film

how i learned to stop worrying and love the indie theater down the street

June 24, 2010
By
carine puff

I learned patience by watching silent films. I took an introductory film course, and my delightful elitist professor –wanting to make sure that students didn’t take the course lightly or ever entertain the possibility that movies could be enjoyable — showed us silent films for four months. There was none of that amusing Charlie Chaplin stuff either. I’m talking hours and hours of tedium and screechy violins. All I really remember from that desperate time is D.W. Griffith and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (which I quite enjoyed, actually), but I can recall  the exact moment when I learned how to be a blank slate in order to take in whatever the film had to offer. Finally, the elitist professor rewarded me by showing me F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. And that movie might just be better than cinnamon. When Elitist Professor finally got around to showing us foreign films, I was more than prepared.  Good dialogue is worth a thousand pictures. I made my way through the Italians (Fellini, Antonioni, Pasolini, De Sica, Rosselini, Bertolucci, etcci.), and finally branched off on my own: a little Fritz Lang here, a little Andrei Tarkovsky there, some Truffaut, and even [...]

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me me me and pixar

June 16, 2010
By
me me me and pixar

I am a creative lifer.  I’d prefer not to spend this life sentence in solitary confinement, which is why I have screenwriting ambitions as well as heavy literary ambitions.  To me, screenwriting smacks of collaboration: actors, directors, TV writing rooms, craft service, audiences silencing their cell phones in the dark, meddling producers, budget constraints, on-the-fly fixes.  Conversely, I’m well aware of what writing my book is like: headphones on, pen to paper, perhaps a grimace. Of course, I’m lying to you there.  Craft service and meddling producers don’t have anything to do with my scriptwriting.  Not yet at least.  Right now I’m the lone shark chewing my way through pages alone. But it takes a team to turn pages into a movie.  A squad.  Compadres.  Gaffers and best boys oh my. What turns pages into a book?  Glue. I like to collaborate and I also like to say ‘fuck-off-and-leave-me-alone.’  That’s why I harbor both ambitions. Hmm, I’m sort of rambling now, so let’s cut quick to the quick: I like Pixar.  A lot. Here’s why (excluding Wall-E’s nearly silent film bravado and Dug the dog): they work as a cohesive team to put out incredible movies with clockwork consistency.  Even [...]

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paris calling

March 23, 2010
By
paris calling

Featuring Lané Jo, and the makeup and hairstylings of Lauren Marler. Music (“Paris 4 AM”) by The Legendary Pink Dots. Location courtesy of Hotel Congress. . . . . .

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the infiniteability of stories

January 20, 2010
By
the infiniteability of stories

Last night at Barnes and Noble my partner and I stumbled across the book Cake Wrecks, and spent the next 15 minutes laughing to the point of tears.  Three hours later, after watching a movie we thought about the book and had another laughing attack.  It was almost unbearable.  There’s just something inordinately funny about someone doing their job to the letter of that job description.  Or maybe the cake makers were fucking with the people who requested the cake because they wrote in the wrong line.  Whatever the case, a more complex form of communication than the little cake request cards is obviously in order. It is not, I should point out, only human errors that fascinate and amuse me.  There is also something deliciously delightful about human actions made for a particular audience that end up reaching a mass audience.  Found magazine is, I think the best example of such pop-culture knick-knacks.  Reading the magazine reminds me of wandering through consignment shops, thrift stores and second-hand stores.  I’ve sent my fair share of used clothing to the Goodwill and rarely is there a piece of it that I will miss.  It might as well be going to the [...]

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what’s on my list? \/\/ a d.i.y. film festival

December 9, 2009
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what’s on my list? \/\/ a d.i.y. film festival

Growing up amidst the maize fields of the great Midwest, I volunteered at a restored movie theater on weekends: single screen, ‘30s era art deco interior, concession stand inside the theater.  The Normal Theater in Normal, Illinois.  My old man took me to see Vertigo when I was ten.  A few months later I worked my first movie: Gone with the Wind.  I worked there for the next thirteen years, until I moved down to Baton Rouge.  That theater is one of the things I miss most about my hometown, especially this time of year, when they have their annual showings of Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, It’s a Wonderful Life, and of course, White Christmas.  The packed-to-the-ceiling crowds never fail to sing “White Christmas” at the end of Bing’s Technicolor explosion.  If that doesn’t get you juiced up for mistletoe and eggnog, may a CGI Jim Carrey pull a stocking over your head and kick you down a flight of icy stairs. But the Normal Theater is much more than cozy holiday traditions.  Here’s a sampling of movies I missed in October and November alone: Waltz with Bashir, Moon, Bright Star, The Tingler, The Shining, Young Frankenstein, A Hard [...]

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mythical trickster

November 12, 2009
By
mythical trickster

“Oh if every angel’s terrible Then why do you watch her sleep You love to hear her sing And wear purple eyes like rings Well the flowers have no scent And the child’s been miscarried Oh every angel’s terrible ” -cocorosie

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whoa, that was fast.

March 8, 2009
By
whoa, that was fast.

the gareth pugh collection video for a/w 09 is extraordinary. it’s dark, it’s got weird wet sound effects, and some of the shirts are nipple-less. who could ask for more? watch it @ show studio the women’s collection is fucking perfect. check it.

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speed metal goldfish

November 14, 2008
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