take, the

Belaboring this at all would just be pathetic, but the primary pleasure I derive from having a birthday these days is celebrating it with the girls. Virginia, in particular, was almost insanely excited about the belated birthday dinner we found a few hours to hold tonight, in a week where scheduling snares have absented me from home with nighttime meetings from Monday through Thursday. Oh, and I still get a big kick out of getting gifts. This year's haul: from Virginia, a cute craft she made in preschool; from Leah and Ruby, Criterion's reissue of Tati's PLAYTIME; from Ali, a year of Film Comment; from my mom, a big pimpin' nylon track suit; from my dad, three years worth of ESPN The Magazine * and a year of The Hockey News.

I would like to think that I am the only person alive to show up on the subscriber lists of both Film Comment and The Hockey News, but off the top of my head it seems to me that some or all of Guy Maddin, J. Robert Parks and Jeremy Smith may fit that profile, or fit it at one time.




* Last year my dad sent me a year of Sports Illustrated so that I could bask in the largess of their Steelers Victorious! package. You mean to tell me this is the same magazine that once overpaid Hemingway to write an article on bullfighting? It's abysmal. SI now spends more pages giving fantasy football tips than it does actually covering the NFL. I can't recall a single serious and well-written article about sports and culture or nature in SI in the past year that was written exclusively for the magazine. Anything even remotely high-end was excerpted from a book, and while David Maraniss's bio of Roberto Clemente and Michael Lewis's account of Michael Oher seem like good books, there's no reason at all to credit that to SI. Mind you, I'm not expecting the print version of The Worldwide Leader to contribute much to BEST AMERICAN SPORTS WRITING 2007, but at least their snark won't have the accompanying stench of faded significance.

Good films being made (and ignored) for comparatively little

In the midst of all the inconsequential run-up and hype surrounding the impending Oscars, I was really happy to see this article in today's morning paper. Based on experience, I would have expected just a blurb next week listing the winners of the Independent Spirit Awards. I can't vouch for the quality of any of the nominees apart from OLD JOY, but I'll seek out the eventual DVD releases and I'm willing to wager that there's more thoughtful filmmaking here on balance. And with direct producer-to-viewer modes of distribution coming into focus, there's reason to see a silver lining in the clouds. Also: wow. Just $30,000 to make OLD JOY? And I'd rather see it twice again than sit through the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN sequel a second time.

How Cold Is It?

While the car's thermometer waffled between 0 degrees and 1 degree on my way to work this morning, the real indication is this: in my fully-heated car, my fully-charged iPod wouldn't play.

AN OLD PHOTO (FOR KAETHE)

January, 2007 film viewings

1.1 TALLADEGA NIGHTS
1.2 10th DISTRICT COURT
1.3 MONSTER HOUSE
1.5 LEMONY SNICKET'S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS
1.6 ARMY OF SHADOWS
1.7 M. HULOT'S HOLIDAY
1.12 LITTLE CHILDREN
1.13 CHILDREN OF MEN
1.14 SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
1.20 PAN'S LABYRINTH
ARMY OF SHADOWS
1.21 STORY OF A LOVE AFFAIR
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
1.22 THE LOST BOYS OF SUDAN
WEDLOCK HOUSE: AN INTERCOURSE
1.24 A SCANNER DARKLY
1.27 THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE