Chris Barsanti's Blog, page 154
March 1, 2015
Writer’s Corner: Listening to Your Wife
Writers aren’t known for their eagerness to take advice. Some work well in collaborative environments where their text is ever being reworked by colleagues (newsrooms, say). But in the main,their tendency is resistance to outside meddling. It’s a common side effect of the stubbornness needed to sit down at that desk every day, even when the sun is shining and the last thing they want to do is grind out another couple pages of that damn novel.
It was refreshing, then, to read this in a recent p...
February 28, 2015
New in Theaters: ‘Maps to the Stars’
Robert Pattinson looks properly mystified in ‘Maps to the Stars’ (Focus World)
It was probably only a matter of time before director David Cronenberg and novelist Bruce Wagner found some way to work together. Cronenberg’s love of festering wounds (both physical and psychological) and Wagner’s bleak and blackened comedies of Hollywood soul-deadness would seem somehow made for each other. That’s how we, unfortunately, ended up withMaps to the Stars.
After a short, awards-qualifying run late last...
February 27, 2015
Department of Weekend Reading: February 27, 2015
Semi-hidden and beautiful; the secret libraries of Chicago.
ISIS says they’re coming to Rome; Italians offer travel tips.
When an artificial intelligence plays its first Atari game.
A tip: Don’t read that new book from MIT about jokes expecting to laugh.
China is building new islands in the South China Sea because, well, they can.
Just in case doomsday happens, CNN has its final video ready to roll.
HowThe Breakfast Clublooks 30 years on.
Print and read: “Your task may prove harmful to your psyche a...
February 22, 2015
Writer’s Corner: Michael Connelly
When you’re looking for advice on writing, the masters are of course always reliable. But it might be wiser to just dive right into the ranks of those who spend their lives toiling in the fields of pulp. After all, it’s the creators of genre fiction who are more likely to have to work with brutaldeadlines and for fiercely judgmental audiences.
Michael Connelly, 2013 (Brian Minkoff)
So, here’s Michael Connelly, of the Harry Bosch series of novels, as well asThe Lincoln Lawyer,talking toWriter’s...
February 21, 2015
Miles Teller drums and J.K. Simmons berates in ‘Whiplash’ (Sony Pictures Classics)February 20, 2015
Department of Weekend Reading: February 20, 2015
The privileged position of black bartenders in the South; or, that time Teddy Roosevelt (maybe) got drunk at the St. Louis Country Club.
What are they doing right up there? The “miracle of Minneapolis.”
How forced conversions to Christianity go up in Boise.
Wearing blackface and throwing coconuts at Mardis Gras; the complex tradition of New Orleans’ Krewe of Zulu.
What’s the matter with Kansas, the homophobia edition.
Man asks women to shush duringFifty Shades of Grey screening; receives punishmen...
February 17, 2015
New on DVD: ‘Life Itself’
The writer at rest: ‘Life Itself’ (Magnolia Pictures)
One of the better documentaries that ever-so-briefly graced screens in 2014 wasLife Itself. Directed by Steve James (Hoop Dreams) and based in part on Roger Ebert’s memoir, the film is a fascinating and curiously life-affirming story about ambition, creativity, and getting on with things.
Life Itself is available on DVD today; my review is at Film Racket:
James takes Ebert’s 2011 memoir as his source document. From there we get Ebert’s memori...
February 15, 2015
Writer’s Corner: Keeping It Going
(c. 1942, Library of Congress)
Like any other type of advice, there’s writing advice you want to hear that’s not terribly helpful, and writing you don’t want to hear that’s also probably what you need to hear.
Solidly in the latter category comes this bit of second-hand advice from Nicholson Baker:
Once or twice I got a chance to work with [Atlantic editor] Bill Whitworth on a piece or two —and I was just kind of struggling to support myself and, you know, life is busy and I wasn’t writing that...
February 13, 2015
Department of Weekend Reading: February 13, 2015
Brian Williams and false memories.
Why does the United States send more people to prison than almost any other industrialized nation?
Misplaced priorities: More prisons than colleges.
Coming soon: .
Harper Lee is “happy as hell” about release of To Kill a Mockingbirdfollowup novelGo Set a Watchman.
Trial of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle’s accused murderer starts in the “Cowboy Capital of the World.”
Aetna decides to actually raise pay of workers not on the executive floor...
February 11, 2015
Department of Shameless Self-Promotion: ‘Eyes Wide Open: 2014′
For the third year running, I’ve published an annual guide (sort of) to the year that was, cinematically speaking.
The 2014 Eyes Wide Openis collected like the last couple of editions, in that it starts off with pieces covering each ofmy 25 favorite movies of the year, then laying into the year’s 5 worst films, rounding it all off with some shorter honorable mention pieces, DVD reviews, and other ephemera.
It’s available as a paperback here and an ebook here.
