As usual, I often start things at particularly the most inopportune moment. Take this blog, for example. About two weeks ago, I finally said to myself, “Aaron, get off your ass and start this damn thing you’ve been talking about for the past four months.” Lo and behold, I did, knowing full well that in a fortnight I would be switching jobs (temporarily) to a position that would offer me far less time to write such insightful commentary as I have failed to do so far here.
Well, today is that today … the beginning of a new job. I’ve been lucky enough to take a temporary job (of which I will not speak) that excites me greatly, and take a leave from my regular full-time job (of which I will also not speak) which bores me as greatly as this new job excites me. That was a round-about way of saying that for the next two-plyus months, I should be busier, but also hopefully happier. I realize this will diminish some of my misanthropic charm, but I’ll do my best to make it as painless as possible.
Meanwhile, so as not to disappoint the one or two of you who wait with baited breath for every new missive, I stayed up very late last night composing the best preview of films on TV (focusing on TCM, IFC and Sundance) for the week ahead. Oh, you don’t see it online? Well neither do I, and I’m none too happy about that. I suppose the big things that stick in my mind are the really important schedule-items, both of which happen to be full programmed nights on TCM. Tuesday evening TCM devotes itself to a night of films starring the great Ray Milland. Unfortunately, possibly his greatest performance of all (one for which he happened to win the Best Actor Oscar) in The Lost Weekend is not included. If you’ve never seen it, you should definitely consider renting the film which brought the late, great Billy Wilder his first Best Picture, Director and Screenwriter Academy Awards. It also happens to still be possibly the greatest film about alcoholism ever made, The Days of Wine and Roses not withstanding. Two other thrillers from master directors Alfred Hitchcock and Fritz Lang are included, however. Hitchcock’s Dial M For Murder kicks off the evening at 8 PM, followed by Lang’s classic film-noir Ministry of Fear.
Then on Saturday night, take a weekend off and stay home to watch some great boxing films on TCM, especially the John Garfield starrer Body and Soul, which might be the best boxing film of all time if it weren’t for the film that follows it, Martin Scorsese’s near-perfect Raging Bull.
Out of Focus 