Sometimes tragic events occur that transcend our day-to-day and force us to take pause and consider the status of our life and popular culture on this mortal coil. Such an occurrence is the Virginia Tech shootings. I don't want to wallow in this; that isn't what this blog is for. However, the news coverage of the murderer has caused me enough angst that I have turned off the television news and the car radio for the duration. Why? Probably for the same reason I don't need to watch Saw 3 in order to know that I strongly dislike watching simulated, graphic torture as entertainment. The current medic coverage of this murderer who executed these kids in cold-blood is wholly predictable and not something I want to be complicit in by watching. The grunge of the 24 hour news cycle with the cable news channels and the Internet leading the way...

  The 8th Annual Festival of Film Noir jumped off at the Egyptian Theatre last Thursday night. Although the American Cinematheque  the sponsor of this enterprise, there are some new wrinkles in the dark shading of this year's festival: 1. The Film Noir Foundation is the festival co-sponsor with the Cinematheque. 2. My colleague and friend, Eddie Muller, is performing the hosting duties along with yours truly who wrangled most of the screening guests this time around. Eddie and I programmed this festival along with Chris D. at the Cinematheque. Thematically, this year's fest is a series of noir double bills featuring L.A. vs. N.Y. 3. The Egyptian Theatre is sharing the noir keylight with their sister theatre, the Aero, over in Santa Monica. The Aero will be a concurrent program called 'Noir at the Beach'. A quick recap of opening weekend: Thursday's opener was Act of Violence and Force of...

  When somebody really doesn't know how they are going to execute a plan or manage something, the term typically employed is "evolving". So it is with this blog that I am dubbing 'One Way Street'. It is basically an outlet for me to write about the things that interest me: film noir, my books, friends, pop culture, etc. in order to share them with others. Let me know what you think. Alan...