Wildies

Some of the best movies of the past three decades came from the successful writing partnership of Joel and Ethan Coen, responsible for “No Country for Old Men,” “The Big Lebowski,” and “Fargo,” among an impressively long list.   When discussing their writing process in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, they mentioned an interesting…

Read More

DETROIT SCHADENFREUDE

A federal judge just recently approved Detroit’s use of the bankruptcy laws to deal with the city’s staggering financial problems. This ruling will allow the city the freedom to pay pennies on the dollar to its creditors, and to significantly reduce its current and long term employee pension obligations. The decision is but the latest…

Read More

4th Grade Lesson

When I was in the fourth grade, I was asked to help write a short Christmas play. (This pre-dated the ban on the reference to Christmas in schools). I fell in love with storytelling.   This affinity for simple, straight-forward narrative has helped me throughout my professional and personal life.   When I served as…

Read More

The Day After

Future social historians will look back at the 20th and early 21st Centuries and identify three socially transforming events in America: Pearl Harbor, the Kennedy Assassination, and 9/11. The day after Pearl Harbor, Americans realized they were no longer protected by two oceans and the Nation’s collective sense of security was transformed. The day after…

Read More

Would You Believe Mayor Rob Ford as a Fictional Character?

Deep-sea creatures like the Anglerfish; string theory, which revealed through mathematics the possibility of multiple dimensions; the unlikely reality television careers of Gary Busey and Bruce Jenner – all these things might qualify for that wonderful Mark Twain quote:   “Truth is stranger than fiction because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t.”…

Read More

Cronenberg Smacks Down Kubrick in Article

Stanley Kubrick continues to be a lightning rod of film-industry controversy nearly a decade and a half after his death. This time around it’s coming from one of the most cutting-edge filmmakers in the sci-fi/thriller/horror/weirdness game, David Cronenberg.   Here’s what the Canadian director recently told The Toronto Star when asked about how his film…

Read More

Do Literary Devices Help Us Better Understand our Halloween Experiences?

Christmas and Thanksgiving movies often hinge on the underlying stresses of families getting together and trying to have a happy, peaceful and meaningful family gathering.   It’s great tension, and story thrives on tension. But there’s also underlying tension for the Halloween experience, which is usually underutilized because it is, perhaps, just a bit too…

Read More

Halloween: the Unintentionally Scary Holiday

Halloween parties have already begun and costumes like the sexy nurse has got me thinking about the origins of the holiday, and how far from its original purpose we have come.   A basic Wikipedia search tells it pretty well: Halloween was originally a Celtic holiday to celebrate the harvest season, possibly including pagan rituals…

Read More

Fire or Ice? Author Stephen King’s ‘Shining’ Sequel Favors Fire

In 1977, Stephen King wasn’t STEPHEN KING (!!!) yet; he was just a promising young novelist. That’s why he recalls the many details of the morning when the much-celebrated director Stanley Kubrick called his home 36 years ago about adapting King’s novel, “The Shining.”   King has told the story a number of times to…

Read More

Horror/Thriller: One of the Most Inventive Genres?

Now’s the time of year to appreciate the color of fall, namely – blood red!   Seriously, save the golds, browns, and evergreens for Thanksgiving, because the fact is that Tim Burton’s “Nightmare Before Christmas,” celebrating its 20-year anniversary, proves that Halloween comes and goes way too fast.   People love to be freaked out.…

Read More