The Music Lover

Director Ken Russell has left us at 84, although oddly enough, I kept thinking for years that he was already dead, no doubt confusing him with Paddy Chayefsky, who passed away less than a year after their only collaboration, Altered States (1980), was released. An Oscar winner for Marty, The Hospital, and Network, Chayefsky adapted [...]

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Fabergé Dregs, Part I

Ian Fleming’s last James Bond book was a collection of short stories that was published in 1966, two years after his death, and has had several incarnations. Variously titled simply Octopussy or Octopussy and the Living Daylights, it originally contained the latter two stories, which appeared first in, respectively, Playboy (March and April 1966) and [...]

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Assassin of Literature

I’d like to offer this belated word of support for espionage author (Song of Treason) and blogger Jeremy Duns, one of the many who were hoodwinked by Quentin Rowan, a sometime bookseller in my former home of Park Slope (!). Written under the pseudonym of Q.R. Markham, his novel Assassin of Secrets was honorably withdrawn [...]

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Zuccotti Park

A topical ditty to mark our 300th post…   “Zuccotti Park” (Simon/Garfunkel/Bradley)   Are you going to Zuccotti Park? Protesters come, but can’t pitch a tent Remember me to those who live there I think they should soon pay some rent Liberty Plaza it once was called (Between Broadway and Trinity Place it is found) [...]

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Marvel University Alert 11/16/11

For many reasons–not all of them voluntary–I’ve taken it easy on these alerts while Marvel University was “merely” re-presenting some of my BOF posts, albeit with snazzy visuals, and I was commenting irregularly on their own impressive work, but from now on, I’ll be taking an increasingly active role. Starting today, and for the foreseeable future, [...]

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Richard Gordon (1925-2011)

British producer Richard Gordon, who died November 1 at 85, occupied a notable place in the cinema of the fantastic by vocation, by avocation, and even by birth, as the younger brother of Alex Gordon, who was a key figure at American International Pictures during the 1950s before going solo. Richard used to write long [...]

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Pistols at Dawn

What I’ve Been Watching: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). Who’s Responsible: Guy Hamilton (director), Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz (screenwriters), Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, and Britt Ekland (stars). Why I Watched It: Research. Seen It Before? Many times, including on its release. Likelihood of Seeing It Again (1-10): 10. Likelihood the Guys Will [...]

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If They Ain’t Broke…

Madame BOF sometimes fulminates about the Internet being the spawn of Satan, but my own position is a little more, shall we say, nuanced, and I regard it as being, like most technology, a double-edged sword at worst. Case in point: the “October Surprise” made me miss this week’s episode of 2 Broke Girls, but [...]

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Let There Be Lights

We are at last empowered once again, thank God, leaving Irene’s six-day record barely intact and the cats very happy. Miraculously (given the official prognostications), the electricity came back on as I was pulling into the driveway last night, and as a bonus, I learned yesterday that train service has been restored on the Danbury [...]

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