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Tag Archives: Play It As It Lays
“The ability to think for one’s self depends upon one’s mastery of the language.” — Joan Didion
It’s her birthday today. Someone said that Didion’s (seemingly) simple sentences are like a perfect puzzle. If you remove one line from a paragraph, everything falls apart. Her writing is that well-constructed. She was a notoriously painstaking self-editor. She would … Continue reading
Catching up with interesting people saying interesting things
Link roundup on my Substack, to my own stuff, yes, but also to some things I’ve read over the last month I adore: a beautiful piece by my friend Charlie on Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, an interview with director Susan … Continue reading
Posted in Movies, Personal
Tagged Joan Didion, newsletter, Play It As It Lays, Tuesday Weld
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Year in Review: Running my mouth in 2018
Thanks, everyone, who hangs out here, who likes what I do, whether you’re an Elvis fan, a Supernatural fan, a general cinephile, a book-lover, or just someone who’s been checking in periodically for almost 16 years – WHAT? – I … Continue reading
Posted in James Joyce, Movies, Television
Tagged Anne V. Coates, Burt Reynolds, documentary, Doris Day, Dorothy Malone, Elvis Presley, England, Finnegans Wake, Frank Sinatra, Gena Rowlands, Germany, Gold Diggers of 1933, Grace Kelly, Hal Ashby, Howard Hughes, Ian McEwan, James Cagney, Joan Didion, Joaquin Phoenix, Julie Christie, Mexico, Minnie and Moskowitz, Natalie Portman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Play It As It Lays, Robert Altman, Russia, Sanaa Lathan, South Korea, Supernatural, Warren Beatty, women directors, Woody Allen, year in writing
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Flick Lit: August 2018 issue of Sight & Sound
I’m very happy to make my “debut” in the new issue of Sight & Sound – available on newsstands now (or via digital subscription). In their cover feature, “Flick Lit,” 100 critics weigh in on 100 novels about the movies. … Continue reading
The Books: “Play It As It Lays” (Joan Didion)
Daily Book Excerpt: Adult fiction: Play It As It Lays: A Novel – by Joan Didion If you do a search on my site for “Joan Didion” you’ll probably see she comes up a lot. She’s one of my favorite … Continue reading