally fine. I’m going be OK. I am not worried about this — I mean, it’s worrisome in the abstract unknown of it all. I’ve never had cancer before. But as my doctor put it when she called to share my biopsy results, this is the best bad news.

I wanted to tell you this for a couple of reasons, one of which is to give you a heads-up that things might get a little spotty around here. I pride myself — and we pride ourselves at our YouTube channel — on being really consistent and showing up for you every Tuesday and Friday with film reviews and weekly news livestreams. And I will strive to maintain that as best I can. I don't know what this is going to look like. But I’d miss my honey Alonso if we didn’t get together to talk about movies and recap TV shows on our Patreon, so we’ll figure out a way to make it work.

Also, I wanted to tell you this because I discovered something was wrong through a mammogram. We found this super early and we’re going to take care of it before it can spread. So if you take away anything from this news, I hope you schedule your yearly mammogram if you’re a woman over 40, or you encourage the women in your life to get their annual exam. As we get older, it is so important that we’re vigilant about our health and look out for each other.

When I had my yearly exam in February, they found a few suspicious calcification clusters in my right breast. They brought me back soon afterward for a second mammogram, and while I was there, they brought me in for an ultrasound. Then they brought me into a little room with a table and two chairs and a box of Kleenex and tinkly spa music and told me I needed a biopsy. I had that biopsy last week and just got my results back on Monday.

And because I am me, with every new person I’ve told, I think of this instantly meme-worthy line from Tommy Wiseau’s cult classic “The Room.”

As for next steps, I’m going to have a lumpectomy and radiation in the next month or so. Because there’s no great rush, I’ll be able to go skiing at Whistler with Chris and Nic over spring break — my first time back since tearing my ACL and MCL in Mammoth last April. (It’s been a busy year on the right side of my body.) I won’t be able to drive for a little bit afterward, or lift heavy things, or run for a month. But I can stroll. So if you’re local and feel like strolling, let me know.

Chris and Nic have been amazing. My friends, some of whom are cancer survivors themselves and are generous enough to share their wisdom and experience, have been amazing. I realize I have it easier than a lot of folks, and I’m grateful.

If you have any questions for me, I’m happy to answer them. And if you or someone you know have had DCIS, I’d love to hear your stories if you don’t mind sharing them. Thanks so much for listening, and I’ll keep you updated here as things progress.

In case you came here looking for film reviews and you made it down this far, I do have a few for you:

• SNOW WHITE. Rachel Zegler is the O.G. Disney princess. People who haven’t even seen this movie hate it for a variety of stupid reasons.

• MAGAZINE DREAMS. Jonathan Majors’ bodybuilding movie is finally seeing the light of day.

• EEPHUS. I geeked out hard on this shaggy New England baseball movie.

• THE ALTO KNIGHTS. Two Robert De Niros aren’t necessarily better than one.

I also appeared on FilmWeek on LAist alongside the always entertaining Tim Cogshell, where we talked about these movies and many more.

Over at Ebert, I reviewed “The Assessment,” a sci-fi drama set in a near future where a climate disaster has led to population control. Aspiring parents Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel must agree to have a government assessor live with them for a week to observe their every move. Alicia Vikander keeps them on their toes with her questions and requests, driving a wedge between husband and wife in ways that are darkly funny and legitimately tense. I loved the production design and pops of color. In theaters now.

Thank you so much for sticking with me through this weekend’s unusual newsletter. I promise not to be a total downer and talk about cancer non-stop, but I would like to update you as I go through my surgery and recovery. If this has been helpful to you and you’d like to pass it along, I’d be honored. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here next Saturday.