New Year memo

Happy Unbearable New Year to those who do or don’t celebrate, or even merely soldier on in ghastly times. How did we get here? We have our theories. Things will get better, but they may get worse before that unfortunately. I know it’s not much but it’s all I’ve got. And I used to complain about Bush/Cheney. In further news, I’m sorry to note that a very good friend of the blog, Steven Rubio—who commented here as “Mon-sewer Paul Regret”—passed from this sphere last March. He has been sorely missed since and will be for some time, perhaps all of the rest of mine. In addition, a facebook friend, a high school chum who did all the heavy lifting of staying in touch, Bob Rosberg, passed in October. I always loved hearing from him. He had lived in St. Petersburg since the ‘90s and was an excellent photographer. In perhaps slightly happier milestone news, this blog passed 3,000 posts this past year. I shudder to think how long it will take to get to 4,000 (and to the ultimate goal of 257 more after that). I may never, but of course that’s the way things go around here. We know the rules. We’re doing the best we can and that’s all we can ask. Well, I mean, we could ask for a reasonable and judicious US Supreme Court and a lot more constitutional rule of law but at least maybe we’re more aware of that than a year ago? At long last? So to speak. The schedule for the coming year is the same as it ever was. Sundays are for writeups about books and stories. Mondays are for newer movies. Wednesdays this year will feature song writeups. Thursdays as always are for horror short stories. Fridays are for classic movies, and Saturdays are album reviews. That is all. Proceed with caution.

Lists:

Woody Allen (dedicated to his appearances in the Epstein files, which further cement his reputation for extremely poor judgment over the years, and noting that my one-time long-time #1 or #2, Manhattan, is out because I just can’t anymore)
1. Love and Death (1975)
2. Annie Hall (1977)
3. Radio Days (1987)
4. Another Woman (1988)
5. What’s Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)
6. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
7. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993)

Stanley Kubrick
1. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
2. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
4. Barry Lyndon (1975)
5. The Killing (1956)
6. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001; a Kubrick project seen through by Steven Spielberg)
7. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

David Lynch
1. Twin Peaks (1989-2017; the franchise at large, including all of seasons 1-3 and Fire Walk With Me)
2. Eraserhead (1977)
3. The Elephant Man (1980)
4. The Straight Story (1999)
5. Blue Velvet (1986)
6. Mulholland Dr. (2001)