My birth month! I had really big plans because Lucian was going to be in Canadia for two weeks, including during my birthday. Instead, I squandered it by watching Casino for the nth time. Made progress in The Overstory, but did not finish it. Made progress in Earth Time, but did not finish it.
Actually, I was sick on my birthday with NOVID. That sucked.
Greatest hits?: Deadwood, undoubtedly. Homicide. And the Secret History of Science Fiction.
8/1
— James L. Powell, Four Revolutions in the Earth Sciences, 22 pp.
— Casino (1995), first hour
Directed by Martin Scorsese, adapted by Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi from the latter’s nonfiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas; starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, Don Rickles, Kevin Pollak, and James Woods.
Watching this is sort of a guilty pleasure. Which is not to say that this is a bad film. But there are certain features of the Scorsese oeuvre, if you will, that have not stood the test of time. One is Scorsese’s relentless rock music — mainly the Rolling Stones — montages.
8/2
— Kleo (2022-), 1.1-4
8/3
— The Thin Man (1934), last hour
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett; starring stars William Powell and Myrna Loy.
— After The Thin Man (1937), first half hour
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke, written by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich; starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, and James Stewart.
— Another Thin Man (1939), first 30 minutes
Again, directed by W.S. Van Dyke …
— Douglas Palmer, Earth Time, 20 pp.
8/4
— August Groner, “The Case of the Pool of Blood in the Pastor’s Study”, from the Penguin Book of Murder Mysteries [hereafter PBMM]
8/5
— Kleo, 1.5-6
8/6
— Anna Catherine Green, “An Intangible Clue”, PBMM
8/7-8
— Yellowstone, 1.1-9
8/9
— Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, 20 pp.
8/10
— Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay he wrote with Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Zeb Wells; starring Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Aaron Stanford, and Matthew Macfadyen.
— Earth Time, 20 pp.
8/11-13
— Earth Time, 85 pp.
8/14
— Powell, 15 pp.
8/15
— The Enforcer (1951)
Directed by Bretaigne Windust and an uncredited Raoul Walsh, written by Martin Rackin; starring Humphrey Bogart, Zero Mostel, and Everett Sloane.
— The Hollow Crown, 1.1 “Richard II” (2012)
Directed by Rupert Goold, who adapted the screenplay with Ben Power, based on Shakespeare’s play of the same name/ starring Ben Whishaw, Rory Kinnear, Patrick Stewart, and Lindsay Duncan.
8/16
— Deadwood, 2.3-4
— Powell, Four Revolutions, 20 pp.
8/17
— Richard Powers, The Overstory, 85 pp.
Started reading this in July? I put books down for a while and then pick them up again. Bad habit.
— Deadwood (2004-06), 2.5-7
“Complications (formerly “Difficulties”)“, written by Victoria Morrow, directed by Gregg Fienberg; aired on April 3, 2005.
“Something Very Expensive“, written by Steve Shill and David Milch, directed by Steve Shill; aired on Apr 10, 2005
“E.B. Was Left Out“, written by Jody Worth, directed by Michael Almereyda; aired on April 17, 2005.
— James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel, eds., The Secret History of Science Fiction [hereafter SHSF], “Introduction”
— Thomas Disch, “Angouleme”, SHSF
8/18
— Ursula LeGuin, “The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas”, SHSF
— Katie Wilhelm, “Ladies and Gentlemen, This is Your Crisis”, SHSF
— True Grit (1969), last hour
Directed by Henry Hathaway, adapted from the same name by Charles Portis; starring John Wayne, Glen Campbell, and Kim Darby.
The 2010 remake by the Coen brothers is better. John Wayne’s Rooster Cogburn tries to be and is likeable, whereas Jeff Bridges’ becomes likeable despite himself. Campbell’s La Boeuf pales in comparison to Matt Damon’s. And Kim Darby is not as prickly as Hailee Steinfeld. Honestly, everyone is better. It’s more bloody, more hopeless, therefore, more real (a little bit of tongue in cheek there).
— Douglas Palmer, Earth Time, 30 pp.
— T.C. Boyle, “Descent of Man”, SHSF
— Don DeLillo, “Human Moments of World War III“, SHSF
— For a Few Dollars More (1965)
Directed by Sergio Leone, written by Luciano Vincenzoni, Sergio Leone, and Sergio Donati; starring Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volonté (and Klaus Kinski!).
Mind blown when I realized that was Klaus Kinski.
8/19
— Earth Time, 15 pp.
8/20
— Deadwood, 2.8-10
“Childish Things“, written by Regina Corrado, directed by Tim Van Patten; aired on April 24, 2005.
“Amalgamation and Capital“, written by Elizabeth Sarnoff, directed by Ed Bianchi; aired on Apr 30, 2005.
“Advances, None Miraculous“, written by Sara Hess, directed by Dan Minahan; aired on May 8, 2005.
— Margaret Atwood, “Homelanding“, SHSF
— Carter Scholz, “The Nine Billion Names of God”, SHSF
8/21
— Earth Time, 20 pp.
8/22
— Molly Gloss, “Interlocking Pieces”, SHSF
— Lucius Shepherd, “Salvador”, SHSF
8/23
— Connie Willis, “Schwarzchild Radius”, SHSF
I thought this story was pretty interesting, actually, blending two different historical moments and being a kind of performative demonstration of the concept.
8/24
— John Kessel, “Buddha Nostril Bird”, SHSF
Gimme some Platonic references and let’s do it! As a result of which I picked up a collection of his short stories, the next day!
8/25
— NYRB on animal sentience and dreaming
— John Kessel, “The Baum Plan For Financial Independence”, The Baum Plan for Financial Independence and Other Stories
— Deadwood, 2.11-12
“The Whores Can Come“, aired on May 15, 2005.
“Boy-the-Earth-Talks-To“, aired on May 22, 2005.
Finished Season 2. What the fuck am I going to watch now?
‘8/29
— Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-99), 1.1
“Gone for Goode“, aired on Jan 31, 1993.
Do you know all of the people who are on this show? Andre Braugher, Ned Beatty (so many things, but you cannot forget about Deliverance [197?], oink oink), Melissa Leo (Prisoners [201?], anyone?!), Clark Johnson, Richard Belzer (I always associate him with his one scene in Scarface [198?]), Kyle Secor, Daniel Baldwin, Jon Polito (well, fucking Miller’s Crossing [1990] you freaking dumbass), and Yaphet Kotto (Across 125th Street [1972], Live and Let Die [1973], fucking Alien [1979]!!!!!!, Midnight Run [1988])! I mean gaddamn!
Of course, I would have watched it just for Jon Polito.
— Yellowstone, 2.1-3
— Gene Wolfe, “The Ziggurat” SHSF
8/30
— Homicide, 1.2
— Yellowstone, 2.4-10
… [hides eyes in embarrassment]
8/31
— Homicide, 1.3
— Jonathan Lethem, “Hardened Criminals”, SHSF
Talk about taking something too literally! Ha! Of course, what’s really interesting are these disembodied voices, talking, forever.
— Karen Joy Fowler, “Standing Room Only”, SHSF
Unexpected coincidence with the running subtext on Homicide in which Crosett (Jon Polito) has doubts about the narrative about Lincoln’s assassination.
And in case your dumbass didn’t know, actors were celebrities back in the stone age, too (my dumbass didn’t think about that).
— Casino (1995), last hour
