The cynicism and manifestly crass commercialism of the new Hollywood trend of splitting the final books of a series into two movies instead of one, in order to double the profits on what they assume will be a blockbuster—a tactic first used to the great detriment of quality and the even greater success of the […]
NAME THAT POEM: Today is the 72nd birthday of acclaimed American poet Sharon Olds. Who can tell me the title of the poem from which these lines come (which is also the title poem of her Pulitzer-Prize winning collection from 2012): Then the drawing on the label of our favorite red wine looks like my […]
NAME THAT POEM: Armistice Day (the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918) ended the “war to end wars” whose centennial we observe this year. Name the poem and author from whom these lines come, by a soldier in that war who was killed by a sniper on November 4, […]
In the opening credits to Alejandro González Iñárritu’s new film Birdman appear these lines, which form the epitaph on Raymond Carver’s tombstone at Ocean View Cemetery in Port Angeles: And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself […]
DON’T LEAVE ME THIS WAY: What famous novel ends with these lines? “I do not admit that Gopher Prairie is greater or more generous than Europe! I do not admit that dish-washing is enough to satisfy all women! I may not have fought the good fight, but I have kept the faith.” “Sure. You bet […]
“It is what it is,” a bank clerk tells Vincent McKenna (Bill Murray) early in Theodore Melfi’s new film St. Vincent. Vincent, who has been trying to get some kind of relief from the bank because of his severe financial problems, responds that everybody says that nowadays, and what it really means is “You’re screwed […]