Category Archives: fahmouzs

The City and The Author

October 14, 2009

I picked up tickets to see Gore Vidal talk up at the Pen Center in November today and I am so, so excited.  I just adore him, I think he’s brilliant, and even when I disagree with him, there’s something about his style that really works for me; he just takes me there.  He occasionally deeply offends me, and I love that too.  It’s good to be offended now and again…  Especially by such a sexy beast.  Oh yes, I so did just go there.

Anyway, this talk is part of The Actors Gang WTF?! Festival.  WTF?! because they’re pressing on with a heavy schedule despite the fact that most theaters have seriously cut back, because it’s cheaper to do nothing.  In Tim Robbins’ words, “We’re not very good at doing nothing.”  So they’re doing more than ever before.  I support that sort of thinking wholeheartedly… and if Gore Vidal is involved, so much the better.

A lot of their events are free or “give what you can” and the rest are $10-$15.   Excellent.

Also posted in art, bibliovoria, sexy beasts, sparrowstuff – 0 Comments

Swashbuckling Hedonist

October 12, 2009

…if I can manage to inherit that epithet, I will feel pretty good about my life.

It seems like there’s some need to apologize for Errol Flynn.  They’ve just unearthed a stash of articles he wrote while he was in Cuba with Castro, and suddenly he’s being painted as some sort of valiant, misguided hero.  He would’ve been the first to laugh.

Frankly, I love him just as he was.  That is not to say that I would want to spend time with him, he was a notorious drunk and womanizer, and that is about the nicest thing I can say about him.  Best case, I think we’d come to blows within minutes of meeting.

That said, I really don’t see the need to make nice about him, either.  He never made nice about himself, so why are we making his apologies now that he’s dead?   Ah well.  Still.  I am rather intrigued by this cache of articles.  The BBC’s got the full article.

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News from beyond the grave…

October 8, 2009
Edgar Allan Poe finally getting proper funeral

BALTIMORE — For Edgar Allan Poe, 2009 has been a better year than 1849. After dozens of events in several cities to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth, he’s about to get the grand funeral that a writer of his stature should have received when he died… (more at the link)

Alright, so what does it say about me that what I find creepy about this event is not the funeral, or the replica corpse, but that they’re selling tickets?  I don’t mind the media or even the celebrities.  I mind that they’re selling tickets.

Also posted in news of the world, sparrowstuff – 0 Comments

What I love most about LA…

September 4, 2009

…are the movie screenings.  The Butterfly Circus was on in Burbanks last Sunday, and, having absolutely nothing better to do, I made a 90 minute drive for a 20 minute film.  What can I say?  On very rare occasions I’m a dedicated cineaste.

Doug Jones had sent out an email blast, and between his posse and friends of all the other cast and crew, the two shows were both basically sold out.  It was a small theater, but still, getting anyone to show up at all is no small feat.

What convinced me to make the drive was Doug’s mention that he cried when he read the script, and I can see why.  It’s one of the most wonderful, inspiring films I’ve seen in a very long time, and the lead actor, Nick Vujicic, is just tremendous.

It’s set in the 1930s, and the whole premise of an “inspirational circus” is painfully modern, so the disconnect between setting and ideology was a bit grating, but it’s executed well, and it’s a great story.  I’ve seen a lot worse in wide release.

After the film about 50 of us went for lunch, which was a lot of fun.  I knew nobody, but film is the universal language, and I had the good fortune to sit with awesome people. We spent almost four hours just hanging out and chatting.

Anyway.  Go watch the movie.
The Doorpost Project

All of the films can be viewed without a registration, but if you want to vote, all you have to do is register, log in, then watch all 10 of the finalist films sometime between now and the 16th.  They’re only 20 minutes each!

Also posted in bibliovoria, movies, sparrowstuff – 0 Comments

I have discovered a new rule of TV…

August 20, 2009

Today would have been Anthony Ainley’s 77th birthday, and so I was digging around on IMDB to see what of his work I hadn’t seen…

It’s a good thing he did Doctor Who, as otherwise he would have never been known for anything.  In amongst a great many one-off TV roles, he was in an episode of The Avengers ’68, Noon Doomsday.  He’s only got about 90 seconds of screen time, all of which is awful, though his scenes aren’t quite so bad as the rest of the episode, which is unbelievably wretched — and I say this as a fan of both The Avengers and Anthony Ainley.  It was just THAT terrible.

Mint asked, “So, is there some rule that if a show has someone from Doctor Who in it, it’s got to be terrible?”  Apparently, yes.

Oh pop culture, why must I suffer for your art?  Why?

Also posted in sundry media, the doctor – 0 Comments

I’m Bob Dylan!

August 14, 2009

Even poor Bob Dylan can’t get a break on showing ID.  Will the real Bob Dylan please stand up?

Also posted in music, news of the world – 0 Comments

Miyazaki

August 11, 2009

Nice little piece on Miyazaki in the LA Times this week. I’m really looking forward to Ponyo, I love his films…  Actually I think anyone who’s seen a Miyazaki film is a Miyazaki fan, right?

When Howl’s Moving Castle came out here, I was living a few blocks away from the El Capitain, Disney’s flagship theater on Hollywood Blvd., and I walked down to watch it every night for a week.

Some nights it was dubbed and some nights it was subtitled.  Actually, unlike most foreign films, I preferred Howl’s in dub.  There was just something a bit more fanciful about it — the film just soars, just like its title character.

There’s something essentially nice about Miyazaki.  He can tell a story about something hard and cold, but there’s always some small ember there for the heart to hold on to.  Nothing is ever hopeless in his worlds.

I’m always sobbing by the end of any of his films, even the happiest ones, but it’s almost as if I am so sad, I end up crying for joy.  It verges on transformational.  I always feel better for it.  That sounds so corny, but it’s true.

I actually met him at a screening of Spirited Away, but I had no idea it was the man himself.  After the film, we wandered down to the basement to see what was on display, and there was this shy Japanese man sitting at a table in the basement, drawing adorable little coal sprites on fliers…  I asked someone who he was, and they said, “Oh, I think it’s one of the animators.”  Well, yes.

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