PATHOS FOR LINDSAY LOHAN

How can anyone who considers theirself a human being not feel some pathos while reading this story?...
http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/celebrities/2010/07/24/14813726.html

Or, as Joe Flaherty as a very inebriated Ward Cleaver once said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "maybe 90 days in the slammer ought to teach you a lesson!"

As a guy who very casually follows the cult of celebrity, I admit that even faux-celebrities, like L.L., think they are special and should be treated differently. (We know that they are, and more importantly, 'they' know that they are treated differently from the bulk of the population.)

And Mr. Conrad Black is henceforth sprung from his prison abode...

RIDLEY SCOTT INTERVIEW

When you have 22 minutes free, check out this fascinating interview with film director Ridley Scott. I love hearing stories from artists as to how they got to where they are today. Scott talks of his art school training, his brief tenure in the States, to the BBC, then his break into commercials.

Directors with visual arts backgrounds: Alfred Hitchcock; Stanley Kubrick; James Cameron; Fritz Lang; and on and on...


The goods...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWj4Ac9wW6s&NR=1

THE HEAT - TORONTO HEAT

For those of you keeping score, yes, I have not posted a lot in the last few weeks. It's the heat. The life-sucking, pep-busting, heat.

Any energy I do have -- which is a bit -- has to go into constructive things. Like a U-boat waiting it out on the sea bed while a depth charge attack rains down from above, I'm conserving battery power. I tap the cracked temperature gauge (thermometer) with my finger and see that it is not working...

HARVEY PEKAR (1939 - 2010)

I just found out that comic book writer Harvey Pekar passed away today at the age of 70. Twenty minutes ago I was looking through my photo files and came across his picture.

Pekar was an interesting guy...
http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/07/12/obit-pekar-harvey.html?ref=rss

THE TWILIGHT ZONE TO BLU-RAY

The first season (or "series", as the British would say) of one of the greatest dramatic television programs of all time, The Twilight Zone, is coming to the Blu-ray format on September 14th.

Maybe some day I will get a Blu-ray player.

All I care about, really, is when My Mother the Car gets released to Blu-ray. It would probably look fantastic.

Here's to television brilliance (and look at those fantastic 'extras')...
http://tvshowsondvd.com/news/Twilight-Zone-Season-1-Press-Release/13986

WELCOME BACK PEVERE

After reading Toronto Star book columnist Geoff Pevere's review of the new book "The Warhol Gang", I noticed this welcome bit of intelligence...

"This is Geoff Pevere’s final appearance as books columnist. He continues as a Star entertainment writer."

Whether I agree with Mr. Pevere, film to film, or not is hardly important to me -- as did the late Pauline Kael, he always has something intelligent to say, and wraps it in an all-important cultural or societal context. In a world where many critics think film history is how much money Avatar made last weekend (and they often screw this fact up by not knowing the difference between "gross" and the more important and relevant "net"), an entertainment writer of Pevere's quality is all too rare... in Toronto, certainly.

WORLD CUP MAJOR UPSET

The Netherlands has just (one second ago) created their own strain of World Cup Major Upset by eliminating Brazil. (!)

The final: Netherlands 2, Brazil 1.

TOO MUCH MOVIES?

I just wrapped up reading the book "George Lucas Interviews". He is an interesting and smart man; plus he is well balanced. In one chapter, Starlog Magazine writer/editor Kerry O'Quinn asks Lucas about some people liking a movie too much, but also questions whether it is harmful to get "carried away" over movies. The Star Wars creator answers with this...

"No, not really. I think it might be harmful to let it become all-consuming in one's life, because there are a lot more important things in life than a movie. I think that if someone became completely consumed by it they would lose their sense of getting something accomplished in the real world. There is a danger there."

Not only do I agree, as someone who loves movies, but I find it sad when I see people like that. Besides, the days are long, sunny, and the scenery is wonderful... better than any movie could ever be.

HAPPY CANADA DAY - 2010

Happy Canada Day!... again.

Why do these happen with such frequency?

Never enough, my love!

JOHN LANDIS ON RAY HARRYHAUSEN

Personal stories about how we are introduced to the movies and who we end up really admiring (often those who are not very well known to the general public) are interesting to me.

Director John Landis wrote an article for The Guardian newspaper last week on his affinity for stop-motion animator, artist, and producer Ray Harryhausen (of classic films such as The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts). I feel very much the same way that Landis does about his subject.

The director is hosting a 90th birthday celebration for Harryhausen at the British Film Institute (BFI) in London this coming Saturday, June 26th...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/jun/17/ray-harryhausen-special-effects-john-landis