Action Camus

Full color versions of the three shown here as well as several others
will be available in an upcoming Ivan Brunetti edited anthology.

Bad Habits

Today, I pulled another classic Spath move when I thought I accidentally threw away a DigiBeta tape a filmmaker had mailed into the fest. This is significant because after we make selections for the festival, filmmakers will send in a screening-quality replacement for their festival review turd. That usually equates to a higher expense than your standard writable DVD. I scurried about the office trying to find the misplaced tape, but alas to no avail. I tore through drawers and stacks on my desk. I rooted through the piles under my desk and cabinets on it. Nothing. I decided drastic action had to be taken and I found myself wallowing in the dumpster tearing through the trash bags I had disposed of earlier today. I came up empty handed. What was I to do? Tapes like that are not cheap for the independent filmmaker and how do I explain I threw the tape away? I came back inside with dwindling hope and looked through the stacks of tapes I had already received daring the tape to exist against all odds. Amazingly, the tape was sitting right on my desk, underneath another albeit in the wrong program stack. I had looked at this tape multiple times before in my search. This raises many, many questions:

How did I not realize that it was sitting right here?

Why did I have to get in a dumpster to find it?Why do I not know how to read?Why is this guy my new roommate?

So many questions and only one place to look...

Soon we will be one...

Everyday I live is one day closer to TRON. As evidenced by this picture, Jeremy Roenick feels the same way. I can only hope that one day I am reatomized into a computer landscape where survival is all that matters.

Face the Facts

Okay, people, it's time for me to come clean. I'm lazy. If you look at my blog over the course of the last month or so, it's all videos and links and pictures and ha-ha funny time. Nobody wants that. What about my insightful, hardboiled reviews of movies or poignant, colorful thoughts on comic books? A waste of time. I bore you, I bore myself. Okay, it's brass tax time. I've been super busy. I wrapped up shorts selections for the festival last week and now it's time to corral all of the invited shorts. I've fallen way behind on several other projects: the Beast video, the Rocky Horror video, and Rhonda's antique video. I do want to post a quick review of a nice weekend.

Friday, Karibe and I went to "Birth of the Cool" at the Kemper Art Museum on Wash U's campus. This was a lot of fun - lots of neat art, photography, music - just not enough time to see it all. Especially when you spend too much time in the money museum downstairs! We hope to get back before the installation closes (Jan. 5) and spend a little more time in the music section. You should, too. We had planned on watching "The Man With The Golden Arm" when we got back home, but MetroLink was against that plan, what with its half hour wait between departing trains at Shrewsbury. However, if you are a county resident, you should still vote for Metro expansion in November. We arrived home too late to spin the film - Kara's VBall tourney started early the next morn. We settled on a couple of "The Office" episodes and ice cream instead.

Kara left very early the next morning for her Kirkwood Freshman volleyball tournament and I left soon after for the most thrilling adventure my Saturday's have seen in a long time. I picked up Billion Mead around 8:30am and we ventured out to St. Charles to eat breakfast at my younger sister's charitable soccer event. After breakfast, we headed to O'Fallon to meet up with a crew of local filmmakers who are hoping to produce a feature-length, ninja-based film in St. Louis. We went out to the pirate festival in Wentzville to stir up some shenanigans while dressed like ninjas. The footage will make up part of a promotional campaign used to generate interest, buzz, and donations. I returned home thoroughly worn out from all of the excitement.

On Sunday, Kara and I planned to eat some sweet, sweet crepes, but the restaurant such eats wasn't opened. We then settled on breakfast at The Riverside Cafe. Not an ideal setting (with the hoosiers, smoking, et al) but the food was actually decent. The second part of our Sunday plan (walking architecture tour of downtown St. Louis) was also nixed because the tourguide was out of town. We went grocery shopping instead and we wrapped up the day with a roller hockey game. I also bought some new hockey equipment at discount, blowout prices. Most of the equipment will serve as an emergency or friend-in-need backup.

In the meantime, I'll continue to have my hands full with shorts programming, various video projects, and other odds n' ends. Hopefully I can get back to watching other movies, specifically the large stack of DVDs I have waiting for me at home.

Poly Sigh

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

The good ole hockey game...

The NHL season starts in a little over a week and I've been playing in an inline league for the past seven weeks. Times are good. Here's hoping for ice hockey action soon...

Ole Sam Clemens...

Kinda neat.

JA miłość kino.

Karu passed along a list of brilliant Polish movie posters. There are some very, very awesome pieces here. It's a very neat and strange look at marketing in Central Europe.

Thanks, Kara!

Gross.

Look who's shacking up now. In the world of quasi-celebrity and 15 minute fame, it's nice to see that freaks still have a place in this world. Through the days of pagans and knights to housewives and men in gray flannel suits, these gentle gypsies and humble homunculi, these mysteries of nature and aberrations of humanity, these circus creatures still have a niche in our society. And the Lord among them? This gent...

Happy Trails.

Amy Poehler is leaving Saturday Night Live as she prepares for the birth of her first child. This just begs the question: Who cares? I feel bad for Will Arnett. Great taste for comedy, poor taste for women. Poehler will next appear in a spinoff of "The Office." It will be nice to watch that crash and burn around her.

Why won't you love me?

Four years ago, I read an article about a video game I will never play. The article featured a discussion between David Duchovny and Marilyn Manson. I am a bit of a Duchovny fan, but have never been much for Manson. I don't know if it's my own bias, but he really comes off as narcissistic SOB. I hope that is not just a reflection of dislike for my own self. Regardless you can check out the link above for the full, interview, or here for the article as I read it (or page 1, 2, 3, & 4). I found it be a rather insightful converstation - the two share similar tastes and are interested in media structure and criticism. I was just put off by Manson's incessant need to baby-spoon feed Duchovny ideas and recommendations. Duchovny actually counters Manson by having read certain books or being familiar with certain techniques and themes. Much to Manson's dismay, I'm sure.

Let's All Go to the Lobby!

Wow, it's been over a month since I posted a blog about going to the movies. It's hard to believe that I've been spending so much time watching short films in preparation for the festival that I haven't been to the movies as much. Or maybe I just haven't thought about blogging about the movies I've been to - but I'm pretty sure the last one was either "American Teen" or "Pineapple Express." Maybe that's why I haven't gone in a while... I did see "The Women" but I should really never mention that to anybody.

On Monday I went to a screening of "Burn After Reading," the new film by the Coen Brothers. It's hard to imagine following up "No Country for Old Men" with any film, but BAR does an adequate job. It really is a film similar in vein to the other dark comedies (or just comedies) the Coen's have done in the past. The film is rather suspenseful as well, much to my surprise. The movie isn't as lighthearted or goofy as the trailer makes it out to be - and the plot is pretty loose. There are a few twists and surprises, and I was relatively shocked at one sequence. It's not a great film like No Country, but I enjoyed BAR for the fun, irreverent stance it took on the CIA, physical beauty, and expectations of being a good Samaritan in today's society.

On Wednesday, I went to a screening of "Towelhead," which was really good, really disturbing, and a very jolting experience. There were a number of times I squirmed in my seat due to the tense, awkward situations that were created on screen. A film of this nature, pubescent teen dealing with blossoming sexuality while struggling to fit in and find one's identity, could easily be likened to several others of that sort of genre, but the main character strives for acceptance of who she is not what others want her to be. She wants the people around her to understand that she is okay with what she is becoming even though she travels down a dark, twisted path to become who she is. This is definitely not a date movie, but a film that falls into a small group of discussion films, insightful films, or painful memories films.

I'll always remember...

A day to beautiful to ever forget - an endless love for all time.

This is a day we can never forget, because, that's right, it's Brad Bird's birthday.

Poly Sigh

I'm not much of a political person, but I really think Palin is good for this country - check out this ringing endorsement below!

An alright video, but Palin is pretty great.

Freezerburn: The Art Show

My pal, Ben, will be staging an art show, his second in the last few months, at Cranky Yellow on Cherokee. The date is October 3rd, be there, be square, Ben takes all kinds. He's been working so feverishly lately it's like his brain did this:

It's A Fad, Fad, Fad, Fad World.

So, Chuck Norris is some sort of crazy fad hero right now, mostly for kids who have never seen his movies and are only vaguely familiar with his TV show.  I, for one, have seen "Sidekicks" 17 times, and have seen more than one season of "Walker, Texas Ranger."  Okay, okay, I didn't go out much on Saturday nights in high school, what was I supposed to do?  Anyway, here is an early SNL Digital Short about said fad hero - but too funny not to enjoy.

Spread the word...

Paul Friswold, of the RFT, has done the Idaho Avenue Film Festival a big favor with an article that appears on the RFT's site. You can read it here.Big things are brewing and the day is almost here. Gotta love that picture!

Do your part...

Exasperation

Why is it I cannot find any news on the new faces gracing Lego characters? All this damn internet and no one takes the time to meme that crap? Sometimes, the world makes me feel so powerless.

A callback to a master...

"Burn After Reading," the new film by the Coen Brothers, is set for release on September 12. The poster art, embedded here seems to bear much influence from Sal Bass, an artist and designer whose work is most closely associated with Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, and Martin Scorsese. Not a bad gig. His work is more shiek than chic, but it definitely has a sort of retro-cool. Anyone who is a fan of opening title sequences is okay by me.

Saul Bass - a great online resource of his work

What Shapes A Young Brian Spath?

To me, this is possibly the most thrilling moment in all of film: the motivation, the music, the montage!

What Shapes A Young Brian Spath?

See Also: Where It's At

NerdCore

In a world, where a man is known for his voice.

The man known as "The Voice," Don LaFontaine, passed away over the weekend. His voice was a staple for trailers and voiceover work and really became a signature for the industry. He has been mocked and parodied, but that's what happens when you're the best. Godspeed, Don.