Essay: "Racism"

It often seems to me that it is not particularly useful to call people racist. I think it is best to call statements, decisions or actions racist, and separate that judgment from making an overall assessment of a person as “racist” or “not racist.”

Review: "Suttree"

It took Cormac McCarthy a while to find his audience. He won the National Book Award in 1992 for All the Pretty Horses, which was adapted into a film in 2000 starring Matt Damon and Penelope Cruz. But after I was first introduced to his writing, in early 2001, it was years before any of my acquaintances had heard of him. It was not until the release of the film version of No Country For Old Men and Oprah’s endorsement of The Road that the secret seemed to get out.

Essay: "Film Noir"

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Red Riding, a trilogy of British made-for-TV movies that I feel are an excellent example of film noir. This week I thought I'd write a bit about film noir more broadly, because two of my favorite movies of the past few years (I'll Sleep When I'm Dead and Brick) are examples of the genre and I have strong opinions on the subject (although I should note that you can read definitions of film noir online written by people who are much more qualified to speak about the subject than me, and so what follows is my own personal view).