Oct

21

I Want THAT Job!

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

October 21, 2009 | 3 Comments

Have you ever wondered who writes the film plot blurbs for newspapers, magazines, or, for that matter, the backs of the cases the films are packaged in? I’ve often read them and thought whoever does that has one of the greatest jobs in the world. Watch all those films would be a definite plus. Yes, [...]

Oct

7

Saucy Jack.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

October 7, 2009 | 1 Comment

Every seventy-six years Halley’s comet returns, about every ninety minutes Old Faithful erupts, and, although its frequency isn’t nearly so predictable, you can pretty much bet that sooner or later someone’s going to come up with another theory about Jack The Ripper’s identity. There are over one-hundred suspects on the list now, but I think [...]

Oct

2

Not A Vampire, Not From Hell, And Not A Squid, But…

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

October 2, 2009 | 1 Comment

I’ve always been fascinated by both cephalopods and creatures of the abyss, and at this time of year when there seem to be so more vampires around than usual, I can’t help thinking of the abyssal cephalopod scientists have lovingly named Vampyroteuthis infernalis, which translates as “vampire squid from Hell”. And yet, as you can [...]

Jun

26

Beware Of Giant Talking Liverwurst Sandwiches.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

June 26, 2009 | 1 Comment

Because, you know, they might be a district attorney in disguise.

Mar

9

Book ‘Em: No Strings Attached.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

March 9, 2009 | 1 Comment

When I heard that the Walt Disney Company was releasing its animated film Pinocchio on DVD and Blu-Ray to celebrate its 70th Anniversary, I immediately pulled out my own copy of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio, which originally belonged to my mother. From what I’ve found this edition was published in 1946, and its got a tattered [...]

Feb

20

A Host To Remember.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

February 20, 2009 | 4 Comments

Even though movies are the bailiwick of The Movie Maven (and she does a fine job with them, too—please check out her site) and Just Write is supposed to be about books and writing, sometimes exceptions have to be made. This is especially true when I’ve been waiting almost five years for a film to [...]

Feb

14

Word Of The Week: February 14th, 2009

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

February 14, 2009 | 3 Comments

I take requests. When someone asked for my comments on the word gorge, I was struck by what an amazing word it is. My first thought was of the geographical feature which the Oxford English Dictionary describes as “A narrow opening between hills; a ravine with rocky walls”. I thought of it mainly because of [...]

Jan

14

Ordinary People.

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

January 14, 2009 | 1 Comment

There’s a wonderful studied yet spontaneous quality to the portraits of celebrities in Mary Ellen Mark’s book Seen Behind The Scene, as well as the exhibit which continues through January 17th at the Fahey/Klein Gallery. While these are famous people, while we can recognize the faces of celebrities ranging from Sir Laurence Olivier and George [...]

Dec

31

Just Because…

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

December 31, 2008 | 2 Comments

In the spirit of New Year’s Eve, I’d like to share this video for the following reasons:
Because I love the song.
Because the video is brilliantly edited from the trippy film Return To Oz.
Because too many people haven’t read L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz and don’t realize that in the original Oz was a [...]

Dec

27

Word Of The Week: December 27th, 2008

Posted by Christopher Waldrop

December 27, 2008 | 1 Comment

While the English language is full of words derived from foreign sources, a few foreign words enter the language unchanged. The word zeitgeist is a good example. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it, “The spirit or genius which marks the thought or feeling of a period or age.” It comes from the German words “zeit”, [...]

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