Colleen Collins's Blog, page 2

On Anniversary of Raymond Chandler's Death: A look at THE LONG GOODBYE (1973)

Opening footage: The Long Goodbye, via YouTube.

Vilmos Zsigmond on Filming The Long Goodbye

Vilmos Zsigmond, the cinematographer on The Long Goodbye said it was the funniest comedy he had ever filmed, due to Elliot Gould's characterization of Philip Marlowe.

Elliot Gould was never better than in [“The Long Goodbye”]. He plays this private eye who looks really dumb but he’s not dumb.

— Vilmos Zsigmond

In a Rolling Stone interview, Zsigmond said "a cinematographer can only be as good as the dir...

Dealing with a Cyberstalker

Cyberstalkers are internet bullies who hide behind bogus identities.

A year or so ago, a defamatory “book review” showed up on Amazon—the term book review is in quotes because in no way was it a review of a book. Instead, it was a malicious character attack written by someone hiding behind a bogus ID. Unfortunately, I’m not the only author to have dealt with such non-book-related reviews written by people with personal agendas.

Amazon and Vengeful Reviews

By vengeful, I mean reviews that conta...

Remembering Mike Nichols: From Comic to Director

Today is Mike Nichol's birthday. He would have been 86 years old. What a mega-talent and inspiration he was to writers, actors, directors, and others.

He directed some wonderful films, including The Graduate, Silkwood, Working Girl, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Heartburn. And he directed plays, from what I believe was his final one, Betrayal (which sold out for all performances before the play even opened), to years ago directing a young unknown named Whoopi Goldberg in her one-act play th...

Do Ghost Hunters Really Find Ghosts?

Tomorrow is Halloween. For the last month, several older hotels here in Colorado have been hosting ghost-hunting parties and spooky tours. Silly fun...or are these hotels truly haunted?

Over the years we've had a few people call our agency, asking if we could investigate ghosts they believe are haunting their homes. We will decline, explaining that we are not paranormal investigators, and we try to steer them to paranormal investigation sources that sincerely want to help people and not take...

The Day I Met Elvis Presley

Today, August 16, 2017, marks the 40th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. I had met him accidentally in 1967, along with a dozen or so others, as he was trying to enter his dentist's office in Palm Springs, California. Despite being besieged by people out of the blue, he was gracious and funny...and a bit flirtatious.

Ten years later, on August 16, 1977, I was working for Dick Clark in Hollywood when the phones began ringing and ringing—reporters calling with the news that Elvis had died,...

In Honor of Book Lovers Day: Keith Richards, Rock-n-Roll Librarian

Keith Richards, Rolling Stones Voodoo Loungue World Tour, Rio de Janeiro, 1995 (photo is in public domain, courtesy of Machocarioca)

When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equalizer.

— Keith Richards The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards: Rocker outlaw...guitar god...book lover

This will either surprise you or make you jealous: Keit...

Misdemeanors to Murder: Nothing but the Truth from a Criminal Lawyer and Private Eye

Below are categories of slides from our April 27 2017 presentation "Misdemeanors to Murder: Nothing but the Truth from a Criminal Lawyer and Private Eye" at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference.

All slides are copyrighted. Please do not copy, distribute, or otherwise use.

At end of slides is a PI resource list for writers. To move forward through a slide show, click on slide image.

PI Resources for Writers

Col...

National Library Week: Photos of US Libraries by Carol Highsmith

Renowned photographer Carol Highsmith donated her entire collection of photographs (approximately 150,000, and that number is still growing) to the Library of Congress. One subset of this collection are her extraordinary photographs of libraries across the US.

Ms. Highsmith has gifted these photos, copyright-free, to the American people. An index of these libraries is below the slideshow.

(Click on photo to slide to the next one—some computers might require a double-click to move to next photo)...

World Book Day: Humphrey Bogart, Movie Star & Avid Reader

Humphrey Bogart in the 1934 film trailer for Petrified Forest (image is in public domain)

Bogie And Books

Did you know Humphrey Bogart loved to read? Although he was a poor student, and was eventually expelled from the prestigious Phillips Academy, he had a lifelong love of reading, and could quote Plato, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Shakespeare.

Some of his best friends were screenwriters, such as Nunnally Johnson and John Huston. I've always admired Huston for his directing, even his acting, but...

Online Writers Class: Misdemeanors to Murder: Nothing but the Truth from a Criminal Lawyer & PI

For Crime Fiction Writers/Readers, Fans of Legal Thrillers, and Armchair Legal Eagles

 

February 1-28 “Misdemeanors to Murder: Nothing but the Truth from a Criminal Lawyer and Private Eye"

Course focuses on US criminal crimes—lowest misdemeanor to highest felony offenses--from a criminal lawyer’s and PI’s perspectives.

For more info/registration: Misdemeanors to Murder: Nothing but the Truth