Categories
Archives
-
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- “Only the bad directors tell you how to read a line, how to define your character. The good ones let you do your job.” — Carroll Baker
- “I never heard the term ‘rockabilly’ back then. Nobody did…When people asked what music we played, we were rock ’n’ rollers.” — Sonny Burgess
- “I am in a prison: one wall is the avant-garde, the other wall is the past, and I want to escape.” — György Ligeti
- An Acting Lesson: John Wayne and the “Reality of the Doing”
- “I don’t call myself a poet, because I don’t like the word. I’m a trapeze artist.” – Bob Dylan
- Physical Media Booklet Essay
- “When I aim at praise, they say I bite.” — Alexander Pope
- “Boredom is very important in life. It helps you feel when something is wrong.” — John Strasberg
- The zine is here: Physical Media Booklet Essay
- “There’s nobody as good as the Ramones, never will be.” — Joey Ramone
Recent Comments
- Lyrie on “I just love telling stories. That’s what we do and it’s a good business to be in, especially if you know you have talent.” –Jensen Ackles
- Kendra Williams on Josh White, singer of “the fighting blues”
- sheila on “I dont want to just do just country type stuff the rest of my life. I want to do some different things.” — Charlie Rich
- sheila on The Books: “Awake and Sing” (Clifford Odets)
- Jincy Willett on “There’s nobody as good as the Ramones, never will be.” — Joey Ramone
- Bill Wolfe on “I dont want to just do just country type stuff the rest of my life. I want to do some different things.” — Charlie Rich
- Donn Harris on The Books: “Awake and Sing” (Clifford Odets)
- sheila on “Listen, I never meant to make money. I never wanted it. I’m a singer, man.” — Gene Vincent
- Pat on “Listen, I never meant to make money. I never wanted it. I’m a singer, man.” — Gene Vincent
- sheila on “There’s nobody as good as the Ramones, never will be.” — Joey Ramone
- Jincy Willett on “There’s nobody as good as the Ramones, never will be.” — Joey Ramone
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
- Biff Dorsey on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
- Dave on Review: The Chronology of Water (2025)
- Biff Dorsey on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Hamlet
- sheila on “I just love telling stories. That’s what we do and it’s a good business to be in, especially if you know you have talent.” –Jensen Ackles
- sheila on Miscast? Mayyyybe.
- sheila on “You are not acting so much as being. The result is realism.” — Gary Cooper
- Jessie on “I just love telling stories. That’s what we do and it’s a good business to be in, especially if you know you have talent.” –Jensen Ackles
-
Monthly Archives: December 2020
2020 Movie Recommendations
I’m probably missing some. And there are still a couple of foreign films I haven’t seen. The Assistant (2020; d. Kitty Green)- It’s so so good, and so “of our moment” it’s almost eerie. But it’s the WAY that Kitty … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, animation, Aubrey Plaza, Australia, Brazil, comedy, documentary, drama, England, friends, Germany, hockey, horror, Italy, musicals, Romania, Russia, Shirley Jackson, Sofia Coppola, South Korea, Spike Lee, women directors
3 Comments
2020 Books Read
What a year, huh. What a dumpster-fire year. I read a lot, mostly in the mornings, and it helped create rituals for the days, which often seemed endlessly the same, interchangeable. I read a lot of long and challenging books … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Austria, ballet, Ballets Russes, Belfast, Biography, books read, Croatia, Czechoslovakia, Czeslaw Milosz, dance, Dubravka Ugrešić, Elinor Lipman, Elizabeth Bishop, Eminem, essays, Ezra Pound, fiction, H.D., Hannah Arendt, Hitler, Ireland, Jane Austen, Jean Arthur, Marcel Proust, Nick Tosches, nonfiction, Olivia Laing, poetry, Poland, politics, Rebecca West, Robert Kaplan, Roman empire, Russia, Ryszard Kapuściński, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shirley Jackson, Stalin, true crime, Ukraine, war, WWII, Yugoslavia
38 Comments
Music Monday: Scott Walker Sings A Show Tune, by Brendan O’Malley
My talented brother Brendan O’Malley is an amazing writer and actor. He’s wonderful in the recent You & Me, directed by Alexander Baack. (I interviewed Baack about the film here.) His most recent gig was story editor/writer on the hit … Continue reading
Eminem’s syllable-series rhyme schemes
Just FYI, because it’s extremely important, and it’s a very serious matter: In “Book of Rhymes”, one of the best tracks on Eminem’s new album, released on the 18th, Eminem says the words “amygdala hippocampus” – and rhymes them – … Continue reading
Graceland at Christmas
I took the first tour of the day on January 2, 2013. It was like 9:30 in the morning or something. I was the only person on the tour. Literally. And since it was the first tour … I had … Continue reading
Christmas came early this year: Eminem surprise-dropped a new album in the early hours of December 18
Rumors have been swirling for about a month that Eminem was going to drop a new album. Eminem fans were reading the tea leaves, and some of it sounded insane, like “Stan” insane … but whaddya know, they were right. … Continue reading
The BFI’s Ten Best Film Books of 2020
The British Film Institute has published their list of the Ten Best Film Books of 2020. A rich list, some I’ve read, some I haven’t, but now I have a list to base my next purchases off of. Congratulations to … Continue reading
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
Leave a comment
Music Monday: Bowie, Fatima Mansions & Walker Brothers: 3 Versions of Nite Flights: Original/2 Copies, by Brendan O’Malley
My talented brother Brendan O’Malley is an amazing writer and actor. He’s wonderful in the recent You & Me, directed by Alexander Baack. (I interviewed Baack about the film here.) His most recent gig was story editor/writer on the hit … Continue reading
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