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- “Art is theft, art is armed robbery, art is not pleasing your mother.” — Janet Malcolm
- “I’m one of those people who thinks you can have a happy life and still be an artist.” — Shelley Duvall
- “There’s a difference between writing about something and living through it. I did both.” — poet/novelist Margaret Walker
- “I believe what Camus says. When the curtain rings down, your job is done.” — Warren Oates
- Physical Media Booklet Essay podcast interview
- “My voice isn’t an instrument I can just hang up on a hook.” — Audra McDonald
- “You can’t be on top all the time. It isn’t natural.” — Olivia de Havilland
- “If I don’t feel it, I can’t play it.” — James Cotton
- “I don’t have to be an imitation of a white woman that Hollywood sort of hoped I’d become. I’m me, and I’m like nobody else.” — Lena Horne
- “But man has always succeeded in rising again.” — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
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Category Archives: Actors
R.I.P. Olympia Dukakis
Husband and wife Louis Zorich and Olympia Dukakis in The Seagull, Williamstown Theater Festival The first thing I thought of when I heard the sad news of Olympia Dukakis’ passing was her compulsive sighs in her Oscar-winning performance in Moonstruck. … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, RIP, Theatre
Tagged Anton Chekhov, Olympia Dukakis, The Seagull
2 Comments
“So Many Currents In Such a Little Puddle”: Dana Stevens and I Chat About National Velvet
For Elizabeth Taylor’s birthday Introduction: Dana Stevens, film critic for Slate, and I had a conversation about National Velvet. In the middle of our planning phase for our talk, Elizabeth Taylor passed away. The coincidence was striking, certainly, not to … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Angela Lansbury, children's movies, drama, Elizabeth Taylor, National Velvet
5 Comments
Photo of the Day: Meghan Murphy
This is my friend Meghan Murphy, an absolutely incredible singer and actress. I took this during one of my visits to Chicago, in the dead of winter. She had a gig with her band, Everybody Says Yes, and we all … Continue reading
Film Forum QA: Tom Noonan’s What Happened Was…
This was such a thrill. Monday night, I moderated a conversation (via Zoom) with Tom Noonan and Karen Sillas about the 1994 film What Happened Was… (written and directed by Noonan – with Noonan and Sillas playing the two main … Continue reading
Things that got me through 2020. In no particular order.
Elvis mask, made for me by Jill Blake who was like “I just happened to have this Elvis 68 Comeback Special fabric lying around … do you want a mask?” Do you have to ask? There were so many great … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Directors, Founding Fathers, Movies, Music, Personal, Television, Theatre
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, Eminem, family, friends, George Orwell, H.D., Hannah Arendt, Hope, Jackass, Jean Arthur, John Garfield, John Sturges, Johnny Flynn, Lucille Ball, Marcel Proust, Martha Coolidge, Nick Tosches, poetry, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, Twin Peaks, women directors, X-Files
30 Comments
Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2020, Part 2
Here’s part 1, a list of things I’ve written for other outlets. This list, then, is a hodge-podge of the things I’ve written here this year. Anyone familiar with this joint knows that I do tribute posts for people’s birthdays. … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Books, Movies, Music, Personal, writers
Tagged A. E. Housman, Alexander Pope, Anna Karina, Anne Spencer, Austin Clarke, Ballets Russes, baseball, Basil Bunting, dance, Eminem, England, France, Frances Farmer, friends, Harlem Renaissance, Hediyeh Tehrani, Hope, Iranian film, Irish poetry, John Donne, Melvin B. Tolson, Nick Tosches, Nijinsky, Philip Larkin, poetry, Poland, Rhode Island, Robert Frost, Romania, Scott Walker, Stanley Kubrick, women directors, year in writing
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Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2020, Part 1
What a year. Hard to say “the worst” because I was at least somewhat mentally stable during 2020, but this year was an assault. An assault after a couple of years of exhausting assault. It was an assault on us … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies, RIP
Tagged Arizona Dream, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Derek Mahon, Dorothy Arzner, Eavan Boland, England, Faye Dunaway, Germany, H.D., hockey, Iranian film, Jane Austen, Jean Arthur, Jerry Lewis, John Sturges, Johnny Depp, Jonathan Demme, Josephine Decker, Kurt Russell, Lili Taylor, Linda Manz, Little Richard, Lucille Ball, Martha Coolidge, Maureen O'Hara, miracle on ice, Nick Nolte, Patricia Bosworth, Shirley Jackson, Steve McQueen, Supernatural, women directors, year in writing
2 Comments
NYFCC Awards 2020
Today the members of the NYFCC (New York Film Critics Circle) voted on this year’s best. We did it over Zoom. We normally meet in person. They are anonymous ballots, and it’s an involved system – you need a certain … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Directors, Movies
Tagged animation, Brazil, comedy, documentary, drama, England, short films, Spike Lee, women directors
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Dynamic Duo #27
Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, photo by Carl Van Vechten
Happy Birthday, Tiffany Haddish
She isn’t just an actress. She isn’t just a comedienne. She is a force of nature. I said most of what I had to say after I saw Girls’ Trip, for which we at the NYFFC awared her Best Supporting … Continue reading