This is the second of two posts based on content I first saw on Twitter. The idea of giving someone a list of movies or albums in an effort to get to know me better is intriguing. Especially for someone who spends a lot of time with both of these forms of media. Both of these lists are representative of my life up to this point. Maybe I’ll update these lists in 10 or 20 years’ time and see where I’ve grown from here. Who knows? Maybe these lists will ultimately stay the same. The content of these lists are not presented in any particular order, merely numbered to reflect that I’ve met the quota. Secondly, I supply these lists with no explanation of the titles presented. Merely with the understanding that they have enough meaning in my life that I feel like you’d know me better after watching or listening to all of them.
Thank you, Gene, for being a bright light and making us smile. Not only did I enjoy your performances in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, YoungFrankenstein,and Blazing Saddles, but I really enjoyed your small stint on Will and Grace as Will’s boss Mr. Stein. The world will be a little less bright without you. Gene was 83 and died from complications of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Oh, Alan Rickman, not you, too. So sad to see another favorite leave this world a little darker due to cancer. Master Rickman was 69 and will be greatly missed. Like Master Bowie, it has been a delight to share this time on Earth with you. Read the lovely Guardian article here.
Congratulations to Quentin Tarantino!! I have been a big fan of his movies since Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. I love how he tells a story, the actors he works with, and his dialogue is always intelligent and engaging. I haven’t seen a Tarantino film that I didn’t like. Pure entertainment, and well earned! Congrats to the folks who joined him in the “Class of 2016”. Click the image to see the entire USA Today article.
Love his quote:
“That’s really cool, I must have become a big shot,” he joked during his speech. “This is a real, real groovy day.”
Simon & Schuster just sent along some information on Stephen King‘s newest short story collection. Here’s what they had to say about it. Certainly can’t wait to dig my claws into it!
A master storyteller at his best—the O. Henry Prize winner Stephen King delivers a generous collection of stories, several of them brand-new, featuring revelatory autobiographical comments on when, why, and how he came to write (or rewrite) each story.
Since his first collection, Nightshift, published thirty-five years ago, Stephen King has dazzled readers with his genius as a writer of short fiction. In this new collection he assembles, for the first time, recent stories that have never been published in a book. He introduces each with a passage about its origins or his motivations for writing it.
There are thrilling connections between stories; themes of morality, the afterlife, guilt, what we would do differently if we could see into the future or correct the mistakes of the past. “Afterlife” is about a man who died of colon cancer and keeps reliving the same life, repeating his mistakes over and over again. Several stories feature characters at the end of life, revisiting their crimes and misdemeanors. Other stories address what happens when someone discovers that he has supernatural powers—the columnist who kills people by writing their obituaries in “Obits;” the old judge in “The Dune” who, as a boy, canoed to a deserted island and saw names written in the sand, the names of people who then died in freak accidents. In “Morality,” King looks at how a marriage and two lives fall apart after the wife and husband enter into what seems, at first, a devil’s pact they can win.
Magnificent, eerie, utterly compelling, these stories comprise one of King’s finest gifts to his constant reader—“I made them especially for you,” says King. “Feel free to examine them, but please be careful. The best of them have teeth.”
Yesterday, the horror world lost one of the greats. Rest in peace, Mr. Craven, though your handiwork did little to pass on peace to the rest of us. It makes me too sad to know the darkest corners of your mind are now beyond quiet.
Forty years ago today, the world was utterly changed by a small play that traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and became a cult film: The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
In honor of such longevity and its broad reach as a cult film, a stage production, and an outlet for frustrated, misunderstood creatives, here are some of my favorite moments!
You would have been 116 today, and I can only imagine what kind of movies you’d be making today — let alone what you would think of the movies being made today. Thank you for Psycho, Rear Window, The Birds, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents! You’ve made many a lazy afternoon in my life enjoyable.
Three days ago, the entertainment world lost an iconic and memorable actress: Betsy Palmer. Some may like to chuckle at her role in the 1980 campy slasher Friday the 13th, but that was just one light in a whole spectrum of work–said slasher coming 29 years after Palmer debuted on the small screen. Not only has she made several TV appearances since the 1950s, she’s also had major roles in several series, taken spots as a panelist on popular game shows, and has starred in several horror and non-horror films. She’s had a strong and prosperous career, even working up until the last eight years or so. Her most recent addition to the film world was Bell Witch: The Movie from 2007.
Source: Betsy Palmer Wikipedia Page
May you be peaceful and happy, wherever you are.
Please, feel free to read a more articulate tribute to My Lady Palmer from CNN.com.
Congrats to Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette, Birdman, Common and John Legend, and Neil Patrick Harris to a great night! Please, direct comments to original post.
Two of my favorite comedic actors of all time share the same birthday! Jim Carrey and Andy Kaufman were born on the same day 13 years apart, Andy in 1949 and Jim in 1962. Jim was in his early 20s when Andy “departed” this living realm. And I only heard about their shared birthday from Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally written by Bob Zmuda and Lynne Margulies–a book I happened upon buried at the bottom of a seemingly unrelated Google alert (as if I should expect anything less from Andy). I can’t believe I didn’t notice this when the biopic was released in 1999. It’s even listed on IMDB under trivia about Andy. But, who knows? If I’d known about their birthdays, I might not have found out about this book. Stranger things have happened, right?
Happy 66th Birthday, Andy! and Happy 53rd Birthday, Jim! All the best to you both (just in case Andy is reading this)!!
Showcasing the best of short films and screenplays from the LGBTQ+ community. Screenplay Winner every single month performed by professional actors. Film Festival occurs 21 times a year!
collected. 