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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
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- Bryce on The Books: “Nine Stories”- ‘The Laughing Man’ (J.D. Salinger)
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Tag Archives: Cary Grant
“I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me.” — Archie Leach
As my friend Mitchell observed: To this day, people say, “Oh so-and-so’s the new Cary Grant.” Cary Grant was acting in 1930. We’re talking 70 years ago. Almost 80 years ago, and we’re still referring to people as the “new … Continue reading
My Ideal New Year’s Eve Party … Is Fictional
I’m not much for New Year’s Eve (I have already covered this), and I’m not much for big parties anymore, nor am I into people who can’t hold their liquor. My friend Ann Marie calls New Years Eve “open mic … Continue reading
“Here in the movies I can be as mean, as wicked as I want to – and all without hurting anybody.” — Claude Rains
For Claude Rains’ birthday: a conversation some years back, where Mitchell and I discuss the superb actor. I asked Mitchell to describe him in one word, and we took it from there. We both love Rains so much, it was … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Bette Davis, Cary Grant, Claude Rains, Joan Crawford, Meryl Streep
10 Comments
Today, the Sheila Variations turns 23.
I don’t even know what to say. And now I will proceed to say some shit. The above pic of me – taken by Michael – graced the top of my original blog, when I set it up 23 years … Continue reading
Posted in On This Day, Personal
Tagged Block Island, Cary Grant, Croatia, Dean Stockwell, Elvis Presley, family, friends, Hope, Humphrey Bogart, Iran, Ireland, Jafar Panahi, Joanna Hogg, July and Half of August, Martin Scorsese, Memphis, politics, Raging Bull, September 11, Supernatural, Tilda Swinton, war
127 Comments
“I guess I became an actress because I didn’t want to be myself.” — Jean Arthur
It’s her birthday today, one of my all-time favorite actresses! First up, two pieces I wrote for Film Comment: For my “Present Tense” column, I wrote about her career and her distinctive voice. For TCM Diary, I wrote about onscreen … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, On This Day
Tagged Cary Grant, Frank Capra, Jean Arthur, Only Angels Have Wings
16 Comments
February 2025 Viewing Diary
Twin Peaks: The Return (2017; d. David Lynch) There’s nothing else like it in all of God’s green earth and I am just so grateful it exists. It’s so pure. Suze (2025; d. Dane Clark and Linsey Stewart) I liked … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Angela Lansbury, Canada, Cary Grant, Charles Beeson, David Lynch, drama, Elizabeth Taylor, Fred Astaire, George Stevens, Germany, Ginger Rogers, historical drama, Howard Hawks, Jared Padalecki, Jean Arthur, Jensen Ackles, Judy Garland, musicals, Only Angels Have Wings, Oscar Wilde, Phil Sgriccia, Rita Hayworth, Robert Singer, romantic comedy, Sissy Spacek, sports movies, Supernatural, Thomas J. Wright, Thomas Mitchell, Twin Peaks, Vincente Minnelli, women directors
118 Comments
Three unknowable men from the same angle
Devlin (Cary Grant), Notorious, 1946 Don Draper (Jon Hamm), Mad Men pilot, 2007 Tom Ripley (Andrew Scott), Ripley, 2024
January 2023 Viewing Diary
Friday Night Lights No time like the present. I binged this entire series in a couple weeks. This took commitment, and a couple days of sick leave, while trapped in my hotel room in Memphis, too sick to move. I … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Aubrey Plaza, Baz Luhrmann, Bette Davis, biopic, Cary Grant, comedy, documentary, Dorothy Parker, drama, Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley, film noir, Hedy Lamarr, Hungary, Italy, Jean Renoir, Little Richard, Poland, Pre-Code, Ralph Bellamy, Raoul Walsh, reviews, Spencer Tracy, Teresa Wright, true crime, William Wyler, women directors
9 Comments
March 2022 Viewing Diary
I’m going along my own viewing way, and then I get a gig, and everything changes. You can tell when it happens. Not announcing this gig yet, and will not be confirming or denying anything. The viewing diary is what … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies
Tagged Al Pacino, Australia, Cary Grant, comedy, Diane Keaton, documentary, drama, Francis Ford Coppola, horror, Ireland, Jerry Lewis, John Cazale, Josef von Sternberg, Kay Francis, Martin Scorsese, Miriam Hopkins, Palestine, Pre-Code, Radu Jude, Robert De Niro, Romania, Shelley Winters, Sylvia Sidney, women directors
2 Comments