Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 103
July 7, 2017
Weekend Reading: July 7, 2017
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Why Blumhouse expanded from horror movies (Get Out, The Purge series) into publishing. The Palestinian novel that caused its author to be inundated with death threats. “We must respect confidences, just as lawyers and doctors do”—the secret art of the ghostwriter. How come everywhere in Washington, D.C. smells like weed now? The Big Sort: There’s a voting district in Virginia trending Democratic faster than anywhere else in the country; there’s one in West Virginia going the fastest to Repu...
Screening Room: ‘City of Ghosts’
The latest documentary from the director of Cartel Land, City of Ghosts is opening this week in limited release and expanding wider later. Expect a push for the Oscars later in the year for this incredible story.
My review is at Film Journal International:
The heroes of this riveting account are the brave men—they have woman in their number, but none are onscreen for their safety—of the group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently (RBSS). These are mostly middle-class guys, including a math tea...
July 6, 2017
Screening Room: ‘The Big Sick’
For The Big Sick, comedian Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon turned the story of their on-off romance and the intensive-care crisis that brought them back together, into probably the best romantic comedy of the summer.
The Big Sick is playing now in limited release and expanding soon around the country. My review is at PopMatters:
At the story’s beginning, Kumail is a typical sort for a Judd Apatow-produced romantic comedy. A standup comic who spends most of his time in career anx...
July 5, 2017
Screening Room: ‘A Ghost Story’
In A Ghost Story, Casey Affleck plays a ghost who haunts the house he once shared with his beloved, Rooney Mara.
It opens this weekend in limited release. My review is at Film Journal International:
A good rule of cinematic thumb is that when a ghost movie isn’t trying to scare you: Watch out. Hijinks or romance are sure to follow, and not with good results. It’s also generally best to avoid movies whose specters are visible, since what one can’t see is almost always more terrifying than wha...
July 4, 2017
Quote of the Day: Patriotism
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From Howard Zinn:
If patriotism were defined, not as blind obedience to government, not as submissive worship to flags and anthems, but rather as love of one’s country, one’s fellow citizens (all over the world), as loyalty to the principles of justice and democracy, then patriotism would require us to disobey our government, when it violated those principles.
July 2, 2017
Writer’s Desk: Churchill on Brevity
[image error]Writers can be like doctors—and no, not because both write down the things you say in ways that may or may not reflect your intent. Writers, like doctors, have a proclivity to ignore their own advice.
Take Winston Churchill. In his rather extensive bibliography, you can find a four-volume biography of the 1st Duke of Marlborough which he had originally planned to be just two volumes.
Nevertheless, during the war, Churchill became enamored of brevity, likely due to all the reports he needed to...
June 30, 2017
Weekend Reading: June 30, 2017
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Getting smashed in the head with the heel of one of Ivanka Trump’s shoes. How come there’s no nativist backlash in Canada? Stopping suicides in the Sea of Trees. So what countries are at the greatest risk now? As the temperature rises, get ready to move north. The New York Times versus its own copy editors. A map of all the nation’s book deserts. And now … some book desserts. Print and read: What happens when a party abandons everything in a grab for raw power.
June 27, 2017
Shameless Self-Promotion: ‘Monty Python FAQ’
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Have you any inkling what this T-shirt refers to?
Did you ever hop around on one foot while shouting, “’tis but a flesh wound!”?
Can you sing “The Philosopher’s Song” without referring to notes?
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Was there a point during the United Kingdom’s recent snap election where you wondered whether there should have been a candidate from the Very Silly Party?
If you answered “yes” or asked “what’s all this, then?!” then it’s about 583% likely that Monty Python FAQ is the book for you!
Scribbled down i...
June 26, 2017
Reader’s Corner: ‘Talking Pictures’
The new book, Talking Pictures, from Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday, is in stores now and it’s a fantastic read.
My review is at PopMatters:
… even though the water-cooler factor of all this frantic locking of eyeballs to screens is at an all-time high, nobody is really talking about it much beyond “wasn’t that funny?” or “did you see that coming?” It’s almost as though people just don’t have the time or tools for talking about what they’re watching. That’s one of many factors that...
June 25, 2017
Writer’s Desk: Don’t Talk About It
Sometimes the best thing to do is just be quiet. That’s true whether you’re a president under investigation or a writer who is trying to get their book done.
In an essay published at The Millions, Nick Ripatrazone advises the following:
…If you talk about your book, it stops belonging to you, and starts belonging to the world. You’ll have to explain it to people you sit next to on the train, distant cousins at family reunions, or people at work. When the soul of your book hits the air, it wi...
