El Orfanato
“The Orphanage is dark, eerie, disturbing, suspenseful, and genuinely frightening, without resorting to cheap cinematic tricks or gruesome special effects.”
Hidden City
The stories, essays, dreams, and delusions of Marc Kevin Hall
29 January 2008
26 January 2008
Oscars and Oscarology
Frankly, the idea of using the Hollywood stars to predict the future makes as much sense as using the astronomical stars, so I’m rather taken with Oscarology. Of course, having my “sign” be the Shirley MacLaine/Jack Lemmon classic The Apartment doesn’t hurt any. The Apartments are likable, easy-going, and accommodating… sometimes to a fault. They [...]
21 January 2008
Two bucks
The scruffy dark-haired young man approached me on the corner as I waited for the light to change. “Hey man, I hate to bother you, but can you help me out? I’m starving.” His clothes were a little dirty but still almost fashionable, but his dark eyes looked hollow and more than a little scared. [...]
19 January 2008
The folly of man
I finished watching the new giant monster flick Cloverfield about an hour ago, so my stomach is starting to settle down. I wish I could tell you that the nausea was caused by the relentless suspense, or even by the grisly visual effects, but no. I’m just a victim of hand held camera syndrome. For [...]
17 January 2008
Crypticism
In my draft essay files I have a note titled “context”. It is an empty note. Sometimes I do things like that, hide a cryptic note somewhere and then forget that I even did it, or why. It is disconcerting, certainly, but I wish I could do it more often. I don’t surprise myself often [...]
16 January 2008
Zodiac
“It isn’t about the killer, or even the killings. It is an meticulous examination of the effects wrought on the lives of the people investigating the crime, both police and journalists.”
11 January 2008
Coming back
Sorry for the unexpected sudden break. (I was doing so much better there for a while, too!) One of my best friends called me with a medical emergency, and I spent a day escorting her through the health care system, and two days recovering from the experience. She’s back at home and doing fine, though, [...]
7 January 2008
Omnivore
Besides spending an inordinate amount of time on Fleet Street, I’ve been gulping down media like cold beer on a hot day. It’s probably a combination of my desire to escape a few things going on the the physical world, a major post-holiday influx of new material, and illness-induced insomnia; whatever the reason, there a [...]
6 January 2008
Squared off
Square America is your source for quaint and bizarre old candid photos. In addition to the strangeness, there are occasional gems like this: In November of 1963 Martin Johnson took over 140 photos of CBS’s coverage of JFK’s funeral. I’ve edited them down to a small selection of 33 photos documenting both the assassination and [...]
5 January 2008
Attend the tale
I should provide something with a little more depth later, but for now, here are my capsule reviews of the three versions of Sweeney Todd I’ve seen. Broadway Production (1982): This DVD comes the closest to capturing the original Sondheim production in all its Grand Guignol splendor. It’s dark and twisted, but retains a healthy [...]
4 January 2008
What has it gots in its pocketses?
The Thai people have a culture rich in ghosts. They even provide houses for them! Derek Powazek — How to Write a Book in Three Easy Steps This is an important book for Americans to read, particularly this election year: Sinclair Lewis’s It Can’t Happen Here [full text], [Wikipedia]. Share/Bookmark
3 January 2008
Name that tune
This morning while I was feeding the cats on my porch I saw a guy walking down the sidewalk in an intense and measured stride. He was wearing a blue hoodie with his hands jammed in the pockets, and had an angry, frowning expression on his face. As he got closer I could tell he [...]
2 January 2008
X with Y
Some people have odd obsessions. I chanced across the sites of a fellow who collects photos of women doing ordinary things, such as: Babes With Books (women with books) Women With Wine (women drinking wine) Tea Birds (women drinking tea) While the photos are generally innocuous, there may be an occasional image that is not [...]
1 January 2008
New skies
Sunrise over Haulover Beach It was a quiet and contemplative start to 2008, even if it wasn’t quite the restorative it’s been in past years. Still, it’s good to begin a new year with a symbolic gesture. I suppose you could think of this annual visit as my version of cooking black-eyed peas. Share/Bookmark