I suppose every year should really be the Year of the Book, but reading more books was one of my few New Year’s resolutions, along with running another marathon and…well, I guess that’s about it. I’m currently cruising through the very interesting Celluloid Skyline (and give the site a visit, as it’s much more than just a promotional website – an amazing resource), all about the way New York City has influenced movie-making, and the way a cinematic New York has been created by Hollywood. Every type of housing, every architectural movement and city setting, from row houses and tenements to rooftop gardens and dingy docks, is explored, and the book has given me new things to look at when revisiting films I’ve seen before, plus a long list of movies I now need to see.



Standard Oil Building (26 Broadway), looking north, from 2 Broadway, 1959. Reference photo for The Apartment.

Next up, I think I’ll be tackling something from the giant list of essential literature my friend Wayne made for me many years ago; a woefully small number of those books have been checked off. I’ll never be Art Garfunkel, but that’s true for many reasons, not just the books.