Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 119

Weekend Reading: September 30, 2016

The week that barbarism triumphed. About three percent of American adults own halfthe guns. Stay classy, GOP! Well, ifthat didn’t change your mind… Quite possibly the saddest thing to brag about, ever. Somebody bought Truman Capote’s ashes for $43,750. The guerrilla art gang who smuggled subversive political art intoMelrose Place. Will, Grace, Karen, and Jack debate some politics. Do Northeasterners love Dunkin’ Donuts so much because of the taste or because there’s one on every corner? Eve...

Screening Room: ‘Deepwater Horizon’

On April 20, 2010, an explosion on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 crewmembers and sent 210 million gallons of oil flooding into the Gulf, devastating the coastal ecosystem and economy. Peter Berg’s action-oriented take on the disaster only deals with half the story.

Deepwater Horizon opens wide Friday. My review is atPopMatters:

Movies about titanic events have a built-in problem. They have to pluck out the individual stories while still keeping a deep focus on the larger issue....

Writer’s Desk: It’s Going to Take Some Time

Rebecca Solnit, author ofMen Explains Things to Me, has a few tips atLitHub for the aspiring, or just plain struggling, writer. Her advice is less aspirational and more hard-working than most. In short, don’t pretend it’s going to be easy:

It takes time. This means that you need to find that time. Don’t be too social. Live below your means and keep the means modest (people with trust funds and other cushions: I’m not talking to you, though money makes many, many things easy, and often, vocat...

Weekend Reading: September 23, 2016

Do you care about endangered places? Then stay the hell away from them. . How conservative lawmakers can just overrule laws they don’t like. Parties unknown probing crucial sites as a way (probably) of taking down the entire Internet, just in case a full-on cyberwar happens. Don’t forget Pence, and what he’s truly like. Here’s how The Donald launders his money. P.J. O’Rourke on the election: “Better the devil you know than the Lord of the Flies on his own 757.“ A...

Writer’s Desk: Cleese Says Steal It

And now for something completely different…

John Cleese was one of the hardest working members of Monty Python. Outside the troupe, he had a brisk sideline in other writing gigs, not to mention advertisements, and his side business in business training films (weird, but true). Eric Idle said that Cleese used to say that he’d do anything for money, so Idle offered him a pound to stop talking. Cleese took it.

Given Cleese’s work ethic, it’s fair to assume he’s a good fellow to listen to about...

Reader’s Corner: Eric Idle’s Rules

If you’re ever stuck for something to read, somebody else’s reading lists can be a help. Eric Idle posts a continually updated onethat’s pretty smashing on his website here.

An inveterate bookworm of the highest caliber, Idle has also compiled a few rules for reading:

Rule 1: Never be without a book. Rule 2: Skip all Prefaces, Forewords and Introductions. Rule 3: If you’re bored with a book, chuck it. There are millions of books you will never get to read, so if one doesn’t grab you, put it...

Weekend Reading: September 16, 2016

Trump and 9/11; a sad spectacle of lies. Flashback, Lt. Gen Michael Flynn (ret.), last heard from being restrained by Chris Christieduring Donald’s intelligence briefing, was several months agomaking unsupported accusations on the final episode ofSerial. When the temperature goes up, tempers fray, students do worse on tests, and more “witch killings” occur in Tanzania. Pennsylvania Dutch superstitions and the “Hex Murders” of Rehmeyer’s Hollow. If this is civilization, you can keep it. The...

Screening Room: ‘Command and Control’

Getting a brief theatrical run before its PBS debut, one assumes to qualify for the Oscars, Robert Kenner’s adaptation of Eric Schlosser’s bookCommand and Control is a bracing documentary about a nearly forgotten threat: America’s sprawling nuclear arsenal.

Command and Control is opening this week in limited release. My review is atFilm Journal International:

The post-9/11 adage about how security services have to be right all the time while terrorists only have to be right once could easily...

Writer’s Desk: Get Started

While touring the country promoting his filmDon’t Think Twice, comic Mike Birbiglia was asked variations on the same question at pretty much every stop:“If I want to be a comedian [or actor or writer or improviser or film director], how do I get started?”

Birbiglia boiled his advice down to “6 Tips for Making It Small in Hollywood. Or Anywhere.” The first tip, though, is the most helpful for people who ask that question:

1. Don’t Wait—Write. Make a short film. Go to an open mike. Take an impr...

Weekend Reading: September 9, 2016

Tiny the Usurper:bookstore cat, par excellence. The reality TV hosts, conspiracy-mongers, and radio pundits who took over a political party. Meet the Clinton Foundation, the new Benghazi. Oswalt v. Pharma Dude: “Dude, 12 year-olds on a Skittles rush can troll better than you.“ Glenn Beck’s evolution on Black Lives Matter: “Are we not more than politics?“ Printing guns at home, because freedom. How the Missouri Bosnian vote could swing the state. The legacy of Phyllis Schlafly in 15 vile quo...