Month: July 2007

  • Now on DVD: They Live by Night

    by Peter Schilling Director Nicholas Ray’s first film (from 1948) has been called the most auspicious debut in American movies since Citizen Kane. Based on the dynamite Depression-era gangster novel Thieves Like Us, They Live by Night begins with the daring prison break of three men: a 23-year-old killer named Bowie and the aged, hardened…

  • Cleaning Up the Act

    I feel like the guy sweeping up after the elephants. Only I’m also the elephant. My lovely bride and I are enjoying a little beach time with family in sweltering, blustery Florida this week: Captiva Island — where, before you start building, a quarter acre of limestone gravel with no view of either the Gulf…

  • Tracy Reese Report

    File this under drivel: I just got back from a long weekend in NYC, where I spent most of my time fanning the flames of my other life (theater critic/writer). But I made time for a stop at the Tracy Reese store, and even scored a delightful summer frock for a mere thirty-eight dollars! Also,…

  • A Small Defense of Keith Ellison

    What is being handed over in this illustration is the fasces, the Roman symbol of power. Look up “fascist” in the dictionary, if you wonder where the word came from. I was on vacation two weeks ago and so missed most of the tempest in a teapot blown up by Keith Ellison’s conflation of Bush’s…

  • You Can Always Stay in with a DVD or a Book

    FILM – DVD RELEASE by Peter Schilling Jr. They Live By Night Director Nicholas Ray’s first film (from 1948) has been called the most auspicious debut in American movies since Citizen Kane. Based on the dynamite Depression-era gangster novel Thieves Like Us, They Live by Night begins with the daring prison break of three men:…

  • Trade Talk Galore!

    Okay, much as I hate to plunge into things without being sure it is not a waste of time, the Associated Press is calling the KG trade to Boston a done deal and I’m getting a lot of calls to appear on various media to discuss the trade, so it seems a little silly not…