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.
- Ominous October 2023 Reading/Writing
- Pride and Prejudice, the Movie Tie-In Edition
- Scintillating September 2023: Reading, Writing
- Reading Aloud: Ben Lerner’s “The Rescue”
- Listless July/August Reading/Writing
- Dull June 2023: Reading, Watching, No Writing
- “An Ideal Craftsman”: Psychological Horror from Walter de la Mare
- Piranesi: The Etchings
- Sumptuously Reading, Watching, Viewing: May 2023
- Strata: William Smith’s Geological Maps
- 31 Days Sub Specie 16th-17th-Century-Aeternitates
- April-Showered Reading, Watching
- Discovering Robert Southwell’s Metaphysical Poetry
- Meticulous March: Reading, Watching
- Psychology or Demonic Influence: Ari Aster’s “Hereditary” (2018)
- Fearless February 2023 Reading, Watching
- Newly Reading/Viewing January 2023
- G.I.Joe and “G.I.Joe: The Rise of Cobra” (2009): Some History
- Conscientiously Reading, Watching December 2022
- Cultural Consumption, 2022-Style! Best of!
- Jane Eyre: Post-Colonial Christian Zealotry?
- November 2022: Reading, Watching
- Realism Lite: “Midnight Run” (1988)
- Female Friends: Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s "Happy Hour" (2015)
- Pleasures in Reading: Edgar Lee Master’s “Spoon River Anthology”
- Odious October 2022: Reading, Watching
- Tyrannical Imagination: Henry James’ “An International Episode”
- Suburban Micro-Aggressions: Shirley Jackson’s short story “Flower Garden”
- Saturnine September 2022: Reading, Viewing
- August-alia 2022: Reading, Watching
- 2 Missing Details in Richard Linklater’s Epic Before Trilogy
- Strikingly Read, Viewed: July 2022
- Peter Weir’s “The Plumber” (1979) Leaves Uncertain
- Heatedly Read, Watched: Boring June 2022
- “The Mandalorian” Still Stinks in Season 2
- Powerful May Reading, Viewing: 2022 edition
- Reading Ulysses’ “Oxen of the Sun” (to oneself, aloud, and just in general)
- Upcoming: An Excellent SEO Presentation, Colorado ASMP, Saturday, May 14th
- Narcoleptically Read & Watched: April 2022
- March 2022: Read & Viewed, with feeling
- “Night Hunter” (2018) is no “Night of the Hunter” (1955)
- Blithely Read Ulysses, Watched et al.: Feb 2022
- Fragrant Excerpt from Joyce’s “Ulysses”: 5, Lotus Eaters
- Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing” (1956): Misanthropy Run Amok
- Lasciviously Read & Watched: January 2022
- “The Silence” by Don DeLillo: Electromagnetic Pulses and Voiceless Narration
- Happily Read and Watched: December 2021
- Cynthia Ozick’s novel “Trust”: a 1400-word Summary
- Reading well an excerpt from Cynthia Ozick’s novel “Trust”
- What was read and viewed during the sad, bad month of November 2021
- Tour of Turret Two of the USS New Jersey
- Cynthia Ozick’s “Trust”: Exegesis | Tom Hanks on Jimmy Kimmel Live
- Read, Viewed: October 2021
- Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” (2010): Seeking Expiation
- Read, Viewed: September 2021
- René Clément’s “Forbidden Games” (1952): Mourning as Indifference
- Read, Viewed: August 2021
- Read & Viewed: July 2021
- Ain’t it cool?!: “John Wick” (2014)
- Read, Viewed: June 2021
- “Collateral” (2004): Notes on Michael Mann and Modern Urban Space
- May 2021 Reading and Viewing: Glorious Consumption, Indeed
- Fred Hyatt: Not Enough Technology Pessimism!
- Satire or Misanthropy? “Solar,” by Ian McEwan
- Read and Viewed: April 2021
- Joseph Losey’s “Accident” (1967): Elliptical yet fascinating
- Read and Watched: March 2021
- Affecting Song and W.E.B. Du Bois’ “Souls of Black Folk”
- Harriet Jacobs’ “Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl”
- Read, Viewed: Black History Month 2021
- “Up From Slavery”: Booker T. Washington’s words
- Coming to Booker T. Washington’s “Up From Slavery”
- Black History Month 2021: Consumed
- Read, Viewed: January 2021
- Joseph Losey’s “The Servant” (1963): Master/Slave Dialectic Demonstrated
- Reading Journal: Assembling Dinosaurs, “War and Peace”
- Bad Poetry Morning
- Read Viewed Consumed 2020-12
- Anna Seghers’ “Transit”: Profound Unknowing
- “Marauders” (on Netflix now) is Sooooo Bad
- Read Viewed Consumed 2020-11
- “Sudden Fear” (1952): Neither sudden nor fearful
- Sexy Idea #2: Presentism—The Most Dangerous Prejudice
- Read Viewed Consumed | 2020-10
- Julio Cortázar’s “Bestiary”: Man-eating animals
- “Blind Geronimo and His Brother”: Mistrust Finds its End
- “Anxiety … Dizziness … Freedom”: Paraself Virtue
- Gottfried Keller’s “The Little Dance Legend”: Pagans Mix Poorly
- “Beyond the Pale”: The Repressed Returns
- Ginzburg’s “The Mother”: Recollections Partial and Fleeting
- Hoffman’s “Don Juan”: The Mysterious Visitation
- “An Unexpected Reunion”: Death’s Dominion Disturbed
- Goethe’s Hymn to Virtue: “The Attorney”
- “The Truth of Fact, The Truth of Feeling”: Writing on Trial
- Read Viewed Consumed |2020-09
- ‘Tis Short Story Month
- George Saunders’ “CivilWarLand in Bad Decline”
- August 2020: Read, Viewed
- Reading Slowly: “War and Peace”
- Read Viewed Consumed 2020-07
- Hither hocus pocus?
- The Genius of Ozu’s “Good Morning” (1959)
- Read Viewed Consumed 2020-06
- What is a flâneur?
- Is Writing About Bad Movies a Waste?
- Willa Cather’s “Death Comes for the Archbishop”
- Read Viewed Consumed 2020-05
- Read Viewed Consumed 2020-04
- Notes on Lampedusa’s novel “The Leopard”
- Consumption, March 2020
- Joanna Hogg’s “Unrelated” (2007): The Desire to Belong
- COVID Information Compulsion
- COVID Diary: Historical Ruptures
- Sexy Idea #1: Rousseau’s Noble Savage
- Consumption, February 2020
- Krasnahorkai’s “The Last Wolf”
- If Birds are Dinosaurs
- Captivating corruption: Single sentence exegesis
- Consumption, January 2020
- What Do Dinosaurs Mean?
- Stop signs
- William H. Gass’ “In the Heart of the Heart of the Country”
- Impactful is not a word!
- 200114: the prejudice of historical progress
- 200111: Reading Journal
- 200107: Reading Journal
- Reading the News? 3 Reasons to Stop
- Does Philosophy Do Film?
- Only Boredom Can Save Photography Now
- Why Hamilton is Great
- Booth Tarkington’s “The Magnificent Ambersons”
- Patricia Highsmith’s “Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes”
- Uncertain reflections on the Coen Brothers’ misanthropy
- “Hiroshima Mon Amour” (1959), Part 1
- Lu gets a new bike
- “Pépé le Moko” (1937): Failure to Escape
- The iPhone Easily Led Me into the Future
- Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” (1954): Murder as Fantasy, Sex as Violence
- Chet Travels: sur les bricoleurs de l’angoisse
- from the journals of Chet (8/6/04)