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.
July 2024: Reading, Watching
Greatest hits: the Netflix Ripley series, “Blood and Wine” with Jack Nicholson, “Geology: A Very Short Introduction.”
Lowest lows: “The Flash.” What facile bollocks.
June 2024 Reading, Viewing
Greatest Hits: Everett’s “Erasure,” Zweig’s “Mary, Queen of Scots,” “Code Inconnu.” Lowest Lows: “S.W.A.T.” (2003). Ouch.
May 2024 Reading and Viewing
During May I consumed so much Stefan Zweig, Nikolai Gogol, but also “Crime Wave” and “The Insider” and even “La Haine”
The Limey (1999): Mise-en-Scène and Glib Dialogue
“The Limey” is essentially a father-daughter story of a very strange sort, in at least two discrete dimensions. Masterful in mise-en-scène; a dilettante in dialogue.
Mary Stuart. The Maid of Orleans. Two Historical Plays By Schiller
Not so recently acquired: Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart and The Maid of Orleans. Two Historical Plays in One Volume!
April Absolutions: Reading, Watching
The highnotes: The Letter (1940), Hobson’s Choice (1954), Stefan Zweig, Henrik Ibsen.
The lownotes: The Matrix (1999) and its progency, Ender’s Game (2013), 2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984), The Bounty Hunter (1965).
Manic March 2024 Reading, Writing
David Graeber’s “The Utopia of Rules,” Michael Haneke’s “Funny Games,” Ida Lupino in “Women’s Prison.” Is it too late to punish the writers of “Road House”?
Frigid February 2024 Reading & Watching
The so-called Glaciation Trilogy and the only Hamaguchi film I hadn’t seen, as well as David Graeber’s “Utopia of Rules”
“71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance” (1994): Is Michael Haneke Anti-Narrative?
Elsewhere Haneke has described some of his films as anti-narrative. Is it true of “71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance”?
Reflections on “Benny’s Video” (1992): Image, Sound, Reality, Parental Neglect
The televisual void has sucked away all vestiges of reality from lived experience: Benny makes videos to capture what is missing.
“The Seventh Continent” (1989) by Michael Haneke
“The Seventh Continent” is Australia, where Georges, Anna, and Eva are going to live, right after they annihilate all vestiges of their material existences.
Cold January 2024: Reading and Writing
Greatest hits of January 2023: The Manchurian Candidate, Austerlitz, Blood Meridian, King Lear, and The Long Good Friday
The Arden Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
On the second series edition of the Arden Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra”, both this particular 1991 printing as well as on the content more generally
Delicious December 2023: Read, Watched
The greatest hits of the last month of December: Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, Broken Code by Jeff Horwitz, My Darling Clementine by John Ford and Memories of Murder by Bong Joon-Ho.
Nihilistic November 2023 Reading and Writing
Greatest hits include the 1942 film “The Glass Key” and the 1993 film “Groundhog Day” and reading Schelling and reading Schiller.
Ominous October 2023 Reading/Writing
Little aliens deeply impressed by the British Invasion arrived in Philadelphia, begged me to read and watch through October.
Pride and Prejudice, the Movie Tie-In Edition
Purchased the Movie Tie-In edition of “Pride and Prejudice” to my profound moral chagrin
Scintillating September 2023: Reading, Writing
Greatest hits of September: the charming memoir “Family Lexicon” by Natalia Ginzburg, Luchino Visconti’s “The Damned” and then “The Seven Ups”
Reading Aloud: Ben Lerner’s “The Rescue”
Reading aloud a poem published in the New York Review of Books September 21, 2023 issue.
Listless July/August Reading/Writing
Reflecting on these reminds me of how great "Germany Year Zero" and "The Player" really were. Also, "Yoga" and Henry James.
Dull June 2023: Reading, Watching, No Writing
Greatest reading and watching hits of June 2023 included “Men”, “Sword of Doom”, “Heat”, “Merry Wives of Windsor”, and “The Anniversary Party”.
“An Ideal Craftsman”: Psychological Horror from Walter de la Mare
“An Ideal Craftsman” follows a young boy down to the larder, happening upon a crime scene.
Piranesi: The Etchings
Detailing the purchase of a less puerile, more dignified Taschen volume collecting the etchings of Piranesi, the article and exhibit inspiring these.
Sumptuously Reading, Watching, Viewing: May 2023
Reading 15th- and 16th-century lit and watching contemporary, 21st-century film. Greatest hits: Heat (1995), Montaigne, Shakespeare (immer wieder).
Strata: William Smith’s Geological Maps
Not long ago I ordered "Strata: William Smith’s Geological Maps" lighting a fire of memory and reflection
April-Showered Reading, Watching
Rereading Shakespeare, Borges; then reading stories by Walter de la Mare. Re-watching two films by David Lynch—neither being “Blue Velvet” nor “Inland Empire.”
Discovering Robert Southwell’s Metaphysical Poetry
A few reflections on the discovery of 16th-century poet Robert Southwell, apparently an exemplar of English Metaphysical Poetry.
Meticulous March: Reading, Watching
Nothing that meticulous about it. Finished at least one book. Mostly underwhelming days.
Psychology or Demonic Influence: Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” (2018)
Ari Aster’s debut feature film Hereditary (2018) plays on the devilish ambiguity articulating the affinity between the histories of demonic influence and psychological pathology.
Fearless February 2023 Reading, Watching
The fight for my consciousness took place on the page and on the screen, through reading and viewing. Was bloody.