whatever you do, do not sit here

Luca Guadagnino preparing to welcome Captain Kirk to his humble planet.

I can't stop thinking about the Riyadh Comedy Festival. A Saudi prince watching Whitney Cummings and being like, "That is what dating on the apps is like. She nailed it"

This is the good one I subscribed to!

And I did! And do! youtube.com/@unexplained...

I'm hoping to hit 30k subscribers soon at Unexplained Cinema Presents. So please, if you are a male, aged 25 to 34, and live in the USA or India, do your duty.

This whole Riyadh Comedy Festival controversy is a good example of the biggest reason a lot of people roll their eyes when celebrities talk politics, if any of you were still actually confused about that.

I have posted the first two books of horror fiction to be covered in my October Reading Project. These posts will be exclusive to free subscribers, but you can read more about it, and find out which two books, by clicking this free post! billryan64.substack.com/p/the-octobe...

in fairness to them, your partner described it accurately

Being ahead of your writing obligations is a very satisfying feeling, for about 20 minutes.

Writing something while listening to music, and suddenly "Take Five" comes on, can really give you an inflated sense of the importance and/or quality of what you're writing.

I just happened to rewatch THE PRINCESS BRIDE a couple days ago. It's still pretty good stuff. Goldman's original novel with its ingenious meta-framework is also very, very much worth your time.

Patricia has placed her paw on my stack of Library of Congress Crime Classics.

It's funny how often I see big accounts who migrated here because this place is good, attracts a better class of people and so forth, yet who have also disabled replies for every one of their posts.

her family during the show

I have Made an Announcement w/r/t horror fiction and my substack. This information is relevant to free and paid subscribers equally! billryan64.substack.com/p/horror-an-...

I have Mad an Announcement w/r/t horror fiction and my substack. This information is relevant to free and paid subscribers equally! billryan64.substack.com/p/horror-an-...

In preparation for what we're now calling "the spooky season," though I don't remember getting a vote & I'd have voted against it had there been one, I'm re-boosting the short horror story I wrote. It's creepy! Become a paid subscriber and be scared by it! billryan64.substack.com/p/this-must-...

Don't worry everybody, I fixed the typo in the subhed.

‘The Cicerones’, Robert Aickman, 1967. (Saint Paul's Cathedral of Liège shortly after lunch.)

I am hoping that with this post, I have successfully coined a new phrase that will take the world by storm: "NYRB Classics guy," to describe your Don Carpenters, your John Williamses, and your John Horne Burnses. #NYRBClassicsGuys

In my new FREE-TO-ALL post, I cover Ron Carlson's THE SIGNAL and Don Carpenter's THE DISPOSSESSED, talk about Robert Altman more than is strictly necessary, do NOT separate the art from the artist, use the words "revivifier," "eidetically," and "epiphanic." billryan64.substack.com/p/what-kind-...

Miller's Crossing is unquestionably the Coen's greatest film and one of the most brilliantly conceived crime movies ever made. My favorite film is Chinatown, for a number of reasons unimportant in this conversation, and Miller's Crossing is the only other hard-boiled film I would rate as its equal.

It never misses a beat, and J E Freeman was marvellous.

And what a triple feature this would be, if I do say so myself.

It's not unusual to have stronger emotional reactions to art as you get older but it's interesting that within the last few years, three films i'd seen many times before made me cry for the first time, each one at the end: FIRE WALK WITH ME, CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS, and NASHVILLE.

Glenn Miller. Or Tommy Dorsey.

Scott Aukerman has told the story across multiple podcasts of Polito appearing on an episode of the CBB TV show and telling Aukerman re: the script 'you're a sick twist!' like he was a Coens character 100% of the time

People bitch and moan when they judge a performance to be "over the top." Over the top isn't bad, necessarily. You just have to know what you're doing. Jon Polito knew how to do it.

How does the ACLU not know to alphabetize by last name.

Happy 35th anniversary to the greatest movie ever made. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPGE...

Today my favorite movie of all time turns 35. I really should do something in its honor, but with one thing and another, I don't think I can fit in another piece of writing. But to say MILLER'S CROSSING changed my life would not be an exaggeration.

Been in a pitch-black mood for about 36 hours, so I'm listening to Guy Clark, which is helping.

A year ago today. Wherever you guys are, I hope you're comfortable.

I also recommend this.

Snooty Literary Reference That I Just Remembered Because of Things and Writers I've Been Thinking About Lately: Paul Theroux to Salman Rushdie, mid-fatwa, at Bruce Chatwin's funeral: "We'll be going to yours next."

SALEM'S LOT PET SEMATARY REVIVAL

Ari Aster continues to be a genius with closing credits song choice. That's honestly my biggest problem with BEAU IS AFRAID: it didn't have one!

totally laughing right now because you can only have one opinion about a situation and I'm literally the only person who figured out which one this movie has letterboxd.com/billryan/fil...

now watching

The single-take is on the marquee, but Stephen Graham (and the rest of the cast) is the show. letterboxd.com/billryan/fil...

Watching this. I am so positive I would be a terrible director that it's never been an ambition for me on any level beyond "I wonder that would be like," yet even I, with no filmmaking experience, when thinking about the logistics of this thing, am getting me a stress headache.