Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
- Review: Hamlet (2026)
- “Those evils that inflame the imagination and make the heart sick, ought not to leave the head cool.” — William Hazlitt
- “I prefer a national film to an international film.” — Jean-Paul Belmondo
- “Sometimes I can sing it when I can’t say it.” — Carl Perkins
- “I never wanted to be this famous. I never imagined this life for myself.” — Kristen Stewart
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 2
- “I never was good at sightseeing yet it must be done.” — William Wordsworth
- “It sounds like something from a Woody Guthrie song, but it’s true; I was raised in a freight car.” — Merle Haggard
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
Recent Comments
- P Nickel on “The realization of ignorance is the first act of knowing.” — Jean Toomer
- Melissa Sutherland on “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
- Bryce on The Books: “Nine Stories”- ‘The Laughing Man’ (J.D. Salinger)
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- Troy on March 2026 Snapshots
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- Ian on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- sheila on Happy Birthday, Dean Stockwell
- jeanie laub on Happy Birthday, Dean Stockwell
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- Bryan Summers on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- sheila on In the Criterion Closet
- DBW on In the Criterion Closet
- sheila on Coming soon …
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- Maddy on Coming soon …
- Maddy on March 2026 Snapshots
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- Dan on March 2026 Snapshots
-
Category Archives: On This Day
“The only thing an actor owes his public is not to bore them.” — Marlon Brando
“Sending Marlon Brando to acting class was like sending a tiger to jungle school.” – Stella Adler “You can’t always be a failure. Not and survive. Van Gogh! There’s an example of what can happen when a person never receives … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Elia Kazan, Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront
38 Comments
“I never retired.” — Doris Day
“I like joy; I want to be joyous; I want to have fun on the set; I want to wear beautiful clothes and look pretty. I want to smile, and I want to make people laugh. And that’s all I … Continue reading
“The films I find boring are the ones that have no space for the audience’s misconceptions.” — Josephine Decker
Unfortunately, considering Josephine Decker’s recent output, much of what I say here is no longer relevant and I can’t even say how much this saddens me. I don’t wish for her to not change, of course, but watching her abandon … Continue reading
“Here’s to better times ahead and saying goodbye to bombs and bullets once and for all.” — Lyra McKee
Born on this day, investigative journalist Lyra McKee was shot and killed in Derry in 2019, during a standoff between police officers and dissident republicans. She was there as a journalist, covering the events. A masked person fired a shot … Continue reading
“Art indeed is long, but life is short.” — Metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell
“Andrew Marvell spans three ages like a delicate but serviceable bridge. The first length spans Charles I’s reign and fall, the second spans the Commonwealth, the third the Restoration.” — Michael Schmidt, Lives of the Poets It’s his birthday today. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Andrew Marvell, Camille Paglia, England, Harold Bloom, John Aubrey, Michael Schmidt, poetry, politics, Six Centuries of Great Poetry, T.S. Eliot
Leave a comment
“That’s the Irish People all over – they treat a serious thing as a joke and a joke as a serious thing.” — Seán O’Casey, Shadow of a Gunman
“You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea; you cannot put an idea up against the barrack-square wall and riddle it with bullets; you cannot confine it in the strongest prison cell your slaves could ever build.” … Continue reading
It’s the birthday of “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Forget”: Iris Chang
Iris Chang’s research into the atrocities committed by the Japanese on the Chinese people – particularly Chinese women – during the “rape of Nanking” in 1937 – much of it dug out of buried archives and brought to light for … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged China, Iris Chang, Japan, nonfiction, war, WWII
1 Comment
“I heard Ruth Brown, and I just found my kind of music,” — Janis Martin
Cultural history is peppered with What Ifs. What if someone like Janis Martin had gone the distance? What if she hadn’t lapsed into obscurity? Would she have carved out a small space for women in rock ‘n roll (alongside the … Continue reading
“As an outsider I was free to pick my own literary traditions, to build my own system of literary values.” — Dubravka Ugrešić
“Retouching is our favourite artistic device. Each of us is a curator in his own museum…Uncover A, cover up B. Remove all spots. Keep your mouth shut. Think of your tongue as a weapon. Think one thing and say another. … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Croatia, Dubravka Ugrešić, fiction, nonfiction, war, Yugoslavia
Leave a comment
“Attention equals Life.” — Frank O’Hara
“I am the least difficult of men. All I want is boundless love.” – poet Frank O’Hara It’s his birthday today. First up: I launched my column at Film Comment with a piece about American poet Frank O’Hara’s love of … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Camille Paglia, Elizabeth Bishop, Frank O'Hara, Joan Acocella, Lana Turner, Michael Schmidt
18 Comments