Every person who’s fallen under the spell of ideas and history fantasizes about the discovery of a lode of forgotten texts and antiques, covered with cobwebs and protected from sunlight for eons, an archive.
This is a collection of all of the blog posts on this site in the order of publication.
Not-So-Jumping July 2026
Greatest hits included: “They Drive By Night”, “The Asphalt Jungle,” and “The Prestige”. Lows …. “Close Encounters of The Third Kind”?
Malicious May 2026 Consumption
Greatest Hits: Shakespeare’s “Richard III”, and Bunuel’s “El” and “This Gun for Hire”, being the first screen collaboration of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake.
1983 Specialized Sirrus: Goodbye Sweet Prince
A short report on my first real bike, a used 1983 Specialized Sirrus. Purchased for a song and sold for $20.
Aspiring April Consumption 2026
Best of included “The Heat” (2013), “The Violent Men” (1955), “Brute Force” (1947) and Percival Everett’s novel “The Trees”. Worst of? “Happy Gilmore 2”!
Meretricious March 2026 Reading and Writing
Greatest Hits!: “The Hit” (1980) and “Plate Tectonics”. Lowest Lows: “Death Proof” and “The Big Hit”.
Pastiche or Double Dipping: Tarantino’s “Deathproof”
I opine that Tarantino’s “Death Proof” double-dips: that it marks out sexist language and imagery as much as it trades in them.
Febrifugal February 2026 Consumption
Greatest hits!: “Okla-fucking-homa!” (1955). Not even kidding. “Millions” (2004). “Reservation Dogs” (2021-23)
Lowest lows …. “The Aprils Fools” (1969)?
Cinema’s Concepts? Deleuze’s The Time Image
Thinking about montage and decided to pick up “The Time Image” and …
Janissary January 2026 Consumption
Greatest hits of January: Euripides’ “Andromache”, “Manchester by the Sea”, “Civil War”, Hegel, Hegel, Hegel, Simone Weil’s essay on the Iliad, “The Naked City”.
Misses: “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” and, pointedly, “Where the Truth Lies”.
Euripides’ “Iphigenia in Aulis”
This play narrates the moments preceding the sacrifice of Iphigenia so that the Greek fleet can set sail for Troy.
December 2025 Consumption (no, not tuberculosis)
Greatest Hits: Have you read Euripides? Why the hell not? Don’t tell anyone.
Worst Cuts: The Contractor with Chris Pine, The Painter with Bob Shitlips
Nervous November 2025 Consumption
Greatest Hits: Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Green Porno, The Thunderbolts. Lowest Lows: Thor: Ragnorak,
September & October 2025
Best listening experience of Sept-Oct: Wire’s 1977 album “Pink Flag”. So rad.
The Master (2012): “Where Are the Naked White Women?!”
Paul Thomas Anderson again bends reality to his will in his 2012 film “The Master”, with naked women resulting.
Hazy July & August 2025 Consumption
Greatest Hits: Sahara, To the Lighthouse. Lowest Lows: The Bear, Rocky III.
Jejune June 2025 Consumption
Greatest hits: “To the Lighthouse” and “Sexy Beast” and Parasite”; Low blows: “Iron Man 3”
Law & Order, “Damaged”: Who Can Consent?
Aging badly, we say, so certain of our contemporary judgment. Hindsight is 20-fucking-20!
Monotonous May 2025 Consumption
Greatest hits: “To Live and Die in L.A.” and “Floating Clouds” and “To the Lighthouse”. Low blows: “City of Industry” Ouch.
Anxious April 2025: Consumption
Greatest hits: Henrik Pontoppidan, “Lucky Per”; the 2024 series “Shōgun”; the long-awaited second season of the Disney series “Andor”; disappointments: “Dance Hall of the Dead”
March 2025: Reading, Viewing
Greatest Hits: “Triangle of Sadness”, “Secrets & Lies”, “Shampoo”, and the 1989 “Lonesome Dove” series. Misses: “Ahsoka”?
Fearful February 2025: Reading, Viewing
Triumphs: “The Red Shoes” and “Picnic at Hanging Rock”! Flaubert’s “Sentimental Education”!
Enervating Enero 2025, Reading and Writing
All of the books and films don’t amount to much when political terror begins.
Hope or Memory in the Irony of the Romantic Disillusionment: Lukác’s “Theory of the Novel”
The episodes of the romantic novel are sundered, one from the other, but “irradiated” by hope and memory.
Dissonant December 2024: Reading, Viewing
Greatest Hits: “Carefree”, “Geology Bites” on sedimentary bias, “The Cheese and the Worms” (very sexy stuff)
Notorious November 2024: Reading, Viewing
Greatest hits of November 2024: “Brewster’s Millions”, “Silas Marner”, “Earth Time.” Worst moments: “Over the Top”? “Short Circuit”?
October 2024: Reading, Viewing?
October is a good enough reason to watch scary movies. Like the vice presidential debate … or the movie “Terrifier,” “Cannibal Holocaust,” or even “Audition.”
The Kremlin Ball, by Curzio Malaparte
“The Kremlin Ball” narrates time Malaparte spent in Moscow during the late 1920s and the intellectuals and Soviet elite he met there.
Sep. 2024 Reading, Viewing: Curzio Malaparte, Under The Skin
Greatest hits of September undoubtedly include Curzio Malaparte’s unfinished novel “The Kremlin Ball”; they do NOT include watching “Jaws 2” or “Jaws 3D.”
August August 2024: Reading, Viewing
Kept reading The Overstory” and should have finished it. Started “Homicide: Life on the Street” (1993-99), which has been a good thing. And “The Secret History of Science Fiction”
Orlando Museum of Art: 10 Aug 2024
Going to a museum has always been an experience like going to church. Same reverence, quietude required. Except that at a museum I know what I’m contemplating.