Spitzer’s shame is no direct concern of mine, although it is staggering that these powerful dudes seriously imagine that they won’t get caught. I mean, what are they, 19-year old drunk drivers who believe themselves immortal? And I won’t myself deign to consider why they can’t just Keep It In Their...

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Finally got to see No Country for Old Men over the weekend, and boy was it worth it. I don't know that I can remember a film as full of suspense. I heard an interview with the sound designer, I think it was, who explained how the Coens had insisted on almost no music and how he had assembled the s...

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19 cities in the world with 20 million people in the 21st century is a slide show that sets out a jaw-dropping agenda to study the near future. The slides are wonderful, so is the concept. One can but hope that the results will be too. Just one little niggle: nowhere among the 14 “subjects of expl...

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M.A. Peel, over at her blog, has a big deal post explaining to the world the significance of the scene with the horses that ends the first segment, before the flashback, of Michael Clayton. She does a good job of it too. My point is, why was it needed? I mean, who did not realize what was going on...

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I stepped off the bus a couple of days ago and heard the unmistakeable screech of the invisible parakeet. In the Villa Pamphilij and elsewhere I’ve caught glimpses of them flitting high overhead through the umbrella pines. One memorable evening, just after we had moved in here, I happened to be lo...

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