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Should have packed the extra gloves. It has been a pretty fascinating career trajectory for Liam Neeson. Here was a guy who became known to American audiences more than twenty years ago for movies like Darkman , a small-budget comic turned low-budget superhero/antihero popcorn flick, then years later he picks up an Oscar nomination for Schindler’s List , then he goes right back to action movies like Clash of the Titans and the surprise blockbuster of a couple years ago, Taken . Indeed, he... Read Full Story

I’d like an opportunity in this week’s post to directly address a few issues that have been bothering me for some time in regards to literary magazines and their policies in accepting, or not accepting, short stories from authors. Now, as a writer, those familiar with me and the site know that as of yet, I’ve been published only in literary magazines, on websites, and in collections of various kinds. Since I haven’t been able to find a publisher for any of my novels yet, this is the best way... Read Full Story

When I started this site, I listed as influences my five top authors, five names whose work I admired and who I couldn’t get enough of: Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, Cormack McCarthy, John Irving, and Ernest Hemingway. Today I’d like to talk about a new top five, whose work I’ve been enjoying in recent years. First up is: Edgar Allan Poe. For someone like me, who enjoys Gothic horror, there’s none better to go to than the master. Poe was an innovator both in poetry and prose, leaving a... Read Full Story

We all have our parents to thank for our existence on this earth. Once they procreated, we came into being. But we entered this world alone, and we’ll leave it the same way. It’s a trip we must make by ourselves. In the meantime, there’s all kinds of people here in this world that we can surround ourselves with…if we choose to. Think about it. There are going to be people we meet during our lives that we’re going to love. There are some we’re going to loath. And then there are all the rest of... Read Full Story

So that's a Tintin! I was wondering. The moment I heard that Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg were teaming up to bring an animated “Tintin” movie to theaters, I was excited, and I also knew it wasn’t going to do very well. Why? Because, as good as it might be, American audiences just don’t really know who Tintin is. The series of oversize comic magazines, by the Swedish author and illustrator Herge, are much beloved in their native country and in other parts of Europe, but I think there’s... Read Full Story

Robert Downey Jr. is a Christmas ham In this, the follow up to the original of two years ago, we have Holmes and Watson, played by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, once again teaming up toward the end of the nineteenth century to try to thwart the plans of the nefarious Professor Moriarty, the “Napoleon of Crime,” here depicted by English actor Jared Harris. Much like the first installment of this series, the Holmes you get here is a far cry from the master detective popularized by Arthur... Read Full Story

It looks like Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s are all upon us, so it must be time for my annual year in review post. 2011 has been eventful on a national and international level, and certainly there’s lots to talk about in my personal life as well. The biggest story for this country has continued to be the lousy economy. As the 2012 election nears and the GOP squabbles to select a front runner that appeals to die-hard Republicans and also Tea Party fruitcakes, Obama’s popularity has sunk... Read Full Story

The Miracle Worker? Yesterday, the Denver Broncos, down 10-0 to the Chicago Bears with about five minutes to go, orchestrated an unlikely comeback. Tim Tebow, the rookie phenom for the Broncos who seems to always turn it on in the fourth quarter, threw a touchdown pass that brought Denver within a field goal of tying it up and sending it to overtime. Then, inexplicably, Marion Barber, the running back for the Bears, didn’t run out of bounds, therefore not stopping the clock and allowing the... Read Full Story

Almost nine years ago, I was still in college, in Pittsburgh. I remember piling into my friend Tiffany’s car, along with several others, and making a trip to Washington, D.C., to take part in an anti-war rally. We were protesting the war in Iraq, because we, and a growing percentage of the population, didn’t agree with America’s involvement there. George W. Bush, dimwit that he is, was just a couple of months away from declaring “Mission Accomplished” on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln... Read Full Story

Thanksgiving, the holiday that just passed, may owe its roots to the breaking of bread, supposedly, between the Pilgrims and Native Americans. This, of course, as everyone knows, would be before the Pilgrims and those that came to colonize the “New World” after them began a systematic persecution of those same Native Americans that eventually led to their being nearly wiped out. Be that as it may, part of today’s version of the holiday involves, yes, the giving of thanks, the counting of ones... Read Full Story