The Club Dumas

AMAZON I'm one of those few who actually like the Ninth Gate--the Polanski movie based on this novel. Yes, I know, the ending.... But still--a movie about old books, and a rare book detective? What more could one want? That's the best! Printing used to be referred to as the black arts. Not because of any devil association, but because of the color the skin on your hands would change to after repeatedly working with inks. Even so, I'm sure the old printer's loved playing up the mystery of it all--it helped to get young guild members through their long apprenticeship, the promise of great occulted secrets just around the next bend. I would guess that this wasn't lost on Arturo Pérez-Reverte, even though he didn't mention it in this particular book. Most interesting to me currently is the way that Polanski and his screenwriters deftly sliced the story in half. The book would be nearly impossible to film as it is written--much too complex. Ironically, the book has a device that Kent and I used in our screenplay Yellow (which I'll liberally discuss with anybody who has read both). And finally--in sync with the phrase the black arts, this website URL has nothing to do with the devil, and everything to do with printing. Yet, to those who don't know, it may look as if it's the exact opposite. For instance, there is a death metal band that uses Hellbox as its moniker. From their associated graphics, I believe they were trying to align themselves with the prince of evil, rather than the broken-type-to-smelt. Like a friend who ran into a member of the now defunct Seattle band Ezra Pound. "I LOVE Pound," she said. "What's your favorite poem?" The guy replied: "Ezra Pound is a poet? We just picked the name because it sounded cool." It calls to mind the last line in the book: "And everyone gets the devil he deserves."

House of Sand and Fog

IMDB

Connelly may certainly be without peer, but she seems to have plenty of piers.

Time Bandits

IMDB Had me watching my closet for weeks as a kid.

The Bridge on the River Kwai

IMDB I would like to cut the last scene of this movie together with the last scene from Apocolypse Now. BOTRK: "Madness. Madness!" AN: "The horror. The horror." BOTRK: "Madness. Madness!"

Adventures in the Screen Trade

AMAZON As thoroughly enjoyable as the other William Goldman book I recently finished. This one is a bit longer, and dives into his earlier work, such as Marathon Man, and Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, of which the entire screenplay is reproduced in the book. A thoroughly good romp through Hollywood in the 60's, 70's and early 80's.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

IMDB I mean, I've liked him before, but is actually identifying with Jim Carrey a sign of the apocalypse?

Spartan

IMDB

Ready? Oooooohkay!

Go Spartan. Go Spartan. Go Spartan. Go Spartan.

School of Rock

IMDB

One would think they could have tried a bit harder for a title the parody porn producers would have at least had to think about.

Breakfast of Champions

IMDB

Seeing Owen Wilson with a blonde perm made me feel rather, I dunno...fresh.

John Vanderslice

at the Crocodile Cafe

I've seen JV play before once before - that time with a totally different backing band. Both times were great -- tight set, relaxed presence, good sound (although it was pretty boomy on the low end from where I was standing last night).

I think Vanderslice is one of the best artists currently working today. Every song is a snapshot into a life, some great and some awful.

He also runs a site that has a bunch of his songs posted as MP3's for free downloading. He's worth the effort. Check out my personal faves: the Mansion, and My Old Flame.

johnvanderslice.com

Network

IMDB

Every modern review of this movie talks about its prescience. I have to agree, how anybody could have forseen the communist chic craze of the mid-80s?

The Bird With the Crystal Plumage

IMDB

for all you nomeansno fans...

GIMMETHATKNIFE, MOH-NI-CA, GIMMETHATKNIFE...

Parallax View

IMDB

Sure Warren Beatty is handsome and charismatic and all that, but my god -- put him next to the Space Needle in all of its glory and he's just another little tiny man. Not a god, like our spire of the future. Just a little tiny man.

Carl Anderson (a.k.a. The Black Judas) Dead at 58

If you were growing up in a liberal church in the '70's, the opening guitar riff to Jesus Christ Superstar is embedded in your DNA. The church I went to (which easily could have won the title "Church of the Performing Arts" and spun off a Fame-style movie) put on its own version of the show one year. I think I've heard the complete score hundreds of times from live exposure, the movies, the soundtrack, and the touring Broadway version (note that I'll never, ever say "touring Broadway version" again in this blog.) which I saw twice (nor will I admit to seeing a Broadway show once, let alone twice). One of those times was in Santa Barbara during the '70's with my family. We had a friend performing in the show, and he took us backstage where we met most of the cast, but most notably the ebullient Carl Anderson. He energetically shook my hand, and gave both of my older sisters kisses. His charisma could only be topped by his amazing voice. The man simply had pipes. He had one album that made the Billboard top 50 (no. 21) in Jazz Vocalists, but other than that this man made a career out of being Judas (although he did, amazingly, have a role in the incredibly so-bad-it-ruled Cop Rock TV show), hanging himself hundreds of times at the end of each performance. In the beginning of the movie, a black Judas on the rock, screaming his doubts at Jesus was a powerful political statement. When I think about it in the context of 1973 I have to rate it as a fine cinematic moment, far removed from the obvious (and deserved) cynacism, irony, parody and religiosity brought to it over the years. His delivery in that song gives my secular ass goose-bumps every time. Carl Anderson Obit [blogofdeath.com]