Tom Christie

An Immovable Feast

Tom Christie
I remember few things about the year I turned 16. I was new to L.A. and to Grant High, and my stepfather was new to my mother, my sister and me. He‘d rented a small stucco house in the flats of Sherman Oaks, next door to a woman who worked......

The Secret Agent

Tom Christie
There’s something unsettling about Joan Didion. Perhaps it‘s the body of work, and the fact that she’s one of few living writers whose name can be shaped unapologetically into an adjective: Didionesque. Or perhaps it‘s the clean, calm, almost soporific style with which she eviscerates the likes of Bob Woodward......

Death Watcher

Tom Christie
David C. Rapoport, professor emeritus at UCLA, is editor of the academic journal Terrorism and Political Violence, published in London. He has also written or edited five books, Assassination and Terrorism, The Morality of Terrorism, The Rationalization of Terrorism, Inside Terrorist Organizations and The Democratic Experience and Political Violence. On......

Into Finn Air

Tom Christie
It‘s 3 in the morning and the streets of Helsinki are crawling -- in some cases, literally -- with inebriated 18-year-olds wearing sailorlike graduation caps. It’s about as dark as it would be in L.A. at 5:30 or 6 a.m., which is to say not very, and the low sky......

Planes vs. Trains

Tom Christie
Illustration by Alex MunnRECENT FLIGHT TO SEATTLE: XANAX SAFELY swallowed, chased by a pint of ale at the Burbank Airport lounge, chased by a shot of Jim Beam. To wit, patient is feeling . . . fine. Relaxed. Almost dreamy. Until the lady behind me screams. This would be about......
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An Irishman in Malibu

Tom Christie
Copyright 1992 The Times Mirror Company Los Angeles Times In 1964, when the Irish playwright and wit Brendan Behan died in New York of too much Drink, his countryman Brian Moore wrote, "The angel at the head of Behan's bed, the angel of death, was fame." That image, says Moore......
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Brian Moore, 1921­1999

Tom Christie
Photo by Jerry BauerTHE MOST ACCOMPLISHED AND LEAST fashionable writer in Los Angeles died last week. Brian Moore, 77, was the author of a remarkable collection of 20 novels under his own name and a few more written under pseudonyms early in -- he would say prior to -- his......

Now You Can Write the Starr Report

Tom Christie
February 28, 1997 Fluid: Clothing Item: Book Title: National Chain Store: Noun: Verb Past Tense: Famous Building: Adjective: Verb: Adjective: Plural Noun: Holiday: Noun: Body Part: Adjective: Verb ending in "ing": Clothing Item: Body Part: Nonsense Word: Verb Past Tense: Verb: Adjective: Author: Adjective: Verb Past Tense: Nonsense Word: Body......

Now You Can Write the Starr Report

Tom Christie
January 21, 1996 Shape: Adjective: Body Part: Adjective: Noun: Verb ending in "ing": Clothing Item: Body Part: Noun: Adverb: Body Part: Noun: Clothing Item: Verb Past Tense: Nonsense Word: Shape: Adverb: Adjective: March 31, 1996 Anatomical Orifice: Piece of Furniture: Shape: Plural Noun: Adjective: Noun: Celebrity Name: Anatomical Orifice: Verb......

Now You Can Write The Starr Report

Tom Christie
Ridiculously simple directions: Fill in the form below and click submit. Read the completed story back and roar with laughter! November 15, 1995 Body Part: Direction: Adverb: Body Part: Room: Verb ending in "ing": Clothing Item: Adjective: Clothing Item: Verb: Noun: Body Part: Noun: Adjective: Shape: Verb Past Tense: Clothing......