Writing
3.13.16 20 Years in NYC, Part 2: Be the shark, never stop moving
If life isn’t giving you what you want, find a new path. Be the shark, never stop moving. That path may not take you where you want to go, but on the road you may — if you’re lucky — run into a fork that actually leads you forward.
Read More3.11.16 Clickbait, Kim Kardashian, and the opposite of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’ magic
Every time you click on a dopey picture of a dopey reality star (or egocentric musician or ridiculous media-hogging actor), the opposite of the It’s a Wonderful Life magic happens. An angel does not get his (or her) wings. Instead, an angel keels over, choking.
Read More3.7.16 20 Years in NYC, Part 1: ‘I may get a little worked up’
I wasn’t planning to be a New Yorker. New York just kind of happened to me.
Read More2.29.16 Oscars fallout: A Win Win for Spotlight director Tom McCarthy, who knows the power of giving two Fs
He couldn’t take those words out. And the MPAA said fine, you keep both uses of those words in and you’re getting an R. And he would not back down — it just wasn’t going to happen.
Read More2.10.16 Writer’s Cut: ‘Narnia is still behind the wardrobe’
I’m a homebird. I’m the homebird who fantasizes about an RV in Patagonia, but really I just want to be in Dublin.
Read More1.12.16 ‘Keep me in your heart for awhile’
We put a lot on to our heroes, our entertainers, the people who make us feel all the feels. We want to thank them and don’t have the language to do so, so we buy and watch and record and ask for autographs if we happen to cross paths but it is a vocabulary of gibberish. They are creating from a well from which we can only bathe, not drink and so we can never fully know what is going on as they weave mystic dreams out of sound and vision.
Read More1.8.16 ‘I needed, like, a beginning middle and end’
I’m having a weird moment: There’s very little TV on my DVR right now. The net I’m throwing out and trawling just isn’t catching anything worth watching, and I’m so grateful when it does that when The Blacklist returned to my lineup Thursday night (don’t judge me, there’s nothing wrong about this completely nonsensical wish fulfillment show) I was thrilled.
Read More12.30.15 ‘He moves like God’s immaculate machine’
We’ve gotten away from it all to end the year, and we’ve brought the dog. Birdie came to us in April from — as we were told — a foster rescue situation with an elderly couple in Tennessee. The couple, who reportedly live in a rural area, were ailing and could no longer take care…
Read More12.22.15 ‘They’re both a little unhinged’
Peter Quinn has long been a favorite of mine. I wrote about him here, in a column from October 2014, as one of TV’s most interesting secondary characters. I like the ones who aren’t precisely second bananas or sidekicks, who have significant roles but who don’t necessarily propel the plot — and therefore can be much more interesting than your average hero or anti-hero. I love Doug Stamper on House of Cards; I love — loved– Peter Quinn on Homeland.
Read More12.17.15 ‘The Seuss use was certainly on point’
Here’s a sentence you don’t get to use much: Keira Knightley was my warm up act today.
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