snack break for underplex and a recommended site

So I'm taking a break this week, partly to work on a new version of the site, but I'll be back next Friday. In the meantime, you should read some of Matthew Dessem's great blog, where his snappy writing makes the Criterion collection seem accessible. I love the way Dessem writes, and on top of that, he's genuinely insightful, which is a rarer thing than you'd think (or hope). If I have a single, desert-island blog — and I mean among all film blogs — this is it. No, really.

See you next week, and thanks for reading.

photo by Ronald Saunders under cc

a blog that deserves be read (no, not this one)

This week I'm taking off, but I'll post again next Friday as usual. In the meantime, may I suggest The Self-Styled Siren, if you haven't already heard of her?

There are lots of good writers out there on a variety of subjects, but so few are actually consistently good or ballsy enough to write a blog in the third person and pull it off. And you actually learn about movies by reading her blog. I could go on, but you should probably just read it.

photo by Nick Jones Everybody under cc

unoriginal but thankful

I avoid talking about current events in writing. It's hard to be original.

But this isn't about being original: This is a necessary thank you. I live 100 feet from the border between Somerville and Cambridge, Mass., and I live about five blocks from Norfolk St., where one or both of the Tsarnaev brothers lived, apparently. In other words, it happened in my backyard.

photo by Ruben Baston under cc

I have a lot to be thankful for, and I don't think of the thanks as being to any vague concept of universal goodwill shining down on us, but to the police officers, FBI agents, firefighters, and the thousands that put their lives in danger. It's easy to forget that the people who perform manhunts and get shot at are not an undifferentiated mass of people in blue uniforms and suits, but thousands of individuals who would like to continue existing on Earth as much as I do, but do jobs that threaten to end that. I try to remember it.

So thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

a breather until next week

After six consecutive days of posting short-film reviews in the past week, I'm kind of spent, so I'm taking a break until next Friday, aka February 22.

I will be posting weekly every Friday by mid-day starting then. I find posting twice a week has made it hard to write posts with as much thought and research as I'd like to put into them, given that I also work full time, have a moderately sized social life, and seem to be abnormally absorbed by "Super Mario Galaxy." (I play while listening to episodes of The West Wing; I can't think of two more disparate aesthetics, but somehow it works. And yes, "Super Mario Galaxy" is an essential part of my philosophical inquiry into film.)

Anyway, thanks for reading. As always, your feedback is welcome, even treasured, though not necessarily heeded.

we take a brief pause

Hey there. I'm taking a break until about January 2 so I can hang out with my family. But I want to say, sincerely, thanks for reading so far. For whatever it's worth, I really hope you've gotten something out of this blog. That's why I write, after all.

Feel free to leave a comment or send an e-mail to tell me what you've liked/loved/hated so far or whatever else you'd like to see; I can't promise I'll do what you want (what sort of aspiring crackpot would I be if I did?), but I'd like to hear about it either way.

So, anyway, thanks again, and happy holidays.

photo by thisreidwrites under cc