Preston Sturges Preston Sturges Preston Sturges (; born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. In 1941, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film "The Great McGinty", his first of three nominations in the category. Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations. It is not uncommon for a Sturges character to deliver an exquisitely turned phrase and take an elaborate pratfall within
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. "The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O." is big, roomy and enjoyable." The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. is a science fiction novel by American writers Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, published in 2017. The story follows the members of a secret U.S. government agency known as the Department of Diachronic Operations (D.O.D.O.) as they attempt to change history through the use of magic. Stephenson and Galland had previously written together on "The Mongoliad". U.S. Army Major Tristan Lyons hires Dr. Melisande Stokes, a Harvard linguistics lecturer, to translate a variety of historic texts. The