Sunday, December 31, 2006
The Year in Pictures #5: A New Beginning
Posted by Jim Ridley on Sun, Dec 31, 2006 at 11:53 PM
There are 20 minutes and change left of 2006, and some moron evidently intends to spend them filling valuable Pithspace with movie wrap-ups. One man feels your pain: S.T. VanAirsdale, a.k.a. The Reeler, whose yearly skewering of the glib excesses of Top 10 listmakers is read with queasy anticipation by the nation's press corps. VanAirsdale attacks tortured syntax, modifier overload, and the cooler-than-thou bullying and pack mentality that creep into the year-end deluge of lists.
Lest Part 1 leave you in suspense, VanAirsdale has posted a Part 2 that dethrones last year's champion. There but for the grace of God, etc.
Hat tip: Bilge Ebiri's ScreenGrab, better than morning coffee.
Lest Part 1 leave you in suspense, VanAirsdale has posted a Part 2 that dethrones last year's champion. There but for the grace of God, etc.
Hat tip: Bilge Ebiri's ScreenGrab, better than morning coffee.
The Year in Pictures #4: Citizens on Patrol
Posted by Jim Ridley on Sun, Dec 31, 2006 at 11:27 PM
Over at Sam's Myth, Nashville cinephile/power-pop dynamo Sam Smith has a brace of cool lists that don't repeat the by now numbing accolades for Dreamgirls, Letters from Iwo Jima et al.
Start with this wrap-up of the year in film scores. (He's gonna freak when he finds out about the Film Forum's upcoming salute to Ennio Morricone.) Apparently he's never going to forgive me for comparing the "Whole Wide World" scene in Stranger Than Fiction to the "In Your Eyes" scene from Say Anything..., but I know people who didn't like the movie particularly who were affected by that sequence (as much for Maggie Gyllenhaal's reaction as anything). But he's gone way beyond the usual suspects: Carter Burwell's score for Fur, the Dropkick Murphys' slammin' "Shipping Off to Boston" from The Departed, and Nathan Johnson's plaintive theme for the high-school noir Brick (one of the best movies not to play Nashville theaters in 2006; thanks, Regal).
Then check out this ingenious piece on the year in movie posters, with the overseas one-sheets clobbering their U.S. brethren. (Exhibit A: the amazing poster for The Prestige.) Read the comments too, even the wack anonymous ones.
Start with this wrap-up of the year in film scores. (He's gonna freak when he finds out about the Film Forum's upcoming salute to Ennio Morricone.) Apparently he's never going to forgive me for comparing the "Whole Wide World" scene in Stranger Than Fiction to the "In Your Eyes" scene from Say Anything..., but I know people who didn't like the movie particularly who were affected by that sequence (as much for Maggie Gyllenhaal's reaction as anything). But he's gone way beyond the usual suspects: Carter Burwell's score for Fur, the Dropkick Murphys' slammin' "Shipping Off to Boston" from The Departed, and Nathan Johnson's plaintive theme for the high-school noir Brick (one of the best movies not to play Nashville theaters in 2006; thanks, Regal).
Then check out this ingenious piece on the year in movie posters, with the overseas one-sheets clobbering their U.S. brethren. (Exhibit A: the amazing poster for The Prestige.) Read the comments too, even the wack anonymous ones.
Saddam, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodnight
Posted by Jim Ridley on Sun, Dec 31, 2006 at 11:09 PM
An appropriately somber requiem for Saddam Hussein, courtesy of Red State Update.
Happy New Year. Take Cover.
Posted by Lindsay Ferrier on Sun, Dec 31, 2006 at 3:32 PM
From the East Nashville Crime listserv:
Your first New Year in East Nashville may come as a surprise. It will
depend on where you live, it could be the booms and bangs in the
distance or you may feel like you are in the midst of a multi gang
shootout. Reports that I get from neighbors say gunfire at or near MDHA
housing projects and section 8 apartments will go on for hours
the 31st/1st. I know you hear shots fired there all year long, the
intensity will increase on this night. It is a felony to fire off shots
into the air,in a densely populated area. Report the shots fired early
in the evening, the police have a better chance of finding the shooter.
Don't assume someone else will call, it will take more than one person
reporting, to authenticate gunshots. If you see anyone outside with a
gun of any kind call in with a good description and location. If you
find slugs or shell casings the next morning, don't touch them, police
will come get them for ID. This will be a low priority call, you may
want to leave a contact phone number.
Post the intensity of gunfire and your best guess as to the origin, and
your street block number here. I would like to develop a report to give
Commander Nash.
Your first New Year in East Nashville may come as a surprise. It will
depend on where you live, it could be the booms and bangs in the
distance or you may feel like you are in the midst of a multi gang
shootout. Reports that I get from neighbors say gunfire at or near MDHA
housing projects and section 8 apartments will go on for hours
the 31st/1st. I know you hear shots fired there all year long, the
intensity will increase on this night. It is a felony to fire off shots
into the air,in a densely populated area. Report the shots fired early
in the evening, the police have a better chance of finding the shooter.
Don't assume someone else will call, it will take more than one person
reporting, to authenticate gunshots. If you see anyone outside with a
gun of any kind call in with a good description and location. If you
find slugs or shell casings the next morning, don't touch them, police
will come get them for ID. This will be a low priority call, you may
want to leave a contact phone number.
Post the intensity of gunfire and your best guess as to the origin, and
your street block number here. I would like to develop a report to give
Commander Nash.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Filling Space Badly
Posted by Liz Garrigan on Fri, Dec 29, 2006 at 9:33 AM
This from The Tennessean Wednesday. As a fellow journalist put it to me the other day, comment on the newspaper's fledgling practice of filling news pages with the wandering comments of unidentified readers is hardly even necessary.
"TAKE PART: Do you want to watch Saddam die?
The former Iraqi dictator has been sentenced to die by hanging sometime in the next 30 days for war crimes. Should his death be televised in the U.S? Would you watch the hanging? What about families who have lost loved ones in Iraq or exiles who had to flee Iraq to escape his regime? Contact reporter Jennifer Brooks at 259-8892 or jabrooks@tennessean.com."
"TAKE PART: Do you want to watch Saddam die?
The former Iraqi dictator has been sentenced to die by hanging sometime in the next 30 days for war crimes. Should his death be televised in the U.S? Would you watch the hanging? What about families who have lost loved ones in Iraq or exiles who had to flee Iraq to escape his regime? Contact reporter Jennifer Brooks at 259-8892 or jabrooks@tennessean.com."
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Hoping It Might Be So
Posted by Wayne Christeson on Sun, Dec 24, 2006 at 9:54 PM
"I'm going down to the barn," Anne said, as she often does at night when she goes to clean the stalls and spread fresh straw for the horses. Except that this was Christmas Eve, and she added, "You know, the animals talk at midnight." It is an old loved story from her childhood which at some level I am certain she believes.
It was a touching thought: the warmth of the large gentle animals, shifting quietly as she moves among them, nuzzling for carrots and filling the stalls with their sweet grain-fed breath. For a moment it seemed possible that they might speak of the Christ Child too.
And I thought of what Thomas Hardy said in The Oxen of the devoted, protecting animals ponderously kneeling around the child and filling their humble places in the world.
The Oxen
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
"Now they are all on their knees,"
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.
So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
"Come; see the oxen kneel,
"In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,"
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.
It was a touching thought: the warmth of the large gentle animals, shifting quietly as she moves among them, nuzzling for carrots and filling the stalls with their sweet grain-fed breath. For a moment it seemed possible that they might speak of the Christ Child too.
And I thought of what Thomas Hardy said in The Oxen of the devoted, protecting animals ponderously kneeling around the child and filling their humble places in the world.
The Oxen
Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
"Now they are all on their knees,"
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.
So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
"Come; see the oxen kneel,
"In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,"
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.
Friday, December 22, 2006
The Year in Pictures 3: Noel on a Roll
Posted by Jim Ridley on Fri, Dec 22, 2006 at 2:01 PM
My colleague Noel Murray had about 900 words of keen insight that were trimmed from the Scene's year-end film coverage for space. After the jump, read what Noel has to say about The Prestige, 2006 as a year of waking nightmares, the renewed significance of Sundance and more:
Nashville Barbie
Posted by PJ Tobia on Fri, Dec 22, 2006 at 12:35 PM
After a disappointing fourth quarter Mattel has announced a new Barbie line inspired by our own local beauties. They are available in limited edition only and sure to become collector's items.
*Green Hills Barbie
This princess Barbie is only sold at Green Hills Mall. She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade handbags, a Lexus SUV, a longhaired foreign lap-dog named Honey, and a tiny cookie-cutter house with a lawn service. Available with or without tummy tuck and face-lift. Workaholic ex-husband Ken comes with a Porsche. Loves to pick up men at Nick & Rudy's.
*Harding Place Barbie
This recently paroled Barbie comes with a 9mm handgun, bowie knife, a '78 El Camino with dark tinted windows, and a meth lab kit. This model is only available after dark and can only be bought with cash, preferably small bills, unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about.
(Actually, we found this on Craigslist. More after the jump...)
Thursday, December 21, 2006
The Year in Pictures 2: Dead Man's Chest
Posted by Jim Ridley on Thu, Dec 21, 2006 at 5:43 PM
More year-end wrap-ups of 2006 in film (I swear, these are like bon-bons):
Michael Atkinson, from his new perch at IFC News, not convinced it was a very good year.
The Indiewire poll, successor to the Village Voice poll (which Atkinson helped start) and loaded with juicy comments.
Match wits with the ballot box at Film Comment.
Michael Atkinson, from his new perch at IFC News, not convinced it was a very good year.
The Indiewire poll, successor to the Village Voice poll (which Atkinson helped start) and loaded with juicy comments.
Match wits with the ballot box at Film Comment.
Boner Extension
Posted by Jim Ridley on Thu, Dec 21, 2006 at 1:59 PM
How long can our Boners get? Too long for one print edition. So if you're hankerin' for some hot Boner action after reading this week's cover story, the Boner Awards, take this web-only multiple-choice quiz. Consider it a stand-alone Boner.
