Steveawiggins

LATEST ARTICLES ( 4557 )

• Not Poor

  

  It’s an amazing era for cinema. A number of genre-defying films have emerged and some of them are quite striking. Some months ago I saw Everything Everywhere Al... Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Passing Words

  

  I’ve never counted, but it must be dozens.  Maybe a hundred.  And they have very high memory requirements.  Especially for a guy who can’t recall why he walked... Read more

  Posted on 24 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Invisible Again

  

  Sequels are a fact of life. Movies, although some of us look to them for profundity, are made for selling. (I guess my writing for so long with no profit from i... Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Discovering Ordinary

  

  I wasn’t quite sure what sense of ordinariness to expect from Robert J. Wicks’ The Tao of Ordinariness. I would say as a whole it is about becoming ordinary you. Read more

  Posted on 22 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Two-Eyed Cyclops

  

  You can probably tell, if you read me regularly, that I’ve been going through an older movie kick. A lot of these are easier to find for free on streaming... Read more

  Posted on 21 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Sun Day

  

  Two holidays in a row!  Although today nobody gets off work because, well, two holidays in a row is too much.  People might come to expect a little more time... Read more

  Posted on 20 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• The Teenth of June

  

  It’s only really when they have no choice.  The Wednesday holiday, that is.  No convenient weekend a day away.  So Juneteenth is actually celebrated on... Read more

  Posted on 19 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• History Lesson

  

  This blog, which has come to define me in many ways, wasn’t my idea.  A niece started it for me when Neal Stephenson suggested I should have a place for... Read more

  Posted on 18 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Under Bite

  

  Religion and horror have long been bedfellows. And quite companionable ones at that. I’ve written a longer piece that I’ve not yet managed to wedge into a book... Read more

  Posted on 17 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Empowerment

  

  Recommended as a worthwhile contemporary gothic novel, Alix E. Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches is a feminist tour de force. Set in a world similar, or... Read more

  Posted on 16 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• International Standard

  

  Probably nobody gives them much of a thought.  ISBNs, that is.  International Standard Book Numbers.  An ISBN is a book’s unique identifier.  And they cost... Read more

  Posted on 15 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Revisiting Witch Mountain

  

  Suspension of disbelief is essential for many movies. When a friend pointed out that Disney had rebooted Witch Mountain, of course I suspended. Read more

  Posted on 14 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Number Six

  

  Signing a book contract always makes me happy.  There’s a validation to it.  Someone thinks my thoughts are worthwhile.  And now I can reveal what it’s about. Read more

  Posted on 13 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Camp Tingler

  

  I don’t remember in which magazine where I saw the still, but I was immediately intrigued. I didn’t know the movie it was from and in the days before the... Read more

  Posted on 12 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Personal History

  

  Being an historian by disposition has its own rewards.  I relate to the chronicling monks of the Middle Ages and their eagerness to record things. Read more

  Posted on 11 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Campus Monster

  

  Universal was the studio that gave America its monsters. Well, it wasn’t Universal alone, but the initial—almost canonical—line-up of monsters were Universal... Read more

  Posted on 10 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Life Course

  

  Curriculum vita.  The course of a life.  I see quite a few CVs, although I’m not on any search committees.  As I was examining one the other day I recollected... Read more

  Posted on 09 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Stalking the Stalker

  

  You had to’ve seen this coming. The Night Stalker introduced how Carl Kolchak, hard-nosed reporter, became a believer in the supernatural. Read more

  Posted on 08 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• Mystic Thoughts

  

  Those who know me primarily from my writings on horror are perhaps whiplashed when I muse about spiritual matters.  I don’t mean just religion, but... Read more

  Posted on 07 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY

• An Interesting Prize

  

  If you’re born without it, you get by any way that you can. Capital, that is. Those of us who inherit nothing but active minds don’t stand a chance, really. Read more

  Posted on 06 June 2024 POLITICS, RELIGION, SOCIETY