Kudos.
Ozu/Ray
Cinema Confessions, Part 1:
Yes, I have never watched any of Yasujiro Ozu’s or Satyajit Ray’s films. Yes, I understand they are both considered in that rare, rarified, best-of-the-best category of film directors of all time. I understand this makes me seem even more of a child. I’m about to turn 60, so there is still time.
"To Whom Have I Been Sending My Tasteful Nudes?"
A few thoughts on the Oscars broadcast:
-I loved all the UK winners saying, “Happy Mother’s Day!”
-Ryan Gosling may not be a practiced singer, but the whole “I’m Just Ken” production was such a joyous scene, it was hard not to grin ear-to-ear.
-It was thrilling to see POOR THINGS win for Makeup/Hair, Production Design, and Costumes, all in a row. And seeing THE ZONE OF INTEREST get International Film and then an hour later, Sound (which I assumed OPPENHEIMER had locked down)…also a weirdly potent feeling.
-Nicolas Cage for Paul Giamatti. Right on.
-The biggest surprise of the night for me was Emma Stone winning Best Actress; I wanted her to win as much as Lily Gladstone, but figured Gladstone had it clinched. So it was a wonderful surprise, and it looked like perhaps it was as much a surprise to her.
-And for me, if there was a banter highlight, it had to be Kate McKinnon’s query above, and Steven Spielberg’s deadpan response. Excellent.
(sigh)
FWIW - The Oscars
Over the last few years, my interest in the Oscars - before the show - has waned, while my giddy excitement while watching the show remains largely the same. I don’t think they are important at all but I LOVE CINEMA, so, well, they hold a special place, even if problematic.
Below are this year’s nominees. I have marked any I would be perfectly happy to see win. And as I posted this I realized I did not mark Score, so I’ll just say OPPENHEIMER.
Werewolf By Night / Man-Thing
Over 30 MCU features and seemingly endless series, and Disney+’s 53-minute WEREWOLF BY NIGHT, with its dead-on recreation of Man-Thing, remains one of my favorites.
"Hee!"
Was leaving Whole Foods and one of the attendants said, “Have a good day.” My brain decided that “thanks,” “you too,” and/or “have a nice day” were too much effort at the speed of my stride, so I uttered “Hee!”
Hee. ffs…
On Hinge, Where (I Hope) Cineastes Go To Find Love
So I’m talking with a nice lady on Hinge. We decided to talk about some easy stuff before deciding if we wanted to consider pursuing things more closely. It being Oscar season (hell, Oscar weekend), I started with “what are some of your favorite films?”
I only mentioned a few to her, but here are mine, to date:
I can be an impossible archiving nerd sometimes, but hey, you love what you love.
"I'll buy you a delicatessen!"
At the start of FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, when James Bond dispatches Blofeld (yet again), the heretofore compelling villain is reduced to a quavering, desperate buffoon. It is not just arguably a low point in the series, but an insulting treatment of an otherwise formidable foe.
However, it is quite possibly the only time the word “delicatessen” is uttered in the entire realm of 007. Which seems a shame, as with all the globetrotting action, you’d think Bond might occasionally just want a nosh.
Hard to Believe
I couldn’t get past the 15-minute mark on FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY’S last night, a wretched piece of film. But hey, I’ve been wrong before. So today I decided to look at Letterboxd comments to see what others thought…and it turns out I wasn’t alone.
But then I saw this post:
And I thought, surely this cannot be true.
It was.
A Stewart Lee Joke
I love this.
"My Wife"
On Who’s Next, the song “My Wife” may have some of the silliest lyrics, but it does contain one of the great horn licks of all rock & roll.
And it took me years to realize what the cover was all about.
Taboola Is Everything You Should Hate
Underneath the articles you read on numerous websites are a hellishly omnipresent tableau of misleading, sexist, leering, gross clickbait, mostly centered around women of a certain age and their figures. Taboola, a New York-based advertising company, is the most shameful and skeevy in the land of the shameful and skeevy. I would suggest boycotting the sites that use their materials, but since they are easily found on the web, perhaps the better suggestion would be to send them a direct note of how awful they are, in the hopes that they might someday change.
Just kidding! They’ll never change. They are trash.
Rickie Lee Jones Appreciation Page
She rhymed “Pantages” and “contagious”…I #$%&ing love that.
F-F-F-Faces
HOLY SPIDER (2022).
HORS DE PRIX (2006).
WOULD YOU RATHER (2012).
TOMMASO (2019).
HOTEL ARTEMIS (2018).
BLUSH (2019).
SURVIVING THE GAME (1994). And just a note that if you’ve not seen the film, Busey’s monologue in the first half is electrifying. One of his best performances, despite what you might make of the film overall.
JOHN DIES AT THE END (2012).
INSIDE DAISY CLOVER (1965).
PAIN AND GLORY (2019).
SHIVA BABY (2021).
SMOKE (1995).
THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON’T THEY? (1969).
R.I.P. Charles Dierkop
I am of an age that this guy showed up in a lot of TV and movies when I was young. One of those great character actors with a memorable face and some terrific credits. Charles Dierkop passed away over the weekend, and he serves as a reminder of a wonderful period of film and TV during my formative years.
THE STING.
LA GOMERA (THE WHISTLERS)
Corneliu Porumboiu’s smart, slick, and riveting crime drama was made in 2019 and released in the U.S. in 2020, at the start of COVID, via Films at Lincoln Center and Magnolia Pictures, and I am very grateful that I got the chance to watch it (online, with a handful of great rarities that year).
It is now available on Prime and Vudu Free, and worth the wait if you missed it.
Don't Use TWEETDELETER
Last year I paid $71.87 to use TweetDeleter while cleaning up and subsequently closing my Twitter account. . I used the service the one time and was not aware it was an annual fee.
This month I was charged the same fee again and objected, requesting they refund the amount since I had only used the service once. They refused and then refunded part of the fee, saying the account was already active. MMy expalantion clearly went over their heads, though any other company I’ve had issue with has been very easy to deal with in these kinds of matters. Because basic customer service doesn’t require much effort.
My point: don’t use TweetDeleter. They are a shitty organization that will take your money even when you didn’t want or use their service.
QOTSA/Excel
Beating my brains out with Excel spreadsheets and simultaneously rebuilding them with years of Queens of the Stone Age songs. Pretty solid for a Friday afternoon.
