Categories
Archives
-

-
Recent Posts
- Solidarity, or: The boy in the green bandana
- “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
- “Our prevailing passions are ambition and interest. Wise government should avail itself of those passions, to make them subservient to the public good.” — Alexander Hamilton
- “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
- “We’re not breaking new ground. We’re trying to be entertaining within a format that’s familiar.” — Walter Hill
- For Liberties: The Tactile Spiritual
- “I feel I’m writing for everyone, but they haven’t discovered it yet. They will – I’ll just be six feet under.” — Scott Walker
Recent Comments
- 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
- regina bartkoff on November 2023 Viewing Diary
- sheila on December 2025 Snapshots
- sheila on December 2025 Snapshots
- sheila on December 2025 Snapshots
- sheila on “I think I’m a pretty good storyteller.” — John Sturges
- Melissa Sutherland on December 2025 Snapshots
-
Tag Archives: Mary Shelley
Available for pre-order: Frankenstein!
Now that it’s “out there” for pre-order, I think it’s okay to mention what I have been working on for the past year and change: a book on Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming film adaptation of Frankenstein. I had to sign … Continue reading
“I doubt sometimes whether a quiet and unagitated life would have suited me–yet I sometimes long for it.” — Lord Byron
— And who is the best poet, Heron? asked Boland. — Lord Tennyson, of course, answered Heron. — O, yes, Lord Tennyson, said Nash. We have all his poetry at home in a book. At this Stephen forgot the silent … Continue reading
Posted in Books, James Joyce, On This Day, writers
Tagged Camille Paglia, Christopher Hitchens, Dorothy Parker, Elizabeth Bishop, Elvis Presley, England, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Harold Bloom, Jane Austen, Jeanette Winterson, L.M. Montgomery, Lord Byron, Lord Tennyson, Mary Shelley, Matthew Arnold, Michael Schmidt, Percy Bysshe Shelley, poetry, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Robert Graves, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Six Centuries of Great Poetry, Tennessee Williams, W.H. Auden, Walter Savage Landor, war, William Hazlitt
10 Comments
Finding Elvis Shakespeare in Edinburgh
I’ve been in Scotland for the last 8 days. I haven’t had a ton of free time, but there was kind of an unexpected afternoon off so I decided to go out into the streets of Edinburgh and seek out … Continue reading
Posted in Personal
Tagged Elvis Presley, Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, Scotland, Shakespeare
11 Comments
July 2024 Viewing Diary
Anyone But You (2023; d. Will Gluck) The fascination with Glen Powell continues. I’ve seen this maybe four times now? The NY Times did a whole ROUNDTABLE about Glen Powell, like: what is going on with this guy? It’s like … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged action movies, Ben Gazzara, coming of age, documentary, drama, England, France, Gena Rowlands, Glen Powell, historical drama, horror, Ireland, Italy, Joan Blondell, John Cassavetes, Mary Shelley, Opening Night, romantic comedy, sci-fi
Leave a comment
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
May 2022 Viewing Diary
This was the month of watching only the first two episodes of various television series. I just couldn’t keep going – not because they’re bad, but because … I have other things I have to do and/or watch. Robert De … Continue reading
Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television
Tagged Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, comedy, Diane Keaton, documentary, drama, Dustin Hoffman, Elvis Presley, England, Frankenstein, Germany, Jack Black, Kurt Russell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Scorsese, Mary Shelley, Michael Mann, Owen Wilson, Robert De Niro, Robert Mitchum, romantic comedy, Sanaa Lathan, Sandra Bullock, Shelley Winters, Steve Martin, Sylvester Stallone, Tony Scott, women directors
13 Comments
The Books: The Selected Poetry and Prose of Shelley
Daily Book Excerpt: Poetry: Selected Poetry And Prose Of Shelley This is a nice comprehensive volume. I have a second-hand copy, and it includes all of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s most famous poems, as well as excerpts from Prometheus Bound and … Continue reading
Liberating Mary
Mary Wollstonecraft, by John Opie, circa 1797 A wonderful essay by Bob Lamm about his crusade to get the famous portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft back on the walls at the National Portrait Gallery in London. An important figure, certainly, in … Continue reading
“Frankenstein’s radical suggestion is that it doesn’t take God to heal the rift. It takes the loyalty and love of another person.”
I was riveted and moved by this analysis of Frankenstein as a treatise on loneliness – not to mention intrigued by the new edition (which I must get). The new edition includes Percy Shelley’s edits (and I agree with Thomas … Continue reading

