Jessica Zafra's Blog, page 70

Monday Morning Vent: How to deal with spammers

Each day we are deluged with spam, which sounds like meatloaf is falling from the sky. If only meatloaf were falling from the sky, preferably not in cans because that would cause mass concussions and property damage. We mean texts, emails, messages from strangers with designs upon our money. Some of them are only annoying—real […]

Jessica Zafra’s Writing Boot Camp 2016

Alan Rickman in Truly, Madly, Deeply

In Anthony Minghella’s Truly, Madly, Deeply, Alan Rickman plays a dead cellist who reappears in his girlfriend Juliet Stevenson’s apartment, summoned back by her boundless grief. This was the second movie we saw him in; the first, of course, was Die Hard. Alan Rickman, you are welcome to haunt our houses any time. Thank you.

Fargo Season 2 and the thrill of storytelling

EVERYONE thinks they’re the hero of their own story. History is made up of all their stories bumping up against each other. How do you make sense of this chaos? What does it all mean? Does it mean anything? (No, says Albert Camus, from a paperback that a teenage clerk is reading, existence is absurd. […]

Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth is gorgeous but wimpy

Macbeth is our favorite Shakespeare because it is phantasmagorical, fast, and it makes us identify with its murderous maniac so that we are complicit in his deeds even as we recoil in horror. The new screen adaptation by Justin Kurzel is rich in phantasmagorical atmosphere. “Scotland”, wreathed in mist, looks like a gorgeous gateway to […]

We have to have all the Peanuts toys.

We loved the Peanuts movie, but not as much as the small children two rows behind us who laughed uproariously at every gag. And we thought today’s children would have no interest in Charlie Brown and Snoopy, a depressive neurotic child and a delusional dog, respectively. Naturally we had to possess the Snoopy toys, which […]

Bowie, first and last

From his first album in 1969: Space Oddity. From his final album in 2016: Lazarus. He knew, because David Bowie always knew.

Monday Morning Vent: Mugged

Remember that you are not the Slayer. by Deo Working for outsourced companies brings you a lot of perks. You work at night, there’s night differential pay, fewer traffic jams, and no sun to smite you with its evil rays. On the other hand, you wake up and work AT NIGHT. And on local holidays […]

Drogon loves Darth Vader

Dad? Is that you?

Age, Death, and Other Buzzkills

Les Deux Magots Many years ago, a friend of mine was diagnosed with a liver problem. It could be managed with medication and a proper diet, but it would almost certainly lead, decades later, to cirrhosis. It is not easy to find out that cirrhosis is in your future, and worse if you don’t even […]