I really wanted to be a science fiction fan when I was in middle school and high school. It seemed the proper extension of my geeky interest in comic books, albeit an extension that, I felt at the time, carried … Continue reading My Writers: Harlan Ellison
This weekend, I’ll participate in The World’s Largest Trivia ContestTM. I’m a little preoccupied with preparations for that, including some significant travel. To provide some sense of the madness of minutiae that dominates my mind this week, I’ll return to … Continue reading Trivia Answer of the Day: The Oklahoma Kamikaze
My efforts for Spectrum Culture this week began with an incredibly difficult movie to write about: Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color. The movie is so densely inscrutable that any attempt to summarize it (or even more daunting, to speculate on its meaning) is practically doomed to failure. I feel I did all right, but I’m actively looking forward to writing on what appears to be a fairly simple documentary for this coming week. On the music side, I wrote about the new album from Caitlin Rose, which is very solid. Though I didn’t make this comparison in the review, it reminded … Continue reading Spectrum Check
I watch movies the way I do because of Roger Ebert. I started watching the venerable Chicago Sun-Times film critic verbally spar with Gene Siskel, his counterpart at crosstown paper the Chicago Tribune, when the two were hosts of the PBS program Sneak Previews. This was before the direction each of their thumbs pointed was keenly watched by studios, before the breadth of their influence reached a level that arguably exceeded that of any film critics that came before. These were simply two guys–equally passionate, equally smart, equally committed to exploring the value of cinema in all its forms–talking about … Continue reading Roger Ebert, 1942 – 2013
“Back when he was a boy, there used to be a gentleman named Joseph Charles, man would stand out every day at the corner of Oregon and Grove wearing a pair of dazzling yellow gloves. Waving to every car that passed him, extending to the driver, regardless of race, creed, or receptivity, one (1) genuine, heartfelt greeting. Mr. Charles’s manner bold and cheerful but a touch formal, hinting, though not in any unkind way, at the impersonal. No intention of greeting you in particular; simply reminding you that, like all humans, you partook in the noble human capacity for being … Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
I had a lot of stuff go up at Spectrum Culture this week, so let’s just tick them off: –It’s fairly rare that I write for the book section, but it occurred to me late last fall that I just might be able to get myself a review copy of the massive, intimidating and universally adored new outing from Chris Ware, Building Stories. Evidently, I made my request right before our editor-in-chief, inspiring at least a bit of envy. That’s the proper reaction on his part, by the way. This thing is spectacular. In my many reviews for Spectrum, this … Continue reading Spectrum Check
I was a bad English major. Truth is, I wanted to be a creative writing major, but my college didn’t offer that at the time. I opted for English, basically declaring it as soon as I got there. My was … Continue reading My Writers: Thomas Hardy
As I sheepishly acknowledged in the last installment of this series, I didn’t discover Kurt Vonnegut when I probably should have. I’m not sure where he settles into the canon right this moment, but Vonnnegut was a staple of high … Continue reading My Writers: Kurt Vonnegut
There was a specific point, lost to me now, when I decided that I absolutely needed to read Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity. I truly wish I could credit the periodical or person or television interview or whatever that caused me … Continue reading My Writers: Nick Hornby
“He assigns the topic. Each writes whatever sentences his or her temperament permits. ‘Write what you know,’ Harmon apes, as if it were possible to do anything else.” –Richard Powers, Generosity, 2009 “OF ALL THE COUNTLESS WORLDS I’VE KNOWN…OF THE MYRIADS OF PLANETS UPON WHICH I’VE TROD…NEVER HAVE I KNOWN A RACE SO FILLED WITH FEAR…WITH DARK DISTRUST…WITH THE SEEDS OF SMOLDERING VIOLENCE…AS THIS…WHICH CALLS ITSELF…HUMANITY!” –Stan Lee, SILVER SURFER, Vol. 1, No. 2, “When Lands the Saucer!” 1968 Continue reading Great Moments in Literature
Coffee for Two 