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When I was in my twenties, I read Roger Penrose’s The Emperor’s New Mind and was blown away by it. That is, in the 5% or so that I could understand, I was blown away. Never have I read a science book that, paradoxically, filled me with hope and optimism. And awe. The book is…
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With all the innumerable recent scandals that have erupted over the last decade or so, I find myself wondering when, exactly, did the term “fixer” enter the national lexicon? Recently, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, was referred to as a “fixer” by the national press. Similarly, the popular TV show Ray Donovan is about…
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It’s June 17 here in Gainesville, and the reality of another Florida summer is starting to sink in. We’ve been having a lot of rain, which makes this time of year tolerable—until the sun comes out and the humidity seems to wrap around your face like a barber’s steam rag. Oh, well. I just need…
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One night when I was walking the streets of New York City, a young panhandler confronted me and demanded five dollars. “For what?” I asked. “I’ll sing Stevie Wonder.” I gave him two bucks, and he immediately delivered a surprisingly good rendition of “Superstiton.” When he was finished, he looked at me and said, “What’dya…
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Novice writers sometimes ask about the difference between “literary” fiction and “commercial” fiction, and so-called learned people often answer something like this: “Commercial fiction is about plot; literary fiction is about character.” But what any real student of literary fiction knows is that all novels—all good novels, at least—have a plot. That is, they have…
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The fine character actor Treat Williams died in a motorcycle accident earlier this week. I say “character actor” because, despite his charm, intelligence, and vaguely Scottish good-looks, Williams never quite achieved leading-man status in Hollywood. His best movie, imho, was Sidney Lumet’s Prince of the City, a wrenching drama about the corrupting influence of drug…
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Once again I’m late to the party, but I finally watched Todd Field’s 2022 movie Tár, starring Cate Blanchett. I really didn’t know much about the film, except that it had been well received (Blanchett received an Oscar nomination) and that it was about a female orchestra conductor named Lydia Tár. From this scant information,…
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Author’s Note: a slightly different version of this post first ran on my old blog, Bahktin’s Cigarettes. It’s hard to believe, but the 40th Anniversary of the Watergate break-in is fast approaching, on June 17. The day will be commemorated by Chapman University and many others. It will not be the most uplifting of anniversaries, surely. I…
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When I was a high school kid in the 1980s, a legend sprang up about a West coast rock band that got busted while playing one of the house parties on UF’s fraternity row. The band had gotten naked on-stage and been arrested for public indecency. And—oh, yeah—they were apparently a really kick-ass band. They…
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I went into my favorite used bookstore recently, and I was shocked to find only a handful of Michael Crichton’s old books on hand. When I was a kid, he was ubiquitous. He was guaranteed to have not just an entire shelf dedicated to his work, but often an entire case. I mean, dozens of…
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Ash Clifton, Writer 