Control

Was happy to find Unobstructed View, a Canadian distributor for boutique labels. They currently have an Arrow sale: got AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON and the STRAY CAT ROCK box for 50% off.

I actually learned about the Tulsa massacre about 10 years ago when I was doing research on the early years of Esquire. In 1934, they advertised that they had a short story by Langston Hughes that dealt with miscegenation, and asked their readers if they should publish it. A reader from Tulsa wrote in to say that, if they did, it could spark violence like it had in Tulsa 13 years previous. I had to figure out what he was taking about, which wasn’t as easy as it is now. Some recent projects by Tulsa historians, and then The Watchmen TV show, have disseminated the history a bit more widely.

I’ve been making some donations, but I’m an unemployed Canadian so that can’t last. Things are fucked and I don’t know what to do.

Michel Piccoli died earlier this month, and I didn’t even notice. He was in CONTEMPT, BELLE DE JOUR, and roughly a million other things.

That’s terrific. Though there must be a difference between Prime US and Canada, cuz this says that Michele Soavi’s THE CHURCH and STAGEFRIGHT are on there, and I can’t find ‘em.

“Classic” is an adjective here in the same way it used in the label “classic rock,” e.g. anything over 15 years old. It is not a reference to quality.

Hopefully early autumn, if the forecast of another COVID spike later this year holds true.

I read some discussion about this very thing earlier today. Keep in mind I haven’t seen HBO Max at all. The main points were that Criterion offers better curation, special features, and has a huge back catalogue if you want to go beyond their big features (ie their spine numbers). If those things don’t matter much, probably HBO is the better choice. There was speculation that Criterion has longer term streaming rights on some titles, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Edited to add: the specific comment I read was that “The films they have are to complete the deal they had with film struck. Once that deal runs out they will no longer be on hbo max.” Grain of salt, and all that.

Well losing 3+ lbs per week is no small feat. What’s your secret?

I've been working out at home 5 times a week, in addition to running about 5K two-three times a week. But the world is depressing so I got back into carbs in a big way, so I'm not losing weight, just turning into a real beefy boy.

I really need to start clearing out my duplicates. It's just ... it's just a lot at this point.

I’m really enjoying THE GREAT. The obvious comparison is THE FAVOURITE, but this is much darker and has much more court intrigue. Phenomenal cast. Elle Fanning is amazing. Nicolas Hoult has been a hard sell for me, because something about his face makes me want to punch it, but between this and FURY ROAD, I’ve turned around.

Fuck, @DouglasC, that’s awful. I’m so sorry to hear it.

I watched a few movies that qualify! I LOST MY BODY (2019) is a French animated film about a disembodied hand trying to find it's own. It lost its body, if you will. The film alternates between telling the story of Naoufel, a Moroccan kid in Paris who falls in love with Gabrielle. His story is all about courting Gabrielle and, presumably, losing his hand. Anyway, the love story is charming and the hand story is weird, so check this out if you like charming weirdness. Might make the back half of my list. DEADPOOL 2 (2018) was fine, right? I think it was fine. It had a lot going for it and yet it was kinda like some thoroughly satisfying fast food you forget eating the next day. Zazie Beats is gorgeous. Two or three superhero movies will make my list--probably not this one. LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (2018) has been described as a combination of Wong Kar-Wei and Andrei Tarkovsky, and really that's the best description I can offer. Visually more IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, while the storytelling is very Tarkovsky-esque. The last shot of the film goes on, uninterrupted, for an hour, and includes shit like a ping-pong game and some pool. It didn't totally hang together for me--in the way that Tarkovsky doesn't always hang together for me--and I was never emotionally invested, but I was also never bored and, holy shit, if you're going to be flashy with your film making, you might as well go all out.

A soft-coated wheaten terrier. Googling info on single-litter pups, and there’s a danger that they don’t learn to play without siblings, but since it’s a breeder she’s got puppies that are only a month older. One of the main concerns is that, since the pup won’t have to fight its siblings to eat, it will get fat. Lol, I love a chonky boy.