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The Literary Side of "Love and Death"

"I recall my first mystical vision. I was walking through the woods thinking about Christ. If he was a carpenter I wondered what he charged for bookshelves." - BorisFrom Woody Allen's 1975 film Love and Death; Allen's hysterical cinematic parody of Russian literature.Other literary tidbits from the film include:-"This is crazy I can't shoot a gun I was meant to write poetry" - Boris-there is a scene between Boris and his father where the entire dialogue between consists of allusions or direct references to Dostoevsky titles.-at one point during his brief stint as a poet Boris says while reading from...

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Getting to Know Charles Bukowski

Jennifer Makowsky never really read or knew much about Charles Bukowski "apart from the poems [she] read in school and his reputation as the hardened “dirty old man.”  She felt that the time had come to learn more about the "The Poet Laureate of Skid Row."To begin her descent into Bukland she takes to the screen to watch John Dullaghan’s 2003 documentary, Bukowski: Born Into This.Her review, "Bukowski: What Lies Beneath," appears over at Pop Matters. Here is the trailer for the film:Bukowski  at WikipediaMuch more at bukowski.net

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Street Signs

Marji King and Bruce Daniels have amassed a collection of over 100 handmade cardboard signs that they have used to panhandle on the streets of Seattle. For the last two weeks they have been setting up the display at various downtown locations."People tend to walk by and ignore one sign," Bruce says, "but can they ignore more than 100?"Here are some highlights:Fear change? Leave it here.Lost my rose-tinted glasses; Need money for new ones.If money is the root of all evil let me carry the burden."Aliens kidnapped my parents. $ for space fuel."Donations for the Church of Malt Liquor.Begging Sucks...

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