Sad news. Oscar-winning Patricia Neal has died. She acted in a number of films, but stands out in Hud, co-starring with Paul Newman. Hud is one of the great films, and one of Eyewear's favourites. Neal was married to the writer Roald Dahl, and divorced him finally after a marital betrayal on his part. She had important roles in The Fountainhead and The Day The Earth Stood Still, and a classic episode of The Waltons. She suffered a stroke in her late 30s and overcame disability to act again. She will be missed. She had a rare quality.
THAT HANDSOME MAN A PERSONAL BRIEF REVIEW BY TODD SWIFT I could lie and claim Larkin, Yeats , or Dylan Thomas most excited me as a young poet, or even Pound or FT Prince - but the truth be told, it was Thom Gunn I first and most loved when I was young. Precisely, I fell in love with his first two collections, written under a formalist, Elizabethan ( Fulke Greville mainly), Yvor Winters triad of influences - uniquely fused with an interest in homerotica, pop culture ( Brando, Elvis , motorcycles). His best poem 'On The Move' is oddly presented here without the quote that began it usually - Man, you gotta go - which I loved. Gunn was - and remains - so thrilling, to me at least, because so odd. His elegance, poise, and intelligence is all about display, about surface - but the surface of a panther, who ripples with strength beneath the skin. With Gunn, you dressed to have sex. Or so I thought. Because I was queer (I maintain the right to lay claim to that
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