Author Archives: louisprofphillips

“If they give you ruled paper, write the other way.” James Ramon Jimenezepigraph to Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury **“Most novels deal with leisure rather than with work, with the margins of life, where the human personality is free to expand and enter into interesting relationships, rather than with the quotidian toil which , forContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: THE JOYS OF WRITING #3”

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH ANIMALS”There’s a schizoid quality to our relationship with animals, in which sentiment and brutality exist side by side. Half the dogs in America will receive Christmas presents this year, yet few of us pause to consider the miserable life of the pig — an animal easily as intelligent as a dog —Continue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: ANIMALS”

“When I was growing up, we had a petting zoo, and well, we had two sections. We had a petting zoo, and then we had a heavy petting zoo, for people who really liked animals a lot.” Ellen De Generis**FROM ANN LANDERS’ COLUMN ABOUT”The bride who phoned her mother on her honeymoon to say sheContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: SEX”

“Virginia Woolf wrote that the cinema was a case of the savagesbeginning not with two bars of iron and working up to Mozart,but with grand pianos and nothing to play.”Pauline Kael, reviewing Ryan’s Daughter in The New Yorker(November 21, 1979)**JOAN CRAWFORD WANTS TO SING OPERADavid Niven, interviewed by Dick Cavett, revealed that actress Joan CrawfordContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISLAID LIFE: FILM #23”

Emily Dickinson’s hair was for sale on eBay, for an asking price of $250,000.  AMERICA’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE HOT DOG”By 1894 college publications at Yalemay have been the first to jokingly callvendors’ carts ‘dog wagons’ that sold”little dogs’ or ‘hot dogs.’At the time,there was a popular belief that dog meatcould turn up in sausagesContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: AMERICANA #5”

for Michael FrenchJONATHAN MILLER ON DIRECTING & DIAGNOSTIC MEDICINE”Condemnation and ridicule of the Actors’ Studio style of training is general. ‘I don’t care how somebody feels about a part — that’s between him and his conscience,’ Jonathan (Miller) says ‘ What I want is an actor who can say a line eighteen different ways. IContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: THEATER # 4”

for T.CampbellBANNED IN BOSTON FOR SMOKING A CIGAR!In 1940, (DALE) Messick created a new heroine—a “girl bandit” named Brenda Starr—whose looks were modeled on the film star Rita Hayworth, and named after a popular debutante, Brenda Frazier.[5] She submitted the new strip to the Chicago Tribune-New York News syndicate, but the syndicate chief, Joseph MedillContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE: COMICS & COMIC STRIPS”

for Mark” March 15 is too important a day to ignore. As the man who taught me to use a chainsaw said, it is immortalized by Shakespeare’s famous warning: “Cedar! Beware the adze of March.”HEATHER COX RICHARDSONMAR 16, 2024** SHAKESPEARE & VIRGINIA WOOLF”Shakespeare’s living presence in home readings aloud of the plays and in amateurContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISPLACED LIFE:SHAKESPEARE”

In the 17th century,Sir William Brereton published his Travels in Holland, etc, (1634-1635), and alas! he was not so enamored of the household smells of the good citizens of Edinburgh: “…their houses and halls, and kitchens, have such a noisome taste, a savour and that so strong, as itdoth offend you so soon as youContinue reading “BITS & PIECES OF A MISLAID LIFE: TRAVEL #3”