A black screen, a void, then the calming sounds of ocean waves. Keith Richards’s guitar punctures the roiling relaxation, as sea-green ocean waves brighten the screen. Merry Clayton woos over the opening riff of The Rolling Stones’ Vietnam-era anthem, “Gimme Shelter,” as a drone shot flits over a sandy beach and a pool deck with … Continue reading
Trump is the master of the image. I know—I’m not the only one to point it out. LA Review of Books’ Gideon Jacobs did it before, whose perfectly titled essay “Trump l’Oeil” grabbed me, up until he used the word “ontology” in an essay about Donald Trump. But at this point, isn’t it a cliché … Continue reading
Uh…shhhh…hello there, dearest Filthy Dreams readers! Are you as hungover as we are? Are you dry-heaving into those empty present boxes still littered below the Christmas tree from all the gallons of egg nog on Christmas Day and the Day after Christmas Day Holiday? Who isn’t?! Everyone knows what Christmas is about–no, not the birth … Continue reading
I’ve never really liked zombie movies. I know that’s sacrilege coming from a Pittsburgh native, where George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead famously staggered around Evans City Cemetery. But I just never got the appeal of the ravenous undead. Yet, cinematic zombie apocalypses are really the only comparisons I’m finding to describe the … Continue reading
“Watch the wire.” That’s what I was warned as I maneuvered my way around marble-topped tables and White House gewgaws at the new 45 Wine & Whiskey Bar, a Trump-themed Trump bar at Trump Tower on a recent Friday night, trying to reach two plush high-backed dusty magenta chairs that wouldn’t look out of place … Continue reading