The holiday season has finally come to an end, taking with it all the attendant sights and sounds we experience on an annual basis. A smattering of snow, an inescapable barrage of Christmas music, a shopping public with behavioral tendencies that put one more in mind of a Venezuelan food riot than the birth of … Continue reading Hello There
Musings
Steve Gordon: The Moon and New York City
I'm writing this on November 27th, 2019. It is thirty-seven years to the day since Steve Gordon died. If you are not around my age (fifty-six), and/or a bit of a movie buff then his name is unlikely to ring a bell, but to me he represents the most agonizing instance of "what if?" I've … Continue reading Steve Gordon: The Moon and New York City
Jennie Litvak: Blown Away
Back in July I came across an obituary in The Economist that resonated for me, and has continued to drift in and out of my mind in the ensuing months. Part of that, I'm sure, is a function of the way in which I enjoy the magazine. I have a 110-mile round trip commute and … Continue reading Jennie Litvak: Blown Away
Know What I Mean?
In the last two, or so, years I have written just over 74,000 words. At a standard rate of conversion that runs to about 296 pages. While I have included the subject of language policing in other work on more than one occasion (Intolerant Me, The End Of Days), I've never specifically dedicated a post … Continue reading Know What I Mean?
Pretty As A Picture
I dedicated a fair amount of time this past summer reflecting on my days as a film student. Which would be unremarkable if I had been spending my days reviewing movies or even absorbed in still photography. I was writing a one act play. And yet, there was an underlying rationale to the way my … Continue reading Pretty As A Picture
Not a Cloud in the Sky
I have been posting at this space for just short of the last two years, and had been working in long hand for a few months before that. In all that time I have written not more than a few tangential words (You Had To Be There) about the events of September 11th, 2001. No … Continue reading Not a Cloud in the Sky
Speaking Volumes
As a child, I spent a great deal of time at the movies. When I was very young and my family still functioned as one, it was an inexpensive night out. When things began to slowly erode at home I was fortunate enough to have a maiden aunt living with us who combined a tendency … Continue reading Speaking Volumes
In The Wee Small Hours Of The Bottom Of The Ninth
One year ago my step-son, M____, and I stood in the seats behind home plate at Growden Memorial Park, in Fairbanks, Alaska. It was just after ten P.M. and the park was lit in shifting series of hues, ranging from a fading gold to a subdued gray as the threat of rain remained as much … Continue reading In The Wee Small Hours Of The Bottom Of The Ninth
That Other Sunday In Spring
It is now the seventh Father's Day that has passed since my dad died. In those intervening years I have not been prone to brooding too frequently or deeply about his passing, or the complicated way in which we were connected, but I find myself thinking of him quite a bit today. I suppose that … Continue reading That Other Sunday In Spring
The Riches of Embarrassment
I am, as I've mentioned in the past (Family Valued), something of an insomnia driven t.v. watcher. If you're a member of that club then you already know that at some point the viewing choices are thin enough so that the commercials offer more entertainment than the scheduled programming. Having spent more than a few … Continue reading The Riches of Embarrassment