Woody Allen is making a movie in our neighborhood,  in Providence, this week, and some streets are blocked off. There are an astonishingly large number of vehicles associated with the shooting, including  about a dozen very large trucks and RV's. You can see that making feature movies requires one hell of a lot of infrastructure. The neighbors are torn between irritation about the inconvenience and pleasure that this celeb is making a big movie  in this leafy neighborhood.  (What viewers will actually see will be quiet and  intimate, I'm pretty sure. Woody Allen doesn't exactly make spectacles.)

Providence is an appropriate place, culturally, for Allen to make a film. Rhode Islanders tend to be cynical and pessimistic, yet many  of their surroundings are beautiful.  And it's not too far from his beloved Manhattan.

How weird it seems to me. I remember watching Allen as a standup comedian in the '60's, seeing him play the clarinet at Michael's Pub, in Manhattan, in the '70's, and  viewing most of  his movies,  usually with great pleasure. What a work ethic to get through such a  long and complicated life.

And now he's around the corner.