Category Archives: Personal

Alan Drury, Charles Dickens, and the Duality of Good Times and Bad

Posted on 04/09/2019 by paulefallon

Sixty years ago Alan Drury published Advise and Consent, perhaps the most famous political potboiler ever written. The novel spent 102 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, won the 1960 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, and inspired Otto Preminger’s … Continue reading →

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First Kiss Girl / First Kiss Boy

Posted on 04/02/2019 by paulefallon

I woke this morning to the memories of first kiss; a rather pleasant way to greet the day.   My first real kiss arrived unexpectedly in 1971. My family had recently moved to Oklahoma; I was invited to a party … Continue reading →

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Their Eyes Were Watching God

Posted on 03/19/2019 by paulefallon

The longer I live, the less I understand religion. I don’t understand why humans crave order and answers so much that we proclaim as truths what are, at best, idealized fables; why we hate our fellow man and why we … Continue reading →

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If You’re Going to Steal our Title, at Least Give Us the Bucks

Posted on 03/12/2019 by paulefallon

According to Work + Money Magazine, six of the ten highest paid jobs of 2017 have one thing in common. That’s in addition to the fact that they are male-dominated techie-jobs with elusive descriptions that didn’t exist a generation ago. … Continue reading →

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Thanks to the Academy…

Posted on 02/19/2019 by paulefallon

This Sunday night, the Oscars will be broadcast across America, across the World. The Academy Awards are our cultural State of the Union. The annual pulchritude parade reflects our social and aesthetic coherence—and dissonance—by applauding achievement in that squiggly gap … Continue reading →

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Sherlock’s Last Case: Holding a Magnifying Glass Up to Changing Theater

Posted on 02/12/2019 by paulefallon

Everybody was there. Actors, house managers, directors. Folks I’ve met in and around Boston theater over the past twenty years. So many theater insiders lent an expectant buzz to the Huntington Theater’s opening production of Sherlock’s Last Case. I wondered … Continue reading →

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Roma Contrarian

Posted on 02/05/2019 by paulefallon

First impressions matter. When the camera finally pans up from the luscious opening visual of water on stone, more water on stone, even more water on stone; my imagination stirs at the wondrous places it might lift us up to. … Continue reading →

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In the Auto Zone

Posted on 01/31/2019 by paulefallon

My recipe for a happy life includes: giving no credence to Breaking News in the moment; being curious of all things natural, technical, and human; and finding humor, rather than fear, in the many things I do not understand. Therefore, … Continue reading →

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Suicide Walk to the Sea

Posted on 01/24/2019 by paulefallon

In 1978, the closing shot of Coming Home is Bruce Dern, as Marine Captain Bob Hyde, hanging his uniform on a lifeguard stand and walking into the Pacific Ocean at a funereal stride. He has lost the war, lost his … Continue reading →

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Sorry: Not!

Posted on 01/17/2019 by paulefallon

This morning, as I walked around Fresh Pond, a hoard of runners came upon me and cut me off as they turned left into the parking lot. “Sorry!” One of the women giggled. On Tuesday, our habitually late yoga teacher … Continue reading →

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