Tag Archives: Memphis

September 2025 Snapshots

Posted on October 13, 2025 by sheila

Attended some of the press screenings at the New York Film Festival. I haven’t been in a couple of years, for various reasons, and it’s been so sad for me. I loved getting up in the morning and heading to … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Elvis Presley, family, Frankenstein, friends, Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, Memphis, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sam Shaw, snapshots | Leave a comment

Today, the Sheila Variations turns 22. wtf.

Posted on October 18, 2024 by sheila

The above pic of me – taken by Michael – graced the top of my original blog, when I set it up 22 years ago today. I never should have put my picture up on my site – it led … Continue reading →

Posted in On This Day, Personal | Tagged Block Island, Cary Grant, Croatia, Dean Stockwell, Elvis Presley, family, friends, Hope, Humphrey Bogart, Iran, Ireland, Jafar Panahi, Joanna Hogg, July and Half of August, Martin Scorsese, Memphis, politics, Raging Bull, September 11, Supernatural, Tilda Swinton, war | 117 Comments

Memphis Madness

Posted on September 20, 2022 by sheila

I had a big crackup in 2012 – which everyone who knows me already knows, and which was completely obvious from the increasingly crazy things I was posting here. (I left them up because it is an accurate record of … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | Tagged Memphis | 6 Comments

October 2021 Viewing Diary

Posted on November 1, 2021 by sheila

I really didn’t watch all that much, numerically, during October, for various reasons. 1. I was on the move. I think I spent, all told, about 7 days at home over the course of the month. Including one unexpected stay … Continue reading →

Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies, Television | Tagged comedy, documentary, drama, England, Joanna Hogg, Memphis, Peter Bogdanovich, Poland, screwball comedy, short films, thrillers, Wes Anderson | 5 Comments

Indie Memphis 2021 Winners

Posted on October 30, 2021 by sheila

This past week the winners of the 2021 Indie Memphis Film Festival were announced. Yoshi James, Annie Berman, and I made up the jury for the Hometowners category (films produced in Memphis). We deliberated via Zoom on Monday. We had … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged documentary, Memphis, short films | 2 Comments

Photo of the Day: Memphis morning

Posted on May 9, 2021 by sheila

I’ve taken a lot of pictures in Memphis. This is one of my favorites. If I’m remembering correctly, this was during an hours-long morning walk through the city in early 2013. I had to have walked 6 or 7 miles, … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | Tagged Memphis, photo of the day | Leave a comment

Photo of the Day: Where it all began

Posted on May 5, 2021 by sheila

The Overton Park shell in Memphis is where Elvis first stepped before a large live audience, on July 30, 1954. Earlier that month, he cut his first real track, “That’s All Right”, which made major waves in Memphis. He stepped … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal | Tagged Elvis Presley, Memphis, photo of the day | Leave a comment

April 2021 Viewing Diary

Posted on May 2, 2021 by sheila

Jewel Robbery (1932; d. William Dieterle) This glittering pre-Code, starring William Powell as a jewel thief, and Kay Francis as a married woman in love with her jewels, is such a subversive delight. Powell is devastatingly charming and Francis is … Continue reading →

Posted in Monthly Viewing Diary, Movies | Tagged Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Carole Lombard, Cary Grant, comedy, Costa-Gavras, David Lynch, documentary, drama, England, France, Greece, historical drama, horror, Jack Nicholson, Joanna Hogg, Joel McCrea, Kay Francis, literary adaptation, Martin Scorsese, Memphis, Monte Hellman, Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, Pre-Code, Roman Polanski, Russia, sci-fi, short films, Stalag 17, Tilda Swinton, Ukraine, Warren Oates, westerns, William Holden, William Powell, women directors | 15 Comments

Congratulations to Laura Jean Hocking, recipient of the Indie Memphis Women’s Short Film Grant

Posted on April 30, 2021 by sheila

I was honored to be on the jury – alongside the talented Diana Peralta and Molly Veh – to select the recipient of Indie Memphis’ Women’s Short Film Grant. The criteria for this grant was pretty strict: You had to … Continue reading →

Posted in Directors, Movies | Tagged Memphis, women directors | Leave a comment

Photo of the Day: Bates Motel

Posted on April 25, 2021 by sheila

In Memphis. I am drawn to this building. I have visited it every time I go. Look at the front steps, overrun with creeping vines. And the lit-up neon sign. Mixed messages and I am totally here for it.