A long article in the British newspaper the Independent says “Groundhog Day” is “hailed by religious leaders as the most spiritual film of all time.” Perhaps not all religious leaders have seen anything by Bergman, Bresson, Ozu and Dreyer, but never mind: They have a point, even about a film where the deepest theological observation is, “Maybe God has just been around a long time and knows everything.”
Holidays
Archived Posts from this Category
February 2, 2007
December 27, 2006
The National Film Registry has announced their 200…
Posted by misskarina under Groundhog Day, Lists and Memes, National Film Registry1 Comment
The National Film Registry has announced their 2006 list of inductees, and whilst Dave Kehr can’t resist turning up his nose at the body’s annual, token appeals to populism (”Now remind me: what was the historic importance of Blazing Saddles? The first fart joke in a major studio film?”), I find the list to be, once again, the most fascinatingly schizophrenic document of film historiography since … um … last year’s list, I guess.
For those of you who don’t await the NFR’s annual press release with bated breath, and/or are perhaps unaware of how this nebulous government-sponsored preservation board functions, or why, allow me to quote directly from their website:
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington seeks nominations for the National Film Registry. To be eligible for the Registry, a film must be at least 10 years old and be “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The number of public votes a film receives is a factor weighed during the selection process.
At a press conference today, Billington stressed the need to physically perserve films as relics of the past; it’s about maintaining quality prints, almost irregardless of the perceived quality of the content imprinted on them. Which I think is GREAT — throw it all together. Acknowlege that high and low brow, commerical and independent, would be substantively indistinguishable were we not all — and not just you and me, but anyone living in a world steeped in moving imagery — de facto film scholars with an ingrained knowledge of How Hollywood Works. Rocky on the same shelf as Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania? Perfect.
This year’s roster also includes the charmingly scrappy debut from a sharply underrated studio hack; star-studded candy for pre-Code fetishists; a silent satire of Hollywood by Josef Von Sternberg; and two decent 90s AmerIndies from wildly overrated filmmakers. Plus, St. Louis Blues, which allegedly contains the only existing filmed record of Bessie Smith singing, and Harold Ramis’ masterpiece.
December 21, 2006
The Blog Does Not Rest For God or Commerce
Posted by misskarina under Al Roker, Blogs, Christmas, Holidays1 Comment
It’s no secret that most of the working Western world all but shuts down from December 20 through the end of the year, but the media always makes a valient attempt at making it look like the lights are still on, even if it means the TODAY show has to scrape the bottom of the parent company’s barrel in order to compensate for the absence of Merdith Viera, Matt Lauer AND Al Roker*** (who is actually potentially not on vacation, but pre-emptively benched — last year, in the midst of a truly horrifying segment on holiday parties, my boyfriend caught him dipping a slice of ham into his glass of champagne on camera. I mean, do whatever gets you off in private, Roker, but let’s keep that kind of thing away from the kids).
ANYWAY, I’m writing this post because it seems like at least half the A-list bloggers I read have made some kind of mention of their vacation status/location over the past day or so, and yet, unlike mainstream mediators, their blogs go on despite their physical displacement. Whitney at Pop Candy, for instance, promises she’ll post tomorrow about the media consumed on her “looong drive” to Nashville today. The Reeler, meanwhile, is in “godforsaken California,” and yet he’s still blogging about the minutia of the New York film scene.
I like this — I like it that blog ethic demands that the feeds be fed, vaguely-God-centric holidays be damned.
But me? According to Technorati, no one’s reading this, anyway, so I’m just going to go to New Jersey tomorrow and leave the computer at home. Hopefully we’ll make it back to civilization on Sunday in time to catch the program of racist and otherwise inappropriate Christmas cartoons at the Pioneer Theater.
I was going to add a picture of Al to this post, but Blogger’s upload feature isn’t working. Check it out here.
December 6, 2006
All I Want For Whatevermas, Part One
Posted by misskarina under Books, Christmas, Judy GarlandLeave a Comment
I just updated my Amazon Wish List, to include Under the Rainbow, John Carlyle’s memoir which includes a detailed account of his affair with Judy Garland (confusingly, Under the Rainbow is also the title of a different Garland-family chronicle, a ten-year-old exploitography on Liza Minnelli); and Sound and Vision: A Music Video Reader, which seems to whip in about out of availability every week or so, and which I’ve been try to acquire since roughly 1998. It’s back in print as of this writing, but who knows for how long (hinthinthint)?
November 30, 2006
Obsession of the Day, 11-30-2006 I love this — t…
Posted by misskarina under Christmas, Nirvana, RupaulLeave a Comment
Obsession of the Day, 11-30-2006
I love this — the World of Wonder blog has posted a clip (an outtake? raw footage? not sure) from a RuPaul-hosted Christmas special, circa 1993, featuring an appearence by Nirvana. At a producers coaxing, the band sings “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”, followed by warm Christmas greetings directed at Ru. Oh, 1993. I miss you so much.
November 22, 2006
Long weekend, much needed. In a couple of hours, …
Posted by misskarina under Harmony Korine, Lee Ranaldo, Richard Linklater, Richard Nixon, Robert Altman, Sonic Youth, Spike Jonze, Thanksgiving, You Tube1 Comment
Long weekend, much needed.
In a couple of hours, I’ll meet up with Nick and we’ll head off to New Jersey for a long-awaited holiday weekend in the suburbs. But first, I’m going to head into the city and try to track down a copy of the Criterion edition of Secret Honor, which I’ve never seen, but which since the death of its director, I can’t get out of my head.
While I’m gone, take a look at this short documentary I found on You Tube, in which Sonic Youth discuss their collaborations with filmmakers such as Spike Jonze, Richard Linklater and Harmony Korine on videos and features. Towards the end, Lee Ranaldo says the band is eager to explore more film work: “We still haven’t been tapped to do that ultimate Sonic Youth-meets-film soundtrack.” Consider that a call to arms, girls and boys…
