John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Lost: The poster

Eric Tan is a California artist who does incredible posters, and often just for his own purposes. (He works for Disney, though.) Above is a poster he did for Lost, the TV show; many of the items on his blog relate to movies. He doesn't post often, but much of what you'll see are gems.

Stop Making Sense after 25 years (and in Blu-Ray)

I had one of those "25 years? Really??" moments today, when I read about how Stop Making Sense, the 1984 Talking Heads concert film, is being gussied up for a Blu-Ray re-release. (Rave review of the transfer here.) I'm with those who put at the top of the concert-film heap; even now, there's nothing like it, with the stunning musical performances and, especially, how Jonathan Demme shot it.

I saw it several times when I was working in Ottawa between 1985 and 1987; the Bytown rep cinema, then in Vanier (and a short walk from our apartment) seemed to play it at least once a month. How popular was it? We, and many others, got up to dance to it. I have a copy on DVD, and if I play it now, it's almost because I want something to listen to while I do the laundry and that kind of thing. But it's still worth watching, from beginning to end; the end, in fact, is a bit of a payoff, when Demme finally reveals the unseen audience at the Pantages theatre in Los Angeles, who are shown to be as sweat-soaked as the band itself. Small wonder.

Here's Once in a Lifetime, a good sample of both the look and sound of a terrific film.

It's a Wonderful Lime

... and it's one of the entries in a Worth 1000 competition this summer called One Letter Off, in which players rejigged movie posters by adjusting a single letter in the title. Hence, Wall, The Depanted and Pam's Labyrinth, among others. 

Were you aware you were dead?, David Letterman asks Matt Damon

David Letterman had some fun the other evening with Matt Damon, ostensibly hawking The Informant!, about TMZ-fuelled reports that Damon was dead.

Odd Job: Celebrity endorser

Odd Job remains one of the great villains in the James Bond canon ... but did you know the character lent his brute force and peculiar charm to cough suppressant commercials, too? Here's a gem from 1968.

A T-shirt for the Monty Python fan

A coat of arms depicting the knights who formerly said 'Ni,' as per Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The T-shirt was spotted here; click on the T-shirts label below to see more. In the meantime, enjoy a Monty moment below:

Oh no! The maenad from True Blood got hold of Puss in Boots from Shrek!

Hakuna matata, from the road

I pulled a little bit of a fast one on my son this morning, when I pointed to this photo and told him that they had found the inspiraton for Timon and Pumbaa from the Lion King. He was, until he turned around and saw me smiling, willing to suspend disbelief. Actually, I just saw it here.

A thought on winning money

"Money won is twice as sweet as money earned."
- Richard Price

[This is one of my favourite movie lines, and is uttered by Paul Newman in The Color of Money, which Price wrote. My apologies if it actually comes from the source novel by Walter Tevis.]

Where the Wild Things Are, with Tony Soprano (sort of)

I just played the newly released second trailer for Where the Wild Things Are, which is coming out now in just a couple of months, for our son, who was suitably impressed. The trailer shows much more detail and particularly character than the first, and while Nick was drawn into the atmosphere, I kept wondering whether I'll be able to enjoy the movie without thinking of the Sopranos. James Gandolfini voices Carol, the key monster, and throughout the trailer I was half-expecting to hear something about Paulie or the Bing. Nonetheless, we're all curious to see what the finished movie will be like.