Author Archives: sheila

“You should approach Joyce’s Ulysses as the illiterate Baptist preacher approaches the Old Testament: with faith.” — William Faulkner

Happy Bloomsday to those who celebrate. I’ve been celebrating Bloomsday for 20 years, in the real world, and here on my site. If you’ve been visiting here for any length of time, you know this. There are too many posts … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday, Vilmos Zsigmond

One of the best cinematographers ever. He shot Deer Hunter, Deliverance, The Long Goodbye, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. These alone would put him in the history books. These are some of the most influential … Continue reading

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Bloomsday past and present

For my Substack, I wrote about the Bloomsday celebration I’ve been going to (more or less) for 20 years, and my history with the book, and Dad, and lovable finance bro, and meeting people where the sole bond is knowing … Continue reading

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The Plaidcast Supernatural Rewatch podcast

I had so much fun joining Bethany and Michelle on their excellent podcast, ThePlaidcast, to talk about all things Supernatural, in no particular order: daylight ghosts, the problem of Rowena, genre- and class shifts, Jensen and Jared, the later seasons, … Continue reading

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For Father’s Day:

Photo by Alfred Wertheimer, 1956 Because when you become a father, you never know how it’ll all turn out. Vernon looks like an anvil dropped on him from the sky, an anvil in the shape of his famous son. Lisa … Continue reading

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“That incident ruined my reputation for 10 years. Get one Beatle drunk and look what happens!” — Harry Nilsson

My introduction, as shallow as this may seem, was through Reservoir Dogs. “You put the lime in the coconut”, etc. My brother said to me, “It’s a stupid song, and a little bit racist, and you think it’s just a … Continue reading

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“I’m not very popular here with those inside the system, as you might guess. I never wanted to be.” — Waylon Jennings

It’s his birthday today. Like a lot of artists whose music I own (I still like to own music: will never give it up), Waylon Jennings is on almost constant rotation. He’s always there. In playlists, first of all, but … Continue reading

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Review: Prime Minister (2025)

I reviewed Prime Minister, a very interesting documentary about Jacinda Ardern’s tumultuous time as the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand. It has a somewhat unique format – at least compared to other similar documentaries.

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“That is no country for old men.” — William Butler Yeats

“I thought we might bring the halves together if we had a national literature that made Ireland beautiful in the memory, and yet had been freed of provincialism by an exacting criticism, a European pose.” — W.B. Yeats William Butler … Continue reading

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“Superfluous people in the service of brute power….” — Ryszard Kapuściński

“It is an interesting subject: superfluous people in the service of brute power … these people to whom no one pays attention, whom no one needs, can form into a crowd, a throng, a mob, which has an opinion about … Continue reading

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