-
Recent Posts
- Scenes From Which There Is No Recovery
- Mapping Raoul Walsh
- György Ligeti’s “Musica Ricercata” in Eyes Wide Shut
- The Books: Six Centuries of Great Poetry: A Stunning Collection of Classic British Poems from Chaucer to Yeats: Jonathan Swift
- Brooksie Remembers
- “I have to bear witness to anything that goes on in my country.” Jafar Panahi
- Noir of the Week: The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
- Happy Birthday, Freddie Mercury
- Listen … listen … they’re calling to you.
- Among the Thugs, by Bill Buford
Recent Comments
- Donald G. Carder on Among the Thugs, by Bill Buford
- Doina Manea on György Ligeti’s “Musica Ricercata” in Eyes Wide Shut
- Bud on Scenes From Which There Is No Recovery
- sheila on Brooksie Remembers
- The Siren on Brooksie Remembers
- Phil P on Mapping Raoul Walsh
- alli on Brooksie Remembers
- sheila on Mapping Raoul Walsh
- sheila on György Ligeti’s “Musica Ricercata” in Eyes Wide Shut
- sheila on Mapping Raoul Walsh
- Phil P on Mapping Raoul Walsh
- sheila on Among the Thugs, by Bill Buford
- Paul Gunn on Among the Thugs, by Bill Buford
- Bruce Reid on György Ligeti’s “Musica Ricercata” in Eyes Wide Shut
- sheila on Scenes From Which There Is No Recovery
- george on Scenes From Which There Is No Recovery
- sheila on The Books: Six Centuries of Great Poetry: A Stunning Collection of Classic British Poems from Chaucer to Yeats: Jonathan Swift
- george on The Books: Six Centuries of Great Poetry: A Stunning Collection of Classic British Poems from Chaucer to Yeats: Jonathan Swift
- sheila on Among the Thugs, by Bill Buford
- sheila on Among the Thugs, by Bill Buford
My Tumblr
My Formspring
Archives
Categories
-
-
Twitter Updates
- www.flickr.com
red2irish's Street scenes photoset
Essays on actors
"Me jujitsu too!" Cary Grant in The Awful Truth
20 surprising female performances, 1
20 surprising female performances, 2
In praise of Bruce McGill
Johnny Depp's context
Interpreting Lady Macbeth
Claude Rains' "energy"
On Jeff Bridges
20 favorite actors
Johnny Depp as John Dillinger
Mickey Rourke's gestures in Barfly
20 favorite actresses
Brad Davis in Midnight Express
Ease: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
Bruce Davison in Short Cuts
Shelley Winters
Gene Wilder
Lana Turner
Kathleen Turner
Maureen O'Hara
Steve Martin's stand-up memoir
Shirley MacLaine and Meryl Streep
Vivien Leigh
Mickey Rourke's genius
Goldie Hawn
Sanaa Lathan
Ben Gazzarra
James Dean
Ellen Burstyn
Defending Marlon Brando
Carroll Baker
Lauren Bacall
Gena Rowlands staring you down
Robert Walker in Strangers On a Train
The last scene of Notorious
John Wayne in The Cowboys
Burt Young in Rocky
James D'Arcy in Master & Commander
3 similar stories
In praise of Montgomery Clift
Close-up: Bud White in LA Confidential
Jodie Foster
3 stories about Errol Flynn
Dean Stockwell in Blue Velvet
Charles Lane in Sybil
The detail in Dean Stockwell's work
Cary Grant's "Method" performance
Richard Gere's walk
Future Oscar winners: Women
Future Oscar winners: Men
Humphrey Bogart in Petrified Forest
Jeremy Renner in Neo Ned
Tess Harper in Tender Mercies
Great mad women in cinema
Mickey Rourke in Animal Factory
Dean Stockwell in The Player
Bogart in Caine MutinyMovies
The American (2010)
Shirin (2008)
Studs Lonigan (1960)
Little Shop of Horrors (1960)
Angel Baby (1995)
The Wild Ride (1960)
Cry Baby Killer (1958)
Too Soon To Love (1960)
Black Tape (2002)
The Terror (1963)
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Cat People (1942)
Daughters of the Sun (2000)
A Thousand Women Like Me (2000)
Red Cliff (2008)
The Big Combo (1955)
Crimson Gold (2003)
Don't Bother to Knock (1952
Shanghai Gesture (1941)
No One Knows About Persian Cats (2009)
Metropolis (1927)
Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
Heroes For Sale (1933)
Murder By Numbers (2002)
In the Mood for Love (2000)
Mother (2009)
Love Crazy (1941)
Love Before Breakfast (1936)
Mulholland Drive "persona swap"
Three Kings (1999)
Stalker (1979)
The Ghost Writer (2010)
Across the Universe (2007)
Dahmer (2002)
About a Boy (2002)
Johnny Guitar: Texting a review
Memories of Murder (2003)
Nothing Sacred (1937)
Yi Yi (2000)
Don't Deliver Us From Evil (1971)
Observe and Report (2009)
Where the Wild Things Are (2009)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Days of Heaven (1978)
Birth Of a Nation (1915)
What Happened Was... (1994)
Berserk! (1967)
Tyson (2008)
Merrily We Go To Hell (1932)
The Cheat (1931)
Torch Singer (1933)
A Prayer For the Dying (1987)
Only Angels Have Wings: A perfect scene
Siavash (1998)
The look of Rumble Fish
The relationship in 9 1/2 Weeks
Favorite movies A to Z
Atmosphere in Angel Heart
Art direction in Angel Heart
Johnny Handsome (1989)
The Girl In the Sneakers (1999)
Atmosphere in To Have and Have Not
Andrei Rublev (1966)
Ecstasy (1933)
Waking the Dead (2000)
The Great Debaters (2007)
Half Moon (2006)
A Woman's Face (1941)
Hemlock (2000)
The Day I Became a Woman (2000)
Baby Face (1933)
A masterpiece scene in Witness
The Circle (2000)
Taste of Cherry (1997)
Deserted Station (2002)
The opening of Only Angels Have Wings
The Rapture (1991)
Leila (1996)
Compulsion (1959)
Offside (2006)
The Cool School (2008)
The Clock (1945)
Kwik Stop (2001)
Love and Basketball (2000)
I Am Legend (2007)
Dunwich Horror (1970)
Penny Serenade (1941)
Don't Look Now (1973)
Persona (1966)
Sudden Fear (1952)
La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (1928)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
Eye of God (1997)
Mr. Lucky (1943)
Truly, Madly, Deeply (1990)
Something's Gotta Give (2003)
Joe Vs. the Volcano (1990)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
Four Daughters (1938)
Rotterdam @ BAM reviews
2007 Tribeca Film Festival
Interviews
Other writings
The Movie Experience I Can't Forget
"Talk About the Movie": A Bug's Life and Up
Fully Realized: On Natasha Richardson in Cabaret
Gone Away, Come Back: Mickey Rourke
Indelible Ink: Paul Newman
William Holden: To Live Like a Human Being
Battlefield Bliss: Mongol
5 for the Day: Jeff Bridges
Something's Wrong: The Favor
5 for the Day: Cary Grant
You, the Jury: Joan Crawford, Otto Preminger, and Daisy Kenyon
5 for the Day: Dean Stockwell
Appreciation: Dean Stockwell in Blue Velvet
5 for the Day: Kate Hepburn
5 for the Day: Life-Changing CriticismNoir of the Week reviews
Writers I love
John Banville
Evelyn Waugh
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Katherine Dunn
Oscar Wilde
Rebecca West
Robert Conquest
Elinor Lipman
Tennessee Williams
James Joyce
W.B. Yeats
Annie Proulx
F. Scott Fitzgerald
W.H. Auden
Margaret Atwood
Lorrie Moore
Truman Capote
George Eliot
Jeanette Winterson
A.S. Byatt
J.D. Salinger
Michael Chabon
Max Shulman
Norman Rush
Patrick O'Brian
John McGahern
Cormac McCarthy
L.M. Montgomery
Herman Melville
Nancy Lemann
Stephen King
Joseph Heller
My Bookshelves
Tag Archives: Abigail Adams
Today in history: September 5, 1774
On September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress convened at Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia. It was a very stressful and dangerous time, and there was very little agreement among the colonies about what should be done. The Port Bill (closing … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers, On This Day
Tagged Abigail Adams, George Washington, John Adams, Martha Washington
5 Comments
Abigail Adams, as we all know:
– kept the farm running for decades on end while John was away – broke with Thomas Jefferson after a series of unfortunate events – couldn’t spell worth a lick – was a strict mother, especially to John Quincy – … Continue reading
Abigail Adams on her blackberry
Last night at around 7 p.m., Kerry and I were emailing back and forth. It was fast and furious and had to do with men and getting ahead of ourselves and various heartcracks and how we should do whatever Mike … Continue reading
February 13, three letters, one year apart:
On Board the Frigate Boston 5 O Clock in the Afternoon Feb. 13, 1778 Dearest of Friends I am favored with an unexpected Opportunity, by Mr. Woodward the later Man who once lived at Mr. Belchers, and who promises in … Continue reading
Happy Birthday to Sharon’s Dead Boyfriend, George Washington
… who was born on this day in 1732. Thomas Jefferson on George Washington: The moderation and virtue of a single character probably prevented this Revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers, On This Day
Tagged Abigail Adams, Founding Brothers, George Washington, Gouverneur Morris, Martha Washington, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson
Comments Off
Today In History: Dec. 16, 1773
On November 28, 1773, the Dartmouth sailed into port in Boston. It was full of tea. There had already been trouble in Philadelphia when the tea ship had tried to unload its cargo. A ship had been blown away from … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers, On This Day
Tagged Abigail Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Boston Tea Party, John Adams, Samuel Adams
Leave a comment
June 18, 1775
Letter from Abigail Adams to John Adams: Dearest Friend The Day; perhaps the decisive Day is come on which the fate of America depends. My bursting Heart must find vent at my pen. I have just heard that our dear … Continue reading
“Miss Adorable …”
Here is the NY Times review of My Dearest Friend, the newest edition of the correspondence of John and Abigail Adams. It’s nice to see that this edition goes further out in time, whereas earlier editions stop when the family … Continue reading
Saltpeter. Pins.
I’m freaking out! Completely freaking out. A new edition of the letters of John and Abigail? With more material? And “several letters never before published”? Foreword by Joseph Ellis? Are you kidding me? I had no idea. So psyched!! One … Continue reading
Happy Birthday To Our Second President
.. the often underappreciated (although never by the O’Malley family) John Adams. Poor man. No matter WHO came after George Washington would suffer by comparison. John Adams spent the rest of his life trying to reclaim some legacy for himself … Continue reading
The Books: “The Book of Abigail and John”
US history shelf: Next book in my American history section is the massive The Book of Abigail and John: Selected Letters of the Adams Family: 1762-1784. My grandmother (dad’s mother) used to say that my grandfather was cheating on her. … Continue reading
The Books: “The Adams-Jefferson Letters”
And here is my next excerpt of the day. US history shelf. Next book in my American history section is the massive The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. The correspondence between those … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Founding Fathers
Tagged Abigail Adams, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, US history
4 Comments
Happy Birthday, George Washington!
Some quotes: – PATRICK HENRY, on his return home from the first Continental Congress in 1774 was asked whom he thought was the foremost man in the group: “Colonel Washington is unquestionably the greatest man on that floor.” – GEORGE … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers, On This Day
Tagged Abigail Adams, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Martha Washington, Patrick Henry
Comments Off
Presidents: “a little rebellion now and then”
THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to Abigail Adams, 1787, who had written to him, concerned about mob violence in Massachusetts. He responded (and this sentiment that he expresses here is one of the reasons Abigail backed off from her correspondence and friendship … Continue reading
Presidents: “his character”
ABIGAIL ADAMS, on George Washington (lifting a quote from Shakespeare): “Take his character all together, and we shall not look upon his like again.”
Presidents: “a Lady infinitely dearer to me”
John to Abigail, Saturday morning, Aug. 1763 – this is from their courtship period (he referred to her as “Diana” in their letters, she addressed him as “Lysander”) – I love this letter, it’s so erotic: I lay, in the … Continue reading
Presidents: “How unpardonable”
Abigail Adams – wife of a President, and mother of a President, wrote the following letter to John Quincy Adams, during his first semester at Harvard: If you are conscious to yourself that you possess more knowledge upon some subject … Continue reading
Presidents: “a Labyrinth of perplexities”
Abigail Adams to John Adams November 27 1775: I wish I knew what mighty things were fabricating. If a form of Government is to established here what one will be assumed? Will it be left to our assemblies to chuse … Continue reading
Today in history: October 25, 1764
John Adams married Abigail Smith. They were married for 54 years. They were partners for 54 years. They moved from colonial Boston, spend most of the American Revolution apart (but they wrote letters – oh MAN did they write letters), … Continue reading