Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4647 )

• Getting By

  

  There are some books, such as Trina Paulus’s Hope for the Flowers, or Charlie Mackesy’s The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, that are inherently hopeful an... Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Poe Day

  

  Perhaps best known for his rabidly racist The Birth of a Nation, D. W. Griffith was nevertheless influential in early filmmaking. I’m fascinated by how... Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Steering

  

  I’ve always been self-critical. Often when someone points out something I’ve done wrong I’ve already figured out that I’ve made the mistake and the reminder is... Read more

  Posted on 18 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Old Dracula

  

  Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula is one of the “old movies” about which I posted some time back. I’ve seen it at least a couple of times, and I wrot... Read more

  Posted on 17 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Reading Unwritten

  

  There’s a style of writing—I’m not sure what it’s called—where an author keeps revealing new, and necessary information on nearly every page. Read more

  Posted on 16 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Burn Out

  

  The Los Angeles fires are terrifying.  In my case, I can’t help but think of the Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire of 1871.  I read two books about it, the first... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Upstate

  

  Unrequited love is sometimes tragic.  Other times it’s merely sad.  People are attracted to places.  Or at least the idea of places.  I was born in Pennsylvania... Read more

  Posted on 14 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Car Talk

  

  Body horror isn’t my favorite sub-genre, but Titane (French for titanium) had been recommended in several places. Body horror directed by women takes on a... Read more

  Posted on 13 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Measuring Books

  

  You know how some email servers stock your inbox with ads?  I almost never pay attention to them.  Then one for Books by the Foot showed up.  I had to click. Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Meanwhile, on Earth

  

  Low budget doesn’t always translate to cinematic disaster, but in The Crater Lake Monster, it unfortunately does. I have a soft spot for those who attempt to... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Steve Or Stephanie

  

  I know gender is a construct, and all.  I even put my pronouns (he, him, his) on my work email signature.  I haven’t bothered on my personal email account... Read more

  Posted on 10 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Re-untold

  

  In retrospect, Universal’s Dark Universe, itself a shadowy concept, could have been a thing. With the budget behind it, Dracula Untold could’ve been spectacular. Read more

  Posted on 09 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Finding Vampires

  

  Parents always dread when their child will ask them the inevitable question: where do vampires come from? A number of people have undertaken to answer that... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Scary Things

  

  I recently set myself the challenge to come up with the scariest movies I’ve seen, up to 1979.  The date is the publication date (I think) of Stephen King’s... Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• LA Story

  

  David Lynch movies aren’t always easy to understand. Last year we watched Twin Peaks, including the movie Fire Walk with Me. Some time before that I’d watched... Read more

  Posted on 06 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Finding a Spot

  

  Sometimes you’re not born among your tribe.  I live where I’ve moved out of economic necessity, not where my family’s located.  My family’s not quite sure what... Read more

  Posted on 05 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Motorcycle Trip

  

  Among my introductory lectures to students was one that covered genre. I recall saying something along the lines of “when you read something your expectations o... Read more

  Posted on 04 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Going Below

  

  Indiana Jones in National Treasure, in found-footage horror format. That’s the feel of As Above, So Below. Only Jones is a woman. There’s plenty of religious... Read more

  Posted on 03 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Perhaps More?

  

  Publishers use the term “deep backlist” to refer to titles that they published long ago. That’s always the phrase that comes to mind when I browse my “to read”... Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Hoping for 2025

  

  Those who predict, as pollsters repeatedly remind us, can’t really prognosticate.  In ancient times some prophets were thought to be given (usually... Read more

  Posted on 01 January 2025 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY