Categories
Archives
-
Recent Posts
- “Where am I coming from? Where am I going? A fusillade of question marks.” — Belfast Poet Ciarán Carson
- September 2024 Viewing Diary
- “I grew up believing that I was fundamentally powerless.” — Thom Yorke
- Dynamic Duo #41
- “I want to live, not pose!” — Carole Lombard
- “When I get into that studio, I’m in another world. I love it. When I’m performing, that’s the real me.” — Billy Lee Riley
- “If someone spends his life writing the truth without caring for the consequences, he inevitably becomes a political authority in a totalitarian regime.” — Václav Havel
- “All my life I have been happiest when the folks watching me said to each other, `Look at the poor dope, wilya?” — Buster Keaton
- Temporary
- “The problem with taking amps to a shop is that they come back sounding like another amp.” — Stevie Ray Vaughan
Recent Comments
- Dan on The Books: “At Swim-Two-Birds” (Flann O’Brien)
- Claire Voyanci on “I hold back nothing.” – Anne Sexton
- sheila on Temporary
- Melissa Sutherland on Temporary
- sheila on “I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true.” — Truman Capote
- kristen on “I don’t care what anybody says about me as long as it isn’t true.” — Truman Capote
- Kimberly McNair on “I put my soul through the ink.” — Proof
- sheila on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- sheila on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- sheila on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- sheila on R.I.P. Maggie Smith
- Gemstone on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- Gemstone on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- Aisha Sharma on R.I.P. Maggie Smith
- sheila on “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” — Stephen King
- sheila on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- sheila on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
- Matheus on Two Eminem News Items
- Gemstone on “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” — Stephen King
- Lyrie on “I didn’t think then, and I still don’t, that I was actually sick.” — Frances Farmer
-
Tag Archives: Marlon Brando
My new column at Liberties magazine: First up: acting and film criticism and how the twain meet
I have some exciting (to me) news. I’ll be writing a regular column for Liberties – the website for the quarterly magazine – host to a daunting lineup of writers! I launched my column with a piece about being a … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, Personal, Theatre
Tagged Actors Studio, Hamlet, James Dean, Liberties, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando, Martha Graham
9 Comments
“The only thing an actor owes his public is not to bore them.” — Marlon Brando
“Sending Marlon Brando to acting class was like sending a tiger to jungle school.” – Stella Adler It’s his birthday today. Let’s start off with this, a piece I had long wanted to write: Revelations about Marlon Brando in about … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Elia Kazan, Marlon Brando, mirrors, On the Waterfront
38 Comments
“Make voyages! — Attempt them! — there’s nothing else …” Happy Birthday, Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams (Thomas Lanier Williams) was born on this day in Columbus, Mississippi in 1911. I love this early note from Tennessee Williams because it already incorporates his most famous line, from Streetcar Named Desire. Will you do a total … Continue reading
Posted in Books, On This Day, Theatre, writers
Tagged Elia Kazan, Glass Menagerie, Laurette Taylor, Marlon Brando, Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams
23 Comments
“Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it’d find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.” — David Foster Wallace
It’s his birthday today. David Foster Wallace is hard to talk about. It’s painful. I say this as someone who did not know him, or have him in my life even in a peripheral way. I know someone who worked … Continue reading
“Acting is like letting your pants down; you’re exposed.” — Paul Newman
It’s his birthday today. I am so glad I grew up in a time when Paul Newman was still a leading man (and he was a leading man up until the end). So I got to experience the pleasure of … Continue reading
Posted in Actors, Movies, On This Day
Tagged Elvis Presley, James Dean, Joanne Woodward, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Sidney Lumet
20 Comments
Talking 1953 movies with Jason Bailey and Mike Hull: A Very Good Year podcast
My pal Jason Bailey and his pal Mike Hull host a fascinating podcast called A Very Good Year, which they describe as: “Each week we invite a guest (filmmakers and actors, critics and historians, comedians and musicians) who loves movies, … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
Tagged Billy Wilder, coming of age, drama, France, Harriet Andersson, Ingmar Bergman, Japan, Marlon Brando, podcast, romantic drama, Stalag 17, Sweden, war movies, William Holden
12 Comments
June 2023 Viewing Diary
Succession (2018-2023) I finally watched, having somehow resisted the DEAFENING buzz over the last couple of years. I like Jeremy Strong, liked his small moment in Zero Dark Thirty, he totally stood out in The Big Short (directed by one … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Billy Wilder, Cristian Mungiu, documentary, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., drama, Elia Kazan, Eva Marie Saint, France, Harriet Andersson, Ingmar Bergman, Karl Malden, Katharine Hepburn, Lee J. Cobb, Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront, Otto Preminger, reviews, Rod Steiger, Romania, romantic drama, Stalag 17, Stanley Kramer, Sweden, true crime, war movies, William Holden, women directors
23 Comments
Bikers back-ting
Well, one is back-ting and one is just living. Marlon Brando as Johnny in “The Wild One” (1953) Croatian biker on the boat in the Adriatic, taken by yours truly
Brando Back-ting
On the Waterfront
Posted in Actors, Movies
Tagged backting, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb, Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront
4 Comments
Substack: Interview with actor/director/teacher Ryan Czerwonko
I’ve written about Adult Film before here, and had been wanting for a while to sit down and interview one of the founders, Ryan Czerwonko, about what he and his group are up to. Finally, we carved out some space … Continue reading