In the midst of my annual Spring clean, I know that I am fighting a Sisyphean battle. I will spend my weekend attempting to wrangle the clutter in my apartment into submission despite the fact that I know in my heart that it won’t last beyond my frantic attempt to get out of the door…
Author: S. A. Young
One of three writers who are currently collaborating on a series of romantic suspense novels, I'm a cinemaniac, head-full-of-useless-information trivia maven, waiting for Alex Trebek to retire so that I can appear on Jeopardy again. Oh...and Go Red Sox!
Can You Believe People Eat That on Purpose?
Who eats this stuff?? Every year, millions of eggs all over the world are hard-boiled and dipped in dye, just so that they can be hidden under bushes and trees or in closets and under chairs for eager little children to gather up on Easter morning. Have you ever wondered what happens to all of…
My Night with Bradley Cooper Beyond the Pines…
…well it wasn’t just mine. Two hundred of my nearest and dearest came too. Oh all right, it was a Q & A following a movie screening. But I was in the front row so it still counts. I had a pass to see a sneak preview of the new film from director Derek Cianfrance…
At Least It’s Only Once Every Five Years
TGIF, am I right? Do you know what’s even worse than suffering the indignities of a pap smear? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s leaving your socks on and then discovering after the fact that there’s a hole in the bottom of one of them and then wondering why you didn’t notice that when you were…
Adventures in Public Transit and the Lost Art of Elocution
Riding the train to work one morning last week, I was thrilled to be able to sit in my favorite seat with the sun behind me so that I wouldn’t be blinded when it streamed through the windows and I could do the crossword puzzle and/or read in peace. It was school vacation week here…
Broken City – Can Mark Wahlberg Fix it?
Unless it’s an awards contender “opening wide”, my motto is “Beware the films of January”. There are always exceptions of course, but typically I have low expectations for any movie that I’ve gone to see during the first month of any year. One could argue that there are four weekends in January, just as there…
Happy Belated Birthday Ralph Fiennes!
“He’ll shake your Rome about your ears.”—Shakespeare, Coriolanus Yesterday, December 22, was the 50th birthday of Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton Wykeham Fiennes. I really didn’t want to let the day go by without some form of appreciation, even belatedly. A successful stage actor, Fiennes didn’t make a film until he was 30. I’ve been a Fiennes…
Three Little Writers Have Lost Their Minds
Dear patient gentle readers, As you know, Halloween is fast approaching. For some that means ghost stories, horror movies, costumes and candy. For us here at SS & S, the scares come from knowing that the day after Halloween is November 1st. Why should All Saints Day be a cause for concern, you might well…
The Master: Charisma to Spare, but What of Substance?
I finally saw Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master today. It’s Anderson’s first film since 2008’s There Will Be Blood in which he directed Daniel Day Lewis to an Oscar for Best Actor. The Master was a sensation even before it opened the Venice Film Festival and had a gala screening at the Toronto International Film…
In Memorium: Michael Clarke Duncan
Academy Award nominated actor Michael Clarke Duncan has died at the age of only 54. He suffered a heart attack on July 13 and never fully recovered. He succumbed this morning, Monday September 3, according to his fiancé Omarosa Manigault, after nearly two months of hospitalization. Duncan’s best known role was that of John Coffey…