Courtney Pasko

@cpasko.bsky.social

367 Followers 252 Following

Reader, writer, library girl Country mouse living in Baltimore she/hers https://www.courtneypasko.com/

Theater door with listing for Raiders of the Lost Ark in 35mm at AFI
Page from Nancy Lemann’s “Lives of the Saints.” Passage reads: “What is this rat race for?" "What rat race?" I said. "I'd like to be strapped to a bed for a year." "Strapped to a bed for a year? What? God, Mrs. Collier, what do you mean by that?" "I don't know. I just don't know," she said. "I'd like to be committed." "Committed? Committed to what?" "To the Jo Ellen Smith Mental Hospital." "What? The Jo Ellen Smith Mental Hospital? Who's Jo Ellen Smith?" I said. "She gives advice to mental patients on the radio," Mrs. Collier said. "She's completely bonkers." "Then why do you want to go there?" "You're right," Mrs. Collier said. "Why."
Photo of a new garden from above, showing a lot of plain mulch between some small green plants and flowers.
Screencap of Fox Mulder from the X-Files episode "Humbug" (Season 2, episode 20). Mulder is wearing a boxy 90's gray suit and overcoat and standing in front of a trailer, posing in a somewhat heroic but mostly silly way with his hands on his hips and one foot on a stoop.
Title of the book "Margo's Got Money Troubles," by Rufi Thorpe
Close-up photo of some bright orange Asclepias Tuberose (butterfly weed) enjoying the sunshine. In the background are some purple Blue Flag Iris and yellow Coreopsis.
Meme showing chef Gordon Ramsey from the reality TV show Kitchen Nightmares. The text reads "delicious. Finally, some good fucking news." ("News" is in white, replacing "food" in the original quote.)
Two-panel screencap from "30 Rock" showing Tina Fey as Liz Lemon talking to Jenna. Panel 1: You know I can't wear green, Jenna. Panel 2: (Holds up green fabric that casts a weird lime light on her skin) The Clinique lady says I have witch undertones.
Very cute orange tabby cat curled up in a pink chair.
Pretty pink and cream rose against a brick wall.
Meme showing chef Gordon Ramsey from the reality TV show Kitchen Nightmares. The text reads "delicious. Finally, some good fucking news." ("News" is in white, replacing "food" in the original quote.)
Seemingly boring but very exciting photo of a blue city-issue recycling bin on a weathered wooden deck.
A shady garden with pink tulips and blue starflower.
A page from Jenny Diski’s book “Stranger on a Train,” with the section: “Somehow I was surprised to see them out and about, though I shouldn't have been, because Hollywood has included the Amish in its shadow story of America, and, in Witness, precisely travelling by train. Still, the point of Amish in a movie, even if they are in Grand Central Station and observing a murder, is that they are Amish and their being out of their usual context was the axis of the plot. But here their unreality was startling.”
A small peony plant with a tiny bud, surrounded by a leafy spring garden bed.
A sunny patch of white and yellow daffodils.
Screenshot from Twin Peaks: The Return. Kyle MacLachlan as Dale Cooper stumbles down a dark street. The subtitle reads "What city is this?"
An orange cat sits on a green rug in front of a bookshelf, meowing quietly and sadly.
Close-up of a daffodil with the Druid Hill Park Moorish Tower in the background and the Baltimore skyline in the far distance.
"The Flatlander by Courtney Pasko It started when the flatlander built himself a brand-new, plastic-smelling cabin on Springside Road and put up these NO TRESPASSING signs. Bright pink and blaze orange, good thick ones made of vinyl to withstand the snow. If that had been the beginning and end of it, it wouldn’t have gone the way it did—we respect property around here, even if we generally don’t care to be so showy about it. It’s a man’s right. And there are plenty of us that live close to the freeway or the state lands, places where it’s common to see a stray hiker or road tripper, who have one or two NO TRESPASSING signs of our own. The flatlander did it excessive, though, dotting half the trees on his property line, adding a big one like the cherry on top to the gate to the end of his drive. "
A small stack of Oscars ballots and pens.
Close-up of a patch of white and yellow daffodils in front of a row home. The petals and leaves are beaded with water, and big snowflakes are falling out of focus in the background.
Shocked pikachu. Even the .jpg looks old.
A sleepy-looking orange tabby cat sits in a wood chair piled with blankets and topped with a green quilt. The chair is in front of a pink wall with a window, making him slightly backlit despite the grey sky.
A cute orange tabby cat sitting on a windowsill behind a lit Christmas tree. The tree lights are making a pretty bokeh on the window behind him.
Ebay photo of a vintage "Pixie Elf" tree topper, featuring a plastic elf head in a circle of glowing tinsel
Snowy winterberries framed against a blue sky
Pikachu making a shocked face
Director Peter Weir on the set of WITNESS (1985), wearing a tan hat and making a very serious director-y hand gesture
Photo of Harrison Ford as John Book in the movie “Witness.”
Two books (On The Calculation of Volume, II and III, by Solvej Balle) on a wood picnic table next to a delicious sugary bombolone on a white plate.
Very pretty, vivid red leaves against a blue sky
Very cute orange tabby cat asleep on a blue sweater atop a white bedspread. He’s backlit by sun coming through a set of bay windows.
Actor Oscar Isaac on the set of Inside Llewyn Davis. He's holding a silly-looking stuffed orange cat, standing in for the real cat in the movie.
Photo of a nice bathroom. The wood beams are exposed in the ceiling above, and a white claw-foot bathtub sits in front of a small wood-burning fireplace. A tree with yellow autumn foliage is visible through the window.
A blue morning glory flower climbing up a black handrail/fence. In the background you can see it winding its way over orange marigolds.
Photo of Harrison Ford as John Book in the movie “Witness.”
Photo of the waiting area at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, a filming location for Peter Weir’s film “Witness.”
The painting "Judith Decapitating Holofernes," by Trophime Bigot, from circa 1640. The painting is very pretty, with soft candlelight and deep shadows, and shows one woman beheading a man while a second woman helps hold him down.
View of a small city garden from the porch. The flowers, including a giant pinkish aster, a spiky pink gaura, and a row of bright marigolds, are getting a nice soak in some fall rain.
A rainbow over an AMC theater
Photo of a very sad-looking beige half bath
First edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, from Alberta Burke’s collection at Goucher College.
A monarch butterfly caterpillar on the stem of a milkweed plant in soft early morning light.
A hand holding up the book “Extinction Capital of the World,” by Mariah Rigg, in front of a bookshelf.
A screenshot from the movie “First Reformed.” Ethan Hawke as Reverend Toller is looking in a mirror, adjusting a bomb.
Screencap of Jeff Bridges as The Dude in the film "The Big Lebowski." Bridges is lounging in the back of a limo, one foot on the seat, and holding a White Russian cocktail. He's wearing a ratty sweatshirt, v-neck tee, short plaid shorts, and clear jelly sandals.
A biscuit sandwich with figs, microgreens, and manchego sticking out of a foil wrap. In the background is the 32nd St Farmers’ Market in Waverly.
A group of deer grazing and strolling through a green, shady backyard
Stack of five books in front of a window: - Pathemata, by Maggie Nelson - The Möbius Book, by Catherine Lacey - Wildcat Done, by Yūko Tsushima - The Isle of Youth, by Laura van den Berg - In the Miso Soup, by Ryū Murakami
A hand holding up the book “You Are Now Entering The Human Heart” by Janet Frame in front of a bookshelf. The cover is apple green with a small portrait of a woman, and the title text is arranged in a really awkward way.
A hand full of cherry tomatoes in front of a green tomato plant and a grey fence
Photo of a brass-colored lamp shaped like an otter floating on their back, holding a glowing light on their belly. It's ridiculous and adorable.
Photo of a black wire enclosure on a telephone line against a blue sky. Peeking out of the bottom of the enclosure is a bird’s nest.
The "orange cloud" (cat) in question. He's sitting in a red armchair in front of a yellow cloud in a very funny way, almost sitting up like a people but with one back leg crossed in front.
The story collection “Are You Happy?” By Lori Ostlund with a Greedy Reads green bookmark peeking from the top, sitting on a brown table next to a cup of coffee.
Museum display at the Maryland Center for History and Culture in Baltimore showing five Claire McCardell dresses on mannequins. A sign beneath reads "The American Look"
Photo from above of the back half of an orange tabby cat sticking out from beneath a white bookshelf.
Screenshot of an Instagram post showing an email from Celine Song to A24 Date: Thu, Mar 13, 2025 at 1:03 PM Subject: Materialists - Film References To: Below are films that were references for Materialists: MATERIALISTS Broadcast News (James L. Brooks) Pride & Prejudice (2005, Joe Wright, Keira Knightley) Howards End (1992, James Ivory) Far from the Madding Crowd (2015, Thomas Vinterberg) Age of Innocence (1993, Scorsese) Mansfield Park (1999 with Frances Ann O'Connor) Gosford Park (1985, Robert Altman) A Room With A View (James Ivory) Atonement (Joe Wright) Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh) Career Girls (Mike Leigh) Life is Sweet (Mike Leigh) The Player (Robert Altman) Sense & Sensibility (Ang Lee) Bright Star (Jane Campion) Closer (Mike Nichols) The Graduate (Mike Nichols) Phantom Thread (PTA) Yi Yi (Edward Yang) Emma. (2020, Autumn de Wilde) Terms of Endearment (James L. Brooks) Movie about similar job as matchmakers: Jerry McGuire (Cameron Crowe) Hail Caesar (Coens) Moneyball (Bennett Miller) a24 Materialists movie syllabus via Celine
Upon his return, he wrote, still to Stieglitz: "The work I will do, I will do here; however terrible it may be to work in 'our land of the free'" (Demuth to Stieglitz, November 28, 1921, in Kellner, 38) 7 . Demuth here expresses a feeling of frustration with a "terrible" country that does not value its artists. But, inspired by French artists who see in America a new space conducive to the emergence of modern art, Demuth turns to his country and discovers something desirable. As art historian Wanda Corn has written: "For better or for worse, America is his 'homeland' and the artists are the 'brave'" (Corn, 223) 8