RIP, Deanna Durbin
Actress and singer Deanna Durbin has died. The Los Angeles Times and The Guardian have obituaries. Audie Cornish and Melissa Block remember Durbin on NPR. Here Deanna Durbin sings, “Good-Bye” in Because Of Him (1946)
Secret Agent, Detective, Genius, Jerk: Modernizing Sherlock Holmes
A man with dark wavy hair wakes up in an iron-framed bed in the middle of a windowless room. He leaps out from under the white sheets and stares intently at a corner of the white ceiling. Suddenly, gracefully, he spins to defeat an invisible opponent in four […]
Jane Austen, Master Game Theorist
Jane Austen responds to Michael Chwe naming her a master of Game Theory.
Superman and Transcending Reality
“Words like ‘realism’ and ‘dark’ and ‘gritty’ get bandied about Hollywood as if the only merit a story can have is in its verisimilitude, but that’s a lie. Emotional honesty transcends reality; it’s what allows disbelief to be suspended, and yet what makes a story stay true.” Writer […]
Phase IV Alternate Ending
“Programmers at Los Angeles’ The Cinefamily unveiled a never-before-seen ending to [Phase IV] after a screening of the theatrical cut if Bass’ film debut.” More here.
“Keycard to Room 237”
Jim Emerson collects and breaks down the criticisms of Room 237, a documentary of people who obsess over Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. And Drew Morton created a visual essay in response to the film.
The Cultural Gutter 