Sorry I’ve been something of a tease with this whole movie-list thing. Inexcusable of me, I know; it’s just that it’s been one of those kinds of weeks, the only kind I ever seem to have anymore. But the task must be completed, so, without further delay, here is the rest of my personal Top Fifty:
[And if you don’t know what all this list-talk is all about, read Part 1 and Part 2 before proceeding.]
If you haven’t already, read Part 1 of this three-part entry. And now without further delay, here are my personal faves:
As I was thinking about what to say in my 500th entry, it occurred to me that there are several topics I’ve long wanted to write about, and in some cases have even started writing about, but, for one reason or another, they’ve never seen the light of day. Take, for example, the subject of my All-Time Favorite Movies, a fairly obvious bit of small-talk that I promised to share way back in my third entry, just over two years ago. If you’ve been sitting around waiting for this one to appear, you’ve had a long wait.
According to Sean Means of the Salt Lake Tribune, the old Avalon Theater in South Salt Lake is being converted into a live-music venue. I haven’t been to the Avalon in years — I think the last film I saw there was a documentary called Microcosmos about a decade back — and I didn’t even realize it had closed, which, apparently, it did some time ago. Still, I mourn its passing. If I’m not mistaken, the Avalon’s repurposing leaves the Tower as the only single-screen theater still operating in the Salt Lake Valley. And I find that terribly sad.
Saw something interesting on Lileks’ Daily Bleat today. (Why, yes, things are kind of slow for me at work today; how can you tell?) If you click on over there and scroll down a-ways, you’ll see that he’s scanned a wonderful old newspaper photo of Times Square, circa 1952. But that photo isn’t quite what it seems…
So, in spite of my previous protest of indifference, I actually did end up watching the Oscars last night. Well, to be more precise, I had the show running in the background while I sorted books and various other tasks related to trying to put my basement back together. But I was paying some attention to the proceedings — I just can’t resist that whole Hollywood thing, I guess — and naturally I have a few thoughts:
Hm? What’s that you say? Oscar’s coming this weekend? How nice, where will he be staying? What? Oh, not Oscar like a person, the Oscars, the Academy Awards. Right, gotcha… yeah. Well, you see, I’ve been so busy at work and fretting over that whole flooded basement thing that I haven’t even thought about the Oscars this year.
Detective Yeti has written a wickedly funny (if incredibly geeky) satire of this whole sale-of-the-ports-to-Dubai kerfuffle. If you don’t get the joke, you’re obviously not familiar enough with the films of the incomparable Jeff Bridges:
I’ve run across something that I think makes for an interesting addendum to the Brokeback Mountain controversy, namely some comments from the author David Gerrold about last fall’s revelation that Star Trek‘s George Takei is gay.
Gerrold, in case the name doesn’t ring a bell, is an accomplished science-fiction author and television screenwriter with a number of novels to his name. Despite his lengthy career, however, he’s most likely always going to be known as the man who wrote “The Trouble with Tribbles,” the one episode of the original Star Trek series that non-Trekkies most frequently seem to be familiar with. Given the “Tribbles” connection, it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that he’s been friends with Mr. Takei — and fully aware of George’s sexuality — for years. He also has strong feelings on the question of how visible homosexuals ought to be in our society (which is really what Larry Miller’s decision on Brokeback — as well as a certain political fight heating up in Utah’s legislature — is all about, the visibility of gay people and their relationships). Here’s Gerrold:
Following up on something I mentioned in last night’s rambling entry on the movie business, I’ve found an interview that director Steven Soderbergh gave to Wired magazine about his plans to release his new film on DVD, HD-cable TV, and in theaters all at the same time. Relevant to my purposes: