THE CHASLES VRAIN-LUCAS SCAM PART 1
SOMETIMES PASSIONATE highly intelligent people are the easiest marks. Or so it seemed with 19th-century French mathematician Michel Chasles. Chasles had a passion for collecting antiquarian ephemera; fellow Frenchman Denis … Continue reading
SAMUEL SLOAN ON SCHOOLHOUSES—1852
PHILADELPHIA ARCHITECT Samuel Sloan, 1815-1884, left a rich legacy of buildings, particularly in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. In fact, I’ve seen his Lancaster County Courthouse, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the … Continue reading
HAMLET, REVISITED
HITHERTO, HAMLET’S principal appearance here at SimanaitisSays was in the Classics Illustrated comic book version. And a fine example of the graphic genre it is. I also have a rather … Continue reading
BELLICOSE—ITS ETYMOLOGY
FOR ONE REASON or another, the word “bellicose” sprang to mind as deserving addition into my Etymology for our Times series. Why do you suppose? It might have been something … Continue reading
A SCREENPLAY PITCH PART 2
WE LEFT transplanted Kiki Lowell Yerex barnstorming in the U.S. after his World War I combat experiences. A primary source here in Part 2 is “Touring with Pyle,” by famed … Continue reading
A SCREENPLAY PITCH PART 1
“I GOT this great screenplay! It has everything. Action. Glamor. International rivalry. Airplanes for the guys. Romance for their girlfriends.” “Old hat….” “Wait! There’s this World War I pilot who’s … Continue reading
SUBSCRIBE TO AN AUTOMAKER?
YEARS AGO, September 2001 specifically, in the R&T piece “Whither the Automobile?,” futurists at American Honda told me that automaker subscriptions were a coming trend. That is, rather than buying … Continue reading
THEO’S WONDERFUL FLYING MACHINE
“THEO JUST INHERITED his Grandfather’s flying machine. It had become a little rusty and broken, but Theo set to work to repair it.” And thus begins this charming little book … Continue reading
AS HARD-BOILED AS A SHAMUS’S SIMILE PART 2
YESTERDAY AT SimanaitisSays, we talked about the difference between similes and metaphors, defined the word “shamus,” and extolled mystery author Raymond Chandler as a master of all three. Today, I … Continue reading
AS HARD-BOILED AS A SHAMUS’S SIMILE PART 1
RAYMOND CHANDLER said hard-boiled literature of the 1920s and 1930s “made most of the fiction of the time taste like a cup of luke-warm consommé at a spinsterish tea room.” … Continue reading
