A Stealthy Fox: Bette Davis in The Little Foxes (1941)

***This post is part of The 4th Annual Bette Davis Blogathon, hosted by the In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood blog. *** ***Some spoilers*** “[Bette Davis’ character] lies in wait like a coiled snake (or a stealthy fox set to pounce).” (Carr, par. 5) I’m back after my month hiatus from blogging! I’ve got …

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Catalyst For A Series: My Unexpected “Aha!” Moment from The Blackwater Lightship

Photo Credit: Dark light… come shine in her lost heart tonight, taken on 26 November 2016 by Nikk: The Maniac Macrographer/Flickr/CC BY 2.0 I’ve talked quite a bit about inspiration on my blog. In this blog post I discuss how I believe inspiration is something you don’t sit around and wait for but go out and …

“A Veil of Tears”: Family Secrets and The Trickle-Down Effect in The Blackwater Lightship (2004)

***This post is part of the Adoring Angela Lansbury Blogathon, hosted by the Realweegiemidget Review blog. *** ***Some spoilers*** “It’s a veil of tears, Lily. A veil of tears” (Angela Lansbury, The Blackwater Lightship, 2004) Hallmark has very specific (and not always nice) associations for many of us. When we hear the word Hallmark, we think …

The Intruders: Joseph Cotten and Betsy Blair in A Delicate Balance (1973)

***This post, though a bit late, is part of The Joseph Cotten Blogathon, hosted by the In The Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood and the Maddy Loves Her Classic Films blogs. Thank you for letting me post late and still participate :-).*** ***Some spoilers*** “I find that joy and sorrow work their wonders on me.” - …

Adventurous Perception: The Individual Creative Process

Photo Credit: Photograph of Maurits (M.C.) Escher, around 23 Nov. 1971. Photograph probably made by Hans Peters (ANEFO), Ga het na (Nationall Archief NL): Vysotsky/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY SA 3.0 Many artists talk about the creative process. It’s one of those illusive ideas that fascinates non-artists and weighs heavily on the minds of artists because creativity …

The Emotional Badlands of Language, or, Language is Not Just Data

Photo Credit: Canadian singer Leonard Cohen in Trouville-sur-Mer (Normandy, France), taken 26 January 1988 by Roland Godefroy: Teddyyy/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 3.0 “If words are the arrow, we ourselves — our interior landscapes, our outward actions, the authenticity of our lives — are the bow.” (Popova, par. 1) As many of my blog readers know, I …

Creative Limitations

Photo Credit: Book, phone, and computer in chains, created and uploaded on 24 January 2015 by stevepb: stevepb/Pixabay/CC0 1.0 “I had to let go … then come back to the [book] understanding the new limitations as creative challenges.” (Tea, par. 4) I came across an interview with West Coast writer Michelle Tea quite some time …

Unlikely Pairings: Grotesque Domestic Fiction

  Not exactly the Mom and Dad you would picture for the traditional (and fabled) nuclear family, is it? Photo Credit: A Grotesque Couple: Old Woman with an Elaborate Headdress and Old Man with Large Ears and Lacking a Chin, 1491 or 93 – 1570, Giovanni Francesco Melzi, pen and brown ink, Metropolitan Museum of …

Unhappy Accidents: Why Writers Hate Their Own Work

Photo Credit: Book trash, taken 7 October 2017 by Paul Sableman: Meisam/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY 2.0 “[S]ome authors grow to dislike, disown, resent, or regret their books after publication—whether because of an unexpected critical or popular response, changes in their own views, or simple aging.” (Temple, par. 1) The idea that an author might hate a book …

The Transition from Hands To Mouth of Jacqueline Du Pre

Photo Credit: Jacqueline du Pre on the cover of her Dvorak Cello Concerto in B Minor album with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenbom (who was also her husband), 1971, EMI Records: amadeusrecord/Flickr/CC BY SA 2.0 “Well, that just means I’ve had to use more my mouth than my hands.” – Jacqueline du …