“He was a good man/And now he’s gone.” - M. Ward
There isn’t another American actor of his generation who was as successful, both artistically and commercially, as Paul Newman. Look at a list of his performances. Not many stinkers, and Newman somehow managed to stand out even in those that were, on the whole, less […]

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Over at his New York Times blog, filmmaker Errol Morris (Thin Blue Line, Fog of War, Fast, Cheap and Out of Control) discusses the possibilities and perils of using dramatic re-enactments in his documentaries. Unlike Michael Moore, Morris holds his audience’s intellect in high regard, and thus feels compelled to meditate on the implications of […]

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Two magazine articles I recently wrote are now out. First, Maisonneuve’s latest has my feature on ’60s experimental filmmaker Arthur Lipsett and the excellent new documentary about his life, Remembering Arthur. Lipsett’s first short for the NFB, Very Nice, Very Nice (1961) helped revolutionize avant-garde and mainstream cinema; its non-linear editing juxtaposed faces and architecture, […]

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& welcome to my virtual woodshed. I’ll be workshopping ideas & stories for my book-in-progress, Broken Atlas, with plenty of serendipitous detours into adjacent terrain. Expect curios & cracked eggs, dispatches from afar & unexpected encounters.
News item of the day: At dawn, Saddam Hussein is escorted to the gallows, which is contained in the same […]

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