First Day of Spring

I shot several springtime photos last weekend. Here's one of them in honor of today:



Edit: A few more shots are up at Flickr if you're so inclined.

Rainy Day

It's a gray and rainy day here, and my mood pretty much matches the weather. Regarding my comment under the previous blog post, is it really any wonder that I now can't stop thinking of Solaris?

Summer Film Series

Every year, the Alabama Theater hosts a summer film series, and this year, the folks behind it decided to let people vote on what films they want to see. The process was handled a little strangely—the ballot initially contained a certain number of titles, but later, everyone was given the option of suggesting additional films, and the proposed movies were added to the ballot after many people had already voted. Naturally, this produced a skewed vote, but some of the later entries managed to fare pretty well. Of course, voting like this usually leads to frustration and fears that the final roster will be loaded with cringe-inducing titles (yes, I am wearing my film-snob hat right now). Of course, I'm usually somewhat frustrated with the film list every year, but nobody asked me. Wait, this year, they actually did.

Initial voting is nearing an end, and the next step will be a runoff vote so we can choose 12 titles from the top 20 contenders. Here are the titles that make up the current top 20, along with the number of votes and the percentage of votes they've received (sorry to go all statistical on you):

Star Wars (439) - 4%
The Godfather (407) - 4%
The Ten Commandments (398) - 4%
Lawrence of Arabia (389) - 4%
Ben Hur (384) - 4%
Breakfast at Tiffany's (379) - 4%
Vertigo (374) - 4%
The Man who Shot Liberty Valance (354) - 4%
Gone with the Wind (351) - 3%
Marry Poppins (278) - 3%
Jaws (275) - 3%
Dr. Zhivago (274) - 3%
Forrest Gump (232) - 2%
The Sound of Music (219) - 2%
American Graffiti (197) - 2%
Schindler's List (197) - 2%
Jurassic Park (197) - 2%
North by Northwest (195) - 2%
Potter Movies (177) - 2%
The Maltese Falcon (170) - 2%

I'll just keep quiet about some of these titles. And the ambiguous "Potter Movies" entry is pretty scary. Aren't there, like, 59 of those flicks? Anyway, I especially want to see:

Lawrence of Arabia: I've never seen this at all, but I've been told that it should definitely be seen on the big screen.

Vertigo: I've seen it twice before but never in a theater. My respect for it grows with each viewing, and I've been meaning to watch it again. Also, Bernard Herrmann's score is one of my absolute favorites. (Jeremiah, you get a gold star and my gratitude for nominating this one.)

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: This one's currently in my Netflix queue, and I've been meaning to see it for a while.

The Godfather: Yeah, I could go for this. Actually, I may be one of the few who prefers Part I to Part II.

I will leave you with this sad fact. I nominated The Night of the Hunter, which was, admittedly, a very late addition to the ballot. It currenly has 3 votes, while The Parent Trap (either the Lindsay Lohan or the Haley Mills version) has 160.

Flannery O'Connor on Fiction

I recently read several of the essays included in the O'Connor collection Mystery and Manners, where I ran across this relatively simple quote that I especially liked. O'Connor was describing her views on writing, but this can easily translate to films.

A story that is any good can't be reduced; it can only be expanded. A story is good when you continue to see more and more in it, and when it continues to escape you. In fiction, two and two is always more than four.

Amen, sister.