The New Yorker panning THE WIZARD OF OZ when it first came out is in the Hall of Fame for bad critical takes. Total stinkeroo!
November 21, 2025 at 9:41 PM
The New Yorker panning THE WIZARD OF OZ when it first came out is in the Hall of Fame for bad critical takes. Total stinkeroo!
Happy 80th birthday to DETOUR, the only good movie ever made, unleashed on the world on November 15th, 1945.
November 15, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Happy 80th birthday to DETOUR, the only good movie ever made, unleashed on the world on November 15th, 1945.
My 3rd? time seeing SUDDEN FEAR, and it’s moved into the upper echelon of noir for me. It’s top-tier: evil Jack Palance, wicked Gloria Grahame, suffering Joan Crawford. Great direction, cinematography, plot. Might also be the movie over which Crawford had the most creative control. What a flick.
November 11, 2025 at 4:51 AM
My 3rd? time seeing SUDDEN FEAR, and it’s moved into the upper echelon of noir for me. It’s top-tier: evil Jack Palance, wicked Gloria Grahame, suffering Joan Crawford. Great direction, cinematography, plot. Might also be the movie over which Crawford had the most creative control. What a flick.
Chicago people, there are now signed copies of YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME at City Lit Books in Logan Square.
November 8, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Chicago people, there are now signed copies of YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME at City Lit Books in Logan Square.
CHICAGO come have a drink with me!
October 22, 2025 at 9:20 PM
CHICAGO come have a drink with me!
I'll be signing copies of YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME at The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City this Tuesday. If you're around, I hope you WILL come see me because I want to see you, damn it.
October 19, 2025 at 4:06 PM
I'll be signing copies of YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME at The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City this Tuesday. If you're around, I hope you WILL come see me because I want to see you, damn it.
October 14, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Antifa love triangle
October 9, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Antifa love triangle
I love how the last image of MILDRED PIERCE ties Mildred—who, by film’s end, has lost both her empire and the family she built it for—back to the working women she sprang from. It’s an incredibly potent symbol of the film’s critique of wealth and class.
October 7, 2025 at 3:26 AM
I love how the last image of MILDRED PIERCE ties Mildred—who, by film’s end, has lost both her empire and the family she built it for—back to the working women she sprang from. It’s an incredibly potent symbol of the film’s critique of wealth and class.
You Will Never See Me, pictured here with some friends and influences. Out October 14th from @crookedlanebooks.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 4:14 PM
You Will Never See Me, pictured here with some friends and influences. Out October 14th from @crookedlanebooks.bsky.social
My cat, on brand and on message
October 5, 2025 at 12:38 AM
My cat, on brand and on message
Every single time there’s something I want to see at Doc Films it turns out to be programmed by @kathygee.bsky.social
September 17, 2025 at 3:22 AM
Every single time there’s something I want to see at Doc Films it turns out to be programmed by @kathygee.bsky.social
Heads up, New York City! I'm coming your way on Oct 21st to celebrate the launch of my new book YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME at the legendary Mysterious Bookshop. If you're in or around town, come see me!
www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/jak...
www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/jak...
September 13, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Heads up, New York City! I'm coming your way on Oct 21st to celebrate the launch of my new book YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME at the legendary Mysterious Bookshop. If you're in or around town, come see me!
www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/jak...
www.mysteriousbookshop.com/products/jak...
Saw WEAPONS tonight and thought it was a lot of fun. I’d still rate TOGETHER the better movie, though. Scarier, funnier, more twisted. See it in the theater while you can, preferably with someone you love and/or hate.
August 13, 2025 at 2:33 AM
Saw WEAPONS tonight and thought it was a lot of fun. I’d still rate TOGETHER the better movie, though. Scarier, funnier, more twisted. See it in the theater while you can, preferably with someone you love and/or hate.
If we still had a functioning government I would demand congressional hearings on this. I want people in handcuffs. I want someone’s head on a stick.
July 31, 2025 at 4:58 PM
If we still had a functioning government I would demand congressional hearings on this. I want people in handcuffs. I want someone’s head on a stick.
“Been a lot of people like you around right from the beginning of history. Burning and torturing and killing—slapping other people into gas ovens. And it’s always done legal you know. They always got a law to back them up. If there ain’t one on the books, somebody will think one up in a hurry.”
July 1, 2025 at 4:19 AM
“Been a lot of people like you around right from the beginning of history. Burning and torturing and killing—slapping other people into gas ovens. And it’s always done legal you know. They always got a law to back them up. If there ain’t one on the books, somebody will think one up in a hurry.”
Doing research for a piece I’m writing on the intersection of Southern Gothic and film noir, and it’s led me to Ruth Ford’s stage adaption of Faulkner’s Requeim for a Nun.
June 17, 2025 at 4:11 AM
Doing research for a piece I’m writing on the intersection of Southern Gothic and film noir, and it’s led me to Ruth Ford’s stage adaption of Faulkner’s Requeim for a Nun.
America, June 2025.
June 5, 2025 at 9:56 PM
America, June 2025.
Hey Friends,
My publisher is running a Goodreads giveaway of my upcoming book YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME. The book will be out October 14, but here's the link to get one early.
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/ent...
My publisher is running a Goodreads giveaway of my upcoming book YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME. The book will be out October 14, but here's the link to get one early.
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/ent...
June 5, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Hey Friends,
My publisher is running a Goodreads giveaway of my upcoming book YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME. The book will be out October 14, but here's the link to get one early.
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/ent...
My publisher is running a Goodreads giveaway of my upcoming book YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME. The book will be out October 14, but here's the link to get one early.
www.goodreads.com/giveaway/ent...
Now that school is out, I’m working on my next assignment for Noir City magazine, which involves catching up to this, director Jean Renoir’s first American film and Dana Andrew’s first noir…
May 10, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Now that school is out, I’m working on my next assignment for Noir City magazine, which involves catching up to this, director Jean Renoir’s first American film and Dana Andrew’s first noir…
Happy Gary Cooper day. BOTD 1901.
My top five Cooper films:
5. Design for Living
4. For Whom the Bell Tolls
3. Man of the West
2. Ball of Fire
1. High Noon
My top five Cooper films:
5. Design for Living
4. For Whom the Bell Tolls
3. Man of the West
2. Ball of Fire
1. High Noon
May 7, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Happy Gary Cooper day. BOTD 1901.
My top five Cooper films:
5. Design for Living
4. For Whom the Bell Tolls
3. Man of the West
2. Ball of Fire
1. High Noon
My top five Cooper films:
5. Design for Living
4. For Whom the Bell Tolls
3. Man of the West
2. Ball of Fire
1. High Noon
Hey Chicago people, my translator Sophie Aslanides and I will be in conversation at the Alliance Française de Chicago next Tuesday. Sophie's a genius, and I'm, well, me. So it should be a lot of fun. Free and open to the public. (We'll also have an event for students at Loyola University on Monday.)
March 26, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Hey Chicago people, my translator Sophie Aslanides and I will be in conversation at the Alliance Française de Chicago next Tuesday. Sophie's a genius, and I'm, well, me. So it should be a lot of fun. Free and open to the public. (We'll also have an event for students at Loyola University on Monday.)
Me in the national security group chat
March 25, 2025 at 3:23 AM
Me in the national security group chat