February 2011
53 posts
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
3 tags
Jeff Buckley, “Morning Theft.”
This...
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
Another Note on Anger (Yoda Says, Shut Up Already)
I also learned that a shot of anger can cut through a lot of bullshit that needs cut through that understanding and patience won’t. It can get you what you need to move from bad to good anger.
This is exactly why the Jedi all talk about calm and peace but still carry lightsabers.
2 tags
1 tag
On Anger (Insert Yoda Quote Here)
So, I’ve been angry lately. In general, I think that it’s a time-wasting activity and not something you should carry around with you. But here’s what I’ve recently realized about anger: there are all different kinds and not all of it is bad. The kind that makes you jittery and upset and awake all night plotting to get revenge or beg for forgiveness - yeah, not good. You...
1 tag
“Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t...”
– Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum (via liquidnight)
2 tags
2 tags
2 tags
“It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for...”
– Date a girl who reads. (By Rosemarie Urquico).
2 tags
Unfortunate Coincidence, from Mrs. Parker
By the time you swear you’re his,
Shivering and sighing,
And he vows his passion is
Infinite, undying —-
Lady, make a note of this:
One of you is lying.
1 tag
2 tags
3 tags
A quick Raymond Chandler primer
Recently a couple of people have mentioned to me that they are unfamiliar with Raymond Chandler’s books or have outright asked for a recommendation on where to start. So, here’s a quick primer.
Chandler published seven novels, which are (in chronological order): The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The High Window, The Lady in the Lake, The Little Sister, The Long Goodbye and Playback. Reading...
1 tag
Looking for volunteers to help maintain...
I have lots of image resources, I just don’t have the time to keep posting all of them on a regular basis. If you’re interested in helping out, send me a message.
2 tags
1 tag
1 tag
Warning: readers care about spelling
I also discovered that the official San Diego city page for Mt. Hope Cemetery, where Ray is buried, mentions him as the creator of “Philip Marlow.” Misspelled. Tsk tsk.
1 tag
Those things you can't make up
I’m sitting in a cafe in La Jolla, California, where Raymond Chandler lived and wrote towards the end of his life, finishing up my essay on him to post to my website. An old man in a tweed jacket walks up and sits directly beside me. He sets his paper coffee cup down on the table between us, and I see the barista obviously knows him and has marked his name in Sharpie on the cup - Ray.
1 tag
1 tag
2 tags
“When our final interview is over, I help Bacall up from her chair, and she walks...”
– Lauren Bacall (via fuckyeahlaurenbacall)
1 tag
3 tags
1 tag
2 tags
1 tag
3 tags
“That was the great reality in psychological drama—what you’re calling film...”
– Lizabeth Scott.
A tremendous article on this classic dame and her troubles in Hollywood is on the Film Noir Foundation website.
2 tags
2 tags
“I watched my wife die by half-inches and I wrote my best book in the agony of...”
– Raymond Chandler
2 tags
Modern times, continued
I got a new phone last month. I was finally able to afford a shiny new (refurbished) smart phone and retire my old, battered, socially-unacceptable flip phone.
The thing about that old phone, though, because of its relative technological antiquity, its data stays with it. To the grave, if you will. There’s no way to transfer all of the things I stored on it anyplace else. I had that phone...
1 tag
1 tag
2 tags
3 tags
2 tags
“On the whole, good and great fiction is not written by beautiful people who feel...”
– Amanda Craig 