Goddess is a long and detailed biography of the amazing Marilyn Monroe. Summers, like most biographers of the star, is after dirt and scandal, but he seems to have been fairly scrupulous about reporting only the scandal and dirt he … Continue reading
In fact, of course, this is what happened: Not funny.
The smell of the Evinrude Gasoline and oil The curve of the open wooden boat The high prow As his father and his father's friends Launch it into the surf Timing the waves to crest them And they will return … Continue reading
. . . rescued from storage.I love surf-fishing, especially on the North Carolina coast in the Fall when the blues are running. They are relatively small fish — catching one over 5 pounds is rare, catching one over 10 pounds … Continue reading
Disappointed by the box-office performance of his latest film Sucker Punch, Warner Brothers executives have quietly moved to replace Zack Snyder as the director of the new remake of Superman, which will star Amy Adams as Lois Lane. Insiders at … Continue reading
In a recent episode of PZ's Podcast, my friend Paul Zahl paid tribute to The Circle Theatre in Washington, D. C., a now vanished palace of dreams where he and I first encountered foreign films. It was in the early … Continue reading
On his recent trip to the area around Paducah, Kentucky, Paul Zahl hired a guide, Jeff Earp, to show him the mysteries of Reelfoot Lake. He writes:Our boat had to go very slowly because of the underwater stumps. At least … Continue reading
Indefatigable pilgrim Paul Zahl recently traveled to the area around Paducah, Kentucky to visit a few places enchanted in his imagination. Reelfoot Lake has associations with Irvin S. Cobb, a once celebrated American author on whose stories John Ford based … Continue reading
The advent of these bright, mild days of April means only one thing to the Ventura resident whose soul burns for adventure — the rollerblading season has begun.There is nothing quite like strapping on the blades and gliding out of … Continue reading
Where I live, the sounds of the night are romantic and consoling – trains and waves. The coastal tracks run by about a mile and a half from me, but over the silence of the cultivated fields the trains sound … Continue reading
In a very interesting comment thread on Facebook, sparked by some remarks in the press by Cotty Chubb about the film Unthinkable which he produced, John Tarnoff raised the issue of “4-wall digital” distribution. “4-wall” is the practice of renting … Continue reading
The rum coco was made sort of famous in the U. S., and hip in some quarters, like my house, by the Tennessee Williams play and film Night Of the Iguana, in which it's presented as the specialty of the … Continue reading
Autumn at the beach — a season that has some substance here because the damp of the sea air puts a bite into the chill of things. Ventura Beach is never what you would call a happening place. Even in … Continue reading
[Photo © 1960 William Klein] An excerpt from a 2000 … Continue reading
First there was the French New Wave — an attempt by filmmakers to retake control of cinema from the commercial or state-sponsored studios and get back to basics.Now there's the American Micro Wave, which is basically the same thing, necessary … Continue reading