Dana Stevens

@thehighsign.bsky.social

67194 Followers 2705 Following

Film critic at Slate; co-host of the Slate Culture Gabfest podcast; repped by the Cheney Agency; member NYFCC. Camera Man, my book on Buster Keaton, is out: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Camera-Man/Dana-Stevens/9781501134203

Gif of Claude Rains in Casablanca telling Humphrey Bogart "I'm shocked."
Gif of collapsing house from Keaton's "Steamboat Bill, Jr." (1928)
Original poster for Sam Peckinpah's "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia." Image: A man's dirty hand grasps a gold locket with a crossed-out photo of the titular Alfredo G. Tagline: "Why is his head worth one million dollars and the lives of 25 people?"
Dustin Hoffman as Captain Hook in Spielberg's Hook, smiling dementedly.
Gif of young Bob Dylan from the documentary Don't Look Now, throwing down cue cards with the lyrics from "Subterranean Homesick Blues".
Closeup of Bob Ross's shirt pocket as he feeds Peapod the pocket squirrel from an eyedropper
The Butterfly upon the Sky/That does'nt know it's Name/ And has'nt any Tax to pay/And has'nt any Home/Is just as high and you and I/And higher, I believe,/So soar away and never sigh/And that's the way to grieve -
Homer Simpson admiring a "saxomophone."
"[LAST WARNING] USER XXXX-77348--FINAL DATA ERASURE"
Blossoms will run away/Cakes reign but a Day,/But Memory like Melody/ Is pink Eternally.
Gif from Duck Soup of Groucho Marx dancing for two dressed-up ladies
Quote from linked article: "Topping off the ensemble was 'a black shirt with badges on the collar tips; and perhaps the most extravagant accessory: a Sam Browne belt held in place by a leater strap slung diagonally across the shoulder, an accessory of historical officer uniforms, but now mainly used in the BDSM scene."
Still from Damnation. Same man described in earlier posts looks out a window, alone. Subtitle reads "Everything is going to change, you'll see."
Still from Damnation. A middle-aged man and slightly younger woman sit at a table by a window. A subtitle reads: "I'm expected to go mad because of the irreversibility of life."
Still from Damnation: a middle-aged man looks somberly out a window through which can be seen a phone tower. Black-and-white photography.
Trump spouting garbage about Rob Reiner's death, including that he died "due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME." In other words, Reiner deserved it. I can't type anymore without screaming, but you get the general idea.
Screenshot from email: "We recently announced that Netflix will acquire Warner Bros., including its film and television studios, HBO Max and HBO. This unites our leading entertainment service with Warner Bros.' iconic stories, bringing some of the world's most beloved franchises like Harry Potter, Friends, The Big Bang Theory, Casablanca, Game of Thrones and the DC Universe together with Stranger Things, Wednesday, Squid Game, Bridgerton and KPop Demon Hunters."
Paul Dano as Eli Sunday in There Will Be Blood, slapping Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview hard in the face as DDL kneels at the altar
The last slice of apple pie, w/ a scoop of vanilla ice cream & a cup of tea.
Gif from Pee Wee's Big Adventure: Pee Wee Herman looks at a roadside billboard that says "Howdy, Pardner! Welcome to San Antonio, Texas. Visit the historic Alamo," then turns away excitedly flapping his hands and heads off down the road.
Zasu Pitts and Thelma Todd in the comedy short The Pajama Party (1931)
Poem (by me) riffing on an excerpt from Jacob Bernstein's profile of Olivia Nuzzi in the NYT magazine: "Eyes as blue as the flame/Shedding tears for a rose:/Sights that wrench a girl's heart/Like whale juice stings the nose.// His love, so insatiable/Complex and dark/More perplexing by far/ Than roadkill in a park.//He promised a baby/A bullet--no pain--/A future as long/As the worm in his brain."
Floofy miniature poodle, light brown/gold in color, lying in a "splooted" position on the floor wearing and orange-and-white-striped T-shirt.
Monster from Predator: Badlands roaring & showing his tusklike fangs
Gif from the movie named in post, with one normal-sized woman smiling and holding an egg as big as her torso while another tiny woman on a tiny stage leaps around in a tutu and a big round headdress.
Bebe Neuwirth and Ann Reinking, in costume as their characters Roxy and Velma in "Chicago," posing for a gag photo in which they're both looking at the book "How to Be Your Own Best Friend" with expressions of wide-eyed shock.
Zohran campaign sign font: "ROOM for CREAM"
Screenshot: "We're not just talking about a sandwich," Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael C. DiLorenzo said. "This isn't about a sandwich."
Quote from in the bizarrely senseless three-way conversation among her, Helen Andrews, & Ross Douthat on an NYT podcast: "Do you think there are objective virtues for women in the way you think there are objective, primatology-based vices for women?"
Further quote: "Since I stopped paying attention to the news, I’m so much more relaxed. My shoulders are no longer hunched up to my chin. My jaw is no longer clenched. I sometimes put my phone down for hours to take a pleasant stroll and listen to the song of a linnet. Or a finch! Or a cardinal! I’ve gotten really into birdsong lately. There’s one bird that sounds just like a human woman screaming, “YOU HAVEN’T SWORN ME IN YET! IT HAS BEEN WEEKS! THE PEOPLE OF ARIZONA DESERVE BETTER!” and I’m really trying to identify what bird that is. Maybe a hoopoe?"
Quote from the linked piece: "This is a PSA: If you ask me, Have you seen this news story? Have you seen that news story?", the answer is no. I have not seen it. And that's just what I need to do right now, and it's okay. I am also shutting down the House to lower the stress in my personal life. 'What about the impact this has on others?' What a stressful question! I am putting myself first. I advise anyone else with the ability to simply decide not to do your job, to do so. Everyone else, please continue to work for the federal government without pay. To those of you who typically get SNAP benefits? Try calming, deep breaths instead."
Parody of Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" in the style of Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky." It goes: 'Twas sandy, and two trunkless legs Did stand amid the desert vast, All frowny was the shattered head Of once-great Ozymandias. Beware the King of Kings, my son, His vanished works! His bleak despair! Beware the wreck's decay, and shun The sands boundless and bare.
Photo of the exterior of the Postmark Cafe in Brooklyn, with a community fridge standing outside the door, covered in flyers.
Black-and-white still of Gene Wilder staring soulfully into the eyes of a sheep, from Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask
Guy on nyc subway with a paper Lincoln mask & a sign: Make Lying Wrong Again
Shelf of packaged cheddar cheeses shaped like the great state of Texas
"The Analog system speaks to my Gemini spirit, allowing me to feel both professionally serious and surprisingly free. The heavyweight cardstock and the premium look and feel of the card holder give my desk an executive sheen, and whatever I jot down on a fresh Today card feels vitally important. Yet filling in the dot to mark a task complete gives me a small moment of childlike joy, as I try not to color outside the lines."
Screenshot quote from linked article: "The Analog system speaks to my Gemini spirit, allowing me to feel both professionally serious and surprisingly free. The heavyweight yardstick and the premium look and feel of the card hold gave my desk an executive sheen, and whatever I jot down on a fresh Today card feels vitally important. Yet filling in the dot to make a task complete gives me a moment of childlike joy, as I try not to color outside the lines." (For context if you haven't read the piece, the product being promoted is...a pile of blank cards and box to store them in.)
Photo of a wide street (maybe a highway?) in Seoul, seen from the air by night, with a huge river of people--thousands for sure--stretching as far as the eye can see.
B & W photo of Diane Keaton with the original cast of Hair. She has her hands to her face and a startled, somewhat bleary expression, as if she's emerging from a daze.
Ending of The Godfather: Al Pacino as Michael Corleone shuts his office door to conduct family business. Next shot shows Diane Keaton as his wife Kay Corleone, looking at him with deep sorrow as the closing door blocks out her face.
Screenshot from HeavenIsFun.com site: "Since 1988 the Holy Spirit has been taking me to Heaven. Jesus would show me various fun places and allowed me to do fun things. I asked, 'Why was He showing me these places?' Daddy/God said, "Because people think all they do here is float around wearing diapers, eating grapes, or doing nothing but bowing before Me. I have planned for each person, in detail, what makes them happy to be here with Me. So you are to tell them Heaven is Real and FUN, and Jesus is coming soon!"
Brad Pitt's dimwitted character in Burn After Reading bopping to his iPod
Snapshot of a man with curly hair and glasses at a desk chair in his living room, holding an apricot cockapoo in his lap and kissing her on the head.
Gif of Ricky Martin "She Bangs" video with him floating in the air to announce that ... she bangs
Screenshot of a paragraph from N+1 piece linked in the post: "But a still graver scandal of AI--like its hydra-headed sibling, cryptocurrency--is the technology's colossal wastefulness. The untold billions firehose by investors into its development; the water-guzzling data centers draining the parched exurbs of Phoenix and Dallas, the yeti-size carbon footprint of the sector as a whole--and for what? A cankerous glut of racist memes and cardboard essays. Not only is the ratio of AI's resource rapacity to its productive utility indefensibly and irremediably skewed, AI-made material is itself a waste product: flimsy, shoddy, disposable, a single-use plastic of the mind."