Yes, this. 2026 schedule is about 1 week earlier than normal, to be honest. This year in 2025 it goes from after Hungary on 8/3, resuming with Zandvoort on 8/31. Last year Spa was 7/28 and Zandvoort was 8/25. Similar for years prior.
Canada in May, Monaco in June. Sigh.
On the bright side, with school-aged kids, Spa has never really been a realistic trip for me at the end of August. But in mid-July it becomes a lot more do-able. And I was already planning a Europe trip next summer.
Bucket list might be getting one item shorter...
I once ate lunch at a table next to Al Pacino's at the Cafe Pontalba on Jackson Square in New Orleans. He was very polite to the waitstaff.
I once ate dinner at a table next to Sandra Bullock at her restaurant, Bess. She had a big table for her family and my wife and I were at a 2-top right next to it. My slightly tipsy wife tried to take a picture of her by pretending she was taking a picture of me with Sandra's table in the background. The staff came by and discreetly and politely asked her to knock it off.
I was an extra in the high school auditorium scene in Heartbreak Hotel-- an Elvis movie starring David Keith. As I recall that particular scene was set at a high school talent show in Taylor, Ohio, and they shot these scenes in Taylor, Texas. I'm in that crowd somewhere but have never seen myself. I skipped school for a couple of days as they shot it. But it was okay, I was in theater and so it counted as off-site educational instruction or something.
Ebert gave it one star and said this about it:
The sauce for the brisket enchiladas is a pretty standard red chile gravy, but I reserve the drippings from the brisket, and use that as the base fat for when i fry the sauce.
Same thing for the smoked duck enchiladas-- smoke the duck (I like pecan for fowl), save the fat, and use it for the frying step when making the sauce.
Oh, I also save just a little bit of the drippings to introduce into the oil when I lightly fry the corn tortillas before rolling, as well.