Categories
Archives
-

-
Recent Posts
- NYFCC essay: “My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow”
- December 2025 Viewing Diary
- Solidarity, or: The boy in the green bandana
- “Precision and accuracy are necessary for both white and black writers. ‘A black aesthetic’ should not be an excuse for sloppy writing.” — poet and publisher Dudley Randall
- “To me, survival is the game – that’s the hardest part. I just wanna play music.” — Dave Grohl
- “When I was discovered, everything happened like dominos. I don’t know how to talk about it now because it’s too mindblowing. It’s so unreal, and yet it’s real.” — Faye Dunaway
- “As long as they pay me my salary, they can give me a broom and I’ll sweep the stage. I don’t give a damn. I want the money.” – Kay Francis
- “I look back on my life and draw one great generalization: IT WAS MY REFUSAL TO TAKE CAUTIOUS ADVICE THAT MADE ME.” — Jack London
- “I can pick a good song, but I sure couldn’t pick a good man.” — Ruth Brown
- “I’ll stay and look you straight in the eyes like all these normal people when I scream for my rights.” — Taraneh Alidoosti
Recent Comments
- mutecypher on December 2025 Viewing Diary
- mutecypher on December 2025 Viewing Diary
- Norm Anderson on “Carelessness on the part of revolutionaries has always been the best aid the police have.” — Victor Serge
- mutecypher on Solidarity, or: The boy in the green bandana
- Gemstone on Solidarity, or: The boy in the green bandana
- sheila on “It’s a situation I’ve never been able to fathom. One minute, it seemed I had more movie offers than I could handle, the next — no one wanted me.” — Sal Mineo
- Gemstone on “It’s a situation I’ve never been able to fathom. One minute, it seemed I had more movie offers than I could handle, the next — no one wanted me.” — Sal Mineo
- sheila on Talking with Rachel Dratch: Frankenstein is woo-woo adjacent.
- sheila on Talking with Rachel Dratch: Frankenstein is woo-woo adjacent.
- Ian on Talking with Rachel Dratch: Frankenstein is woo-woo adjacent.
- Gemstone on “Well, if I can’t be happy, I can be useful, perhaps.” — Louisa May Alcott
- sheila on December 2025 Snapshots
- Gemstone on December 2025 Snapshots
- Regina Bartkoff on November 2023 Viewing Diary
- sheila on November 2023 Viewing Diary
- sheila on November 2023 Viewing Diary
- Regina Bartkoff on November 2023 Viewing Diary
- sheila on November 2023 Viewing Diary
- sheila on November 2023 Viewing Diary
- sheila on November 2023 Viewing Diary
-
Tag Archives: Helter Skelter
Bugliosi’s and Tarantino’s rattling ice cubes
“It was so quiet, one of the killers would later say, you could almost hear the sound of ice rattling in cocktail shakers in the homes way down the canyon.” — the first line of Vincent Bugliosi’s book Helter Skelter … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Directors, Movies
Tagged Helter Skelter, Quentin Tarantino, true crime, Vincent Bugliosi
Leave a comment
Book Meme: Pick One
Hard to pick one answer for each. Got this from Ted. One book youâre currently reading: I am only reading one. I cannot read fiction right now. I can barely read, if you want to know the truth, but I … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Charlotte Bronte, Crime and Punishment, Evelyn Waugh, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Geek Love, Harriet the Spy, Helter Skelter, Jane Eyre, Katherine Dunn, Leo Tolstoy, Louise Fitzhugh, Mating, Norman Rush, Nureyev, Scoop, Shakespeare, Villette, Vincent Bugliosi, War and Peace
14 Comments
Leslie Van Houten: Denied Parole. Throw Away the Key
I wondered why this old post of mine was suddenly receiving 90% of all of my traffic today. I knew something must be going on in that world – another parole board hearing perhaps – and yes, that’s why: Leslie … Continue reading
Re-Reading
So next Tuesday night, if I don’t have rehearsal, I will be at the New York Public Library for the following evening event which sounds faaaaabulous: REREADINGS: Like romantic love, early book-love is ecstatic. As a young reader curls up … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged A Wrinkle in Time, Anne Fadiman, Catch-22, Crime and Punishment, Dubliners, Emily of New Moon, Helter Skelter, Jane Eyre, Lives of the Saints, Mating
39 Comments
The Books: “Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders” (Vincent Bugliosi)
Next book in my Daily Book Excerpt: The following book is in my true crime section : Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, by Vincent Bugliosi. Here’s the opening of this classic true-crime book. I’ve read it … Continue reading
Leslie Van Houten Denied Parole.
Leslie Van Houten, Manson murderess, was just denied parole again for the 15th time. Good. Throw away the key. She should never be let out. None of them should. When Diane Sawyer interviewed Manson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houton … Continue reading
5 Books
You are on a desert island. You can only have 5 books. What books would they be? Mine would be – and these are not necessarily my favorite books – but more like the books I never get tired of: … Continue reading
Posted in Books
Tagged Helter Skelter, Hopeful Monsters, House of Leaves, Jane Eyre, Shakespeare
18 Comments

