Author Archives: Joshua Gibbs

“He is a man who is worthy neither of the great censure nor the great praise presently attached to his name. Nonetheless, there is little disagreement on what he has actually said and done. There is only disagreement on what it all means. The very same qualities of his personality which drive his admirers to hail him promptContinue reading “Character Sketch”

The day my son Laurie started kindergarten he renounced corduroy overalls with bibs and began wearing blue jeans with a belt; I watched him go off the first morning with the older girl next door, seeing clearly that an era of my life was ended, my sweet-voiced nursery-school tot replaced by a long-trousered, swaggering character who forgotContinue reading “Charles (1948) by Shirley Jackson”

From “Act of God,” the fourth episode of Season One of The Crown.

We’re screwed.

Or “profound imagery.” I swear, the same people who pour over music videos looking for Easter eggs will tell me I’m “reading too much into” the twentieth canto of the Paradiso.

In Class, Paul Fussell notes off-handedly that sports favored by the aristocracy tend to be played with small balls, whereas proletarian sports are played with large balls. Thus, tennis and golf and polo for the rich; basketball and soccer and football for everyone else. While he doesn’t explain this, I would note that in sportsContinue reading “Small Balls”

It’s rare in a film for plans to fall through. Nearly everything the hero purposes to do works out–and this is true of the major ordeal and all the minor ordeals, as well. I think this is why I find myself so bored with most action films. An elaborate plot is hatched to steal thisContinue reading “Can I Have Another Necklace?”