There's a great rant near the end of the season finale of Mr. Robot featuring wonderful Christian Slater. This rant about the uncertain nature of reality reminds those of us who remember of a much younger Christian Slater ranting in another film as another seductive bad guy who blows things up. So it's a deeply … Continue reading June 6th, 2016, Wrestling with Mr. Robot — will the revolution be televised?
Category: Popular Culture
Fantastical, fabulist, fantasmatic, magical, magical realist, surrealist, science fictional, speculative, just plain weird, or what? — the agenda for 2016
Dear friends – There’s a lot of talk about literary borders these days: what is and is not something or something else. My friend R, who is a poet and performer and video artist says he’s HAD it with those boundaries and those arguments. "Who cares?" he says "whether it’s gothic or haiku or a … Continue reading Fantastical, fabulist, fantasmatic, magical, magical realist, surrealist, science fictional, speculative, just plain weird, or what? — the agenda for 2016
Midweek mini-meditation: when the truth is stranger than fiction (and is also violent, dark, and is a videogame). March 5th 2014
Dear Friends of the Magical, the Surprising, the Weird and the Real: Over here at Magically Real HQ, we keep an eye out for the thing that sparks us -- the thing that makes us want to think, write, talk, and make work. Also teach. Also speak out when necessary. Also do laundry. We are … Continue reading Midweek mini-meditation: when the truth is stranger than fiction (and is also violent, dark, and is a videogame). March 5th 2014
Story Time Sunday, a true tale 02/23/14 (appropriate for all ages)
Remember how clunky they were? Heavy? How you had to have stout shoes to even attempt them? Not loafers, because they’d just pop off your feet carrying the weight of those wheels and those heavy clamps that fit around your toes. The ones that needed the key, and you had to have the key with … Continue reading Story Time Sunday, a true tale 02/23/14 (appropriate for all ages)
Midweek meditation: Israel/Palestine and the 2 (at least) Los Angeles’s
Dear Friends: I returned last night from a 2-week trip to Israel and Palestine. We spent a Jewish Sabbath in an orthodox town development that is part of an older city that works rather like a suburb to Jerusalem (kind of the Long Beach to Los Angeles [no, it’s not a settlement]), and I went … Continue reading Midweek meditation: Israel/Palestine and the 2 (at least) Los Angeles’s
Story Time Sunday, 02/09/14: 14 and 2 — a semi-true fairy tale
Once upon a time there were 14 architects. They lived in a new country and spoke a new language invented by linguistics scientists in a secret desert laboratory. The scientists worked with teeth sounds and tongue sounds and found the perfect words to go with the human mouth and then they came out and taught … Continue reading Story Time Sunday, 02/09/14: 14 and 2 — a semi-true fairy tale
Sunday speculations (disjointed), February 2, 2014: Here’s what we [don’t] talk about when we talk about Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Woody Allen
Dear Friends of the Unreal -- Today is a very strange day. Superbowl fever rages, while: a. an amazingly talented young actor was found in his Village apartment, dead from an overdose of heroin. b. a scandal/controversy rages (sort of) around a well known New York filmmaker. Words spew forth, and here I am spewing … Continue reading Sunday speculations (disjointed), February 2, 2014: Here’s what we [don’t] talk about when we talk about Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Woody Allen
Thrilling Thursday special edition — the conclusion of Grimm Brothers reboot #7
Brief Recap in bullet points: · #ouat 12 princes = too many. · queen pregnant and dad-king wants a girl so he can kill the boys (reverse Oedipal complex). · hires carpenter – fabricates coffins avec fancy pillows. · queen tells Benjamin = youngest son. · Benjamin and 11 bros scamper to Los Angeles Forest … Continue reading Thrilling Thursday special edition — the conclusion of Grimm Brothers reboot #7
Special Manic Monday edition: Storytime Sunday continues
Our story so far. A too large family's king-dad goes postal and vows to kill his 12 sons if a daughter is born to his wife. Queenie doesn't take this lying down, although the coffins have been constructed equipped with little pillows. She grabs her youngest, the ubiquitous Benjamin (also the name of the Dustin … Continue reading Special Manic Monday edition: Storytime Sunday continues
Storytime Sunday, 01/05/14 — Grimm Brothers reboot, #5
This king is crazy. He has to have this and he has to have that. He had me, his servant, find the key so he could unlock the door to the secret room and he had to see the portrait of the girl dressed in gold and then he had to go get the girl … Continue reading Storytime Sunday, 01/05/14 — Grimm Brothers reboot, #5
Stephanie Barbé Hammer Writing (Un) Real 