Tag Archives: Finnegans Wake

“There were so many things I wanted to say, stream-of-consciousness things, designs and patterns while listening to music. I felt I might be able to say [them] if I had an unending canvas.” — pioneering experimental animator Mary Ellen Bute

If ever I was born to write a piece, it’s this one: For Film Comment, I wrote about experimental animator Mary Ellen Bute, and her 1966 adaptation of James Joyce’s “Finnegans Wake”. She was a pioneer. Way out in front. … Continue reading

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Four Things About Thornton Wilder

“I was an old man when I was 12; and now I am an old man, and it’s splendid.” — Thornton Wilder on his 70th birthday It’s his birthday today. A couple stories: 1. Peter Hunt (once Executive and Artistic … Continue reading

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“[My function] in Scotland during the past twenty to thirty years [is] that of the cat-fish that vitalizes the other torpid denizens of the aquarium.” –Hugh MacDiarmid

The function, as it seems to me, O’ Poetry is to bring to be At lang, lang last that unity … — Hugh MacDiarmid, “A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle” It’s his birthday today. He was born on August … Continue reading

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2018 Books Read

2018 Books Read 1. Tamburlaine, Part 1, by Christopher Marlowe I finished 2017 with Paradise Lost, in the mood to continue with rigorous challenging poetry. I decided to read the complete plays of Christopher Marlowe (re-read in most cases). The … Continue reading

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Year in Review: Shooting My Mouth Off in 2018

Thanks, everyone, who hangs out here, who likes what I do, whether you’re an Elvis fan, a Supernatural fan, a general cinephile, a book-lover, or just someone who’s been checking in periodically for almost 16 years – WHAT? – I … Continue reading

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For Film Comment: On Mary Ellen Bute’s 1966 Passages from James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake

Well, this is a piece I was born to write. I can’t believe it came along. It was offered to me, too. That’s the weird thing. I got the assignment in January and immediately began a re-read of Finnegans Wake. … Continue reading

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April 2018 Viewing Diary

Elvis Presley: The Searcher (2018; d. Thom Zimny) New 2-part HBO doc about Elvis. Grateful it exists now. Long overdue artistic redress. I reviewed for Ebert. Morvern Callar (2002; d. Lynne Ramsay) Re-watched in preparation for her latest, You Were … Continue reading

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Stuff I’ve been reading

Books Doing a deep dive into the work of Ellen Willis. She was the first “rock critic” hired by The New Yorker, and one of the only women writing seriously about rock music at that time. At least in a … Continue reading

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Stuff I’ve Been Reading

— Finnegans Wake, by James Joyce Lordy be, batten down the hatches. I struggled through it years ago and am now reading it again. It’s going quite well. I read it out loud because so many of the jokes are … Continue reading

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“My Brother Thomas Will Now Recite For You The Entire Novel Finnegans Wake By James Joyce.”

That clip is 7:23 minutes long, and I found myself smiling ear to ear for the entirety of it. It is perfection. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem and Robbie O’Connell singing “Finnegans Wake”, with an amazing introduction. The whole … Continue reading

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