I Know Where I’m Going

Well. I had to watch the bonus features AND listen to the commentary for I Know Where I’m Going tonight. I watched the film last night and loved it. Made in 1944, starring Wendy Hiller and Roger Livesey, and written and directed by Michael Powell and Eric Pressburger, the film tells the story of a young woman off to marry her wealthy fiancee in Scotland, but is sidetracked by the weather and a charming Scottish laird.

My sister told me about the movie years ago, and I’ve thought about it off and on but had not seen it in the video stores. Thanks to Netflix I’ve now remedied the situation. Many of the scenes were filmed in the Scottish islands, and though in black and white, they make me want to book a Scottish vacation.

What Happened Today?

I check my blog stats today, and discover that Saturday was my best day ever as far as hits: I got 115.  Huh? What happened?  Why?

Looking at the search engine terms that brings someone to my site, I could see that the terms “chicago,” “Chicago,” CHICAGO,” and other variations of Chicago were mighty popular.  So, people doing a search of Chicago clicked on my blog.  I tried to find out what post was doing it, but when I search for Chicago on Google, Ask.com, or yahoo I don’t get any dilettanteville showing up.  Hmmm…it’s a mystery.  I just hope that whatever post (my visit to Chicago last summer or talking about YearlyKos in Chicago this summer) was what the searchers were looking for.

Making a Movie…Sort Of

I’m watching The Last Shot, a film about making a movie. Unfortunately for the aspiring screenwriter and director, played by Matthew Broderick, his movie is only a front set up by the FBI as part of a sting operation. It’s a fun but slight film, and based on a true story (aren’t all films nowadays?).

Alec Baldwin is the FBI agent who falls in love with the idea of making movies, Toni Collette is the rather strange leading lady, and Tony Shalhoub is the gangster and the one the FBI is after. Buck Henry plays the friend/agent of Broderick’s character, while Joan Cusack is a producer who shows Baldwin and the FBI how to act like a producer.  Their best scenes are on the deleted scenes section of the bonus features, but still have moments in the “undeleted” scenes.

I’m not sure how I would rate it if I reviewed it, but for a Friday night movie it hits the spot.  My question is if I should do a double feature.  I’ve got a Michael Powell film waiting for me: I Know Where I’m Going.  Hmm… it’s 9:22 pm, will I stay awake long enough? I’ve slept the last day and a half away with headaches/aches/crappy chest congestion.  I might just manage to make it through an old comedy. If so, expect another post.

Me and my exciting Friday night.

Wild Hogs review

Gee, let’s make fun of the gays and have the homophobic behavior be sympathetic. The jokes are mainly weak, but there are a few, which helped me up the grade to C+. The movie has had good box office, but it has help from the lack of decent films this time of year.  Anyway, here’s my review for Wild Hogs.

More Dick Cavett

Tonight’s DVD is the second in the series of Dick Cavett’s shows with comics. We get Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, and Bill Cosby. Talk shows certainly have change since Cavett was on the air.  I just watched Woody Allen do a 90 minute interview with Cavett.  You never get that kind of time to talk and joke about subjects in current shows, which is a shame.

For Your Consideration review

I just posted my review of For Your Consideration. As I didn’t get to see this in the movie theatres, but had to wait until it was out on DVD. Fortunately I had seen it by the time we had a movie reviewer problem arise. Since our local entertainment newspaper is set for us movie reviewers to have about 800 words for all reviews combined, with another 450 for the one video review, our regular reviews are about 270 words (when there are three movies that opened) or 400 words (two movies). The other week only one movie opened which meant a review of 800 words. I think it was Premonition.

We had to decide what to do. Our decision? Have an extra video review. Who would write it? Well, duh, me of course. Thus I have a 400 word video review.

Um…that wasn’t a fascinating story was it?

Life is Good

You know that paper and project and presentation about the project that I’ve been whining about? Well, it’s done and turned in, so one more class down.  It might be a good idea before I take another class to go ahead and appy to the college.  That’s my next project.  Meanwhile, I be watching some Battlestar Galactica, season 2.  Netflix is good.

Getting There … or Getting Close

I’ve stressed over this final paper that I need to complete for one of my online classes.  The teacher gave me an extra week to do it, as I had to travel out of town on business last week, but it is like pulling teeth to get me to finish this baby.  I’m aiming for 12 pages and I’m up to 9, but I want to be done NOW.  It’s due Monday, along with a slide show and a mini-project.

It’s sad that I missed the Peace March this morning here in Flagstaff because I was up late last night writing — though I did manage to make it to the movies.  I am reviewing The Last Mimzy, but did I go see that?  Oh no, I wen’t to see Shooter (a darn good action film, by the way, and satisfied all my needs to see things blow up good) and now I still need to see The Last Mimzy AND finish this honking paper.  Did I mention that I sometimes hate being a student?

Okay, I know I can get three more pages out of me tonight.  It’s only 10:00 PM, there’s two more hours until tomorrow.  Wouldn’t it be great to wake up and not have to finish my first draft — I could go right to the second draft, plus finish up the other projects, and see the movie, oh, and write the movie review.  Sigh.

I know!  I’ll go eat some ice cream!   Um… don’t ask me how that helps me get my paper done, but it does allow me to do something other than complain.

New Rules for Bush and Cheney

Good googly moogly. Bill Maher nails Bush and Cheney in his New Rules segment. The joy of YouTube is that even though I have no cable, I can see this funny AND powerful routine.

And may I say, that I think the idea of loading the latest week’s worth of scandals onto an iPod so you can catch up on everything is great. I’m telling you, I can’t keep things straight with this Administration — there’s just too much!

Thanks to Rising Hegemon for the link.

Off with Her Head

Tonight’s DVD is Marie Antoinette. Starring Kirsten Dunst as Antoinette and Jason Schwartman as her husband, Louis, soon to be King Louis XVI, I’m enjoying it tremendously. Milena Canonero certainly deserved her Oscar for costumes, as they are gorgeous.

Waaaaaaa!

I don’t wanna go to work!  I wanna stay home!*

*Another post brought to you by my inner brat. Now let me finish getting ready for work. . . sigh.

Renzi Playing a Part in the Ousted Attorneys Story

On October 24, 2006 I posted about a possible investigation of my representative, Rick Renzi (AZ-01). Here’s a snippet from the original story:

A land deal involving Rep. Rick Renzi, R-Ariz., is being scrutinized by the U.S. attorney’s office in Arizona, a law enforcement official in Washington said Tuesday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity while the inquiry is ongoing, said the investigation has been under way for a few months and is still in its very early stages.

The official did not specify what land deal was under investigation.

A spokesman for the Arizona U.S. attorney, Paul Charlton, said he could not confirm or deny an investigation was under way.

See the name of the Arizona U.S. attorney? It’s Paul Charlton, one of the attorneys fired from the Department of Justice. Would you guess that his going after a Republican could have anything to do with it?

I’d wondered what had happened to the investigation after not hearing anything about it since the story broke. Now it makes sense. The Arizona Republic has a story today based on some of the 3000 emails that the DoJ and Bush administration turned over.

Charlton’s ouster is emerging as another red flag in the prosecutor purge, with congressional investigators and others trying to figure out if he was scuttled by partisan politics. Administration critics say the dismissals of at least two prosecutors, David Iglesias of New Mexico and Carol Lam of San Diego, have been linked to political investigations by their offices. . .

When the first list of U.S. attorneys targeted for ouster was drafted, Charlton’s name was not on it. But his name was on a subsequent list, drafted in September. Although the Renzi inquiry was not yet public, it is likely the Justice Department was aware of the investigation, said a former U.S. attorney who is familiar with the protocol when a sitting lawmaker is involved.

“If we had anything of a major investigative nature, I would notify the Justice Department,” said Melvin McDonald, who was Arizona’s U.S. attorney in the Reagan administration. “Typically, that’s what happens.”

The newest e-mails, memos and other records raise fresh questions about whether there were political motivations for Charlton’s ouster, as the documents indicate that Justice Department officials were still - after the fact - trying to settle on a complete explanation for why Charlton was called on Dec. 7 and told to resign.

The guys who lead this country would be very happy leading a banana republic, wouldn’t they?

Is that Bi-Annual or Semi-Annual?

As I continue to avoid my homework (yes, it’s spring break, but when you are behind that doesn’t mean you can take a break), I’ve decided to write a delayed post on my blog. I had two milestones happen a few weeks ago: I hit over 10,000 site views and I passed my first anniversary of blogging.

My very first post was on March 9, 2006:

My first post on this blog. As a dilettante who flitters and scatters about, I have no high expectation that this will turn into a going concern. Of course, even a dilettante must have dreams no matter how frivolous and unsuitable. So, on with the show and may I at least post more than once every six months!

Well, I did post more than every six months. Making a decision to post about whatever I wanted to write about helped. Though I am a political blog junkie I find that I rarely want to write about political goings on – there are so many better writers than me who say things so much better about the state of the world’s affairs. I get so angry and can’t find the words to express my anger about Bush and his buddies.

Now, writing about films is easy. I do it as a part-time job and can post my printed reviews a week after they are published. I also watch tons of DVDs. This is due to my determination not to have cable or a satellite dish again. Too many commercials and too many awful shows can still suck you in to hours of TV viewing. Though I do pen items that have nothing to do with movies, it is my favorite subject. I’ve somehow written 408 posts and raked in 445 comments.

This site doesn’t get a lot of hits each day, but I average about 20 to 30. Considering how excited I was the day Dilettanteville received 8 hits (five of them from people I didn’t know), that’s something. My top day was 114 hits, which was due to a post that was cross-posted at DailyKos. Yes, I met Joseph Wilson. He didn’t have his wife Valerie Plame with him, but oh, that was heady.

The most commented post was actually one of my review pages. Anyone hear about High School Musical? Oh my, the comments make me feel old. Young Cassidy and others argue about the High School Musical bed sheets. Lots of visitors find me based on a search on the bedding with a High School Musical theme. Just writing this could cause many more visits. Personally, I don’t understand the fuss about the tie-in products, but then, I am no longer 12 years old.

If not High School Musical, it’s Doris Day and Sex. Yes, that post also received tons of hits. Do you think it’s because of the name “Doris Day” or the word “sex” in the title? Or is it the combination of both?

The real thrill is when you find yourself on other’s blogrolls. Soorajrox, who, like me, is having a hard time posting lately, frequently comments on my posts. I think it was my comic book post that led him to me. There’s something about a picture of Red Sonja that makes a blog very readable. What’s neat about soorajrox is that he’s from India, a place that I find fascinating. I didn’t used to think I would want to visit India, but my opinion changed in the last year or two. Watching Bollywood musicals will do that to you.

Thebrideofthemonster is another commenter who uses the same movie character as our personal icon: the Bride of Frankenstein. It also looks like thebrideofthemonster is French. Her/his blog, This Blog is Rotten is written in both French and English.

So, I do like my own little dilettanteville, and I enjoy writing about silly things. I like discovering other people who post on similar blogs. So many of us have something in common, especially the love of movies. I do hope to continue doing more. I hope that I can write something interesting and entertaining often enough to make people want to read what I have to say. Most of all, I do hope I continue to post more than once every six months.

The Astronaut Farmer review

Another review for you. I had the choice of Reno 911 or The Astronaut Farmer. My first choice was Reno, but after some thought I went for the family film. I was not disappointed. Here’s the review.

Bridge to Terabithia review

Another in my reviews. This film surprised me, since I believed the previews.  There’s no magical land and magical critters, it’s just a story about pre-teens dealing with life by using their imaginations.  So, here’s my review of Bridge to Terabithia.