Jeffrey Wells

Daniel Craig is intending to become the first ex-007 to play a gay guy. Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan…none of them expanded their repertoire in such a fashion. But Craig will boldly go where no James Bond has gone before.

The Industry’s Jeff Sneider is reporting that Craig will star in Luca Guadagnino’s Queer, an adaptation of William Burroughs’ same-titled, partly autobiographical novel that was written in the early ‘50s but not published until ‘85.

Presumably to be set in old-time Mexico City, where Burroughs himself lived in the early ‘50s, Queer may or may deal with the accidental shooting death of Burroughs’ wife, Joan Vollmer.

Sasha Stone and I have leapt back into the podcast fray — Oscar Poker, Part Deux. A weekly thing with occasional extras and detours. But on Substack this time. The usual strategy applies — free at first and then paywalled. And not just anti-woke rants and whatnot.

We spoke for an hour earlier today — (a) Avatar 2 vs. other Best Picture contenders that haven’t much chance. (b) how many more years will the woke plague endure?, (c) kicking around Nat’l Board of Review winners (what happened to Tar?), (d) this weekend’s White Lotus finale, etc.

Please join us in daring to give a shit. How can Sasha and I be a little different? Is there anyone in Media/Journo/Hunger Land who isn’t podcasting?

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After foolishly flying into Russia last February with a small amount of hash oil, which led to an arrest, a trial and a long prison sentence, WNBA star Brittney Griner has been swapped for demonic arms dealer Viktor Bout and is now flying back home. President Joe Biden approved the deal late last week — a big political win any way you slice it.

Bedroom window, 6:05 am. No leaves, bare trees, slush, sleet, scarves and overcoats for at least the next four months. Come late January or February the usual dreams will kick in. Flying south to Key West or better yet Belize for one. Actually that’s pretty much it.

I really admire anyone willing to learn anything new after 40, and particularly if it’s dancing the tango, playing piano or learning how to become a decent preparer of Northern Italian dishes. Snapped three or four days ago in a Los Angeles dance hall. Tatiana’s partner (not a boyfriend) is too tall for her, but he seems a good sport.

Posted on Facebook by Daniel Cremer three hours ago. Key hypothetical sentence, as suggested by venerated critic Michael Sragow: “A specific outcome was desired by [the woke Stalinists] so they weighed the poll results to their liking.”

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The first tingly, muscle-ache sensations of Covid were felt Friday morning. I went through it a year ago so I know the deal. Yesterday I took a Covid test…bingo.

It took me four days to get through it last December so I’ll probably be out of the woods by Monday evening.

Right now I feel so depleted that the mere thought of sitting up and writing something is exhausting.

12:25 am, Monday: I can feel the Covid starting to weaken, dissipate. The worst seems to be over.

9 am, Monday: Digital temperature gauge reads 98.4.

This morning’s recovery made think of Keith’s “98.6.” I shouldn’t need to remind, of course, that it’s no longer acceptable to address or refer to a girlfriend as “baby.”

Ladies and germs, the winner of the NYFCC’s Best Director award….

I was ready to move past the Jeanne Dielmann / Sight & Sound thing, but then I came upon a Todd Alcott Facebook riff that completely ignored the fact that the voting was largely political and that the system was almost certainly massaged and gamed.

This notion was aroused when Jordan Ruimy posted a link to Brian Jacobson’s L.A. Review of Books piece about the S&S poll (12.2), which had a vague “smoking gun” feeling.

First Alcott, then me and then Alcott’s progressive female Facebook pallies, who seem to think that I hate Chantal Ackerman’s 1975 film (I’m not that much of a fan but I don’t hate it) or that I don’t get it because of my gender (I understand exactly what it’s about and what the strategy is).