OH YEAH, I HAVE A BLOG: RANDOM THOUGHTS TRYING TO GET BACK INTO FOCUS … OR OUT OF IT

Every now and then, I would click the bookmark for Out of Focus and wonder why there was no new content. What was this guy doing? Just letting his little corner of the internet sit there, all empty and lonely. And then I remembered … this guy was me.

The last seven months have been hectic, and simply put, keeping up with this site fell all the way off the priority ladder, and yet, topics consistently come up that make me say to myself, “Oooh, I need to vent about that. Yes I do.” So, I’m back.

I think. I guess we’ll see. No promises made … none broken. Instead, just some random short thoughts to start things off that may (or may not) be expanded upon later. But since the first step is always the hardest, and since I have been planning on writing this very post for the last two weeks but then choose to simply go to bed first instead … I’m just going to dive right in.

• Hairspray is the best movie musical to be made this Century. That may not be saying much, but as one of them (Chicago … duh) won an Oscar, I’ll stand by that statement strongly. I will elaborate on this next week, but simply put, the movie shocked the hell out of me, and should be the surprise hit of the summer.

• One of the most amazing films to have been “out of print” on any form of video for the longest time comes out on DVD (from Criterion, no less) on Tuesday: Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole. If you ever read this site before, you know that I consider Network to be one of my all-time favorite films as well as probably the most important (and prescient) examination of the media ever. Well, in many ways, Network is very much a direct descendant of Ace in the Hole, which in 1951 presented a literal depiction of a media “circus” — the movie has also been known as The Big Carnival. It’s a tremendous film with a brilliant performance by Kirk Douglas at its center. Rent it; buy it; see it.

But wait … there’s more. Don’t leave yet! Jump on the jump ….

• I’m probably the only person in America actually watching On the Lot on Fox, and for good reason — that I’m alone in watching, that is; not that there’s a good reason I’m watching. Mark Burnett needs to produce action-oriented competitive shows like Survivor and The Apprentice, as opposed to artistic oriented, American Idol rip-offs. The show itself is a mess … which is sad because there are actually a few pretty talented filmmakers on there and if the approach was different, it would be much better. Oh, and how is it that I never realized that Garry Marshall is actually “The 2,000 Year Old Man” and a ridiculous chauvanist.

• If you’re in New York, do yourself a favor and don’t miss Le Doulos at Film Forum. Bruce Goldstein has alone taught me why it is worthy to love Jean-Pierre Melville, and thankfully, at least once a year there seems to be another of the late great French director’s films playing. Le Doulos is tremendous.

• Yes, I’ve sat through both NBC’s The Singing Bee and Fox’s rip-off Don’t Forget the Lyrics, and as far as I’m concerned, there’s no contest. The Fox show is far-and-away a better, more exciting program as it models itself after Who Wants to Be a Millionaire while The Singing Bee feels formless even as it’s totally (and boringly) structured. Yes, I just took 30 seconds to analyze these two shows, which I probably would not have done had I not, in fact, thoroughly enjoyed Don’t Forget the Lyrics.

• I went to a screening of Steve Buscemi’s Interview, a remake of the late Dutch director Theo van Gogh’s 2003 film of the same name. Sienna Miller is great; the film is not. Very very not. More on this to come too … probably.

• I actually have still not seen lots of current releases though. I need to play some major catch-up, but post this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, I found myself quite burnt out — not on movies, but on theaters. Or rather … on being anywhere but my couch. This year was busy and difficult and sleepless, and I’m happy we got through it in as decent shape as we did. I remain very proud of the program, especially the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival selections, many of which I played an integral part in programming. Additionally, the film that won the Jury prize for Best Narrative Feature — the tremendously powerful My Father My Lord — was another personal favorite for which I wrote the program not and helped program. Yay!

• Speaking (briefly) about Tribeca — I don’t want to use this site to pimp my employer or the Festival itself, but obviously my work has become a huge part of my life. As I’ve expressed before, I have a deep appreciation and take very seriously on a personal level the importance for a festival like Tribeca existing in New York, and like the rest of the staff, I’m working very hard to help this growing event — which age-wise would just be finishing Kindergarten — achieve that of which it’s capable. But this is not a Tribeca site, nor is it in any way directly related to Tribeca. Tribeca has it’s own site at tribecafilmfestival.org, and for much of the past year, we have been working tirelessly to turn the site into a place that film lovers and festival-goers would be interested in visiting year-round and not jut to buy tickets. For a time, I was writing the vast majority of content on the site. Now I’m doing more editing and doing my best to help the continued growth and development of the site. I encourage people to take a look and, if you like what you see, please sign-up for our weekly email newsletter. We’re also adding lots of giveaways and contests all the time — this week, tickets to an an advance screening of Becoming Jane. Last week, it was DVDs of Encounter Point. And we have some pretty good ones coming up as well. Anyway, take a look. I’m getting of this soapbox and really don’t plan to be bringing up Tribeca all the time.

• Besides, how could I spend time talking about Tribeca when there’s so much great summer TV. I’m totally addicted to the new Doctor Who series being shown on Sci-Fi. I’ll admit it: I was a Doctor Who fanatic back when I was 13 or so. The new series (which the BBC started producing three years ago) is a great successor through two seasons, and Sci-Fi just started Season 3 last night. I’m also knee-deep into the great FX show Rescue Me. I’m halfway through Season 2, DiVoing the current Season 4 until I can make my way through Season 3.

• Then there’s So You Think You Can Dance. Actually, that deserves its own post. Maybe it will get one … maybe it won’t. And the new HBO shows … and all the theater I’ve been trying to catch-up on … and needing to move again … and … and … and ….

I think I’ll call it a night.