SO ALIVE In 1996 Keir Bloomfield got his first sole screen credit as a writer. Granted, it was on a low-budget, a very low-budget, movie that the producers guaranteed would be seen on oil platforms and tuna boats the world over. But it was a credit and it was his.…
Category: Short Stories
Face it, women have a peculiar affinity for a certain room in the house. And, I’m here to tell you why: sanctuary. Imagine, if you will, a bustling household on a typical morning. People teeming with questions and definitive statements, such as, “Is there any granola left? Where are my…
Ms. Hellman wrote these when she was 23-24ish. I think at that time she was divorced, working at MGM as a reader, and had just met the love of her life, Dashiell Hammett. The stories are the first flexing of her literary muscle. They were published once, in a magazine…
I have a friend I met when we were nine. This picture of Mary Pickford reminds me of her, the solid gaze, the bold spirit, and the curls. She’s the only person I’ve ever known whose hair fell into perfect ringlets. Recently, she called out of the blue and we…
Hello! This excerpt from my novel in progress is for my friend in Seattle, Scott Parker-Anderson. I’m in a helluva good mood, because after months of being forbidden from typing (separated my shoulder joint, long story, tell ya later) I am back at the keyboard. For those of you who…
Hello kittens, I thought I’d show you this – La Miniatura – draped off in tarps against the weather. Talk about maintenance! The house was originally commissioned by a rare book dealer… Paper… Water… Paper… Anything wrong here? As a follow up to the previous post (in a round about…
My uncle – when he still drove – used to take me on architectural tours of Los Angeles. We saw Frank Lloyd Wright’s leaky La Miniatura in a rain storm. We checked out a Neutra belonging to a friend of his that was perched in the Hollywood Hills and had…
I like religious people, conditionally. I like them if they live according to their creed and keep quiet about it. Nothing is more tedious than someone spouting off about “doing unto others” while their voice escalates and their eyes glaze. Not too long ago I had the occasion to interview…
For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated by maps. From when I was a little boy maps, atlases, and globes offered a window onto the wider world out there, and, more than that, made it understandable. They represented mystery and the solution to mystery all at…