More Life Affirming Photos From The Floater

Roger Ebert Set To Present

Roger, Scott Wilson, and Heavenly WIlson Discuss The Year Of The Quiet Sun, which Scott starred in, Heavenly helped crew (at least when they shot in Death Valley… the only shooting in America) and which Roger wrote about in one of his The Great Movies books.

Preparing… Just In Case

And A Lifeboat Homage To Destricted

Mexican Day On The Least Ethnic Place On Earth

It's Friday…

… and all that’s opening out here is the sea… not that I’m complaining.
I will likely take a look at the box office here tomorrow morning… afternoon, boat time.
There doesn’t seem to be an enormous amount happening in L.A… outside of the continued shrinkage at Paramount.
I know that it is shocking that I am not all over The Pink Panther, Curious George, Firewall and Final Destination 3, but we will all have to deal with the stunning reality.

Columbo On The Scene

Actually… this is the first time I saw this photo and I have to say… two beautiful, beautiful girls… and neither one did anything good for themselves with this photo. Neither is photographed well for their bodies. And both look less sexy this way than clothed or in close-up. Jennifer Aniston should be thrilled about that Rolling Stone cover… she was never sexier than there… and here, the length and whippet-like, lean, sexy power of Ms Knightley’s figure is lost and Scarlett doesn’t have her boobs to balance her zaftig shape and the prominence of a not-unpleasant, but not particularly interesting ass.
If this was a Dove ad, they would both be lovely and excellent examples of body image. But as is, the photo seems almost ironic… “Look at these incredible faces… they’re bodies aren’t so perfect… see!” Many women may find this photo to be great for women’s self-image. But is it good for the careers of these two young movie stars?
Peter looks great though.
ADDED ON FRIDAY
Jeffrey Boam’s Doctor adds this…

The Bus To The Boat… Avg Age Of Cruiser Indicated By Hair Color

The View From There

And Out To Sea… The View From The Cabin

On The Floater

I got the program for the festival this evening and, fortunately, there are quite a few interesting movies that I have not yet seen.
The fest opens tonight will a screening of Liza With A Z, which was at Toronto this year.
Also Showing:
The Peter Mullan/Brenda Blethyn comedy On A Clear Day
Krzysztof Zanussi’s 1984 Polish/W German film Year of The Quiet Sun
Citizen Dog from Thailand
Dori Bernstein’s Brodway doc, Show Business
Doug Block’s personal doc, 51 Birch Street
A 2005 film from Iran, Mohammed Rasoulof’s Iron Island
Searchlight’s upcoming release Nightwatch
A Terry Zwigoff film I didn’t even know existsed, Look Both Ways
And an in-progress doc on Pete Seeger
More later…

It's Midnight In Houston

I just arrived in my near-hot-sheet hotel in Houston (I have six hours to sleep, shower and be back in the airport at what is 4:30am PST). Airline screw-up kept me from an evening of work and Houston and instead, all I can do is try to grab some zzzzs.
Funny… this feels more like a traditional blog than anything else I’ve put on here in quite a while. Yick.
Chat among yourselves…

Heading For The Deep End

I am heading to The Floating Film Festival as I type. I expect that I will have reaosnable web access during the journey… but things may slow down around here a bit.

When It's Hard To Be On The Web

I made some remarks on MCN about the Nicole LaPorte piece on “gossip” – fewer than I my lesser angels wanted to – and a few hours later, after the Super Bowl, some e-mails got me rolling again.
And as my stomach acid churns, what really strikes me is that I am really sick of defending the web from people who seek to attack competitors by backhanding the medium… a medium most Old Media has failed in adapting to.
I don’t want to do a daily list of what factual mistakes are made and never corrected in the trades and the major papers. And if you think that it is already being done, you have no idea of how many such errors slide on by for the sake of trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) to not harp.
I learned long ago that these kind of petty swipes are the price of trying to be progressive and having an impact

Sunday Estimates By klady

3-Day Estimates / Weekend / % Change / Cume
When a Stranger Calls / 22.2 / – / 22.2
Big Momma’s House / 13.1 / -53% / 45.2
Nanny McPhee / 9.9 / -32% / 26.6
Brokeback Mountain / 6.3 / -3% / 60.4
Hoodwinked / 5.2 / -30% / 44
Underworld: Evolution / 5.1 / -55% / 52.7
Something New / 4.9 / – / 4.9
Annapolis / 3.5 / -55% / 12.9
Walk the Line / 3.4 / 11% / 110.7
Glory Road / 3.0 / -43% / 39

Klady's Friday Estimates

Perspective demands that I point out that the Brokeback Mountain per-screen for the weekend will be less than the When A Stranger Calls per-screen for Friday alone. While this doesn

What Race Is There Anyway?

I didn’t post this before, but the Gurus o’ Gold live on…
Is there a race worth following now that nominations are in?

A Big Question About The Small

MSNBC (the THB reader, not the network) wants to know whether you all think that Lionsgate continues to qualify as an independant.
Where do you put the line?

Freebird!!!

I wish I had a picture to show you, but at end of the three hour George Clooney event here at Santa Barbara, Clooney got his award. I was in the rear of the Arlington Theater. And like a 70s rock concert, a Clooney stood on the stage, small flickering lights filled the audience. People weren’t igniting their lighters, but rather their camera phones and digital cameras… nearly 100 of them. And it looked a lot like the view of a Lynard Skynard concert.
Cool.

Santa Barbara In Santa Barbara…

The 21st Annual International Film Festival kicked off tonight with Ask The Dust, the not-quite-good-enough film from the legendary Robert Towne, based on the John Fante novel.
Festival Director Roger Durling told a story about buying expensive shoes that were too tight three years ago for his first festival. Last year, they still hurt, but he wore them. And this year they finally fit. The metaphor was obvious… though I am sure that many took it literally. And indeed, the festival already feels like it fits Roger like a tight T-shirt.
The opening night party was in an outdoor mall and many of the stores stayed open and a number of local restaurants set up shop to feed the crowd, making for an evening that really felt like a community effort. Very good start.

What Could Be More Depressing…

… than discussing who is getting fired at ParaDream?
As for Oscar, I feel like a 6-year-old who is crashing after eating too much Halloween candy.
Talk amongst yourselves… please be nice.