One of my earliest memories is my first nightmare. I was five, had just started kindergarten, and was having… social adjustment problems. As the oldest child in my family, I was used to interacting with adults. I was also a nerdy little thing, already prone to big words (for aContinue Reading
The 1985 Fright Night has been one of my favorite vampire movies since college. I knew it was dangerous to see a remake of a movie I love-love-love, but after seeing pictures of David Tennant’s hilariously cheesy (and shirtless!) take on Peter Vincent, finding out that Marti “Buffy” Noxon wroteContinue Reading
Part of the Clarion West 2014 Write-a-thon series. Sponsor me, sponsor another writer, or learn more about the Write-a-thon There’s this thing they used to make you do in school — maybe they still make you do it, I don’t know — which involves reading a story, and then writingContinue Reading
From Slate, by Ruth Graham: As The Fault in Our Stars barrels into theaters this weekend virtually guaranteed to become a blockbuster, it can be hard to remember that once upon a time, an adult might have felt embarrassed to be caught reading the novel that inspired it. Not becauseContinue Reading
(Now that I have updated the website, I am doing some electronic housecleaning. Sometimes I run into a fairly complete, but unpublished essay, such as this one.) So, we saw the new Tron movie. I have inexplicably fond feelings for the old one. I saw it as a teenager, butContinue Reading
Saw Pacific Rim on Sunday… another movie I wanted to love, and unfortunately didn’t. Guillermo del Toro! Nerd obsessions! Giant monsters! Mako Mori! Idris Elba! It looks pretty and there are some parts of it that work great, but overall I was bored too often and surprised and delighted tooContinue Reading
As part of my birthday shenanigans, we visited the newly remodeled Sundance Cinema in the U-district. (It used to be the Metro) It is now 21-and-over, and you can get a cheese plate and beer and drink in the theater. Also, reserved seats, and really nice big seats with lotsContinue Reading
In The Rocky Horror Picture Show (which I saw an unconscionable number of times in my adolescence) when Frank N. Furter unveils Rocky, his artificially created superhunk, Janet says, “I don’t like a man with too many muscles.” Frank snarls back, “I didn’t MAKE him for YOU!” That little exchangeContinue Reading
Thursday night, Paul and I saw the Seattle Shakespeare Company’s production of The Taming of the Shrew. The production is mostly great (especially Kelly Kitchens as a tough biker chic Kate) and the rednecky, rural southern trailer park setting works extremely well. The down-n-dirty vibe fits the lowbrow material muchContinue Reading
Short, spoiler-free review: if you liked Jackson’s LOTR movies, you will probably like this as well.Continue Reading
What is this I see? Yet more lit snobbery to wrestle with? Some Books Are More Equal Than Others by By Clare Needell Hollander. I read this courtesy and knew I had many objections, but I felt like taking the time to break them down somewhat carefully. The snobbery inContinue Reading
Oh boy! A juicy lit snob essay I can sink my teeth into! My Stephen King Problem: A Snob’s Notes by Dwight Allen. The essay begins: IN THE MID-EIGHTIES, when I was living in New York, a friend, an editor at a major publishing house, told me that I shouldContinue Reading
I have read up through A Storm of Swords (book 3) and almost finished the first season of the HBO series (it did pick up the pace) and I have thoughts — especially as related to the frequent accusations of sexism/racism/isms of all kindsContinue Reading