It’s been nice seeing you all. I’m taking a social media, blog, and news break until Monday. I’m just going to listen to old Quincy Jones albums all weekend and drink Manhattans and hope like hell that Allen Funt will pop out from behind a tree and yell, “Smile! You’re all on Candid Camera!”

It’s beautiful and troubling and sensitive and insightful. Here’s some information from Criterion about their release.

My Life as a Dog is a gorgeous film.

Ms. Latifah’s response reminds me of the time, back in 2000, that Spike Lee came to speak at my college. Fresh off his masterpiece, Bamboozled, he gave an intriguing speech about filmmaking and independence and race and class.

Can I ask: do you add a little more each month? Or when it’s easiest to do so? I’ve been considering doing it if I can—but I’d love to hear a method that works consistently. Thanks!

Speaking of tax returns: I bought a house a year ago October, so this will be the first year that I’ll be able to take advantage of that mortgage interest deduction. I logged on the other day to see how much I’d paid in interest, and HOLY SHIT.

I’ve been pitching a manuscript recently, and I’ve gotten a number of the replies that one gets most often while pitching a manuscript: “this isn’t for us.”

Bo Bice’s real name is Harold Elwin Bice.

Back to the heavyweight. Back to the heavyweight. Back to the heavyweight jams.

I’ve been in a KLF place recently. If you don’t know their ambient album, Chill Out, click that link and head over to YouTube. It’s one of the strangest, most brilliant, and most beautiful albums I’ve ever heard: a drive through the American south by two Brits who had never actually been to the American South. (And…

Speaking of New Zealand, I just put this on the stereo at top volume...

Hey—you all know what happened the last time someone named Re(a)gan tried to decorate a Bible...

They seem like a fun couple who are totally patient with retail employees and roadworks crew members.

For me, the George Michael tracks that stand out the most are “Club Tropicana,” “Father Figure,” and, of course, “Freedom ‘90.” But I have to say that all of “Faith” was as subversive and dangerous a pop album as any that came out in the 1980s. From the church organ that starts off the title track (sacrilege!) to…

My parents moved to Manhattan in 1957 and lived there until 1966, and my mom still talks about the fact that the New York of the late 1950s and early 1960s was exactly like the gritty movies from the period made it look. It smelled like you’d imagine it smelled. It looked like you’d imagine it looked. It was a fucking…

Meanwhile, I’m still waiting for this to actually happen.

Thank you for clarifying. Re-reading my post, I don’t know why I didn’t make the co-writing credits clearer. It’s been a long day.

As a teacher who works a half hour from Sandy Hook, I agree completely. If I ever encountered one of these “truthers,” I would just dissolve into a screaming mess.

Mr. Afanasieff also wrote, among other songs, “Butterfly” and “Hero” (both for Ms. Carey), “One Sweet Day” (for Ms. Carey and Boyz II Men), “She Bangs” (for Ricky Martin), “If You Go Away” (for New Kids on the Block), and “Missing You Now” (for Michael Bolton). The dude must have one hell of a nicely-renovated kitchen.

I posted this on another Mariah Carey thread, but I will post it again: Carey and Walter Afanasieff, the co-writers of “All I Want for Christmas is You,” have made an estimated $50 million since the song’s release. That a whole hell of a lot of money, even next to other top sellers like “Fairytale of New York” (for…