When I was a student, focused on the study of literature and theatre, I learned a hard lesson: there was a schism between those works which are deemed “art” and those classified as “popular culture”. As a child, my love of comic books was derided as . . . well, childish. Studying drama at U.C. … Continue reading A HUNDRED YEARS OF CHRISTIE, PART SEVEN: Mistress of Media in the 80’s
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KEEPING UP WITH POPULAR CULTURE
It is July 12, and my summer vacation is flying by. As I gear up for one more month of joy, freedom, relaxation, I have been reading up a storm, something that is hard to do when I’m teaching and directing. But just in case you’re imagining me to be a one-note fella, I wanted … Continue reading KEEPING UP WITH POPULAR CULTURE
THIRTEEN EGYPTIANS SAT DOWN TO DINE: Christie’s Death Comes As the End
When we talk about Death Comes as the End, Agatha Christie’s 1944 tour de force set in ancient Egypt, conversation hovers around personal opinion about how well Christie balanced the mass of detail in this, the first ever historical mystery novel, with her trademark GAD plotting. But now that the book is about to receive its first … Continue reading THIRTEEN EGYPTIANS SAT DOWN TO DINE: Christie’s Death Comes As the End
GAD = GORY AND DARK: Sarah Phelps Takes On the Establishment
The latest BBC rendition of an Agatha Christie classic , 1936’s The ABC Murders, has just dropped onto Amazon Prime. Now we forward-thinking Americans can add our two cents to the European reaction over Sarah Phelps’ treatment of the Mistress of Mystery. (I believe the words “Burn the witch and her laptop!” have been uttered in … Continue reading GAD = GORY AND DARK: Sarah Phelps Takes On the Establishment
FINDING MY XANAX AT 148 BONNY MEADOW ROAD
I’ve always been an anxious sort of person, but it really kicked in when I got to 5th grade. We had just moved back to California, and I enrolled in a school where all the other kids hated me. Oh, you can file this under paranoia, but fifteen years ago I met my wonderful 5th … Continue reading FINDING MY XANAX AT 148 BONNY MEADOW ROAD
MY FIRST 2018 OBSESSION
Happy New Year everybody! This time of year calls for reflection on the past, followed by the making of resolutions to guide us into the future. One of the hardest resolutions for a follower of GAD fiction to make is to stick with the times, and for me that is doubly difficult when it comes … Continue reading MY FIRST 2018 OBSESSION
THE EVIDENCE OF THE TATTERED PAPERBACK: Fifty Years of MotOE and Me
Two hundred posts are something to celebrate. It’s time to talk about the book that changed my life. The fact that Agatha Christie is my favorite author has as much to do with her place in my own history as her position as one of the greatest mystery writers of all time. She did not … Continue reading THE EVIDENCE OF THE TATTERED PAPERBACK: Fifty Years of MotOE and Me
TEN REASONS YOU SHOULD LOVE CARDS ON THE TABLE (And Deplore The TV Version)
Human beings are complex creatures. One moment we’re happy and the next, we’re blue. And sometimes we find ourselves at war with our emotions. Take me, for instance. Today, I’m a jumble of mixed feelings. I’m feeling good about bridge. You see, last summer, I decided to learn a game that had always seemed fascinating … Continue reading TEN REASONS YOU SHOULD LOVE CARDS ON THE TABLE (And Deplore The TV Version)
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SEASON OF BUFFY?
I’ll bet everyone misses the blissful idylls of summer vacation after school lets out . . . except for the parents, who can’t wait for the hallowed halls of academia to take their kids back in September. As scholars go, so go we teachers, riding the waves of a much-needed break from school routine. Summer … Continue reading WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SEASON OF BUFFY?
EYEBALL THIS, PAL! The Case of the Counterfeit Eye
“ You do the darndest things! You’re half saint and half devil! There isn’t any middle ground – you go to both extremes!” That’s Della Street, confronting her boss, Perry Mason, at the end of his sixth adventure, 1935’s The Case of the Counterfeit Eye, for playing as much the morally ambiguous action hero as … Continue reading EYEBALL THIS, PAL! The Case of the Counterfeit Eye
Ah Sweet Mystery! 