Author Archive
Sunday, January 4th, 2009
No Soapdish? No thanks.
You say “paranoid technophobic Luddite” like it’s a bad thing…
The other day I went into a Blockbuster with only one intention: to rent and enjoy the timeless satire Soapdish. When I couldn’t find it in the “alphabetized” comedy section, I went to consult the clerk, mistress of all blockbusting, keeper of the almighty […]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Marianne M. Moore
Wednesday, October 29th, 2008
and this is who they’re grooming?
This came to my attention today by way of The Daily Beast, my favorite news-digest site since Chris Buckley (that’s William F. Buckley’s son, by the way) used it as a forum to endorse Barack Obama. Johnathan Martin of politico writes that conservative leaders are planning a top-secret evil genius meeting in Virginia for the […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by Marianne M. Moore
Friday, October 24th, 2008
This Just In
Sarah Palin tried to ban books because she is the Chupacabra.
In the acclaimed documentary 30 Days of Night, vampires cross the Bering Strait into Alaska to take advantage of the polar winter’s month of darkness. Some claim that this stirring portrayal of Josh Hartnett’s struggle to save his tiny town from blood-sucking bare-breasted […]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Marianne M. Moore
Saturday, September 13th, 2008
Does Rachel Maddow Have a Girlfriend?
Last night I went to a special live broadcast of Rachel Maddow’s Air America show at the State Theater, and it was grand. It was relaxing, just like listening to the radio, except we were treated to all the artless and fascinating gestures one never gets to see, like Maddow slipping her giant headphones on […]
3 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Marianne M. Moore
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
I Can Eat Planets
The Internet is amazing. I have discovered astonishing things. Were you aware that, in thirty-one films over the past twenty-five years, Tom Cruise has died only twice? Unless you count Interview with the Vampire, where he plays the living dead. And it’s not as if his characters take no physical risks. In Top Gun he’s […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by Marianne M. Moore
Tuesday, March 11th, 2008
Admit It
Aren’t we all just a little sick, by now, of The Vagina Monologues? I’m old enough to remember when they first came out in 1996. I remember seeing pictures of Eve Ensler performing them, as the show first began to gain momentum and popularity. I was in awe of her—I thought she looked so beautiful […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by Marianne M. Moore
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
R.I.P. Tatiana
This is the stuff that Joyce Carol Oates’ stories are made on: your son visits the zoo and a tiger rips his throat out. In case you somehow missed the media frenzy, this past Christmas day a 250-pound Siberian tiger (regally named “Tatiana”) leaped the 12-foot wall of her enclosure at the San Francisco […]
1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by Marianne M. Moore
Thursday, February 7th, 2008
Disposable Pocket
In a forum like this, there’s a certain pressure to be current. I should be obsessively analyzing the latest round of primaries, or yucking it up over Super Bowl ads. But I just don’t think it’s fair that the accident of my birth should prevent me from responding to something that has deeply irritated […]
No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Marianne M. Moore
Wednesday, January 30th, 2008
Playing Quidditch for the Other Team
(a.k.a. Why Rowling’s “Outing” is a Literary Crime.)
Umberto Eco wrote that authors should die when their novels are complete, so as not to “trouble the path of the text”—advice Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling has clearly chosen to ignore. Not only has she thus far refused to die, but last October she stirred the cauldron of […]