Julia Sweeney

April 6, 2013 Movie Post

Baby Doll directed by Elia Kazan. 1956 I’m making my way through the Elia Kazan box set. Can I say, or rather - ask - something heretical? Tennessee Williams, is he really all that great? I knew about only a couple of Tennessee Williams plays before I moved to Hollywood, most important was Summer and

April 6, 2013 Book Post

The Sense of an Ending written by Julian Barnes. I just finished this book last night. It’s short, only 163 pages long. It’s elegant and beautifully written. The first sensation I had when starting the book was a sensation of falling. Falling into the strong and delicate and capable hands of a master, a writer at

Val RIP 1996 - 2013

Well, people, now I am petless. For the first time since 1986, I do not have a pet. It’s weird. It’s sad. It’s oddly freeing, too. Before I write about my cat, Val, I wanted to say a few things. I am about to embark on a publicity tour for my book, “If It’s Not

February 14, 2013

Jill Sobule, in my office, with her iPad, and her thinking cap on. We were figuring out our show order for the Jill & Julia Show which we did at Space, in Evanston, IL on January 26th. We filmed the show and we’re making a Jill & Julia website (should by up by the end

January 10, 2013

A New Year The above picture was taken by Michael at the Lincoln Park Zoo in mid-December.We saw many more primates later in the month, in Costa Rica, where we went on vacation. But this picture is my favorite.Looking at her expression causes me to relax. What is new? Well, we just returned from a

Arden, RIP

My dog Arden died. He died about three weeks ago. I’m still getting used to him not being around. I will blame my tardy blog entry on this event. It’s only partially true. But still, I’ll allow Arden this one last gift to me. My world is very different. No more walks every day. This

September 14, 2012

I’m baaaaaack. I just turned in my second draft of my book on Tuesday afternoon. I have put everything off until I could finish it. It’s not even that long, and I can’t believe it took me six months longer to write it than I thought it would. I hope the publisher is happy. It’s

July 3, 2012

That Summer Feeling Jonathan Richman with his drummer Tommy Larkins at the Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park in downtown Chicago on June 4, 2012 I met Jonathan when I was on SNL and the cast was asked to participate in writing an entire issue of Spin Magazine. I was told I could interview any musician

June 22, 2012

Bill Sweeney 1961 - 2012 This is my family (my mother must have been taking the picture) circa 1972, having cheese fondu after skiing. I’m in the orange, and my brother Bill is in the striped pajamas. He died on Wednesday. ****** Two weeks ago today, on June 8, my brother Bill and I were

June 6, 2012

The Vatican has had it with the nuns. You know those sisters, so radical. They’ve been spending their time working on behalf of the poor and fighting economic injustice! An outrage. Well, now they’ve been reprimanded. They were told they’ve not been sufficiently outspoken against contraception, abortion and gay marriage. Just when the Catholic Bishops

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