Sunset Boulevard

A POWERFUL SCREENPLAY OFFERS A UNIQUE READING EXPERIENCE Jack Gillis (William Holden) at Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) Mansion That Old Black Magic _____________________________ Sunset Boulevard is the setting for one of the great films of all time. The supposed setting of the great film Sunset Boulevard is in this exclusive part of Sunset – like […]

Elon’s Last Agent 

It was a warm night and the DOGE team was on the porch of the Victorian (Image generated by AI) Essence of the Sun ___________________________________ New Speculative Fiction John Fraim I was drafted rather quickly out of school in Cambridge and went to work for DOGE in DC under Elon. I had worked with the […]

Silence is Golden

BUT MY EYES STILL SEE (Old adage / Name of a 1967 hit song by The Tremeloes) John Fraim In the late 70s, I became close friends with the minister of our church when he Baptized my first son. He was a graduate of the Princeton Theological Seminary and was going through a divorce. We […]

Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier / A.T. Ripley Miles Davis / In A Silent Way _________________________ “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” John Muir “While hiking in the snow on a cloudy day at MT. Rainier National Park, the clouds suddenly parted and there it was, THE MOUNTAIN! I knew it was […]

Ahmad Jamal

BLUE MOON Ahmad Jamal: Blue Moon – Review February 2, 2012 Jazz Village / John Fordham “Pianist Ahmad Jamal (a man even Miles Davis credited as a big influence) is now 81 – and he remains a genius at the art of motivic improvising, repeating a catchy theme (so listeners don’t lose the plot) while transforming it […]

States Rights v. Federal Rights

AN OBSERVATION Fly With The Wind / McCoy Tyner ____________________________________ John Fraim One of the key things I’ve learned is that there exists a delicate balance in the U.S. Constitution between federal and states rights. The two positions were argued mainly by Hamilton for federal rights and Jefferson for states rights. During the history of […]

THE BLACK KNIGHT

By John Fraim Bob Saunders: (dying) “I want you to help make this part of the country a fit place for people to live.” Hopalong Cassidy: (solemnly) “I’ll do my best Bob.” Hopalong Cassidy Returns (1936) Red Clay / Freddie Hubbard _______________________________________ In 1906, a twenty-three-year old Brooklyn City Hall clerk named Clarence Mulford wrote a […]

Incel

Elliot Rodger The End / Doors The first thing a reader of the novel Incel sees is the below front page warning: This novel contains numerous depictions of suicide and suicidal thinking. If you or anyone you know is considering suicide or self-harm, please consult resources list at the end of this book. It is […]

Fad or Trend?

Stardust / Remastered ________________________ John Fraim The ARK-Han novel Incel is exploding in popularity now. I’ve downloaded it on Kindle but haven’t read it yet. I’ve been distracted by the various contexts of Incels (involuntary celebate) today. One distraction from reading the novel is exploring the context and roots of Incel culture.  To many, this was defined […]

Photography & Alice

Santanu Majumder: Devghali Beach, India Jagadishwar / Alice Coltrane / Translinear Light Album (2004) The above photo mixed with the above music. From the award-winning photographer: “The Devghali Beach in Maharashtra, India, is a secluded beach, not visited by too many tourists and definitely not at night. I spent a whole night waiting for the […]