David Klein's Blog, page 38
February 10, 2022
THE POWER OF THE DOG
I’m very much in the minority on this one: I didn’t love the film The Power of the Dog, by acclaimed filmmaker Jane Campion (The Piano). Me, who likes the understated, who appreciates the quiet story, found myself restless, even bored at times while watching the movie. The drawling narrative focuses on two brothers, wealthy […]
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February 8, 2022
A Way to Make Life More Bearable
I got a Facebook message from a woman who said her granddaughter has “her heart set on being a writer.” Said granddaughter is always writing in her journal and writing poems and stories. Grandmother wants to know if I have any advice or tips she can pass on to her granddaughter. Sometimes I think there’s […]
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February 2, 2022
Immoral Books
What book are you reading? It’s called “Maus.” What? Where did you get that? The school board made it very clear that book was being removed from the library. Noelle lent it to me. She owns a copy. You’re not supposed to have that book. It shows people hanging. It shows the Nazis killing kids […]
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January 31, 2022
French Toast as a Storytelling Device
Why is French toast such an effective storytelling device? A generation ago, in two consecutive years (1979 and 1980), the Academy Award for Best Picture went to a film in which French toast serves a pivotal role in developing character in two early scenes. In Kramer vs. Kramer, Joanna (Meryl Streep) suddenly leaves her husband, […]
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January 27, 2022
“Drive My Car”
Do you believe behavior can be guided by intimate, private, and unseen forces, and that the face people present to the world doesn’t always align with what resides in the deepest regions of their hearts? If that kind of philosophical speculation appeals to you, please see Drive My Car. I did, on Tuesday night at […]
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January 24, 2022
Another Devastating Loss
I must have been ten or twelve years old when my father took my brother and me to the old Rockpile—War Memorial Stadium—on Buffalo’s east side to watch the Buffalo Bills take on the Washington Redskins. It was forever ago. The Bills quarterback was Jack Kemp, who went on to become a U.S. Congressman. The […]
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January 22, 2022
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
Have you seen the new commercial for Apple Watch? It’s both appalling and brilliant. The first thing Harriet said was, “I want that watch.” In the first 911 call, we hear the audio of a woman after she flipped her car and it’s starting to fill with water. The second call features a paddleboarder who […]
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January 20, 2022
CROSSROADS, Jonathan Franzen
A few years ago, pre-pandemic, I went to a New York State Writer’s Institute event featuring Jonathan Franzen, a writer who once appeared on the cover of Time Magazine (2010) with the headline “Great American Novelist.” Such attention for a writer is extremely rare. The most memorable part of the event for me was when […]
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January 17, 2022
Happy MLK Day? Not Exactly.
“And so we shall have to do more than register and more than vote; we shall have to create leaders who embody virtues we can respect, who have moral and ethical principles we can applaud with enthusiasm.” Martin Luther King Sadly for Martin Luther King, Jr., even the first part of his desire—to register and […]
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January 15, 2022
A Visit to the Ice Age
Even though the temperature befitted an Ice Age day, I needed my daily dose of fresh air and exercise, and so into a nature preserve I ventured and began walking along a snowy and icy trail. My mind began to wander, daydreaming like I tend to do, and then I realized I’d gotten turned around […]
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