Posted in Art, Art-house Cinema, Inspiration, Literature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Psychology, tagged David Lynch, Philosophy, Foreign Films, Film Classics, Film School, Criterion Collection, Ingmar Bergman, Persona, Fanny and Alexander, Swedish Films, Mulholland Drive, August Strindberg, A Dream Play, Dreams, Theater, Robert Schumann, Classical Music, Existentialism on July 15, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Anything can happen; all things are possible and plausible. Time and space do not exist: over a minute patch of reality imagination will weave its web and create fresh patterns…”
–August Strindberg, Preface to A Dream Play (1902)
This spring I arrogantly went through my own self taught film school where I explored critically for the [...]
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Posted in Book Reviews, Books, History, Literature, tagged Alan Furst, Espionage, Graham Greene, Historical Fiction, John Le Carre, Poland, Romance, Spies, Spy Novels, The Spies of Warsaw, Thrillers, Warsaw, World War Two on June 23, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Atmospheric and Meandering
Reviewed by:
David H. Schleicher “Author of The Thief Maker”
- See all my reviews
Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, a military attache and French spy living in Poland, begins an affair with a lovely Polish lawyer named Anna while trying to obtain inside information on Germany’s planned invasion of France in Alan Furst’s atmospheric and meandering [...]
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Posted in Book Reviews, Book to Film Adaptations, Books, Literature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Psychology, tagged Horror Films, Psychological Thrillers, Ghost Stories, Film Classics, Henry James, The Turn of the Screw, Repression, Freud, The Innocents, Jack Clayton, Freddie Francis, Deborah Kerr, Victorian Era, Film School, Novellas on May 5, 2008 | No Comments »
Henry James’ classic novella from 1898, “The Turn of the Screw” opens with a group of friends discussing ghost stories:
“I quite agree–in regard to Griffin’s ghost, or whatever it was-that its appearing first to the little boy, at so tender an age, adds a particular touch. But it’s not the first occurrence of its charming [...]
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Posted in Books, Language, Literature, Movies, Pop Culture, tagged Atonement, colloquialisms, Double Indemnity, Film Noir, Graham Greene, Henry Wordsworth Longfellow, humor, Old Timey, phrases, slang, The Little Rascals, vernacular, Victorian Era Novels on April 19, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Part of the wonder of a living language is reviving dead words and phrases. When I recently began to toy with the idea of doing a series of novels set in the 1920’s, 1930’s, and 1940’s, I began to wonder if my knowledge of The Little Rascals would be enough to create that period dialog [...]
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Posted in Awards, Books, Literature, Publishing, The Thief Maker, tagged D. H. Schleicher, Eric Hoffer, Eric Hoffer Awards, Finalists, Hopewell Publications, Independent Books, Philosophy on April 13, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Nearly a year and a half after its publication, my novel The Thief Maker continues to accumulate accolades.
The Thief Maker was recently named a Finalist in the 2008 Eric Hoffer Award for Independent Books.
Though it will not be taking home one of the grand prizes, being named a Finalist places The Thief Maker in “the top [...]
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Posted in Arts and Entertainment, Book to Film Adaptations, Books, History, Literature, Politics, Television, tagged Abigail Adams, Alexander Hamilton, American History, American Revolution, Beer, Ben Franklin, Boston, Charles Adams, Danny Huston, David McCullough, David Morse, Drinking, Founding Fathers, George Washington, HBO, John Adams, John Adams Episode Guide, John Quincy Adams, Laura Linney, Miniseries, Paul Giamatti, Philadelphia, Revolutionary War, Rufus Sewel, Samuel Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Tom Hooper, Tom Wilkinson on March 16, 2008 | 11 Comments »
**This was a post in progress.
Weekly updates appeared as each episode of John Adams aired Sunday nights on HBO.
And remember, faithful viewers, Samuel Adams White Ale is the (un)official beer of HBO’s John Adams. Real Patriots Drink Samuel Adams.
________________________________________________________________
*Above: Political Propaganda circa 1776.
PREVIEW:
Ever since the demise of The Sopranos and Rome, the only thing even remotely worth [...]
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Posted in Art, Book Reviews, Books, Inspiration, Literature, Publishing, tagged Caleb Carr, Dublin, Dubliners, Edgar Allan Poe, Elsie Sheridan, Graham Greene, Ireland, James Joyce, Kurt Vonnegut, Matthew Pearl, Novels, Philip Pankov, Short Stories, The Dead, The Poe Shadow, William Faulkner on March 1, 2008 | 8 Comments »
CAPTION: Man dies from boredom on Dublin’s Ha’Penny Bridge while reading a very long novel. *Photo courtesy of Philip Pankov (www.philpankov.com) and www.thenocturnes.com.
Kurt Vonnegut once said of novels that “reading one is like being married forever to somebody nobody else knows or cares about.”
I couldn’t agree more while I find myself in a laborious relationship with The [...]
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Posted in Art-house Cinema, History, Literature, Movie Reviews, Movies, Psychology, Travel, tagged Belgium, Brendan Gleeson, Bruges, Clemence Poesy, Colin Farrell, Crime Thriller, Dark Comedy, David Mamet, Dwarves, Graham Greene, Hit Men, In Bruges, Martin McDonagh, Midgets, Ralph Fiennes on February 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Clemence Poesy says “oui oui” to a vaction…In Bruges.
Just when I was about lose faith in film due to the muck and mire currently overstuffing multiplexes and DVD shelves, In Bruges comes along, out of nowhere, to restore my religion. First-time feature length director/screenwriter Martin McDonagh hasn’t crafted an earth shaking masterpiece, but he has a made a film [...]
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Posted in Books, Literature, tagged Graham Greene, New Year, 2008, Resolutions, Authors, Writing, Reading, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, Clive Barker, Late Night Talk Shows on January 2, 2008 | 4 Comments »
With the ever increasingly stressful (and quite frankly, unnecessary) holiday season finally over, we can all now look forward to 2008. “Go with the flow and pay as you go” is my annoying little motto for the year. It’s a mantra I can repeat internally to remind myself to relax more.
I’m not much for the [...]
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Divided Attention
By
David H. Schleicher “Author of The Thief Maker” - See all my reviews
Michael Ondaatje’s “Divisadero” tells the tale of Anna, her adopted sister Claire, and their father’s farmhand Coop, growing up in the poetic splendor of their California homestead. After scandal and tragedy separate the three, Anna eventually ends up in France years [...]
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