Categories
Archives
-
-
-
Recent Posts
- Review: Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (2025)
- Music shuffle: The Return
- “I doubt sometimes whether a quiet and unagitated life would have suited me–yet I sometimes long for it.” — Lord Byron
- “The fault that I acknowledge in myself is to have descended to print anything in verse.” — John Donne
- “Voices ought not be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth.” — Sam Cooke
- You know what you need to do with that Vichy Water!
- Happy Birthday, Leadbelly
- “I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb… and I also know that I’m not blonde.” — Dolly Parton
- “I don’t think my books should be in prison libraries.” — Patricia Highsmith, 1966
- “I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be until finally I became that person. Or he became me.” — Archie Leach
Recent Comments
- Bill Altreuter on Music shuffle: The Return
- mutecypher on Music shuffle: The Return
- sheila on Elvis forever and happy birthday
- Mike Molloy on Elvis forever and happy birthday
- sheila on You know what you need to do with that Vichy Water!
- Maddy on You know what you need to do with that Vichy Water!
- sheila on Happy Birthday, Leadbelly
- sheila on “I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb… and I also know that I’m not blonde.” — Dolly Parton
- sheila on R.I.P. Sam Schacht
- sheila on “I never told a joke in my life.” — Andy Kaufman
- sheila on “I never told a joke in my life.” — Andy Kaufman
- sheila on “It wasn’t there, and then it was there.” David Lynch on Elvis
- sheila on “It wasn’t there, and then it was there.” David Lynch on Elvis
- Maddy on Happy Birthday, Leadbelly
- Melissa Sutherland on “I never told a joke in my life.” — Andy Kaufman
- Maddy on “I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb… and I also know that I’m not blonde.” — Dolly Parton
- Molly Larson Cook on R.I.P. Sam Schacht
- Melissa Sutherland on “I never told a joke in my life.” — Andy Kaufman
- Leena Myller on “It wasn’t there, and then it was there.” David Lynch on Elvis
- Leena Myller on “It wasn’t there, and then it was there.” David Lynch on Elvis
-
Tag Archives: Germany
“In America, sex is an obsession, in other parts of the world it’s a fact.” — Marlene Dietrich
It’s her birthday today. When I interviewed Dan Callahan about his book The Art of American Screen Acting, we discussed Marlene Dietrich. He has been obsessed since college, and also obsessed with trying to put her into words. What exactly … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Germany, Josef von Sternberg, Marlene Dietrich
Leave a comment
“I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.” — Rebecca West
It’s her birthday today. It is hard to talk about her without referencing the generations of writers she inspired, all of whom admit their debt. Robert Kaplan is the most open about it (in Balkan Ghosts, which launched his career, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, writers
Tagged Austria, Balkans, D.H. Lawrence, Ford Madox Ford, France, George Bernard Shaw, Germany, Katherine Mansfield, Leo Tolstoy, Mark Twain, politics, Rebecca West, Roman empire, Russia, Serbia, W.B. Yeats, war, Yugoslavia
21 Comments
“I can only work against bourgeois society. I can never work with it or through it.” — Erwin Piscator
It’s Erwin Piscator’s birthday. Even if you didn’t set OUT to learn about him, if you have done any reading about actors/theatre in the 20th century – either in Germany or in America – you will run into his name … Continue reading
October 2024 Viewing Diary
Downfall (2005; d. Oliver Hirschbiegel) I’ve watched a couple of times. Always good to have a reminder of the madness of those final months, where even the most hardened monstrous men were like, “… uhm, yeah, he’s a lunatic, I’m … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged animation, Australia, biopic, documentary, drama, England, France, Germany, Ginger Rogers, historical drama, Iranian film, Japan, Michelle Pfeiffer, Natalie Portman, Palestine, Poland, Pre-Code, Robert De Niro, romantic comedy, war movies, women directors
31 Comments
“Only for the sake of the hopeless ones have we been given hope.” — Walter Benjamin
“Often an era most closely brands with its seal those who have been least influenced by it, who have been most remote from it, and who therefore have suffered most. So it was with Proust, with Kafka, with Karl Kraus, … Continue reading
May 2024 Viewing Diary
Forward Fast (2024; d. Lorraine Sovern) I met Lorraine at the Florida Film Festival. Someone I was talking to at a party told me about her work and about this short film. He then pulled her over to our group … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged action movies, Boris Karloff, comedy, documentary, drama, Germany, horror, Iran, Iranian film, Ireland, Italy, Mary Shelley, Mohammad Rasoulof, Pre-Code, Robert De Niro, Russia, Ryan Gosling, short films, Stalin, Tuesday Weld, women directors
7 Comments
“I am, now as before, of the opinion that I did the best that I could do for my nation. I therefore do not regret my conduct and will bear the consequences that result from my conduct.” — 20th century hero Sophie Scholl
She was born on this day. In an atmosphere of almost phantasmagorical mind control and propaganda, how does one keep one’s bearings? One only needs to read George Orwell’s 1984 to understand the mental issues, the difficulty of not just … Continue reading
December 2023/January-February 2024 Viewing Diary
The Golden Bachelor Watched – in great hilarity – with Karen and Allison during a raucous sleepover, and Carol pulled up on FaceTime. So we could watch together. The whole thing is so ridiculous. Maestro (2023; d. Bradley Cooper) I … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Al Pacino, Aline MacMahon, Battleship Potemkin, biopic, Charlie Chaplin, Chile, Denmark, documentary, drama, dystopia, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Juliette Binoche, Kazuo Ishiguro, literary adaptation, Michael Mann, North Korea, Paul Schrader, Pre-Code, Radu Jude, Ray Milland, Richard Pryor, Romania, romantic comedy, sci-fi, short films, Sidney Poitier, silent films, Spain, Sylvia Sidney, Tana French, true crime, William Wellman, Wim Wenders, women directors
41 Comments