running Watch-A-Thon count...

Please support the Unofficial Film School of Boston, the Brattle Theater—Sponsor my 2011 Watch-A-Thon! Thanks!

Note that altho this post is dated 7/31, the day before the starting line of the 'thon, I'll be updating it as I go along.

1. NORTH BY NORTHWEST @the Brattle, 8/1/11.
   
2. MACHETE @the Brattle, 8/1/11.
   
3. TABLOID @Kendall Square 8/2/11.
   
4. VERTIGO @the Brattle, 8/2/11.
   
5. LE QUATTRO VOLTE @the Brattle, 8/3/11.
   
6. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES @AMC Harvard Square, 8/5/11.
   
7. THESE AMAZING SHADOWS @the Brattle, 8/5/11.
   
8. BLAZING SADDLES @the Brattle, 8/5/11.
   
9. THE GUARD @Kendall Square, 8/6/11.
   
10. ROAD TO NOWHERE @the Harvard film Archive, 8/6/11.
    
11. FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH @the Brattle, 8/6/11.
    
12. IT'S A GIFT @the Brattle, 8/7/11.
    
13. THE REDEMPTION OF GENERAL BUTT NAKED @the Brattle, 8/8/11.
    
14. CAPE FEAR @the Brattle, 8/9/11.
    
15. ON DANGEROUS GROUND @the Brattle, 8/9/11.
    
16. DEATH ON THE NILE @the Brattle, 8/11/11.
    
17. 3:10 TO YUMA @the Brattle, 8/13/11.
    
18. FINAL DESTINATION 5 @the Somerville, 8/14/11.
    
19. SKATETOWN USA @the Brattle, 8/14/11.

For those of you playing along at home, that's 14 Brattle films and 5 non-Brattle flicks, for a final total of 16.5 Watch-A-Thon movie-points. Ayep.

Anyone wanna go to the movies?

Keep on keepin on~

2011 Watch-A-Thon!

Greetings, Programs!

This August 1 thru August 14, I will be participating in the Brattle Theater's Movie Watch-A-Thon fundraiser, and I hope you'll support me in my run!

"What is a Watch-A-Thon?" you may ask (if you've only just met me). Well it's just like other fundraising 'thons you're probably familiar with, except that instead of all that leisurely, scenic walking, or luxurious, relaxing running, participants engage in exhausting, intensive on-your-bum-sitting for two weeks in front of excruciatingly entertaining films. But let's not forget the most important and enjoyable part of the process: YOU graciously and attractively sponsoring my laborious labor!

You can support my Watch-A-Thon run with a contribution per movie-I-see, or by one-time (or two, or three, I won't stop you) donation. I hope you'll help me in this effort to preserve the legacy of repertory film programming at Boston's Unofficial Film School, the non-profit Brattle Theater.

(You can donate online via my FirstGiving page.)

If you're not familiar with the Brattle (or even if you are), the theater is a unique, modest cinema located in Harvard Square, my favorite venue for catching classic, indie, documentary, foreign, cult, and just plain awesome films in the Boston area. No teeth-shattering THX, no stadium seats, but behind the counter there's freshly popped popcorn, real melted butter, and *hey!* beer and wine! And up on the screen are the coolest, smartest, classiest, campiest, funniest, and scariest rectangles of light in Boston. On stage you'll meet directors, authors, actors, and musicians, including the likes of George Romero, Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Wes Anderson, Bruce Campbell, Lars Nilsen, Frank Langella, Junot Diaz, James Ellroy, Elliott Gould, Willem Dafoe, MC Frontalot, Kid Koala, and Juliana Hatfield. And in the seats, you'll find people loving and digging them all.

Maybe even YOU! If you haven't already, check it out with me sometime. They've got some excellent programming lined up for the two weeks of the 'thon! =)

It's where my mind was blown when I watched Chow Yun Fat step-and-slide his way down that tea-house stairway railing, two guns a-blazin', partnered with Tony Leung in John Woo's HARD-BOILED! The darkened theater where I first experienced movies like CITIZEN KANE, DONNIE DARKO, and FALLEN ANGELS... Where I can go to see "What's Opera, Doc?" on the big screen, and properly observe my high holy days with screenings of EVIL DEAD 2 for Halloween, CASABLANCA for Thanksgiving, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE for Saturnalia, and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN for Valentine's Day... and where I consistently go to see the best of film's past (BICYCLE THIEVES, LE SAMOURI, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA), present (SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, 13 ASSASSINS), and future (STAKE LAND, UNCLE BOONMEE WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES).

Thank you for any little something you can give to keep the Brattle's screen lit up, either as a donation or a pledge for my Watch-A-Thon. Help the Brattle...

keep on keepin on~

BTIES: Is Tropical by The Greeks

AweSUM!

Thanks to JP and Gizmodo for the ultraviolent candy! =)

Keep on keepin on~

A public service announcement...

Keep on NOT USING YOUR F@CKIN PHONE DURING A MOVIE on...

Thank you.
The Management.

Thanks to JU and JK for sharing the love. =)

Keep on keepin on~

DOCTOR WHO: "The only water in the forest..."

6.05 "The Doctor's Wife"

* I'm several episodes behind in my series 6 DOCTOR watching, so if you're up-to-date, this'll be old news. Thanks to the DVR, it's still new to me! Please don't spoil anything in any comments/replies. =)

If you haven't seen this episode stop reading now. I just need to get some remarks Out of me about it and they're gonna be spoilery.

I LOVE this episode. Neil Gaiman does WEIRD SCIENCE with DOCTOR WHO!

"Did you wish REALLY hard?" =)

But it's Neil Gaiman, so of course it's really a whole lot more. It's so very Gaiman. Getting the TARDIS's perspective on their wacky misadventures is such sweet happy candy, so matter-of-fact. Yes, it's all very fanboy fantasy-tastic, but it's not just, like, HEAVY METAL, it's HEAVY METAL with heart, and soul, even.

A very Gaiman WHO. However, I'm guessing that there were two story elements that he was required to incorporate, to contribute to the ongoing arc of the season: The title, and Idris/TARDIS's last words. These are probably Captain Obvious to a lot of fans, but like I said, I've just gotta get this Out.

The title: "The Doctor's Wife." If you've only ever seen this episode of DW, you'd have been led to believe that it's a fanciful description of the TARDIS herself, and a good description of their longtime relationship and especially their shorttime relating. However, if you've been paying attention for the past few seasons, you know the title refers to someone specific, right? No one else but River Song.

TARDIS's final words: "The only water in the forest is the river." Might not be the exact words but that's the how I recall it. These words don't seem to connect to anything else in this episode, but of course, the TARDIS being the TARDIS, they may refer to a scenario yet to arise (or one in the past). Gaiman did a fine and fun job of educating viewers within this story on the TARDIS's wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey capabilities, some of them apparently unknown to the good Doctor himself (archiving things that haven't been built yet =). And, if you've been paying attention, you know that "the forest" is what the library planet was called, the planet that the Doctor helped evacuate before leaving it to the Vashta Nerada. Also, the planet that is home to the computer that hosts the virtual world into which the Doctor downloaded River Song's fading consciousness. Also also, a planet that this Doctor, Amy, and Rory have never visited. Anyone else foresee a return to the Library?

"The only water in the forest is the river."

But y'know, this all seems a bit too easy from a fanboy's point of view, donchathink? I'm really hoping that there's a twist or a trap at the end of this.

Oh, something I really appreciated being brought up in this episode again: Rory's subjective age. Hasn't he lived longer than the Doctor now? He apparently somehow compartmentalizes that time in his mind, but how did he spend it all? If we set some facial recognition software loose on a historical archive and fed it Rory's appearance, would he show up in the background (or center) of m/any major historical events? Would he be around to help/have helped the Doctor in other eras on Earth? Maybe his memory is compartmentalized by design, and with help from a previous/future encounter with a/the Doctor, eh?

A human (when/how did he return to fully human from living plastic Roman?) who's lived a couple of millennia is gonna have learned a few things and developed some skills, no?

Perhaps I just have to advance to the next episode on the DVR to find the answer.

Keep on keepin on~

Summer 2011 Mixx

Every summer I put together a mixx CD for my beach commute. Yeah, an actual 79-minute CD, for my CD player. I took it for its first spin this weekend and I rather like it.

DOCTOR WHO - "Doctor Who Opening Credits" (series 4)


Queen / SHAUN OF THE DEAD - "You're My Best Friend"


Mama Cass / LOST - "Make Your Own Kind Of Music"


The Go-Go's - "Our Lips Are Sealed"


Metric / SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD - "Black Sheep"


Don Henley - "The Boys Of Summer"


Daft Punk / TRON: LEGACY - "Derezzed"


Animotion - "Obsession"


Journey / TRON: LEGACY - "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)"


The Outfield - "Your Love"


Penguinvilla / UNCLE BOONMEE - "Acrophobia"


Immortal Technique / "Bob And The Trees" - "Point Of No Return"


Natasha Bedingfield - "Pocketful Of Sunshine"


Sara Bareilles - "Love Song"


Electric Light Orchestra / XANADU - "All Over The World"


The XX - "Intro"


A-ha - "Take On Me"


Motley Crue / HOT TUB TIME MACHINE - "Home Sweet Home"


Childish Gambino - "Freaks And Geeks"


PARTY DOWN - "Party Down Closing Credits"


Victoria Vox - "Oh I Wonder"


Wolf Parade - "Yulia"


The Cure - "In Between Days"


Keep on keepin on~