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- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
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- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
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Tag Archives: Charles Dickens
“Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” — Charles Dickens
DICKENS MISCELLANIA: QUOTES AND APPRECIATIONS My favorite Dickens? Oliver Twist was my gateway drug. I read it when I was 11. Because I was obsessed with the movie. Tale of Two Cities came next. Read when I was 15 in … Continue reading
December 2022 Viewing Diary
The Whale (2022; d. Darren Aronofsky) I thought it was appalling, and not for the obvious reasons. His body is viewed as literally a movie monster, with all these horror-movie shots of his gigantic ankles, etc.) It felt tired and … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged action movies, animation, Austria, Brad Pitt, Brian De Palma, Charles Dickens, Christopher Walken, Claude Chabrol, Claudette Colbert, comedy, coming of age, Czechoslovakia, Darren Aronofsky, David Bowie, documentary, drama, England, France, Germany, heist movies, historical drama, Hungary, India, Isabelle Huppert, Kentucker Audley, Natasha Richardson, Paul Schrader, Paul Thomas Anderson, Preston Sturges, Punch-Drunk Love, Russia, Sandrine Bonnaire, screwball comedy, thrillers, Ukraine, war, women directors
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Music Monday: “As Datchery I Did My Bit!”, 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
Happy Birthday, Charles Dickens
I have known a vast quantity of nonsense talked about bad men not looking you in the face. Don’t trust that conventional idea. Dishonesty will stare honesty out of countenance, any day in the week, if there is anything to … Continue reading
The Books: Arguably, ‘The Dark Side of Dickens’, by Christopher Hitchens
On the essays shelf: Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens In his review of Michael Slater’s Charles Dickens, Hitchens compares it to Peter Ackroyd’s 1990 biography of Dickens. He seems to admire both. But he does clock a couple of interesting … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Arguably, Charles Dickens, Christopher Hitchens, essays, George Eliot
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The Books: A Collection of Essays, ‘Charles Dickens’, by George Orwell
On the essays shelf: A Collection of Essays, by George Orwell Orwell’s essay on Dickens is a monster. It could be a small book. Dickens is one of my favorite authors, and Orwell’s essay is essential reading, one of the … Continue reading
Book Questionnaire Full of Shame, Loathing and Lying
I can’t remember where I initially found this questionnaire, but in re-doing my Categories I found the questions saved in Drafts. I had obviously seen them somewhere, and wanted to answer them eventually. Thought I’d bring it out now. Haven’t … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged A Tale of Two Cities, Billy Budd, By the Lake, Charles Dickens, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Hopeful Monsters, John McGahern, Paul Zindel, Philip K. Dick, Ryszard Kapuściński, The End of the Affair, The Great Gatsby, The Pigman, The Shipping News, War and Peace
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Memos from David O. Selznick
Excerpts from the addictive Memo from David O. Selznick : The Creation of “Gone with the Wind” and Other Motion Picture Classics, as Revealed in the Producer’s Private Letters, Telegrams, Memorandums, and Autobiographical Remarks, part of the Modern Library “The … Continue reading