Before the fiasco of the “rock musical” Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, Julie Taymor worked in smaller savageries, especially Titus (1999), her adaptation of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus. The movie was…
Tonight is the final screening of Gabi on the Roof in July at the San Francisco Indiefest. If you’ve seen Tiny Furniture, you’ll appreciate that both movies feature hipster hamster’s…
Speaking of Egypt. The Yacobean Building (2006), directed by Marwan Hamed. The film shifts stunningly and beautifully between hard-core melodrama, sadness, and comedy. There are, eerily, some scenes that seem…
This week in New York actors celebrate Tennessee Williams at the 92nd Street Y, poets celebrate Elizabeth Bishop, pre-Valentine’s Day advice from love gurus at Speed Shrinking, Major Jackson reads…
Friend of the Rumpus Richard Parks is Kickstarting a documentary short about “Music Man” Murray Gershenz, LA’s premier rare-vinyl dealer. He’s put his entire collection up for sale at $500,000…
This week in San Francisco, Airplane! takes over the Castro Theater, Feast of Words: Sensory Feast, a free Valentine’s Day Etsy Labs Craft Bar, Mirah & Thao, and The Dude…
This week in New York lots of literary events to make you forget that you’re not going to be at AWP: authors Maxine Hong Kingston and Leslie Marmon Silko introduced…
Another clip from Polish director Andrzej Zulawski’s masterpiece Possession (1981), starring Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill. The movie piles on one outrageous, tornado-like scene after another, but it is often…
“Setting aside the more obscure, technical categories, when it comes to the best picture award along with the major nominations for acting, writing and directing, there are, ahem, zero people…
“A man in his underwear banged on his hotel window while I was being interviewed outside. When I looked up he pressed his whole body against the glass.” Miranda July…
I’m midway through teaching a course at Antioch University Seattle called Unreal Fiction and Film. Every week we pair a film or selection of shorts with a short story. The…
Lately I’ve been wanting to watch more documentaries about writers. Any suggestions? In the meantime, thanks to Galley Cat, I found this documentary about H.P. Lovecraft which is worth ninety…