Category Archives: Class

I first read Little Women when I was seven. (Given to me, surprisingly, by my dad. But he’s a feminist. So that makes sense.) I was so fond of it at the time that my parents bought me the book … Continue reading →

Because I just couldn’t stay away from Hammett… Length of sentences in the first paragraph of each chapter: The Body in China Street: 14, 12, 21 The Hat Trick: 33, 27, 19 The Cyclone Shot: 20, 11, 8, 6, 40 … Continue reading →

I have decided, possibly foolishly, to analyze text patterns found in The Glass Key. The idea was raised that a pattern should be explored not only in a single paragraph of text, but across the whole novel. I chose to … Continue reading →

Oh, how fun typing is when you’re sniffling every other word. Bah. In a way, I felt like Miller’s Crossing was somewhere in between The Glass Key and Yojimbo. It didn’t hold as true to Ned’s personality in the book … Continue reading →

I finally managed to watch Yojimbo on Friday afternoon, which means that I’m about three class sessions behind with blog posts. Argh. Aesthetically, this film is nearly perfect. Lots of attention was obviously given to shot composition and lighting. (As should … Continue reading →

I found our class discussion very surprising. I think the most interesting thing I learned was about lighting cigarettes as a sign of sexual entanglement and/or desire. Wasn’t aware that the meaning of the gesture was quite as overt as … Continue reading →

I did some googling for the origin of the word “heel”, and came up with this explanation: “HEEL began its life in the U.S. underworld 1) meaning a sneak thief, perhaps a) from the idea that a heel was as … Continue reading →