stephen

Farewell, Frankenstein

This is why I’m terrified to apply to go back to school: because I sit around for 11 hours coming up with muck like this FOR FUN! I’m pretty sure that I’m not making the world a better place… Intro – Early bio of PBS and MWS, their relationship up until then Thesis – structureContinue reading “Farewell, Frankenstein”

Baudelaire, on Watteau

Watteau, carnival where many a distinguished soul Flutters like a moth, lost in the brilliance Of chandeliers shedding frivolity on the cool, Clean decors enclosing the changes of the dance.

on Petrarch, hahahahah

“It has been said that the periods of Italian literature during which the influence of Petrarch was strongest are the weakest periods of Italian literature.” –Sir Walter Raleigh, Introduction to the Decameron

Misumi: The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)

I’ve been in a rut lately. We both have. I suspect it has something to do with that quarter-life crisis everyone’s going through. There’s so much potential for action that always seems to manifest itself in decisive inaction. Shopping for dishes, putting books in thematic order, wondering how two people can create such an enormousContinue reading “Misumi: The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)”

Neame: Hopscotch (1980)

I let Criterion select comedies for me. Well, I let them select anything for me. But their comedy selections are always perfect and end up being some of my favorite films… but I can’t really come up with anything to say about this film except that it made me feel good. I don’t want toContinue reading “Neame: Hopscotch (1980)”

Fitzgerald: This Side of Paradise (1920)

For not being one myself, I’ve had more than my fair share of run-ins with rich folk. The girl who gave me this book told me I had good breeding. I didn’t. Maybe somewhere in my blood is some toughness wrought by centuries in the Ukranian bloodlands, by warriors of sworn obeisance to William the Conqueror,Continue reading “Fitzgerald: This Side of Paradise (1920)”

Aeschylus: The Oresteia

There’s nothing like giving oneself a facial to really get one thinking about the definition of justice. And like Plato, I’m not about to provide any answers. Most people who spend any length of time around me know that I have my little fixations, usually on subjects that make everyone around me uncomfortable. So oneContinue reading “Aeschylus: The Oresteia”

Ke$ha – Frenzy

If you weren’t aware, I’ve put myself on a strict no-reading diet for nearly half a year now, and you can imagine that such a thing is terribly painful to me as I derive so much pleasure from sitting around discussing Bataille in coffee shops and trying to be the coolest person in the room.Continue reading “Ke$ha – Frenzy”

The Old Country

It’s addicting to press onward, despite knowing that the end of the trail is never very far away, and that it ends in violence, mass graves, and, a little further back, if you’re lucky, a lack of last names. The new book, I think it’s called The Bloodlands is controversial because some people say there’s noContinue reading “The Old Country”

Hitchcock: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

There’s a technique surely everyone’s now familiar with in suspense or horror films: humor. Often the first part of the film is lighthearted, which serves to…well, you know, make it so that everyone in the audience is really primed to be emotionally demolished. Hitchcock’s actors in the Man Who Knew Too Much included Peter Lorre,Continue reading “Hitchcock: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)”