Category Archives: Uncategorized

Four years ago, I was halfway into my third novel, The Mayor is a Gringo,  and gaining  momentum on a sequel to my memoir, Cinema Penitentiary, when my daughter. Estrella del Carmen, was born, and I no longer had the blocks of time neccessary  to continue work on either one.  I was able, however, toContinue reading “The Making of The Mask”

Since the advent of high definition digital technology, movies should be cheaper than ever to make.  Yet more money than ever before is spent on their manufacture.  The reason is that the people who are making the movies dont know what they are doing, so they hire, at great expense, warehouses filled with technicians toContinue reading “Cicada Song is a Rare Find Among Recent Indie Productions”

Imagine all three Charlies Angels suing their boss for unwanted sexual advances, the result being each of the three plaintiffs receiving $15 – $25 million in damages  and the defendent being fired from his job with a $35 million separation package.  Contrast with Dupont poisoning 99% of life on Earth with a chemical used inContinue reading “Oscar Injustice”

A millennial recently told me that she doesnt watch movies.  Instead, she plays video games.  Why watch a movie when you can be a part of the action?  Movies have been becoming more like video games for some time now, and 1917 completes the transition.  All that is missing is viewer participation.  The film isContinue reading “1917..World War One as a Video Game”

I was recently asked by novelist/photographer/teacher Cindy Bruchman (https://cindybruchman.com/ ) if I regretted not having gone to college I have been mulling over my answer to her for the better part of a week, and will try to set it down here, as the subject may be of general interest to some. I have usuallyContinue reading “To School or Not to School”

The first week of the New Year passes.  Australia burns.  500 milion animals  dead.  On the beach, there is only one way out.  Put on a life jacket and swim into the ocean.   Assassinations and charades.  Looking back at the alternte reality satire, Winter Kills, from a novel by Richard Condon, author of The ManchurianContinue reading “Golden Globes”

Saw two movies today.  Fell asleep for a bit in the middle of each.  Dont feel I missed anything. In Storm Center, Bette Davis plays a librarian who loses her job for refusing to remove a book about communism from the shelves.  Made three years after the publication of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451,  the endingContinue reading “The Nazis and the Reds”

New Years day was hot, and I spent much of it lazing in the pool with Estrella.  Everybody was pretty shot from lack of sleep. In the afternoon, there was a reprisal of last nights party, with a contigent of the family  empire returning to scarf the leftovers from dinner to call it lunch. IContinue reading “Day of Rest”

Once upon a time, Thanksgiving was the most boring day of the year.  From the time I woke up untiil late in the afternoon, everybody in the family except my mother did nothing but wait to eat dinner. We killed time by cracking nuts and chewing on them. There was nothing on television except endlessContinue reading “Happy New Year! From the Penitentiary into the Afterlife”

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken. — Oscar Wilde. This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.