On how she slays me Halloween and every day
Drusilla: Do you love my insides, the parts you can’t see? Spike: Eyeballs to entrails, my sweet. That’s why I’ve got to study this Slayer. Once I know her I can kill her. And once I kill her you can have your run of Sunnyhell. Get strong again. Drusilla: Don’t worry. Everything’s switching. Outside to … Continue reading
The media is the message
I really had every intention of skipping the presidential debates this year. It’s not as if I am an undecided voter. Far from it, as I consider many of my inherent civil rights to be at risk this year more than in any year past. And it’s not as if I don’t enjoy a good … Continue reading
The Golden Child
Eddie Murphy has made plenty of odd films. But, at least his odd film of the 1980s was odd in an interesting way, not because he wore a fat suit. The Golden Child (1986) is odd, because it blends action, comedy, fantasy, and elements of Chinese mysticism. Sound familiar? Yes, Big Trouble in Little China … Continue reading
On the outs
September 30th marked my last day working at the bookstore. Now I’m just preparing for baby and trying to work on editing my novel between naps. There are a lot of naps. My first visit to the bookstore was the day after my last day. I had a huge stack of books to buy and … Continue reading
Style Icons: Sofia Coppola
Born into a major Hollywood family, a lot of Sofia Coppola’s career has been critiqued as a product of nepotism. After all, it can’t be too hard to break into the movie biz when Francis Ford Coppola is your daddy. I’m not one of her haters though. Beyond her elegant and heart-wrenching screenwriting, her directorial … Continue reading
Say hello to man’s new best friends
I first met Darius as he careened past me in a doorway, attempting to dart down the stairs behind us. It was a bit of a shock, frankly. This was my first visit to a no-kill animal shelter, and wasn’t quite prepared for how overwhelming the experience would be. I’d always wanted a cat of … Continue reading
Hard Target
Hard Target (1993) will always go down as “John Woo’s first American film.” But, it should also go down as a hell of a crazy movie. Crazy in an entertaining way no less (at least to me). In Hard Target you have a movie with mid-prime Jean-Claude Van Damme, Lance Henriksen (who always excels at … Continue reading
Let us now praise banned books
Last week was the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week. Each year the American Library Association Office for Intellectual Freedom promotes awareness of challenged and banned books in the United States. Challenged books are books that individuals or groups have requested to be removed from library shelves or school curriculum. Books fall into the category … Continue reading
Objectionable content
I can’t pause the game because “Start” on my Sega Genesis controller is for blocking. Instead, I jump around from one side of the screen to the other, hoping that I don’t jump on a fireball or impeccably-placed uppercut from the AI-controlled Johnny Cage as my dad passes through the room. I contemplate resetting the … Continue reading
A talk radio host and the talking cure
When it comes to this, the greatest of seasons, that wonderful time in which we are gifted new television shows from the networks, writers, and actors, I expect to take the good with the bad. Pilots are pilots; they are rough and rusty little things, that are trying (often too hard) to get noticed when … Continue reading
