hollywood | hollywood
May.21.2013
Michael Blake
Received a phone call yesterday from old Tucson buddy, Michael Blake. I’m always delighted to hear from Michael since a landline telephone is the only way he contacts me since he went off the grid two years ago. Michael still composes with pad and pen. Thought he might be calling to...
|
May.20.2013
It was over thirty years ago that the Hollywood Blockbuster Season gave us “Odorama.” Yup, 1981’s version of 3-D was a scratch and sniff card with numbered aromas. When a number flashed on the screen, we in the audience would scratch. It was a John Waters gimmick for his film, “Polyester,” which...
|
Apr.26.2013
The first time I visited Hollywood was 1965. I was sixteen and my parents were keen to show me and my three younger sibs ‘The Beckoning El Dorado.’ I had been weaned on my mother’s stories of her maiden voyage down the palm-lined streets in the early 40s – lunch at the Brown Derby, a...
|
Apr.05.2013
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s screenplays did not scream, or even appear to make profound statements. The sorrow was matter-of-fact. It took me a while to understand the detachment.
“I want a happiness without a hole in it, I want the bowl without a crack” – (From ‘The Golden Bowl’)...
|
Mar.21.2013
Photo: Bon Jovi, from its Wikipedia page
These are ways that are a little more subtle than, let's say, your hair thinning, or you just plain losing your hair. Neither of these are happening to me, of course.
--You hear yourself constantly comparing yourself, or your...
|
Mar.16.2013
We are a big step closer to launch of The Hummingbird Review spring 2013 issue with completed layout of all items in correct order. Off to book designer on Monday. This issue features a Hollywood theme and a much desired conversation with poet Billy Collins. Thanks to editor, Robert Yehling and...
|
Mar.06.2013
Since the dawn of cinema, there has always been pressure for movie stars to project the right image, especially women, but in the last quarter century the demand to look great at Hollywood Red Carpet events, premiers, and award shows has become almost a full time job. TV is littered...
|
Mar.06.2013
Harper’s Magazine, March 2013
If one were to hang one’s hat on any articles in this issue as talking points relating to todays significant issues in the U.S., one need only read through the first dozen pages.
That begins with Thomas Frank’s essay, “Blood Sport,” on the Connecticut...
|
|
Feb.23.2013
Why a Hollywood theme for the next issue of our literary anthology, The Hummingbird Review?
I did not choose the topic; the theme declared itself. It began with a phone call from my cousin. “Charlie, guess who’s sitting on my sofa?”
I was silent.
“Bobby.”
No common relative or...
|
Feb.19.2013
When I read about Helen Hunt getting a baby due to an ‘uplifting experience’, I adduced it must have been close to Immaculate Conception.
What transpired, instead, was a combination of superstition and auto-suggestion. The uplifting experience was a ‘lift’. On the David...
|