Born March 25, 1925, in Savannah, Georgia, Mary Flannery O’Connor made her public debut at the age of 5, when a Pathé cameraman from New York came to photograph her chicken. The chicken walked backward. If it didn’t, you could … Continue reading FLANNERY
All the images were all very simple images, but I just wanted to record things that I didn’t see people recording and painting at that time. You know, I wanted to record my own history—or a different history—and that’s what … Continue reading WOJNAROWICZ: F**K YOU F*GGOT F**KER
The poor dope—he always wanted a pool. Well, in the end, he got himself a pool. —Joe Gillis, Sunset Boulevard Selma Blair wanted to be a writer. Then her English teacher saw her act and told her, “You’re an actress.” Not … Continue reading INTRODUCING, SELMA BLAIR
Wildflowers, released in 1994, was Tom Petty’s fastest-selling album. It went triple platinum in just nine months and became the album Petty cited as his best. And considering the personal turmoil Petty went through during the making of Wildflowers, its success … Continue reading TOM PETTY, SOMEWHERE YOU FEEL FREE
A woman in a scarlet dress with a large hoop skirt strolls around an empty soundstage. On the stage is her spacious apartment. The apartment has several rooms, each one decorated with bright colors and paintings of nude women. Thanks … Continue reading THE HUMAN VOICE
History has a nasty little habit of being reductive. Life unfolds with such a multitude of specificity it’s damn easy to be overwhelmed by it all. So we generalize, we categorize. Anything that doesn’t fit is extricated. Then, after enough … Continue reading WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED: A HISTORY OF FOLK HORROR
Born Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, Poly Styrene picked her stage name out of the phone book because she wanted something that sounded plastic. This was Britain in the 1970s, and the cultural landscape was changing. Punk music was taking the scene … Continue reading POLY STYRENE: I AM A CLICHÉ
Great movies don’t require a signature shot, but it helps when they have one. What would Vertigo be without that dizzying dolly zoom? The Godfather without the door closing on Kay? The Graduate without Benjamin Braddock trapped in the crook of Mrs. Robinson’s leg? They are … Continue reading THE ASCENT
Made in 1967, Homeland of Electricity is the second of three 30-minute segments commissioned by the government to celebrate the October Revolution’s 50th anniversary. But when Larisa Shepitko and her comrades turned in their work, authorities rejected them for not being patriotic … Continue reading HOMELAND OF ELECTRICITY
