Open in app

Sign In

Write

Sign In

D. S. Battistoli
D. S. Battistoli

Home

About

Apr 14, 2022

In defense of the cut-up

The movie All the Old Knives is a spy thriller apparently based on a novel by Olen Steinhauer, whose considered, murky, and indeterminate approach to his craft, combined with the generational space between the two, has earned him comparisons to the late John Le Carré. The filmmakers behind Knives have…

Movies

10 min read

In defense of the cut-up
In defense of the cut-up
Movies

10 min read


Apr 13, 2022

The Enduring Imperfection of Thought, or, A Few Problematic Faves

I. Joan Didion, after several years of not covering the civil rights movement, did so in an essay called “Black Panther.” She was not entirely impressed by Huey Newton. …

Joan Didion

11 min read

The Enduring Imperfection of Thought, or, A Few Problematic Faves
The Enduring Imperfection of Thought, or, A Few Problematic Faves
Joan Didion

11 min read


Jan 12, 2022

Our Correspondent in California

I’d long postponed reading Joan Didion because, of all the so-called New Journalists who started writing in the United States in the 1960s, she seemed to pay the least attention to the civil rights movement. It seemed something of an odd topic for a writer of that time to sit…

Joan Didion

9 min read

Our Correspondent in California
Our Correspondent in California
Joan Didion

9 min read


Jun 17, 2021

Good cop, bad cop, same cop

Sidney Lumet’s Q & A works as a piece of drama whether a viewer, having seen the first half-hour, thinks that the protagonist is every bit the a choirboy he seems to be, or if they are convinced that he couldn’t be as free of prejudice and bias as all…

Movies

5 min read

Good cop, bad cop, same cop
Good cop, bad cop, same cop
Movies

5 min read


Jun 17, 2021

The impossibility of reform

Q & A does not rank among Sidney Lumet’s most prestigious films, though given the quality of his output, that is not an indictment of the movie itself. …

Movies

7 min read

The impossibility of reform
The impossibility of reform
Movies

7 min read


Jun 14, 2021

Learning music

When I was a child, my father moved from Chicago to upstate New York and bought a Pontiac Grand Prix which his carrying case for cassettes almost never left. His taste, as reflected by the tapes, seemed to run mostly to artists like James Ingram and Bruce Hornsby. I’m not…

Rolling Stones

6 min read

Learning music
Learning music
Rolling Stones

6 min read


Jun 14, 2021

The generational Swing

In 2003, in the United States, I went to university. After sunset one night, deep in autumn, I wandered down to the lounge of my residence hall and fell into a game that was already in progress. A handful of men and one woman were naming a succession of movies…

90s Movies

5 min read

The generational Swing
The generational Swing
90s Movies

5 min read


Jun 10, 2021

The voyage into literary representation

When sending off a novel to literary agents, a writer is usually encouraged to list, in their cover or “query” letter, between one and three comparable titles that have been published in the last few years. …

Literary Agents

11 min read

Literary Agents

11 min read


Jun 8, 2021

Set It Off: making you care and breaking your heart

I don’t know how many times I watched Set It Off as a kid. Certainly more than I can count. There’s a real joy to going back to a movie you’ve loved, having regained unawareness of how it ends. …

Movies

7 min read

Set It Off: making you care and breaking your heart
Set It Off: making you care and breaking your heart
Movies

7 min read


May 28, 2021

QAnon, The Conjuring, and the devil

Giovanni Russonello covers in the New York Times the release of a new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) and the Interfaith Youth Core, according to which 15% of Americans agree with the statement, “The government, media, and financial worlds in the U.S. …

The Conjuring

2 min read

QAnon, The Conjuring, and the devil
QAnon, The Conjuring, and the devil
The Conjuring

2 min read

D. S. Battistoli

D. S. Battistoli

Help

Status

Writers

Blog

Careers

Privacy

Terms

About

Text to speech