Link farms. That’s what posts like this are. Links sewn in the fertile ground of the blogosphere in hopes they will sprout . . . what? Other links to your blog? More bloggy flavor on the likes of Digg and D.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s. or however you spell them? In my cynical little heart, in the blackest pits of post pandering and iPod block I think: what is it all for? Why do I do it? How can I write such convoluted sentences? And most important, where are my meds?
Anyway. Some people don’t seem to have those existential problems. Take Dennis Cozzalio, for instance: he has just, single-handedly, in the past week –since last Thursday, actually — written three posts that kept me entertained for some time. One, on the Summer movie schedule, makes me feel really bad about my weekly little “Trailer Lazy” posts: he’s posted sixteen trailers that he’s looking forward to this summer. Sixteen! And not an Angels and Demons amongst them. And speaking of Ron Howard, Dennis has cooked up just about the coolest double feature on the planet on May 30 at the Mission Tiki Drive-In: Drag Me to Hell and Angels and Demons would be totally irresistible to me, and I would be there if I weren’t 2500 miles away in Alabama. Sigh.
How do folks come up with all those great blog names? Dennis’ Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule (see the stolen image, above) is my favorite, but my fellow Olson Kevin’s Hugo Stiglitz Makes Movies is pretty good, too. And not a bad blog, either: he’s got a series going about forgotten films from 1999. Hell, I’ve forgotten there even was a 1999.
Kimberly Lindbergs has a whole series of photographs of Alain Delon and Marianne Faithfull from Girl on a Motorcycle. Delon is the model of Gallic cool and Marianne is, well, Marianne, exuding that unmistakable sixties vibe. My favorite picture is Delon smoking a cigarette post-coitus (or maybe in the middle of it, who knows?), with Marianne on top of him and a total bored look on his face. Trés french.
Girish Shambu’s knowledge of film makes mine look infantile. Well, my cat’s knowledge of film does that too, but try to stay on the subject. In his blog entitled simply Girish, he keeps track of the upper end of things, the film theory end, and his latest is no exception: he points us to the latest copy of Undercurrents, which has a retrospective on John Ford. It’s also where you can read the likes of Chris Fujiwara and Richard Corliss, and a piece by Dana Linssen where he “rhapsodizes on Jem Cohen’s new ‘musical-documentary hallucination’ Evening’s Civil Twilight in Empires of Tin.”
Finally, if you haven’t gone over to Greg Ferarra’s Invisible Edge yet, you should. It’s consistently funny, and so are the comment streams. His latest is about the neglected wives of Somali pirates. It’s a piece filled with pathos and sympathy for the women who stand behind their savage men. Essential reading!
RSS 2.0
Have you ever seen those pictures of Dennis on his blog? In every one of them his face has that “I’ve never had a mean thought in my life” look to it. Really, if someone wanted a picture of a face that personified the words “nice guy” it would be Dennis’.
And Kimberly keeps alive a whole era of movies too often neglected with her stylish and in-depth Cinebeats blog.
Girish does indeed stay with the high road and is the defacto film professor of the movie blogs, a reputation fully deserved, but one of these days I want to see him let his hair down and post a picture of Brigitte Bardot’s ass just to see what reaction he gets.
Finally, thanks a million for some kind words on The Invisible Edge, my neglected bastard blog. I have no restrictions there and my creativity can flow out of whatever I decide the picture is about. Those are some of my favorite posts to write, the Invisible Edge ones. So thanks again for the mention.
Dennis also always seems to be crouching in those pictures.
Greg, I’ll second the motion on Bardot’s ass. And also the thought that Dennis is one of the nicest guys in blog-land.
Bill, I think Dennis is truly surprised at how popular he is.
Only the French can look bored during sex and still appear cool (and probably make for better lovers).
Did you blog this from your new iPhone? I bet you’re looking at your iPhone right now!
Fox, I can look bored during sex … but I appear anything but cool.
Rick:
I’m so far behind on my blog reading that I’ve just now gotten a chance to catch up with yours. Thanks so much for the shout out. I’m glad you like the blog (and it’s name!). It means a lot coming from someone who consistently puts up amazing piece after amazing piece. From one Olson to another…thanks for the kind words. (maybe this lets me off the hook for my anticipation of films by Silberling, Sommers, and Columbus…ha!)
Thanks, Kevin … I don’t have the time to keep up with a lot of blogs either, I’m lucky to keep up with my friends’
Okay, you ingrates, you reprobates! What gives you the right– Ah, I can’t sustain this…
Rick, thanks for the mad props ‘n’ all! (Ugh. Please report me if I ever say anything like that again.) This month has been very sad re the output over at SLIFR– the ratio of ideas to ideas produced is distressingly low. But I’m really glad that what has shown up has connected with you in some way. That’s more than I’ve ever really hoped from writing my blog, so I’m consistently surprised and happy when it happens. And as my own reading time has dwindled, thanks for writing one of the few blogs I feel I couldn’t do without. I just wish I wasn’t such a lame-o when it comes to commenting these days!
Girish and Kimberly have both been central to my life and development as a blogger, and I’ll always be grateful for their work, as well as their friendship.
Greg: My wife and kids (in a message submitted via vacuum tube from the basement, where they have been chained up for the last, oh, few years) thought your comment about the lack of meanness in my thoughts was… amusing. They will be in need of “correcting” a bit later.
Bill: Sometimes the crouch is in order to squeeze in for a group shot, but just as often it’s to de-emphasize my prodigious gut! (Especially when there’s nobody to hide behind!)
Anyway, each of you know how much I value your writing and your friendship, and if you didn’t before, hopefully you do now. What a nice way to come back from a very peaceful three-day weekend.
Thanks for the shout out, Rick! I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the recent overload of Girl on a Motorcycle images at my blog. I really love Cardiff’s films and was saddened by the news of his death so it’s nice to know others are enjoying these posts. Hopefully my life will calm down a bit soon so I can focus on film writing more. For the moment, photo posts are about all I can manage. Thanks again!
I have been away to Virginia, and I just discovered I could get online.
I, of course, am an idiot.
Thank you for the lovely thoughts, you all, as belated as my reply has been.