For some reason, I am cleaning the swimming pool at one of the houses David Lynch owns in the Hollywood Hills. I’ve seen pictures of the houses but I have no idea if any of them actually have a swimming pool. Possibly it is the swimming pool from Mulholland Dr. Which I suppose might make me Gene (played by Billy Ray Cyrus) owner and…
Winter Kills (1979) resides somewhere in a narrow spectrum of genre space between comedy and conspiracy thriller. For this reason, it often gets called a “dark comedy” or “political satire.” Written & directed by William Richert (from a 1974 novel by Richard Condon), the film is a hyper-paranoiac romp through a maddening maze of political conspiracy, organized crime, and family betrayal. The cast is…
There are three material things I love greatly in life, three hedonistic focuses if you will. Coffee, Books, and Movies. I wouldn’t choose a life absent of any one of those things. Not that I’d give up my whiskey, tobacco, marijuana, cherry pie, or chocolate without a violent struggle. Those are just not really the hills I’d choose to die on, all things considered.…
Owning property has its risks. The torture of escrow is not always the end of the horror. Plumbing and electrical problems can drive a home owner to bankruptcy. Structural issues can make an erstwhile home into a house of death. Then there are the utility and maintenance costs. The average homeowner often seems to occupy one of the middle rungs of Hell. But owning…
Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, The Big Lebowski is most notably a delightful sendup of film noir tropes, a particular twist on the “man who knew too much.” Drawn into a series of strange events due to a case of mistaken identity, Jeff Lebowski is a man who knows far too little about anything other than bowling. By the end of…
Pyramid Magazine has published a brief article I wrote on the femme fatale archetype, which is found most commonly in film noir and hardboiled crime fiction. The article also considers attributes and other elements of the femme fatale character that are applicable to role-playing games. While the article focuses on GURPS mechanics, the ideas could certainly be implemented in any gaming system. This publication…
The opening sequence of Primary Colors telegraphs the central theme and concern of the film: character. Democratic Presidential candidate Jack Stanton moves slowly through a crowd, shaking hands with the people. In a medium shot that isolates his body and keeps his head and shoulders out of frame, Stanton goes through a variety of handshakes as he stops to meet each individual. One of…
Lurking in the shadows throughout America are citizens who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000. I’m one of those people, proud to have voted for Nader (with the rationalization that I lived in a “safe state” – Washington – where Al Gore won by a substantial margin).[1] Many other Nader sympathizers resist answering the question, relying on that hoary old American notion that your…