Tag: 1980s

RIP, Dear Abby

Columnist Pauline Phillips has died. Ms. Phillips was best known for her advice column, “Dear Abby.” The New York Times has an obituary. At NPR’s Monkey See blog, Linda Holmes writes about why people ask strangers for advice, noting that it’s a “curiously optimistic thing to do.”

On Cary Grant

The Hairpin‘s Anne Helen Petersen has written an excellent piece on Cary Grant’s career and life–scandals, Randolph Scott, sartorial brilliance and all: “Grant’s image was in many ways univocal — he played variations of the same character, he seemed to be a ladies’ man on and off the […]

RIP, Nagisa Oshima

Director Nagisa Oshima has died. Oshima directed numerous films exploring sexuality, death and power of all kinds, including: In The Realm ff the Senses, The Empire of Passion, Japanese Summer: Double Suicide , Cruel Story of Youth and Taboo (starring a young Tadanobu Asano). He was also a […]

Escaping the Truck Stop Killer

“[It] occurred to me that this investigation of mine wasn’t a detective novel. It was a ghost story.” In 1985, Vanessa Veselka escaped a terrifying trucker who probably was Robert Ben Rhoades, the Truck Stop Killer and, years later, tries to understand her experience and learn more about […]