Sometimes, like now, the girl detective will reach into her purse and stroke the side of her honorary deputy’s badge. Her thumb goes over and over the rub of it. She looks at the fish and they look back at her, bob to the tank sides, shimmer-float in the water. There is one with white spots on it. The girl detective thinks it could be sick. She thinks of saying something. The girl detective often thinks of saying something.
And we don’t hold the alive baby, not yet, afraid of that kind of power, our stomachs stinging with the fear of it, that kind of responsibility, afraid of the mewling in the alive baby’s throat. We think of the baby dolls we had as children (barely days ago we were still children) that would cry if you squeezed them hard enough, and how we grew tired of the squeezing and threw them on the ground instead, tromping on their little doll bellies till the crying sound became a slow wheeze.
fingers drip water into fountains
coins lying at the bottom gleaming
used for bus stops out of hurt brains
swollen, & deliverance
from the self-
Playing music in the street or another public place for voluntary donations is known as busking. Musicians often say this is the best musical education you can get because convincing a tough New York crowd to donate forces you to elevate your skill. A good busker may be able to earn more than they could in more traditional jobs. According to money.com they can earn anywhere from nothing to more than $30 per hour depending on many things, not least of which are talent and traffic.
Henry wanted to say he was depressed. He wanted to say he hated how he looked. He wanted to ask for the surgery his father so desperately thought he needed.
“I love them,” he whispered instead.
I can see now that this is not a movie about extraordinary people, as they first seemed to me, but ordinary people ascribing extraordinary meaning to everyday things: like love, and books, and music, and movies, desperately looking for these things to elevate their lives to what the movie calls ‘cosmic significance.’
At night, the astronaut’s wife picks up the telephone. The astronaut likes old-fashioned things, rotary dial. The astronaut’s wife listens to the quiet buzz of the empty phone. She thinks it must be the same sound the astronaut hears too, in space.
Which brings us to a major feature of these movies: they are very, very tame. I’d be inclined to put them squarely in the romantic comedy genre – some of them are based on Harlequin novels, for one thing – except that romantic comedies usually strive for some kind of spark, some hint, however circumscribed, of the sexual pull of the beloved. It could be that Hallmark and Lifetime are keeping it clean for the kids in the room. Or it could be that the point of the Christmas Movie isn’t for the protagonist to find romance, but to find belonging, and romantic love is one component of that quest but hardly the only component.
My mom and dad are night and day. They have been divorced longer than either one's longest marriages have lasted, and I wonder now if they even knew they ever had the love for food in common.
After your death, the dolls will go, one by one, porcelain-faced girls in rustling dresses, brittle little hands, darlings, your darlings, they’re like my children, you’d tell anyone who visited, their hand-stitched silken hair, their hand-painted bow-pink mouths.
Tomorrow, I’ll listen the way I listened for her,
counted lids that “popped.” Mom’s
August operation a success only when the
good seal signals sauce safe
100 WORD FILM REVIEWS / Doctor Sleep
Mike Flanagan attempts to marry Stephen King’s and Stanley Kubrick’s versions of The Shining in this uneven sequel. The story masterfully explores family trauma and having responsibility for others as an adult Danny Torrance battles with alcoholism and protects a teen named Abra. Rebecca Ferguson is particularly chilling as Rosie the Hat, the leader of a group that feeds on children’s “shine.” However, Doctor Sleep can’t decide whether to be a thriller or horror film. Although the atmosphere and scares are palpable, the original book ending is dropped for a climax in the Overlook Hotel that is overwrought with homage.
100 WORD FILM REVIEWS / Midway
Roland Emmerich (Independence Day) can create visually impressive action sequences. Too bad that those in Midway lack tension and suspense. Meant to be a rousing war film, Midway is full of CGI battle sequences but paper-thin characters. However, a cast including Ed Skrein, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, and Patrick Wilson brings enough personality to their roles for audiences to care for them. While not the disaster of Michael Bay’s Pearl Harbor, this recreation of one of the most important battles of WWII’s Pacific campaign pales in comparison to other war epics, but is entertaining enough to pass a couple hours.
100 WORD FILM REVIEWS / Jojo Rabbit
Taika Waititi’s return to the Indie canon with his latest film, Jojo Rabbit, left me feeling unsatisfied and disappointed. The film follows a young wannabe Nazi with a cutesy and whimsical Hitler as his imaginary friend. Jojo discovers that a Jew is taking refuge in his house and down the rabbit hole we go. Tonally, this film never feels unified. The humor never truly landed and the more dramatic and cathartic scenes never felt earned. The film wasn’t able to reconcile these tones into something believable for the audience. The acting, however, was well done.
100 WORD FILM REVIEWS / The Lighthouse
A salty tale of nautical madness and folklore with overarching themes of identity that mirror those of Bergman’s Persona. The premise of The Lighthouse is that of two men, brilliantly acted by both Dafoe and Pattinson, manning a dilapidated lighthouse on an isolated rock. Dafoe’s character is domineering and psychologically manipulative, while Pattinson’s character is that of a simple working man with aspirations of settling down. Isolation begins to wear down on our protagonists and thus begins a downward spiral into depravity and madness. Brilliantly shot in black and white, it reflects the psychological state of Pattinson. A must see.
FILM / Once Upon a Time in Film Scoring / From Noon Till Three / Sean Woodard
For this month’s Once Upon a Time in Film Scoring column, Sean examines Elmer Bernstein’s theme for the underrated Charles Bronson Western, From Noon Till Three.
COMICS / Mr. Butterchips / November 2019 / Alex Schumacher
Mr. Butterchips surveys the world from atop his throne in the latest comic from Alex Schumacher
FILM / Captain Canada's Movie Rodeo / November 2019 / Gabriel Ricard
Gabriel Ricard stuffs your Thanksgiving turkey with a slew of horror films in this month’s Captain Canada’s Movie Roundup. Don’t forget: “That’s not cranberry sauce!”
Singing along extra-loud to the “I’m a joker, I’m a toker, I’m a midnight smoker” line in that one goofy Steve Miller Band song
Subtly flexing his arm anytime a woman touches it for any reason
At thirty-four, the same age my mom was in my memories, I’m tired of feeling orphaned by all the queer men, and I want to be angry. But there is no one to be angry with. You cannot be angry with a generation of men who lived through a plague.