Bergman fest

So, I caught an Ingmar Bergman marathon last night on TCM. It's part of their month of great directors -- tonight is Steven Spielberg (no Jaws though). Before that, at 6:00pm, is Carol Reed who directed the fantastic The Third Man. I always forget how good TCM can be! Anyway, back to Bergman.

Well, it's ironic that I caught this group of films because I had just hit the Bergman sequence in my Netflix queue. Months ago, after watching Fanny and Alexander (a good one to watch around the winter holidays), I decided that I needed to see more Bergman. I had seen the Seventh Seal before as part of a film class in college but I wanted to watch it again. So, I had it at home when it was playing last night. I watched the last hour of it. Then, it went into Wild Strawberries, which has a Fanny/Alexander feel to it. Bittersweet. Lovely. I was completely drawn in. The other film I watched was Persona which was bizarre but equally compelling. Think David Lynch directing Single White Female -- which he kinda did with Mulholland Drive. Actually, I could see a great deal of Bergman's influence on Lynch. I am not even going to try to parse what happened in this movie, but the gist of it was an actress who, in the middle of doing Elecktra, decided to stop speaking. A nurse stays with her at a summer house and then things get weird(er). It was beautifully shot and I couldn't keep my eyes off Liv Ullman (the actress). It's obvious that Bergman started his affair with her during this shoot because when we look through the camera at her, you can't help but feel that as well.

The last film was The Hour of the Wolf but I couldn't stay up to watch. I was Bergmaned out. As a funny sidenote, my first introduction to Bergman was a really funny spoof of The Seventh Seal by the cartoon show Animaniacs.

Anybody want Netflix?

I have a free month to give to somebody (maybe two) so if you wanted to try out Netflix, then I'll pass it on to you. If you are behind on your movie watching then this is a great opportunity to catch up.

Positives about Netflix: awesome catalog. I've watched some really obscure, hard-to-find things. Shipping is generally pretty quick and I've only had a few hiccups with them.

Negatives: to get the month, you do have to sign up for the service and provide a CC or whatever. They recommend films based on what you watch and rate, but they aren't always the best (though some gems have popped up). Though they say "unlimited" plans, they really are limited because after a certain number of rentals a month, they slow down shipments. However, I estimate that I pay about 2 dollars a rental and that's on a busy month with me not able to watch movies every night.

So, let me know :)

Best Laid Plans, etc. etc

After a full day and then half-falling asleep in front of the Lehrer New Hour (what is it about their soothing PBS voices?), I hit my second wind. I decide to pop back on the computer to do some work. You know that trick you do with yourself when the last thing you want to do is work. Oh, I'll just write a little paragraph. Just a smidgen of a thought to get this project rolling again. Then, I find myself with seven pages open and I'm writing people all over the place. The QOE gave me a link about setting up a subscription process for my blog. Viola! 'tis to the right of this post.

However, you know you are getting old when you sit there and say "hmmm, what do they mean by 'feed' anyway. What is this funky moon language??"

Hours have flown by. And now Project Runway is coming on. I would have put in one of my Netflix movies to multi-task (MUST get all the movies I can for a month) but everything I have is subtitled. That really puts a damper on multi-tasking.

And if I can't find someone to go with me to see No Country for Old Men, I am going to scream. Anyone want to catch the 930 show?? It's only playing at that time and that's a sign that it probably won't be back next week.

I miss all my movie buddies. It used to be that I had friends who would go see any kind of crap with me. Moira would see anything -- the blockbusters and the arthouse (though she had a secret penchant for disaster movies). Jill would see arthouse but it couldn't be gory and I would tolerate romantic comedies at times (so, arthouse romance). I could always count on Kate and Gene to see the science fiction stuff. And my friend, Abel, whom I have not talked to in years (I do blame 911 and the fact that I was a jerk the last time I saw him) would see almost any crappy show (we went to see a matinee of Barb Wire and it was like going into a porno theater. It was just the two of us and men, sitting by themselves scattered throughout). Sometimes I can drag Ken to see something but only if he really wants to see it (and if it's really, really popular, he doesn't want to see it. GAR!).

I also used to go to the movies by myself. When I lived in London, I think I hit all the theatres in that town, watching all sort of obscure stuff (and once, while watching Grosse Point Blank, a guy two seats down thought that by touching my leg with his sock clad feet that I would fall in love with him.). But the idea of going to a movie theater by myself that late is just not as appealing to me as it once was.

Aren't I a sad sack??

Snow

A heavy wet snow has blanketed my town. The trees look lovely. I'm dreading the shoveling, however. Thankfully this did not interfere with teaching. The roads should be clear by tomorrow's class.

So, class went well on Friday. The afternoon session was a little draggy, but we will make do. The morning class was surprisingly lively. They had a good time with the exercise I planned for them. We did mad libs with two Dickinson and one Stevens poem. We also listened to a Billy Collins poem on Youtube. I think they, like the Queen, surprised themselves that they were enjoying poetry. As I told them, "you don't like every kind of music, do you? Well, there's a poem out there that you will like." Students seemed to loosen up a bit. I think it will be a good semester. Now, if I can only get my work done.

Been listening to the Breeders, a blast from the past. Just watched volume three of Mushishi and the second volume of a Korean trilogy, Oldboy (manga by Dark Horse). I first heard about this Korean hit when they mentioned it in context of the Virginia Tech shootings. Apparently, the nutcase liked the film, posed with a hammer (which the protagonist uses). This prompted a brief slew of "media causes violence!!" outcries. Of course, I had to see what the fuss was. The movie was okay. I really liked Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance better which was I found more gruesome and funnier. Reminded me a little of Kurosawa's film, High and Low.

Hopefully snow won't interfere with my birthday plans. If you are in New London on the last weekend of January, let me know. We can meet up and listen to some music, have a drink. There's always a lot going on -- art, music, and food at the Salon des Independants.