2020: A Year In Books

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The turmoil of 2020 hasn’t affected my reading much, although I miss going to the library and have turned instead to Kindle. Among the 100+ books I’ve read this year, I’ve enjoyed discoveries old and new, plus the latest output from my favourite contemporary authors. However, some of my greatest pleasures lay in neglected midcentury classics which finally got their due. Continue reading →

2020: A Year in Music

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. For music lovers, this was the year the stage went dark, and we sought comfort in our record collections. Then in April 2020, with the world in lockdown, Fiona Apple surprised us with Fetch the Bolt Cutters, her first album in eight years and perhaps, the wake-up call we all needed. Continue reading →

Agency and Imagination in the Films of David Lynch

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A beautiful, dark-haired woman flees from a car wreck and wakes up in a stranger’s apartment, suffering from amnesia. When asked her name, she looks at an old movie poster on the wall, and focuses on its star: “Rita.” This pivotal moment from Mulholland Dr. (2001) adorns the cover of a new book about director David Lynch, as it was that film which sparked the interest of its two authors. Continue reading →

Violets, Flamingos and Heroes in Autumn

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On New Year’s Eve, I wrote here of my fears over where the world is heading. Little did I know that only a few weeks later we would be facing up to a pandemic. 2020 has been a strange, lonesome year for many of us. Continue reading →

All About ‘The Marilyn Report’

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Earlier this summer, my sister blog ES Updates celebrated its 10th birthday. Now I’m looking to the future with a new, fully-independent blog, The Marilyn Report. ES Updates will remain online, but if you’d like to continue hearing all the latest news about MM, please subscribe here. (This lovely photo of Marilyn was taken by Earl Theisen in 1947, shortly after she signed her first contract with Twentieth Century Fox.)