Bite Me, Tony

Cult movies # 6 Unless you have a passing familiarity with the Beat Generation , it's possible that you have never heard of William S. Burroughs . Burroughs, a scion of the Burroughs Business Machines empire, was one of the Beat's co-founders, and a hugely influential author of subversive, postmodern literature. As early as 1957-58, what eventually became  The Naked Lunch  had already raised eyebrows after excerpts were published in two American magazines and immediately confiscated by postal authorities.  Burroughs's book, The Naked Lunch , was published by Olympia Press in Paris in 1959, and made its American debut in 1962 when Grove Press unleashed the "obscenity" on a nation that was, in many ways, still comfortably entrenched in the conservative conformity of the Eisenhower years. Once again, the postal service officials went to work, and  The Naked Lunch  was soon infamously banned in both Boston and Los Angeles. The L.A. ban was eventually lifted in 1...

James Purdy was one of the great authors of the 20th Century, yet many of today's readers, regardless of age and education, have never heard of him. It's a shame really, as he was a distinctive voice for the social misfits, down-and-outers and misunderstood denizens of a country that has always  had a sharp demarcation line between the haves- and have-nots. While Purdy's novels are in themselves unique, they also bring to mind the best works of Faulkner and Tennessee Williams. I suspect that, in his prime, Purdy was unfairly neglected because of the frank depictions of homosexuality in his tales, his dark critiques of  religion, and the hypocrisy and repression in American society. Purdy's body of work spans decades, but he seemed to be at his best during the 1960's and 70's. For more information about James Purdy, check out my blog post from June 6, 2023 . Or just click here .  Considered by Purdy fans to be his greatest novel, Eustace Chisholm and the Works  f...

Fellow Travelers has been on my watch list since Showtime first released it as a limited series in 2023. Of course, since we don't subscribe to Showtime, I kept waiting--in vain--for it to show up on Blu-ray. Thanks to a tip from our friend, George, we were able to watch all 8 episodes this week on Paramount+ with Showtime, where various movies and TV series have been airing during a one-week free trial. Based on a 2007 novel by Thomas Mallon, Fellow Travelers  chronicles the relationship between four men navigating the perilous political landscape of McCarthy-era Washington , and beyond. In 1952, young Tim Laughlin, a devout Catholic and fervent seeker of justice, aspires to join Senator Joe McCarthy 's efforts to purge the government (and the nation) of Communists. With the aid of hatchet man, Roy Cohn , McCarthy conducts a reign of terror throughout the capital that will eventually spread all the way to Hollywood. Televised trials of suspected "Reds" are the order...

A Murder of Crows, An Unkindness of Ravens ***This entry was originally written in mid-June but not posted until today. My personal treatments mentioned below have ceased, though not yet all the torments.*** A quarrelsome murder of crows were going at it hot and heavy just outside our bedroom window this morning. A murder of crows. Lions have their pride, whales a pod, there are herds of cattle and flocks of geese. But a murder of crows? Sounds like something cooked up by Charles Addams or Edward Gorey. It's an inventively macabre description that befits this boisterous crew who always seem  to be on the verge of murdering something , most usually one another.  At any rate, we'd been lying in bed, reluctant to depart the comfort of our nest. After all, it was a rare day blessedly free of doctor's appointments, chemoradiation treatments, telehealth calls and all the pain that these things entail. To be honest, my torture was temporarily blocked by the painkiller I'd take...

Artsy Fartsy - Gustav Klimt I haven't written anything about art on this blog since I first introduced it way back in, oh, whenever I started it. In which case, you might be surprised to learn that I am an art lover. Not an art academic, mind you--I did not get a doctorate in Art History--nor do I claim to be any sort of art expert. However, I do know one or two things--a fairly minimal amount, in the grand scheme of things--about quite a lot of art works and the brilliant (and in some cases, controversial) talents who created them. From here on, you'll likely be seeing an occasional post about some of my favorite artists and their most well-known (and, in some cases, lesser-known) works. If you've read this blog at all, you'll know that I am not locked into any specific genre or timeline when it comes to movies, TV shows or books. The same goes for paintings; whether it's Renaissance, Baroque, Cubism, Surrealism or contemporary art, I'm a fan of it all.  For...