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- “I knew [I was a director] from the beginning. It was just a matter of proving it.” — Martha Coolidge
- “It’s important not to indicate. People don’t try to show their feelings, they try to hide them.” — Robert De Niro
- “What are you gonna do, talk the alien to death?” — James Cameron
- The last photo and the Stutz
- “I had never seen anything like him . . . I vowed nothing would stop me from signing this boy for films.” – producer Hal Wallis on Elvis Presley
- “There’s no one ‘right’ way of making a science fiction movie; there’s no one way of making any kind of movie, really!” — Nicolas Roeg
- “Yeah, and I’m buddies with Alfred.” — Eminem on Alfred Hitchcock
- “I like myself poems that are gentle rather than arrogant intellectually. Where language fades into cries or whispers.” — Medbh McGuckian
- “One day I hope I can write happier poems, but most of the things I think about aren’t very cheerful.” — poet Philip Larkin
- “I gave my eardrums to MGM. And it’s true: I really did.” — Esther Williams
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- Becca on Diary Friday: “OK, it wasn’t just a normal assembly. It was a CONCERT from a rock group – Freedom Jam.”
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- sheila on “Why can’t people take me as a regular singer without making a bogeyman out of me?” — Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
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- sheila on R.I.P. Jennifer Finch
- sheila on “I think something once broken and put back together is even stronger.” — Jared Padalecki
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- Lyrie on “I think something once broken and put back together is even stronger.” — Jared Padalecki
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- Lyrie on “I think something once broken and put back together is even stronger.” — Jared Padalecki
- sheila on “I’m not a yesterday’s woman. I’m a tomorrow’s woman.” — Barbara Stanwyck
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Category Archives: On This Day
“I think there is a little of Beckett in everything I have done.” — Monte Hellman
Today is the birthday of the one-of-a-kind American-B-movie-but-also-French-existentialist film director Monte Hellman, who died last year. For a really good roundup-overview of this iconoclastic American director, check out David Hudson’s “Monte Hellman’s Sly Humor and Existential Dread” over on Criterion … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
2 Comments
“Nothing can prevent me from making films.” — Jafar Panahi
It’s his birthday today. Jafar Panahi should need no introduction, but just in case… Jafar Panahi is an Iranian director with an international reputation, and a daunting list of films, many of which were made under terrible conditions (The White … Continue reading
Posted in Directors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Abbas Kiarostami, Iran, Iranian film, Jafar Panahi, Offside
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Happy Birthday, Thomas Mitchell
Interesting that Thomas Mitchell and Bruce McGill were born on the same day (scroll down). I said in the piece about Bruce McGill that McGill is in “the Thomas Mitchell tradition” and the “Thomas Mitchell tradition” is quickly vanishing from … Continue reading
Happy Birthday, Bruce McGill
Bruce McGill is one of those actors who would have fit in perfectly with the old studio system: a first-rate support player, a guy who can do anything: drama, comedy, farce, who can fit into any context. He’s in the … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day, Television
Tagged Bruce McGill, Michael Mann, Quantum Leap
28 Comments
“When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered.” — Dorothy Thompson
Dorothy Thompson, 1939: testifying in Congress to repeal the Neutrality Act. “They are holding every Jew in Germany as a hostage. Therefore, we who are not Jews must speak, speak our sorrow and indignation and disgust in so many voices … Continue reading
“Art is theft, art is armed robbery, art is not pleasing your mother.” — Janet Malcolm
It’s her birthday today. She died in 2021. I started out with The Silent Woman, many years ago, her book on the challenges of writing about Sylvia Plath, particularly in lieu of the draconian Plath estate, run – Shakespearean-ly – … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged essays, Janet Malcolm, nonfiction, Sylvia Plath
4 Comments
“I’m one of those people who thinks you can have a happy life and still be an artist.” — Shelley Duvall
Here’s the piece I wrote when Duvall died: The “pink stuff” of Shelley Duvall. Thank you so much for stopping by. If you like what I do, and if you feel inclined to support my work, here’s a … Continue reading
“There’s a difference between writing about something and living through it. I did both.” — poet/novelist Margaret Walker
Photo by Carl Van Vechten Margaret Walker was born in 1915 in Birmingham, Alabama. Her parents were interesting accomplished people, and her childhood was filled with literature and music. Her father gave her a love of heavy-hitters like Schopenhauer, classic … Continue reading
“I believe what Camus says. When the curtain rings down, your job is done.” — Warren Oates
“My reason for being an actor, like most any other actor, is to really nail something important down, to really find something to say in my work. And I tell myself that if I am sincere about my work, I … Continue reading
“My voice isn’t an instrument I can just hang up on a hook.” — Audra McDonald
For Audra McDonald’s birthday My good friend Ted and I were once talking about Audra McDonald and her performance of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” in the live televised version of The Sound of Music, and what a powerhouse it was. You … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Music, On This Day, Theatre
Tagged Audra McDonald, Liza Minnelli, Natasha Richardson
13 Comments