On Leonard Nimoy

I've been consumed with a number of things, most especially getting THIS (and it's follow-up, and the impending relaunch) ready to go, hence the lack of immediate updates. But I obviously can't let the passing of Boston's own Leonard Nimoy yesterday afternoon pass unremarked upon.

By the time I was old enough to be aware of STAR TREK, Nimoy and Spock were well into their mutual mid-1980s revival as blockbuster superstars, so I never new a world where Trek (classic, at least) wasn't a widely-accepted part of mainstream popular culture. But even knowing of the period adrift only through history, it feels like any moment of "has-been" stature that might've stuck to the rest of the franchise never stuck to this person - even if at one point his relationship with his most famous characterization was complicated enough to pen both the 1975 autobiography I AM NOT SPOCK and follow it up with 1995's I AM SPOCK.

So, to me, this person was always famous; one of the first actors I can remember really associating with beyond his character thanks in large part to his unmistakable voice and presence. He always seemed larger than life, which was unusual since outside of Spock he was so often seen in genial and playful circumstances - a towering figure who for some reason deigned to walk among ordinary people.

It's cliche by now, but there's really no better to say it than just to reiterate: Actor, director, singer, writer, activist - he lived long, and he prospered.

Also cliche: By now, I'm sure everyone's Facebook is well and truly cluttered with repostings of the funeral scene from STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. But for me, the first thing I sought out on hearing the news was the below video, which captures Nimoy's (locally)-famous narration of the tech-demo for the Boston Museum of Science's Mugar Omni Theater:

Neko Case & Mike Nesmith Talk REPO MAN For Film Acoustic: Part 2

This is part 2 as the conversation between Neko Case and Mike Nesmith at the Carolina Theatre in Durham following a screening of REPO MAN earlier this week was so enjoyably rich with insights that I wanted to give it more space (click here for Part 1). For the second installment of the new series, Film Acoustic, the acclaimed singer/songwriter Case had chosen the 1984 cult classic, being one of her all-time favorites, to screen, and invited its executive producer, Nesmith, who you also may know from a little band he was in called the Monkees, to discuss it and other related topics with her.



Here, Nesmith speaks about the Monkees' sole film project, the possibility of a REPO MAN sequel, and whether or not popular singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett had a cameo in the film.

Nesmith on HEAD, Bob Rafelson�s 1968 psychedelic masterpiece starring the Monkees: �It�s actually a masterwork. And whose masterwork it is, is Jack Nicholson�s. When HEAD came about, it was, I don�t want to build too much � take it on fact, that the movie Bob and Bert (Schneider) had decided to do, HEAD, as a kind of assisted suicide for the Monkees and they hired Jack to come in and help them. �Cause they wanted to kill the monster. The monster had turned on them.

They had been praying for the little wooden boy to come to life and suddenly it did, and it scared the hell out of them so Geppetto was going to throw the marionette off the bridge. Well, okay off the air, but what do you do in that particular case with the music? What do you do with what that film is about to become? And Jack was able to bring the music into that film in such a way that it satisfied what everybody wanted out of that movie, that wanted anything out of the movie. And instead of killing the monster, it imprinted it forever on the history of film. And there it is, there it jolly well is.

Bob tells this story in the commentary of the movie�s Criterion release of HEAD where he says that Jack and him were sitting around loaded, and Bob gets dark and Jack said �what�s going on?� �I�m thinking about the blackest, darkest thing in the world.� And Jack said �well, what would that be?� And Bob said �Victor Mature�s hair.� And Jack said �that�s it! The whole movie takes place in Victor Mature�s hair!� I thought Jack had one of the greatest dope riffs I ever heard!� But he took that and suddenly he made it all work around that music.�

Nesmith on his favorite line in REPO MAN: ��The life of REPO MAN is intense� is the fulcrum. That�s talking about intensity, it�s talking about what happens to you when you watch the movie � it�s intense.�

On Alex Cox having the rights to the screenplay to REPO MAN: �Now Alex has the right to make a sequel if he wants to.�

Milazzo: �If he rang your phone and said �hey, would you like to jump on this journey again with me?�

Nesmith: �No.� (audience laughs) I know, it sounded flip but no. It�s not because it was a bad experience because that�s not�I�m not sure that there is a sequel to REPO MAN. I think REPO MAN is a whole complete thing.�

Case: �I�d be really sad if they made a sequel.�

Nesmith: �Yeah, I�m kinda following you in on that. He wrote the sequel called �Otto�s Hawaiian Holiday.� (audience laughs) Just as funny as you think it is.�

Questions from the audience Q & A:

Audience member: �The last scene, or near the end, with the guy that says �I love my job� and they bring out a book, I think I remember that being a copy of �Dianetics� but I didn�t quite pick it up in the movie��

Nesmith: �I�m so glad you asked me that, because it�s one of the funniest jokes in the movie and nobody sees it!�

Audience member: �And I just watched BATTLEFIELD EARTH yesterday!� (laughter)

Nesmith: �You see, and this is an example, like how we got the generic food, they�re not gonna let us use Dianetics!� So Alex calls it �Diaretics�!

Another audience member: �Jimmy Buffet is credited as one of the blond agents, which one is he?�

Milazzo: �Where�s Jimmy Buffett in this film?�

Case: �Did they make that up?�

Nesmith: �No, no � Jimmy was there.� (audience laughs)

Case: �You guys planted this stuff like they�re little landmines that are just gonna keep going off for years and years.

Nesmith: �Nobody planned it. They just fell off the truck and landed some place.�

Case: �Jimmy Buffet�s on the lot.� (laughter) �Do we have a size 44 blazer? Show Mr. Buffett in.� (more laughter)

Nesmith: �That�s exactly what it was. That very thing. He and I were sort of friends, and hanging out, and was �what are you doing?� �Shooting REPO MAN,� �oh I want to come to the set.� Alex said �do you want to be in the movie?� and handed him a blazer and a pair of sunglasses. And he is part of the team when they set the body on fire that�s on the park bench, he�s one of those guys and if you look at it � he�s standing by the back of the van. That�s Jimmy.�

Nesmith on the legacy of REPO MAN: �Alex and Peter were all frustrated by the way that movie got distributed, and what happened to it in the public�s mind. The fact that it has gotten some traction, and there are people who love it, and people who really get it, is nourishing. 

Case: �And I�m thinking that it probably made more money than GREYSTOKE: LEGEND OF TARZAN that came out that same year.� (audience laughs)

Nesmith: �Actually, that�s my favorite movie, GREYSTOKE: LEGEND OF TARZAN.� (more laughter)

Milazzo: �Goes without saying.� (even more laughter)



The next Film Acoustic is a real doozy: Frank Black from the Pixies Presents Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL, another favorite film of mine, on Thursday, March 19th. Tickets are on sale now.

More later...

Neko Case & Mike Nesmith Talk REPO MAN For Film Acoustic: Part 1

Film Acoustic, the Carolina Theatre�s new series which pairs special guests with their favorite movies, went down in Durham earlier this week on Monday evening, February 23rd, which was luckily the night before the big snowstorm hit the Triangle area. It was an event that was highly anticipated and didn�t disappoint: Neko Case presents Alex Cox�s 1984 cult classic REPO MAN, with Very Special Guest Mike Nesmith.



Unlike last month�s program with Lucinda Williams, there was no music played but the discussion with the two fine musicians, Case and Nesmith, who was the Executive Producer of REPO MAN, after the film was lengthy and incredibly engrossing (it may have been too lengthy for my wife, but that�s another matter). 


The last time I saw REPO MAN It was on its 25th anniversary on the big screen in the Cool Classics series at the Colony Theater (read my post about it from back in the day), and I enjoyed seeing it again. I think it�ll always hold up as Cox�s weird, funny curio and it has one of the greatest soundtracks ever.

After the screening, a video of Case�s was shown, �Maybe Sparrow� from her excellent 2006 album �Fox Confessor Brings the Flood,� then Modern School of Film founder and Duke graduate Robert Milazzo introduced Case, who was greeted warmly by the Fletcher Hall audience.

Case spoke about seeing REPO MAN and how it reflected how scary it was as �a 14-year old who grew up in the Pacific Northwest� living in the Reagan/Cold War era. �People look back now and talk about Ronald Reagan like he was this really beloved President, but people fucking hated that guy,� Case explained to some clapping from the crowd. �People thought George W. Bush was funny, nobody thought Reagan was funny.� 

Case went on about the film: �I looked for myself in everything as well, and I never could find a female. And in this movie, the female characters are all just like fragments of women. Kind of like the men are fragments of men, like nobody�s a complete character. It�s very cartoony, which makes sense since Alex Cox drew a comic book strip first.�


After Case talked about how she �knew a lot of boys exactly like Otto,� how New Wave was the death knell of punk, and that this was the first time she�d ever seen REPO MAN on the big screen (�I�ve only seen it in rooms with shitty Christmas lights�),

moderator Milazzo introduced Nesmith who walked from the back of the theatre to huge applause. My wife leaned towards me and said, �that�s a Monkee!�

Milazzo gave the interview over to Case, and they revealed that this was a continuation of their three hour conversation at lunch (Case to Milazzo: �We cheated on you with each other�in a restaurant�).

Here are some highlights from Case�s talk with Nesmith:


Nesmith on the inception of REPO MAN: �I had just finished doing a movie called TIMERIDER. Harry Gittes and a friend of mine, Bill Dear, who I�d been working with for a while, directed that movie. And I made friends with Harry, and Harry was working over in Jack Nicholson�s office at Sony, and this script came across the desk, and he called me up and said �you�ve got to see this.� So he sent it to me, and I read it, and I said �this is great! What do we do?� He said �well the studios are going to make this picture but I thought maybe you would be interested in doing it as a independent producer.� I said �well, let�s talk to the guys.�

So they set up a meeting with Alex, Alex Cox, and Jonathan Wacks and Peter McCarthy to his office. And I just went over, and, you know, at that point I was in the middle of kind of a roll-off of my artistic endeavors and so forth. Come off a bunch of albums at RCA, was done with the Monkees, it was, you know, everything was kind of behind me, and TIMERIDER had not been successful either in theaters, or artistically, it just hadn�t quite worked like I wanted it to work. But I had financial freedom because my mother had left me a lot of money, she died in 1980, and I was knocking around looking for something to do, in terms of how to keep going as an artist, because I figured it was over for me at that point.

So when I met them in Harry�s office, I was in a frame of mind which was, I thought maybe what I could do is help get this movie made somehow, and if I can do that, what I should do, not that I can, but what I should do is not mess with it. I shouldn�t try to fit this into some sort of mold. What I could provide as a kind of role where I could stand between the filmmakers and the studio, and the filmmakers could do the film they wanted to do, and the studio would get either delivered to them a product that they could quantify somehow.�

Nesmith on the screenplay: �It was like free association origami. I mean, I knew it was not gonna turn into a swan, but it was folded up somehow; everything had a point, it had a way of referring and closing up loose ends and so forth.�

Nesmith on the original ending: �It was supposed to end with Otto as a Salvadorian rebel. And Marlene and the Rodriquez brothers were really sort of the American conscription for South American rebels.�

Case: �And that�s why you see her in her Che Guevara outfit.�

Nesmith on revisiting the movie: �When I watch this movie, and this is the first time I�ve seen it with an audience in 30 years, as it develops along, one of the things that�s outstanding to me about it, and it just holds, is that it is a comedy that doesn�t have one gag in it. They don�t play anything for funny. Even �let�s go get sushi and not pay,� he reads that line flat! And Alex never cuts tight on the generic food cans, you can barely see it say �food,� he�s eating food. And the standard play, the TV play, the formula play is cut, cut on �food,� so people go �ho ho, it�s food.�

Nesmith on the ending they used: �Alex called me up at some point, and he said �you know, I�ve been doing this movie now so, and I still don�t know how to end it, but I think something�s happened with Miller *. I think he�s come forward as a fulcrum, a kind of nexus of the film.� And I thought, �this is genius. This is smart. This is right. What are you gonna do?� He said �I don�t know. But can I have some money for special effects? I think I want the Malibu to glow.� I said �that�s a great idea.� �Can I have some money.� I said �no.� Million eight, that�s it. �I�ve got to make it glow for a million eight.� So he went out and bought the reflective tube they use on the highway, and painted the whole car with a brush. And shot green lights on it � that�s what you see in the film! That was great filmmaking.�

Nesmith on what was in Otto�s can of �food�: �Corned beef hash.� 

Nesmith on the killer punk soundtrack: �The soundtrack ultimately redeemed the film financially - it made money.�

Case: �Which is my favorite story about the movie.�

Nesmith: �It came out, Universal released it and put it in one theater in Boston, where it played for a year. And that was it! We were done, we were toast. And so we, you know, slumped shoulders and went home, and then suddenly, Universal people at music said �holy crap, look at this soundtrack!� And they put it out and it sold 5 times what soundtracks sell, which was not a huge number but was enough to get us attention.�

Nesmith on nearly contributing the score for EASY RIDER: �Dennis (Hopper) said �would you be interested in doing the music?� So I came up with some sort of thing, it was like a cross between Memphis horns and cherry pink and apple blossom pie� it was some stupid idea, about I would use brass band in sections, and I realized that I didn�t have a sense of this, I didn�t have any idea. And he looked at me and he was courteous, which was kind of a first for Dennis, and he was �okay, good� and I was out! And then the next thing you hear is �If 6 Was 9� by Hendrix, and you realize �okay, they created a whole other world that I could�ve massively fucked up with cherry pink and apple blossom pie.��



Nesmith discusses one of my favorite films ever, the Monkees' movie HEAD, a possible REPO MAN sequel, and much much more in Part 2.



More later...

Bad Timing For BATMAN

Months ago, the Colony Theater in Raleigh (where I work part-time) booked Tim Burton�s 1989 superhero hit BATMAN for Wednesday, February 18th, for their Cool Classics series. The Colony�s General Manager Denver Hill told me that it was timed for the lead up to Michael Keaton winning a Best Actor Oscar for his acclaimed role in Alejandro Gonz�lez I��rritu�s BIRDMAN.

BIRDMAN - full title: BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE IF IGNORANCE) - is undoubtedly Keaton�s comeback to the mainstream, albeit in an abstract indie project, in which his character is an actor aching for a comeback via a shaky Broadway production, after being written off as the star of a superhero franchise.

As its Best Picture Oscar win on Sunday attests, BIRDMAN has a lot more going for it than that meta-aspect but re-visiting the classic Keaton performance that made that angle possible was the agenda for the Colony�s revival screening of BATMAN, and I was excited as I haven�t seen it in over two decades.

To plug the event, I wrote it up in the Film Picks column in the Raleigh News & Observer, and put together a slideshow of behind-the-scenes pics for the Examiner to further promote the show.

But a week ago, the day before the screening, we got hit by what they call a wintry mix that blanketed Raleigh in ice and snow. As a result, only 40 or so people braced the elements to come see Burton's late '80s fan favorite take on the Dark Knight.

We were disappointed that the weather so affected the turnout so Denver made plans to have an encore presentation the following week on Wednesday, February 24th.

In the meantime, despite the film and director I��rritu winning, Keaton lost the Academy Award to Eddie Redmayne (for THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING) and so the idea of the BATMAN screening celebrating Keaton�s win was, of course, no longer a thing.

This was very surprising as the odds so seemed to be on Keaton to win. I, like many, had predicted such.

And, as the internet has pointed out, Keaton himself thought he had it in the bag as he can be seen tucking his acceptance speech back into his jacket in this clip that�s, of course, gone viral:

When I shared this clip with Denver on a Facebook chat he said: �Jeez. That is sad. But it�s kind of fitting. Seems like a scene from �Birdman.��

It does indeed seem like a postscript for Keaton�s self put-upon character Riggan Thompson.

But what�s also sad is that the Colony�s encore BATMAN screening is again the victim of bad timing as we were hit by another snowstorm today.

Do Mother Nature and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences both have it in for Keaton or what?

Whatever the case, I�m still planning on revisiting the man�s breakthrough lead in BATMAN - whether or not I do it by bracing the elements on Wednesday night, or by putting on the DVD at home, as of this writing, remains to be seen.

More later...

Here's An Insane AGE OF ULTRON Theory For You

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So here's the new (final?) AGE OF ULTRON poster, which looks about as generic as one can expect from a movie that has never once needed a poster or any kind of advertising to gaurantee a blockbuster opening. Truth be told, the Marvel movies have generally had pretty bland posters, the one exception possibly being the second one for FIRST AVENGER.

But whatever. Not a lot of new information get's conveyed upfront (Vision is still mostly obscured, if Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver eventually become not boring-looking we're not seeing what that looks like here) but the full credits at the bottom are telling a different story - maybe.

For starters, we finally get confirmation that Stellan Skarsgaard and Anthony Mackie are both in the cast - though who can say what exactly their roles will be (I'd like Falcon and War Machine to have at least one "Main Guys' Black Friends" side-eye moment.) Also Haly Atwell (Agent Carter) which is... interesting.

But the one sticking out to me? Additional music from Danny Elfman. What's that about?


Briefly: The "additional music/pieces" credit for scoring is generally only used when pieces of music from a different score (by a different composer) are showing up. Now, it's very plausible that the film is simply borrowing a piece of music just to use it (that happens - directors fall in love with temp-tracks all the time.) It's also possible that the credit refers to the use of an Oingo Boingo track, though the credit would generally be different for that.

The only character in this movie remotely previously associated with Elfman is Hulk, but that's because Elfman scored the 2003 Ang Lee version - if Marvel is going to reference a previously Hulk movie, it'd probably be the one they made that's still (technically) part of their continuity, right?

Either way, I'm sure the answer is pretty mundane. But thinking on it gave me a crazy idea that I now can't get out of my head without sharing it. So here goes. There's effectively maybe 0.000001% chance this would happen, but if I had my cosmic way over all such matters the reason a Danny Elfman track would show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be to accompany the arrival a familiar hero with his familiar (Elfman composed) theme:

SPIDER-MAN.

As in: Tobey Maguire as the now-adult Peter Parker from the Sam Raimi-directed, Elfman-scored SPIDER-MAN movies that pre-dated the now-aborted Andrew Garfield/magic blood/robo-rhino version.

Hear me out.

Here's what's known about the immediate future of the SPIDER-MAN movies: Marvel originally wanted to strike a deal to get him into the hero versus hero CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR movie in some capacity. The role is being recast not only younger, but with a rumored emphasis on possibly shaking up the franchise's ethnic status-quo with either a non-white Peter Parker or a movie debut for Miles Morales, the Black/Latino second Ultimate Spider-Man.

So, picture this scenario:

• Spider-Man shows up in AGE OF ULTRON. Doesn't have to be for the whole movie, just for a scene - maybe he's helping in a battle, maybe it's an "Oh hi guys!," something like that. He's NOT an Avengers-level hero, traditionally, so it makes sense he'd be operating on their periphery.
• When he shows up, he's accompanied by Elfman's familiar main theme and sounds a lot like Tobey Maguire. Just to get the audience thinking on those lines.
• At a certain point, Maguire (briefly) appears again as Peter Parker, with some sort of quick business (piece of costume sticking out?) and a reprise of the theme to indicate that, yes, this is not only Spider-Man but THAT specific version of Spider-Man, retroactively making the Raimi films (or just the first two, if you like) part of the MCU extended canon.
• Maguire-Spidey reappears as a full-blown supporting character in CIVIL WAR, where he fulfills much the same role as the comics re: joining Team Iron Man, revealing his identity to the public and coming to regret doing so. But this time, it goes much worse for him - he dies. Yes. Spider-Man (a hero still more familiar/loved worldwide than any of the MCU characters) buys it in CIVIL WAR. He can die heroically (Ooh! Maybe he takes the sniper-bullet for Captain America for the adaptation fake-out?) Tears, sadness, "This generation's Optimus Prime death," etc.
• Post-credits stinger for CIVIL WAR: Introduction of a seemingly random young kid who seems especially moved by the death of Spider-Man: Miles Morales.
• However many months later, Miles emerges as the main character of the new Marvel-But-We're-Pretending-Sony-Is-Making-Any-Meaningful-Decisions-About-This SPIDER-MAN movies; which can no procede with his supporting cast, origin, etc.

Would it work? Who knows. Maybe I'm nuts. But I'd be all over that, and not just because I more or less made it all up on the fly. But I'd argue it offers a lot of benefit: Marvel get's a huge WRATH OF KHAN moment for CA:CW without having to lose one of "their guys," Sony gets to re-issue full=-priced new Blu's of the Raimi Trilogy now that they're MCU building-blocks, picky fanboys get a "proper" MCU Parker at least for a moment, Miles Morales becomes a massively talked-about figure to a general public that never heard of him and Sony-But-Really-Marvel get's a fresh start for their new series that'll be covered as a colossal event for introducing who will immediately become (with apologies to T'Challa) THE Black Superhero.

Either way, we'll find out what really happens so enough. Unless Marvel just steals this idea.Which isn't going to happen.

Oscars 2015: Oh, How Wrong I Was

For a while, during the broadcast of the 87th Academy Awards broadcast, which I watched at the Rialto Theater in Raleigh (pictured above) last night, I was getting every category right as per my predictions posted last Friday. But my winning streak ended approximately halfway through after 14 Oscars were given out, when my pick for Best Editing, BOYHOOD, was beaten out by WHIPLASH. After that I lost 4 others (see below) including the biggest one, Best Picture.



I was happy that BIRDMAN and its director, Alejandro Gonz�lez I��rritu, won (the film was my #2 favorite of 2014), but I was really rooting for BOYHOOD, and Richard Linklater to take home the gold because I thought it had the slight innovative and emotional edge going for it. 

As for the show itself, first-time host Neil Patrick Harris did a good job starting with his intro - �Tonight we honor Hollywood's best and
whitest -sorry brightest� - and the opening song and dance number (especially the Jack Black bit) was one of the stronger ones of recent years, but he wasn't given the best material to work with, something many are blaming on Oscar Head Writer Greg Berlanti, who's so not a comedy writer.



I enjoyed Lady Gaga's tribute to the 50th anniversary of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, the �Everything is Awesome� (from the otherwise snubbed THE LEGO MOVIE) production number (featuring amusing appearances by Tegan and Sara, The Lonely Island and Questlove!), and the acceptance speeches by Julianne Moore, Patricia Arquette, IDA director Pawel Pawlikowski (glad this win may get more people to see the striking IDA), and director I��rritu in particular.

But I wasn't a fan of NPH's running gag about his Oscar predictions being sealed in a briefcase, locked in a clear box onstage, with his recruiting previous Oscar winner Octavia Spencer to keep her eyes on it throughout the show - the supposed pay off really didn't result in big laughs. I also was disappointed that Joan Rivers, who I tweeted �was in a lot of films, even directed one (a big flop but it starred Oscar fave Billy Crystal)� and SNL's Jan Hooks, who also appeared in a lot of movies including a pivotal part in PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, were left out of the In Memorium segment.

Anyway, here's the 5 Oscar predictions that I got wrong:

Best Picture: BIRDMAN

Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne. 

Yes, Keaton was robbed, but Redmayne's humble giddiness at winning was a little touching and funny, and his performance as Stephen Hawking in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING was solid, even if I wasn't so hot on the film. But, again, yeah, it would've been really sweet for the 63-year old Keaton to have finnally gotten that bigtime recognition.

Best Director: Alejandro Gonz�lez I��rritu

Best Editing: WHIPLASH

Best Original Screenplay: BIRDMAN

Besides BIRDMAN, the other big winner of the night was THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, which won 4 Oscars. Now, those I got right.

Well, that's it for this year's Oscars. 19 of of 24 wasn't so bad, and I got a few surprises. Now back to watching movies for fun and not for sport.

More later...

Mike Leigh's MR. TURNER: Very Pretty, Witty, But A Trifle Lengthy

Now playing at a indie art house near you:

MR. TURNER (Dir. Mike Leigh, 2014)

Timothy Spall, best known as Peter Pettigrew aka Wormtail in the HARRY POTTER series, grunts, groans, and gropes his way through Mike Leigh�s 12th film, a biopic about 19th century English Romantic landscape painter, printmaker, and watercolor master J.M.W. Turner.

Spall�s seventh film with Leigh, which is the third period piece for the director (TOPSY TURVY, also featuring Spall, and VERA DRAKE were the others), concerns the final third of the controversial artist�s life during the very stuffy, snobby Victorian age.

Spall�s Turner, who we first see in silhouette on the horizon capturing the Dutch countryside on his canvas, spends his time between masterpieces tending to his ailing father (Paul Jesson), occasionally taking sexual advantage of his housekeeper/assistant (Dorothy Atkinson), and travelling to the English seaside village of Margate where he has a secret life loving his landlady (Marion Bailey).

There is also the matter of his extremely angry ex-mistress (Ruth Sheen) and their two grown-up daughters, who Turner neglects while telling others that he has no family.

Although intricately constructed and politely paced, the first half of the film can be a bit of a slog, but it�s worth sticking with as there are many rewards in the concluding chapters.

Although he pisses off the prissy critics of the day and even the Queen, Turner is presented as a misunderstood pioneer who foretold the abstract impressionalism movement of the early 20th century, was welcome to the invention of the camera, and is fascinated when his friend, scientist Mary Somerville (Lesley Manville) shares with him her experiments with an optical prism.

It is clear throughout that Leigh, who wrote the screenplay, is not only attempting to recreate the era via immaculate costumes (which got an Oscar nom) and sets, but is also using the big screen as a canvas to recreate Turner�s paintings via Dick Pope�s vivid cinematography (which also got a well deserved nomination).

Leigh�s fine film also got a nomination, again deserved, for its score composed by Gary Yershon, which while restraining itself from the customary historical epic sweep, gives a gentle grace to some of the film�s greatly affecting quiet moments.

Spall�s performance is Oscar worthy itself, even if most people might only experience the grotesque grumbling of an ornery curmudgeon. The Shakespearean-trained actor brings both great pathos and an animalistic appetite to the role which is impossible to ignore � even though the Academy did. That Spall studied and actually learned to paint, much like Ed Harris did in POLLACK, no doubt enhances his very lived in portrayal.

MR. TURNER is a very pretty and witty, but it certainly is a trifle too lengthy. Many of its vignettes could be trimmed - the fact that it�s an hour into it before his father dies indicates how long it is before the movie gets going � and some of its shots, as beautiful as they are, could�ve been shorter.

But overall, it�s the best of the British Oscar bait biopics out this season (take that, THE IMITATION GAME and THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING!). It will most be appreciated by Leigh fans, and those who love movies about art and artists. As I�m a big fan of both of those myself, you can see where I stand.

More later...

Hey Kids! Funtime 2015 Oscar Picks!

Yep, here we go again. The 87th Academy Awards Ceremony is this Sunday, February 20th, so it's time for Film Babble Blog's official predictions to be posted.



Now, last year I got 21 out of 24 right - my best score ever - but this year I find myself really wanting to be wrong about some of these. I would love some surprises, some upsets, to shake things up this time. I want to see first-time host Neil Patrick Harris quipping between categories about some unexpected thing that just happened. Even NPH says he's �hoping for a scandal.�



Anyway, on to my picks which go something like this: 



1. BEST PICTURE: BOYHOOD

This is battling it out with BIRDMAN (which I wouldn't mind winning as I loved it too), but my money is on Richard Linklater's 12 years in the making epic about life, love, and time. It was my #1 favorite film of 2014 so I'm way biased, but it feels so right.



2. BEST DIRECTOR: Richard Linklater for BOYHOOD



3. BEST ACTOR: Michael
Keaton for BIRDMAN

I'm biased here too because I love Keaton and thought he did an incredible job as actor Riggan Thompson/Birdman. Hard to believe the guy has never been nominated before - I think he should've been for CLEAN AND SOBER back in '88. Eddie Redmayne for his performance as Stephen Hawking in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING seems to be the major competitor, but, c'mon! It has to Keaton

4. BEST ACTRESS: Julianne
Moore for STILL ALICE

5. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K.
Simmons for WHIPLASH

6. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia
Arquette for BOYHOOD

And the rest: 



7. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Adam Stockhausen & Anna Pinnock for THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

8. CINEMATOGRAPHY: BIRDMAN

9. COSTUME DESIGN: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

10. DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: CITIZENFOUR

11. DOCUMENTARY SHORT: CRISIS HOTLINE: VETERANS PRESS 1

12. FILM EDITING: BOYHOOD

13. MAKEUP: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

14. VISUAL EFFECTS: INTERSTELLAR

15. ORIGINAL SCORE: THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

16. ORIGINAL SONG: �Glory� from SELMA - I'd actually prefer �Everything is Awesome� from THE LEGO MOVIE to win because I'm not a big fan of Common's song, but SELMA should at least win something. Then again THE LEGO MOVIE got snubbed too so we'll see.

17. ANIMATED SHORT: FEAST / Dark horse: THE DAM KEEPER

18. LIVE ACTION SHORT: THE PHONE CALL

19. SOUND EDITING: AMERICAN SNIPER

20. SOUND MIXING: WHIPLASH

21. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

22. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: THE IMITATION GAME

23. ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: BIG HERO 6

24. BEST FOREIGN FILM: IDA

There's no way I'm going to do as well as last year, so like I always say: Tune in Monday to see how many I got wrong.



More later...

REALLY THAT GOOD - New Project Announcement Trailer

This has been in the works for awhile, glad to finally be able to tell you about it:

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish

Zack Snyder's Twitter has revealed the first official image of Jason Momoa as AQUAMAN (who will almost-certainly not be called that, ever) in BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE... and holy hell, is it about the worst approach I could've imagined...

I'm a Zack Snyder apologist through and through - the guy has amazing chops, and WATCHMEN remains one of the most visually spot-on translation of comics to film. But this Aquaman? Wow. The worst coke-binging money-fight "brainstorming" session at Image Comics circa-1996 couldn't have yielded such a bad redesign.

I'm actually kind of stunned - it was probably too much to expect anything close to the scale-mail shirt/green pants look, but this literally looks like they just said "add some fish-stuff to the GAME OF THRONES look and give him a trident."

I get that the DC movies are doing their own thing apart from the "Silver Age with the stupid sanded off" approach Marvel has mined to such success, a mash-up of the broody testosterone-fest still lingering from the Nolan Batman features and "XTREME!!!!!" 90s comics affect that seems to be Snyder's go-to reference point for the genre.

But... there it is.

Whelp Of Wall Street

Remember back when WOLF OF WALL STREET was first hitting and people realized you could cut any movie about someone having lots of money to the beats of that trailer and it'd be funny, and the most obvious one 90s kids went to was the live-action RICHIE RICH?

Well, Netflix has apparently decided that what's cute for like 2 minutes will be hilarious for a season's worth of binge-watching. Below, the trailer for the streaming giant's new RICHIE RICHIE reboot series (did anyone even remember hearing they were doing this?) which is pitched, literally, as "Jordan Belfort, but he's 12."

So... the gamble here is that "90s Disney Channel/Nickelodeon sitcom" is an aesthetic with enough nostalgia cache that Millennials will binge it and maybe younger kids won't hate it either? Because I'm not seeing why this is a streaming show and not just turning up on Nick's fall lineup - unless, of course, it really sucks and none of the cables wanted it.

I'll say this much: I was more or less going along with the "okay, this is pretty harmless" vibe (the idea that 21st Century Richie is a boy genius whose start-up success is the source of his previously-ordinary family's cartoonishly-obscene wealth instead of being an Old Money scion is kind of inspired - that I can see being a weekly show) until we get to the pet robot that Richie (who looks to be about 12) has for some reason built (commissioned?) in the form of a human girl in her late-teens that he dresses in a French maid's outfit.

I know that "Irona" is part of the lore, but she's usually depicted as an automaton. This version feels like something that's been calculated to become a wink-wink-nudge-nudge running joke by the writers ("Hey! That's gonna be a whole other kinda useful in like 5 years, right bro!?") should the series actually become a hit.

Well, whatever. This comes out tomorrow, and it seems to be the first anyone has heard of it, so I guess we'll find out.

TV RECAP: Agent Carter - Episode 7: "Snafu"

NOTE: I was recapping AGENT CARTER episodes for The Escapist, and it seemed to have a decent following. Since I hate leaving things undone (and because I want to show all you wonderful folks donating to the Patreon that you're going to see a steady run of work) I'll post the remaining two here.

Wow.

At this point, AGENT CARTER has turned out to be so solid that all it will need to do in it's eighth and final episode is not end on a note of total disaster and it'll immediately assume a position among the very best of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's not many TV shows that can fit a riot, an explosive self-sacrifice suicide, an indoor parkour battle, creepy hypnotism and a slapstick almost-jailbreak around the edges of what remains both a cracking good spy story and an extended metaphor for the invisibility of women in post-WWII America.

After a cold-open featuring some of that aforementioned creepy hypnotism (revealing that, as suspected, the evil Russian psychiatrist is indeed Doctor Faustus), "Snafu" dives right into the setpiece teased last time: Carter's interrogation at the hands of Chief Dooley, Agent Thompson and Agent Sousa. This quickly turns into an opportunity for Peggy to finally come clean - not about her double-agent duty for Stark, but about how she really feels about her male colleagues and the way they've all treated her as a projection of their own issues (Dooley is patronizing, Thompson is all macho bluster and Sousa is a resentful spurned-"nice guy.")

She's sidetracked, though, when Jarvis turns up with a plan of his own: Buy time with a fake confession from Howard Stark. Given the ongoing themes of the show, it's not exactly surprising that his grand heroic gesture only makes things more difficult; and Carter has to reveal the entire sequence of events up to this point including that last vial of Captain America's blood. Refreshingly, Thompson and Sousa believe her right away and set off for a confrontation with Dottie (aka Black Widow '46) that doesn't go especially well.

Ultimately, everything comes down to a main character being forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, after having been fitted with a malfunctioning suit of electrified Stark armor (heh) refitted into a suicide-bomb. More troublingly, it turns out Leviathan has no interest in Cap's blood (or doesn't know it exists): They're after another item. Part of me was hoping that it was The Winter Soldier's bionic arm, but it turns out to be a gas weapon that can turn anyone exposed to it (in this case a movie theater audience) into feral killers driven to murder eachother.

Where's this all going? Well, with the reveal of the poison gas (which, it must be said, loses something by virtue of being so similar to an impossible-to-top plot device in KINGSMAN) and the still-unanswered questions in the central mystery (who wiped-out a squad of Russian soldiers without using any weapons during the war, why was Howard Stark on the site of that massacre a day later and why did Stark stop doing business with the Military) I think a basic outline can be surmised: The army used Stark's gas on the Russians, Stark saw what it did and withdrew from weapons-making and Leviathan is actually out for revenge against the U.S.

If that's where they're going, it's pretty dark; but it certainly fits in with the series' secondary theme of Peggy watching the clean-cut good vs evil clash of WWII morph into the amoral morass of the Cold War right before her eyes. It also provides - along with S.S.R HQ being blown to hell after they failed rather decisively to do the one thing they're supposed to do by being a backwards-looking boy's club - a potential reason for why it might be scrapped and replaced with the more forward-looking (at least in theory), globalized idea of S.H.I.E.L.D; which we already know Carter is a co-founder of (a note which I imagine will be the punchline of the series.)

It's also interesting because it ups the ante on how the series plans to utilize what's now been revealed as a red herring: Captain America's blood.

We know the blood can't survive into the present, because if it did someone would've successfully duplicated the Super Soldier Serum well before THE AVENGERS. It's looking like there's no room for my pet-theory of Sousa becoming an MCU version of William Burnside, so I'm guessing instead it'll be something more like having to use the blood's restorative properties to save someone whose been gravely wounded, maybe Sousa or Thompson. (Or, alternate theory, it'll be stolen and used to create/maintain Winter Soldier, since I'm not done hoping that plot-point doesn't crop up in here somewhere.)

New Releases On Blu Ray & DVD: 2/17/15

I haven't done one of these posts in a while, but as a few of today's new releases on Blu ray and DVD are notable Oscar-wise, I thought I'd give it another go.


First up, there's Alejandro Gonz�lez I��rritu's BIRDMAN, which is going neck and neck with Richard Linklater's BOYHOOD in the Best Picture race right now. Whichever film takes home that coveted Academy Award next Sunday night, Michael Keaton deserves to win Best Actor for his dual role as actor Riggan Thompson and his alter ego, his gravelly voiced inner Birdman. Edward Norton and Emma Stone also received nominations, as did cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki for his amazing camerawork that captured the narrative in extremely immersive extended takes. If you haven't seen it, it's definitely one to catch up with before this Sunday. Available in both single disc Blu ray and DVD editions. Read my review from last October.

Special Features: A 33 minute behind the scenes featurette entitled �Birdman: All Access� (subtitled �A View from the Wings�), A Conversation with Michael Keaton and Alejandro G. I��rritu (14 min.), and Gallery: Chivo's On Set Photography (3 and a half min.)

Another Best Picture nominee, James Marsh's Stephen Hawking biopic THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, which I hope doesn't win anything, drops today in 2-disc Blu ray and single disc DVD sets. Don't get me wrong, Eddie Redmayne as Hawking and Felicity Jones as his wife Jane (whose book the film is based on) put in performances that are charmingly solid, but the film itself a bland piece of Oscar bait. Special Features: Commentary by Marsh, Deleted Scenes, and a 7 minute featurette (�Becoming the Hawkins�).

Bill Murray's turn as the title character in Theodore Melfi's ST. VINCENT (not to be confused with the art rock singer/songwriter) didn't get an Oscar nomination, but it's a likable lark nonetheless (my review). Melissa McCarthy and Naomi Watts also star in the comedy drama about Murray's schlubby, boozing Brooklynite befriending his 12-year old neighbor (Jaeden Lieberher). Special Features: An almost 20 minute featurette, �Bill Murray Is St. Vincent: The Patron Saint of Comedy,� consisting of the Q&A session from the Toronto International Film Festival with Writer/Director Melfi, Murray, McCarthy, Watts, Chris O'Dowd, and Lieberher; and a bunch of brief deleted scenes.

It was a real surprise to me that Steve James' excellent Roger Ebert biodoc LIFE ITSELF (my #3 film of the year) wasn't nominated for Best Documentary, but that shouldn't stop the film from making lots of new fans as it releases today in both single disc Blu ray and DVD editions (it's also available for digital download on all major online platforms, including Amazon, iTunes, Youtube, and Google Play). Read my review from its theatrical release last summer). Special features: Over 20 minutes of deleted scenes (essential viewing for Ebert fans), an almost 11 minute interview with director James, �AXS-TV: A Look at LIFE ITSELF� (2 min.), the Sundance Tribute from when Ebert posthumously received the Sundance Vanguard Award in June 2013 (7 min.). Those last two bits of bonus material have a lot of shared footage with the actual film so they're less essential. 

Also out on Blu ray/DVD this week: Tommy Lee Jones' weird Western THE HOMESMAN,

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's killing Kim Jong-un action-comedy THE INTERVIEW (doesn't the controversy over this look even sillier now?), the Farrelly Brothers' 10 years in the making (not really) sequel DUMB AND DUMBER TO, and Paul Schrader's horrible Nicholas Cage thriller DYING OF THE LIGHT (I've seen it and yes, the 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't lie).

More later...

KINGSMAN: A Good Popcorn Picture Until The Popcorn Runs Out

Now playing at a multiplex near you:

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE

(Dir. Matthew Vaughn, 2014) 

In Matthew Vaughn�s fifth film, an adaptation of a graphic novel series by Dave Gibbons and Mark Millar, the writer/director outfits the world of James Bond in the cartoonish formula of his KICK ASS films. That is to say, there�s a lot of stylized violence with a high body count, a ton of glib one-liners, and constant attempts at meta-commentary.

A suave, dapper Colin Firth (when is he not suave and dapper?) stars as gentleman spy Harry Hart (codename: Galahad), a member of �an independent, international, international intelligence agency operating at the highest level of discretion.� Firth is well cast as the mannered British badass, and at first, especially in a scene where he lays out a bunch of brutal youths in a pub, it's a blast to see him in the part.

The slick scenario concerns Firth�s Hart recruiting Taron Egerton as Eggsy, the son of one of his late colleagues, for the elite squad, but first the young London street-tough has to compete with a bunch of smug, better-bred candidates, and, of course, one friendly female (Sophie Cookson), for the same position.

A lisping Samuel L. Jackson plays the super villain they�re training to defeat, an internet billionaire named Richmond Valentine who�s planning on wiping out most of the world�s population through a mind-controlling cellphone app.

For roughly half of this film�s running time I was going along with its poppy charm, but a scene in which Firth, affected by the villain�s violence-inducing app, goes on a murderous rampage and slaughters a church full of hate-spewing, redneck fundamentalist Christians in Kentucky (clearly modeled on the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas) set to the four-minute guitar solo in Lynyrd Skynyrd's �Free Bird,� really lost me.

The in-your-face unfunniness there sadly set the tone for the rest of the film, which involves the customary infiltration of the enemy�s secret lair (located inside a snow-covered mountain), and much more gratuitous murder in the form of hundreds of heads exploding in the form of rainbow-colored fireworks.

None of this is as witty, clever, or exciting as it wants to be. James Bond satires, homages, or imitations have been around as long as the iconic series itself, and after the likes of Maxwell Smart, Derek Flint, Matt Helm, Johnny English, Austin Powers, and dozens of others have done it to death, KINGSMAN brings nothing new to the table.

Even CARS 2�s secret agent subplot that had Michael Caine voicing an Aston Martin had more Bondian bite than this. Caine is also on hand here as the head of the Kingsman, bringing a little gravitas to the proceedings but not much else. Also along for the ride is Sofia Boutella as Jackson�s henchwoman Gazelle who has CGI-ed bionic blades for legs (one of the few entertaining elements on display), Mark Strong as the Kingman�s gadget and weapons specialist (you know, like Bond�s Q?), and Mark Hamill (yes, that Mark Hamill) as a British climate scientist that Jackson kidnaps early on.

It�s a fine cast, but Vaughn and frequent collaborator Jane Goldman�s screenplay isn�t equipped with enough flashy fun for a whole film. What starts out as a tongue-in-cheek spy comedy romp ends up resembling a rowdy kid just sticking its tongue out at these well worn conventions. And that's about as funny as Jackson's lisp, which sure didn't make me laugh.

KINGSMAN is only a good popcorn picture until the popcorn runs out - the cringe-worthy church scene being where that happened for me.

More later...

The MovieBob Post-Escapist FAQ (UPDATED with Patreon info!)

UPDATE: Right up top, here's the link to the Brand New MOVIEBOB PATREON!

So. Now that I've got myself some breathing room and some time, I thought I'd draft up a more comprehensive FAQ to answer your questions re: What's going on with me after Friday's sudden departure from The Escapist. Obviously, I can only answer questions that are mine too answer, so if you're looking for industry gossip... sorry, not here.

Anyway...


Why did you leave so suddenly?

Short answer: It wasn't really all that sudden. Again, I'm not here to talk about insider business stuff, but suffice it to say if you follow gaming websites you've likely noticed a lot of closures and consolidations among older magazine-style outlets along with an exodus of original content-producers to YouTube etc happening over the last few years so... draw your own conclusions.

As far as this pertains to me, I've been in the process of setting up new venues for my content (and new content as well) for awhile now, as you've seen with the impending end and reworking of the Game OverThinker franchise; and if you were to conclude based on that that I've been preparing for the possibility of this eventuality... well, like I said, draw your own conclusions.

So this wasn't a surprise?

The timing and completeness of it was, yes. Again, can't discuss internal business stuff, but my assumption had always been that if I were ever to need to transition away from my now-former outlet it would be a gradual thing - perhaps a reduction over time in overall workload.

To have it end all at once, after such a long partnership, was a shock to the system, deeply disappointing and (while the parting was indeed entirely amicable) has left me very shaken and terribly sad - I don't handle change very well, and earlier today I was having a conversation where the subject of movie screenings happening this week came up, and it took a moment for it to occur to me that I had no reason to care what the big movie for this weekend was going to be because there'd be no Escape to The Movies on Friday or ever again... and I don't mind telling you it was a mildly devastating moment to have creep up on me.

So that's it - no more MovieBob content at The Escapist?

Pretty much. There is (I believe) one more written column that was finished in advance that is yet to be published, but I have no idea if they intend to or not. But beyond that? Yes, this is the end: There will be no new Big Picture on Tuesday, no Agent Carter recap on Wednesday, no Escape to the Movies or Intermission on Friday, etc.

I don't know what happens to the backlog of episodes they already have, both on the site and on YouTube. I produced that content under contract, they own it, they can do what they wish with it.

Are you done with criticism?

No.

Can you elaborate on that?

Yes.

I am a film critic. That's my primary trade right now, what I've made my name in, and while it's not my ultimate life/career goal it's what I have right now and what I intend to keep doing. I also intend to keep writing, talking about news, blogging, making videos and everything else I did before.

Where can we find your reviews now?

Like I said before, I've been making moves toward expanding my number of outlets since before exiting The Escapist was ever a real concern, so it's possible you'll see me in a new regular spot on the web sooner than later. However, I have no intention of being married to only one outlet going forward and nothing is yet set in stone, so for now if I have reviews/opinions I'm burning to write you will likely find them posted directly to this blog. Video work, on the other hand...

Will Escape to The Movies be on YouTube now?

...sort of, probably. Here's the skinny: As the title implies, The Escapist owns the name and all the audio/visual regular pieces of Escape to The Movies. So if I wanted to put movie reviews in video form on YouTube, I can... they just won't use that title, those art-assets, etc. But the overall effect will likely be very similar in terms of content.

What about The Big Picture?

That one is a little trickier.

The thing about Big Picture was that it's "hook" was, "Here's what our opinionated movie-critic has to say about anything else he wants to talk about," so without a website to be a regular on or a fixed presence to be a side-dish to, it basically becomes a vlog (especially since The Escapist owns all of those art/assets, too.)

In other words, while I can near-guarantee that you'll see Big Picture-esque work from me in the near future, it will probably NOT be in the form of single regular weekly series. Rest assured, however, that I'm very much attached to some of BP's semi-regular features like "_____! Are! Weird" and "Schlocktober," and so long as I'm able I want to do more stuff like that I will (though the titles may end up being different - stay tuned on that front.)

Are you in financial trouble now?

Only in the sense that it is better to be employed than unemployed (though, believe it or not, I was always technically a freelancer for The Escapist - never a full employee). But no, I'm not going broke or falling apart here.

That having been said, if you're a fan whose ever felt compelled to hit up the PayPal Tip Jar on the righthand side of the blog or to buy a copy of Brick-By-Brick and haven't done so yet? Now would be a very good time, yes :)

Will there be a MovieBob Patreon?

Yes, and it's right here!

Admit it: The Escapist fired you over #GamerGate - right?

...Not that I know of? :)

In all seriousness, NO - I do not know or believe that to be the case and (without discussing things that are not for public discussion re: employment and contracts and such) have it on good authority that it is NOT the case. I'm aware that because of various things that went on at The Escapist when the GamerGate disaster was at it's initial peak it's perceived as being a "pro-GG" site in some quarters. As a freelancer, I really had no input into that and limited knowledge of upper-level business matters, but at best I would call that characterization incorrect and at worst very unfair.

Well, either way I'm upset that they let you go. Should I not go there anymore?

I don't want anyone to do that, and I cannot stress that point enough.

I've been retweeting a lot of well-wishers on Twitter whose wishes have included their opinion that The Escapist is no longer worth visiting or that they'll actively avoid patronizing the site because of my absence. I've done so because I appreciate the sentiment, because I want potential future employers to see the passion and dedication of the fanbase I can bring to them and - YES - because I happen to be both a little-bit pissed off and A LOT immature. Oh well.

But as I said on Twitter, I do not want (nor do I expect) any plurality of my fans to try to "punish" my now-former outlet. That's not only silly (if they were desperate not to lose a single one of my viewers, I'd still be working there) it potentially hurts a lot of good people. I'm touched that you'd leave a site just for me, but there are a lot of good people and content on The Escapist still (Critical Miss, LRR's Unskippable, Critical Intel, No Right Answer, etc) which very much need and deserve your traffic.

So as much as I appreciate the sentiment (and will continue to share it around on social media etc) please do not stop visiting a site (or start using adblock) as some kind of gesture to me. Seriously.

I know this great site you should totally try and move your content to - what can I do to help make that happen?

Tell me about it in the comments to this blog. Also, if you know an outlet is looking for people, by all means talk me up to them - every little bit helps ;)

I run a site and we'd like to talk to you about working with us. How do we get in touch with you?

BobChipman82@gmail.com - just to save some time, while I'm eager to hear from anyone in the business, right now I'm not in a position to entertain any "for exposure" offers. However, if you represent any conventions, public forums, podcasts etc and are looking for a speaker, guest, panelist, etc? Let's talk, regardless of what the arrangements might look like.

Are you just putting on a brave face? Will this really just turn out to be the end, and you'll be bagging groceries at Star Market in a month?

I guess we'll find out together. It's a shitty economy and a rough industry, and I frankly don't know anyone in it who's making what their worth for the work they put in from my perspective. I'm under no illusions that it won't be a rough go for awhile, or that I'm not unlikely to find similar security right away.

But I got where I am by working hard, cultivating a loyal fanbase, putting out content that I'm proud of and making an effort to adapt and survive in an ever-changing media landscape. It's not lost on me that my absence leaves a big hole in The Escapist's schedule and thus in the daily viewing of many people, nor that as I type this I'm getting well-wishes on Twitter from South America, Asia, the Middle-East, Europe, Australia - fans all over the world; and I keep in mind amid this that I got to this point starting from being picked up as a near-nobody posting videos to YouTube for kicks. If I can get to this point from there, there's no limit to where I can get to next.

And I'll be more than happy to have you all come along :)