1. "Things I Learned from Losing - and Regaining - My YouTube Account": Our own Kevin B. Lee catches us up on his video essay situation.
["“One thing I’ve learned from this though that rights don’t mean jack unless you’re in the position to uphold them.” I wrote this to a friend the day after my account got pulled. I originally was referring to myself and my inability (or so I thought at the time) to defend my rights to fair use, but my friend’s reply assumed that I was referring to YouTube/Google! Thinking about it further, he was onto something. I’ve received many emails, some from US copyright lawyers, that have yielded some pragmatic insights (I hope they don’t mind if I share some of their comments anonymously, because I do think they are valuable):"]
2. "Seeking Bergman Film Rights? Try Aspen": What's a Swedish master to do?
["As plot twists go, this one is a doozy: after an eight-year legal battle over the lease of a movie theater, the former owners of a multiplex in Aspen, Colo., now own the rights to Ingmar Bergman’s entire film library. Or do they?"]
3. A week belated: Scott Tobias on King of New York. (Hattip: Jeremiah Kipp)
["Walken has always been difficult to read, and though flagrant weirdness (and a talent for dance) is his stock in trade, his face also carries a disturbing, almost alien opacity that makes him seem disconnected from us mere mortals. At times, his character pauses to enjoy the considerable fruits of his labor—he frequently travels with two female companions attached to his arms, and he'll break out a mischievous grin on occasion—but he could never be described as a pleasure-seeker. His lust is for power, but to what personal end isn't so clear. He surrounds himself with the decadence his lifestyle affords—nouveau-riche furnishings, lingerie-clad women in every corner, mountains of cocaine he sells but never touches—but unlike his top enforcer, played with a devilish cackle by Laurence Fishburne, he doesn't have much fun with it. At the same time, he isn't Michael Corleone: His sins never tug at his conscience, because the end somehow justifies them, and makes them seem pettier than they really are. He's an enigma."]
4. "FAINTHEART (Best Pictures From the Outside In #13)": Nathaniel R. and crew are back, this time with Hitchcock vs. Gibson.
["First, readers, an apology. It's been a long time since the last installment of this series and it's entirely my fault. While Nick and Mike were undoubtedly on their horses in blue war paint, ready for battle, I was stubbornly holed up in my room. A strained analogy: this Best Picture twofer is rather like the sprawling Manderlay estate in Hitchcock's Rebecca and I'm like the new Mrs. de Winter (Joan Fontaine). I was feeling overwhelmed. I am trying to get used to my surrounding in the East Wing (Rebecca -remarkably I'd never seen it!). The West Wing (Braveheart) I was avoiding like the plague. But the plot and this entires series requires that one move freely about in both wings of Oscar's mansion. So I finally walked into Braveheart again. I walked in slow motion according to the visual grammar of the movie, and am ready for battle. And there ends my analogy and apology. ...now if only Mel Gibson would apologize to me."]
5. Between Wells and his Cowboy hat, "The Dude's" altercation with Anderson, and Glenn Kenny's dip into the (Sasha) Grey waters of film stardom, it's been a hella memorable Sundance.
["Wells: So when I said to her last year that I'd like to leave my cowboy hat there so I could just pick up in '09 where I left off in '08, I was obviously saying to her (in my head at least, and I can't imagine how she could have interpreted this any differently) that I'd like it very much if she could be a nice and considerate grandma and hold my hat for me, and that I'd be back to stay the following year. Simple and quite clear all around. I trusted her to get what I meant because, I figured, she surely recognizes the trust and affection that we've had between us over the past two years."]
Quote of the Day: Lester Bangs
Image of the Day (click to enlarge): From an e-mail my mother sent me, entitled "The Babies Know."
Clip of the Day: Linked on Jim Emerson's site, from "Funny or Die" (just watch it, and know that its punchline is going in my ROTFLMAO lexicon). Also be sure to check out Jim's incredible video essay "Falling: The Architecture of Gravity."
"Links for the Day": A selection of Links that will hopefully spark discussion. Comments encouraged. Suggestions for links are also welcome. Please send to keithuhlich@gmail.com.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Links for the Day (January 23rd, 2009)
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4 comments:
That video voiceover work is priceless. And yes, I'm sorry to all the PC people out there, but AIDS can be funny.
Reading the Scott Tobias piece made me immediately want to see KING OF NEW YORK again. He makes an interesting point of comparison to the GODFATHER movies -- and I appreciate that Abel Ferrara keeps it on the street level. One of the great Christopher Walken performances, too.
Re: the video. They forgot to replace the feather with a hummingbird.
Re:#5.3: First Tyra Banks on the small screen, then Glenn Kenny on the big--when oh when will the persecution of Sasha Grey end?? Early reviews of the movie say that we're never really let in on her character's emotions. Is this an oblique sequel to Che? Until I see it I will call it "Gre" just in case.
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