Which film critics do you trust (if any?)

Just ask Dickens.

Like my man Chuck D said
What a blogger know?

I don't even try to write well until I rewrite.

Now that's where I think taking a little extra time isn't a bad thing, because I always hand in my first draft.

I've read too much Henry James to let anyone look over my shoulder.

I think I went to the dictionary at least once in the midst of Eric's last Disney DVD review.

haha!

Most of my most liked reviews and essays are the ones I bang out the fastest – the equivalent of a band's B-side or single recorded for commercial reasons.

-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Friday, May 16, 2008 6:19 PM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ya!

i think it really helps you as a writer to have to write lots of short fast things.

Writing short is harder, for sure.

Which word, MREs?

I think the only word I ever really stumped Ed on may have been crepuscular.

Ya, writing those 225 blurbs for City Pages was always a big chore. Those I would also send in as first drafts (at $30 a pop, I was not about to waste too much time on that), and frequently what I saw in print didn't even remotely resemble what I had submitted.

The trick is to squeeze the snark-per-syllable (SPS) count betwixt the synopsis.

And as for speed, I guess I dunno. This was probably one of the quickest reviews I've turned out as of late, and I think it's also one of the laziest.

I really have come to hate being on the Disney beat.

I don't remember, it wasn't "MREs." I'm hoping to stump Ed with refs to the Don Adams sitcom in my Get Smart review.

The Disney beat? Did you lose a bet?

xp Aristocats: OK, that'll do, I had to look up croque-monsieur!

(I saw that in '70 btw)

Ed must be hoping I'll crack (or, instead, write a review as tersely bitchy as the one I wrote about Bambi).

Haha, for that reference, I can thank the Food Network.

Eric, you could so get laid with that Evil Disney Misogyny stuff... if only...

Keep that sort of talk on the gay thread, dude.

Dennis Lim's eye-popper, new content on Thursdays:

http://www.movingimagesource.us/

AV Club...which means that i'm going to see the Strangers

I'm reading Howard Hampton's book and realizing that he's probably better in small doses. This thing is mildly infuriating so far.

^^^OTM. I had the exact same experience with that book. The dude is a poor man's Greil Marcus.

So...do I give up? I paid real money for this thing, but I only have so much time and so many books to read!

I love writing short things, since most of the time I don't have that much to say about anything.

In which case, you might try publishing that post!

(!)

That probably won't happen, but I wouldn't mind getting back into writing 50-word reviews of pop singles. Not sure who'd publish that, though.

I also like the short format because it allows me to refine my prose.

So...do I give up? I paid real money for this thing, but I only have so much time and so many books to read!

Ha, I don't know. I never finished it.

I haven't read any film books recently. I thought I was just burned out, but it's been long enough that I think I may have lost my appetite entirely.

Oh, I heard that Hollis Frampton's Circles of Confusion is going to be reissued soon. I love some of his films, but most of the pieces I've read from that book have been semi-mystical garbage.

I don't know. I have a long-ish flight and I just wanted something kind of fun that isn't total garbage. Maybe I'll stick with it and give it to my friend when I arrive. He might enjoy it more than I do.

Hi Adam. How's Valencia?

Hi John! It's not bad. I'm on summer break now, so I see little of Valencia, which is a good thing. I'm a full-time Angeleno right now.

Yes, when I visited Valencia, it seemed a little ... secluded.

It is secluded, but do not underestimate how that can also be an advantage.

I have a long-ish flight and I just wanted something kind of fun that isn't total garbage

http://www.amazon.com/Films-Jacques-Tati-Picas-40/dp/155071175X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213732140&sr=8-1

Thanks! I think I've read something by Michel Chion, something on sound in Persona, maybe? It was really good. Have you read that Serge Daney anthology and if so can you recommend it?

either of Simon Callow's Welles volumes kill time...

I didn't realize the Daney thing was published. I've heard nothing but good things about him. I wasn't super impressed with the articles Steve Erickson translated, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

That Persona piece is definitely Chion, from here. I've enjoyed everything of his I've read, he's really the only film theorist I've read from the last, say, 30 years who has anything new to say. The other books are a little heavier than the Tati one, which is sort of loose and organized around general themes. It's also much better than the fucking David Bellos bio.

Adam: this is one of my favorite books o' film, and one of the smartest.

either of Simon Callow's Welles volumes kill time...

I prefer Thomson's, actually.

Thanks, guys!

I also like the short format because it allows me to refine my prose.

lso lk srt frmt b/c cn rfn prz

the chion book isn't very good, the better one is the bellos (sp?)

from new york post
August 14, 2008 --

FORMER New York Times movie critic Elvis Mitchell better come up with a good explanation for what he was doing with $12,000 in cash in a cigar box - or he won't get the money back.

On Friday, the US government filed an application to keep the cash that border guards found on Mitchell last April 27, when his taxi crossed into his hometown of Detroit as he returned from a documentary film festival in Toronto. "A search of Mitchell's belongings uncovered the box full of money along with [15] Cuban cigars," Canada's Windsor Star reports.

"He gave us a declaration for $80 and they found $12,000 US and the cigars," said border patrol chief Ron Smith.

Mitchell - who's now busy promoting "The Black List," the HBO documentary about race he co-produced with Timothy Greenfield-Sanders - told authorities the money was an accumulation of ATM withdrawals over the past year.

But he told Page Six yesterday he "grabbed the wrong box" from his apartment. "I have a fear of banks, so I keep cash in my house and I grabbed the wrong box," Mitchell said. "I took it into the country and out. The cigars, well I should have smoked them before I left," he laughed.

US law requires any traveler carrying more than $10,000 in cash to report it to authorities. Mitchell said his lawyer is trying to get the dough back. "He's filed papers and within the next few weeks I'll probably get it back," he said, adding he was "embarrassed" by the situation.

"Apparently a black man with dreads can't carry that much cash, but I think there are a few worse things to be embarrassed about. I haven't cheated on my wife like some in the news," Mitchell said.

RIP Manny Farber

http://daily.greencine.com/archives/006525.html

Hoberman on Farber:

http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-08-19/film/manny-farber-1917-2008/