Archive for December 19th, 2012

Some people.

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Some people are obsessive.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs devoted to a single subject.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs devoted to a single movie.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs devoted to a single movie that isn’t f—ing “Star Wars”.
Some people are so obsessive, they start blogs devoted to a single movie that is currently in legal limbo.

Okay. You’re tired of the joke by now, so let me introduce Sorcerer1977, a blog devoted entirely to the 1977 William Friedkin movie “Sorcerer”.

Friedkin did this right after “The Exorcist”; it wasn’t well received at the time, but it seems that over the years, something of a cult has grown around it. Lawrence and I watched it quite a while back (I think it was so long ago we watched it on VHS). I’m a fan of “The Wages of Fear“, which “Sorcerer” is something of a homage to, and I actually think I prefer Friedkin’s version to Clouzot’s.

I’d love to see it again, but the movie is currently tied up in legal limbo which prevents a proper re-release. Both Paramount and Universal say they don’t own the rights to the movie, and have no idea who does, so Friedkin is suing both studios trying to get the ownership issue cleared up.

Anyway, the guy behind this is seriously obsessive and seems to be trying to cover every aspect of the movie – digging out old interviews with Friedkin and other people involved in the production, discussing the Tangerine Dream soundtrack, etc. etc. etc.

My goal for this is to create a makeshift archive — news, interviews, photos, whatever. Kinda like bonus material waiting for a DVD. Or maybe it’s just a digital valentine for a movie I love dearly.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s an awesome goal.

(Hattip: directly, Coudal Partners. Indirectly, Gruber.)

Posted in Geek, Movies | 1 Comment »

Signs! Signs and portents!

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

More evidence that the end of the world is coming: Lawrence and I actually disagree on something.

Specifically, what we disagree on is that I don’t think Thai Noodle House is the worst Thai restaurant in Austin. It has been a while since I’ve eaten at Thai Noodle House, but I don’t remember it being as bad as Chang Thai.

Posted in Food, Guns, Media | 2 Comments »

Speaking of books…

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

…I’ve been a little distracted, but I’m thinking the time has come to pull my favorite Christmas story off the shelf for re-reading.

Posted in Books | Comments Closed

Interesting questions.

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012
  1. Why did I have to find out about the exhumation of Perry Smith and Richard Hickock from the Onion A/V Club, of all places?
  2. It has been a while since I’ve read In Cold Blood. Is there any evidence that they were ever in Florida to begin with, much less Sarasota? Serious question: I honestly do not remember.
  3. Sarasota county still has evidence that they expect to get useful DNA (in some form) from, 53 years after the crime? (To be clear, it isn’t the evidence that surprises me: I’d expect them to keep evidence for unsolved crimes until the sun goes nova. What I’m having trouble with is whether DNA would be preserved after being stored for that long.)
  4. If they do get closure on this case using Smith and Hickock’s DNA, will this be the oldest solved cold case ever? Or oldest solved using DNA? Anybody know what the current record is?

Posted in Books, Clippings, Law | Comments Closed

Obit watch take two.

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Lawrence has just informed me of the passing of Robert Bork. Obits to come.

Posted in Clippings, Law, Obits | Comments Closed

Random notes: December 19, 2012.

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

And I said, “What about ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’?”
She said, “I think that’s just been added to the National Film Registry.”
“And as I recall, we both kind of liked it.”
And I said, “Well, that’s the one thing we’ve got.”

(For those of you who have forgotten your one-hit wonders, reference explained here.)

(“The Matrix”? Whoa. But I’m pretty happy about “Dirty Harry” and “A Christmas Story”. I have the Criterion editions of both “Two-Lane Blacktop” and “Anatomy of a Murder“, but haven’t watched either one yet.)

The NYT finally got around to publishing an obit for Reinhold Weege, the creator of “Night Court” whose death we noted previously.

Alex Sanchez was the executive director of Homies Unidos, an anti-gang organization, when he was indicted in 2009 on Federal charges of “racketeering and conspiracy to commit murder”. The government alleged he had ties to the MS-13 gang.

Yesterday, the government asked that the charges be dismissed “without prejudice”, which gives them the right to refile those charges in the future.

The action follows a recent court filing by defense attorney Amy Jacks, who demanded that the case be dismissed because prosecutors “presented false evidence to the grand jury, lied to the grand jury and withheld exculpatory evidence,” she said. Her motion was not made public because it deals with sealed testimony before a federal grand jury, she said.

Posted in Clippings, Law, Movies | Comments Closed