The fight for my consciousness took place on the page and on the screen, through reading and viewing. Was bloody.
Continue reading...Read, Watched by Ashley Vaught
Newly Reading/Viewing January 2023
The New Year January 2023 of reading/viewing with Stendhal’s "Charterhouse of Parma" and Hamaguchi’s 2022 film "Drive My Car"
Continue reading...G.I.Joe and “G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra” (2009): Some History
Idle reflections on the G.I.Joe action figures and comic books as formative influences of my childhood
Continue reading...Conscientiously Reading, Watching December 2022
In December I started a new position as an SEO associate at Sagapixel. In the 45 days that have followed it seems so much like I’ve been unable to raise...
Continue reading...Cultural Consumption, 2022-Style! Best of!
The best books and films of 2022, some description thereof, as well as a few of the worst.
Continue reading...Jane Eyre: Post-Colonial Christian Zealotry?
Reading "Jane Eyre" for the second time revealed a quite different— quite Christian and not postcolonial—one from what inhabited my memory (and imagination).
Continue reading...November 2022: Reading, Watching
Some transcendent moments. In reading Brontë, Borges, Sebald, Masters. Watching "The Getaway" and "Breaking Away". Others, not transcendent even a little.
Continue reading...Realism Lite: “Midnight Run” (1988)
Realism lite, how film and television suggest serious violence without actually including it, is exemplified in the 1988 buddy film “Midnight Run.”
Continue reading...Female Friends: Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s "Happy Hour" (2015)
Three curiosities about the lovely 2015 Ryusuke Hamaguchi film about female friendship, "Happy Hour"
Continue reading...Pleasures in Reading: Edgar Lee Master’s “Spoon River Anthology”
From the "Spoon River Anthology" by Edgar Lee Masters, excerpts and commentary on the experience of its reading
Continue reading...Tyrannical Imagination: Henry James’ “An International Episode”
A passage from Henry James’ novel "An International Episode" displays the tyranny of the imagination
Continue reading...Suburban Micro-Aggressions: Shirley Jackson’s short story “Flower Garden”
Shirley Jackson’s "Flower Garden" will mystify readers expecting horror, but civil discord is in no short supply
Continue reading...Saturnine September 2022: Reading, Viewing
Greatest hits of September: "Lord of the Rings," "We Are the Best!" (2013), "The Hunt" (1966)—and I finished James Joyce’s "Ulysses"!
Continue reading...August-alia 2022: Reading, Watching
Birthday months are great for watching Antonioni trilogies, Premingers’ “In Harm’s Way,” reading “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Shawl.”
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