I’m spinning like one of those
children’s tops or a dreidel
with the letters whirling
some indecipherable message
transmitted into the stratosphere
that no one will ever read.

Every tendon, every muscle is
in spasm, but even more annoying
is – I had something
I loved. I didn’t go looking for you;
I had something real,...

The one major ground rule at Le Trapeze is:  Couples must stay together at all times.  Le Trapeze is the premiere swingers club in Manhattan and it is about more than just sex with multiple partners. “This place,” the manager explains to us, as he does to all first time couples, “is all about the integrity of the couple.”

“The concern is that often the gentleman in the couple has taken great pains to convince the lady to join him in this excursion.  Once there, the lady finds she likes it.  A lot.  A lot more than the gentleman anticipated.  Sometimes that’s a problem.  Communicate with each other.”

Le Trapeze is a...

As a public service, and entirely without regard to my own fiscal well being, I spend a fair amount of time prowling the revival houses and museums of L.A. checking out movies I’ve never seen. Some are well-known classics; others are wildly obscure.

Here are this year’s favorites, in the order I saw them:   

THE HEART OF THE WORLD (2000)

Winnipeg-based indie filmmaker Guy Maddin makes strange, brooding, semi-abstract David Lynch-ian meditations, frequently and freely mixing styles and techniques from...