Blog
These stories have been around a long time. Some of them I have updated. Many of them I haven’t. This started out when blogs were like, new!
Second Report On “Jane the Virgin”
http://gty.im/455776736 The CW series Jane the Virgin keeps going strong. Jane is a pretty complex character (some of the others need more complexity, and they may get it) played by an actress, Gina Rodriguez, who keeps proving just how able she is. To no one's...
Neal Hutto – Riverside Drive
My good friend Neal Hutto passed away around this time of year back in 2010, My thoughts often go back to memories that we shared hanging out… Talking about music and the state of the universe and all that… He used to MC the open mic nights at the Eclipse club back in...
“It Is A Fearful Thing . . .”: On O’Connor’s “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”
There is a lot of acquisitiveness in the Flannery O'Connor short story, "The Life You Save May Be Your Own": Old woman Crater longs to acquire a husband for her simpleminded daughter, Mr. Shiftlet aims to acquire the old woman's car without paying for it. Mrs....
The No-Nonsense “John Wick”
Russian criminals in America beat the excrement out of John Wick, a former hit man, kill his beagle puppy, and steal his car. But Wick is formidable; he arms himself (after all these years) and goes out to settle the score. To me, an action movie nowadays needs to be...
Imbibing “Tea and Sympathy”, The 1956 Movie
Tom is a college boy who is not very virile, and because of the ridicule and suspicion he elicits, the college headmaster's wife, Laura, is kind and helpful to him. Laura herself could use some kindness, though, since she is married to a man who, though manly,...
Wastrels In The Western: “Dirty Little Billy”
The 1972 film Dirty Little Billy tries to be honest about the Old West and about life. Here, Billy the Kid (Michael J. Pollard) is mistreated by certain people, such as his tyrannical stepfather, before he ever becomes a violent ne'er-do-well. Several wastrels,...
Mr. Schaeffer Vs. Ms. Palin
I picked up a nonfiction book from 2011 called Sex, Mom & God by Frank Schaeffer, a liberal Christian or . . . something; I don't know what he is. Compelled to comment on Sarah Palin's role as defender of traditional values such as marriage and the family,...
The Charismatic Rita Hayworth In “The Loves of Carmen”
Capriciousness can become cruelty. It does with Carmen in Charles Vidor's The Loves of Carmen (1948) based, like the opera, on the Prosper Merimee story. The gypsies in the film, of whom beautiful Carmen is one, are truly thieves. Carmen's Spanish lover, who finds...
Another Friendly Response To TV’s “Jane the Virgin”
The second episode of Jane the Virgin (on Monday, Oct. 20) was as well-written as the first. This CW series is the new Desperate Housewives---i.e. the new plebeian, seriocomic soap---but so far it's better than Housewives. It's livelier and more amusing and, well,...
