Category Archives: Personal

On This Day: October 27, 2004

And nothing was the same ever again. Here is a beautiful essay by my brother Brendan about the family tradition of the Red Sox, as embodied by my crazy godfather, Uncle Jimmy. My stomach still clenches in anxiety when I … Continue reading

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Today, the Sheila Variations is old enough to drink.

The above pic of me – taken by Michael – graced the top of my original blog, when I set it up 21 years ago today. I never should have put my picture up – it led to a lot … Continue reading

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“The problem with taking amps to a shop is that they come back sounding like another amp.” — Stevie Ray Vaughan

It’s his birthday today. It’s a bonus he came along in an era of TV specials, and televised performances, and video-taped blah blah blah, because there are tons of live performance clips – and you can’t really get the totality … Continue reading

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Meeting Elia Kazan

For Elia Kazan’s birthday I met Elia Kazan once. He showed up at a production of Clifford Odets’ Awake and Sing, which was being put on at the Actors Studio. I was involved in the production as a general Girl … Continue reading

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#TBT Tomboy scrapper

10/11-year-old me.

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An Ode to E.B. White and a Very Special Teacher

I post this every year at the beginning of the school year, in honor of all the teachers out there – the teachers I know, and the teachers I’ve had.Teachers are on the front lines of every boneheaded political ideological … Continue reading

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In the Welter of packing-Chaos, there is one comforting constant:

It will be the last thing I take down, and the first thing I put up on the other side.

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Substack: Catching up with interesting people saying interesting things

Link roundup on my Substack, to my own stuff, yes, but also to some things I’ve read over the last month I adore: a beautiful piece by my friend Charlie on Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, an interview with director Susan … Continue reading

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I’ve gone National

Since I don’t really go on Twitter anymore (oh, excuse me, I mean “X” – the secondhand embarrassment for the whole “X” thing is so strong I don’t feel I can participate. It’s so STUPID) … but anyway. Because I’m … Continue reading

Posted in Movies, Personal | 18 Comments

“There are no ‘old’ movies really – only movies you have already seen and ones you haven’t.” — Peter Bogdanovich

A re-post of the huge thing I wrote after Bogdanovich died, ending with my personal encounter with him where he kissed my hand. I cannot sufficiently express what his films have meant to me, let alone his writing about films … Continue reading

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