From my latest encouraging rejection: “I like the premise but wasn’t happy with the execution.” Now, what we have in this is code language to soften the blow, execution as euphemism for the writing itself. For the thin-skinned nascent writer, such a rejection can be devastating. For me, however, this spurs me on to evaluate […]
ANTICHRIST (dir-scr. Lars Von Trier, 2009) Dutch provocateur Lars Von Trier’s ANTICHRIST is a mature work of art from a filmmaker, by his own admission, in the bleak throes of major depression, one who has produced a motion picture to be reckoned with, albeit one destined to be perceived as perhaps profoundly silly as well […]
A review of “Change Rocks,” a concert at the Bryce Jordan Center, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, 13 Oct. 2008. “Change Rocks.” Such a simple, unambiguous phrase, shared by brand of costume jewelry, but in this context, signifying a much loftier calling than that of mere adornment: This is the title given the much-heralded—in […]
Greetings! You’ve stumbled upon (or were directed to check out) the wordpress blog of James D. McCallister a/k/a dmac! Thanks for your interest in what I hope will be an ongoing experiment — a chronicle of my writing life, as well as a place for reviews of interesting films, books, or music, plus social commentary […]
Winner, Pearl Magazine Fiction Award, 2006 Benj struggles with the ten-by-ten white lawn-tent while Marcy goes through the beads, box by box: Disco Ball Throw Beads, Tumblin’ Dice Throw Beads, Heart Shaped Throw Beads, Oversize Mardi Gras Specials (they look like a necklace of round, green Christmas ornaments, and take up so much space that […]
