The Noir of Who: Part 3

I have long been fascinated by “two worlds collided” connections between disparate things. Emblematic of that fascination has been observing the influence of classic-era film noir on the television series Doctor Who, following its resurrection in 2005. Emerging from those observations was the essay “The Noir of Who: Classic Film Noir’s Imprint on the Resurrected … Continue reading The Noir of Who: Part 3 →

The Noir of Who: Part 2

The Noir of Who: Backstory and Part 1

Back in, I think, 8th grade English class, we read Charles Dickens’ novel Great Expectations. A friend of mine (whose mother would later introduce me at his wedding as “her third son”—a high compliment) was so taken with the intricate web of connections between the book’s many characters that he pulled out a piece of … Continue reading The Noir of Who: Backstory and Part 1 →

And for my 100th post…100 random facts (about me)

This is post #100; thank you for continuing to “just bear with me.” December 19 is also the two-year anniversary of this site’s launch (so I should gift myself either cotton or china, and it should be red). To honor this symmetry, and to lighten the mood from my previous three posts (dealing—however obliquely—with the … Continue reading And for my 100th post…100 random facts (about me) →

Updating the Doctor(s)

This spring, we learned that the charming three-story brick townhouse whose ground and basement floors Nell and I have occupied since September 2007 was being sold. As a result, we four will move into a nearby Brookline apartment (nicer and with a spectacular view of Boston, to be fair) at the end of July. While … Continue reading Updating the Doctor(s) →

Questions asked…and answered

Periodically, a fellow blogger will pose and answer random questions in the context of a “blog award nomination.” The most recent person to do so decided, with commendable egalitarianism, to threw open the question-answering door to any and all entrants, so I decided to consolidate a series of questions (and my own idiosyncratic answers) into … Continue reading Questions asked…and answered →

Why I chose…Earnest and Arms

My mother died in March 2004, having outlived my father by nearly 22 years. As I often use humor to process the most intense emotions, I began to quip about “being orphaned at 37,” often adding some variant of this quote: To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose … Continue reading Why I chose…Earnest and Arms →

NOIR CITY 16: Setting the Stage

Thank you for your patience as I cavorted on the left coast for 11 days. I am now home in Brookline organizing my thoughts, notes, photographs and, of course, data. This is the first in a series of posts based upon my recent trip to NOIR CITY 16 in San Francisco, California. It outlines my … Continue reading NOIR CITY 16: Setting the Stage →

Separating the art from the artist

The director David Lynch—who I dressed as this past Halloween—gave this response to a question about the meaning of a puzzling moment toward the end of episode 15 of Twin Peaks: The Return. “What matters is what you believe happened,” he clarified. “That’s the whole thing. There are lots of things in life, and we wonder about … Continue reading Separating the art from the artist →

Rating Doctor Who, post “reboot,” episode 3

In a previous post, I posed the following question (edited for brevity): Which of the 131 Doctor Who episodes (115 Series episodes, 12 Christmas episodes, three 10th Doctor specials, 50th anniversary special), nine Series’ and four Doctors have been the most (and least) admired since Rose first aired on March 26, 2005? I then posed a … Continue reading Rating Doctor Who, post “reboot,” episode 3 →