2017 – Happy Belated New Year!!

I’m back!! It’s a good feeling to be back. I apologize for the slightly extended, unintended hiatus from blogging. I meant to blog a lot during the holidays, but did not feel well and decided to let everything slide. But I am very excited for this new year of 2017.

I was trying to think if I had any New Year’s resolutions for my blog this year, but I do not have anything specific. I have enjoyed blogging far more than I ever thought I would and what has been most rewarding by far is hearing from all of my readers. It has broadened my horizons, broadened my thoughts on these films and books,and shown how these things connect people and how they matter in all our lives. Thanks so much for all your contributions and sharing!! I’ve realized that the primary reason I blog is to share my passion and learn what other people think.

A Few Movie-Related Things That Happened in 2016

I was accepted as a member of the Classic Movie Blog Association (CMBA)!

Bought a new TV and a blu ray player. What a difference that has made. Of course, it has also meant that we needed to update a few of our movies. Most prominently: Charade. I popped in an old DVD and it was nearly unwatchable. Apparently, the old TV was so bad that I never realized how bad the DVD was. But Criterion’s blu ray edition is so worth it. Absolutely stunning. I never even knew she was eating green lettuce at the beginning of the film.

I’ve been teaching a class I call American History and Culture Through Film. It is once a week and it has been a wonderful opportunity to share (btw, one silent film that has received almost universal enthusiasm from my high school students is The Mark of Zorro, with Douglas Fairbanks). I am trying to highlight how much one can learn about America’s culture (the music, the books the films are based on, how people dress, the changing attitudes, racism and tolerance, what the different genres and stars says about the era they are set in). But I’ve also learned a lot. My TA last week blew my mind be observing – after hearing me try to describe the dynamic use of the camera in the last days of the silent era – that it seems like they used the camera much as music is used today, to set mood. I never thought of that before, but I think it’s true.

Reading Goals for 2017

I did not read nearly as many books as I wanted last year, but have higher hopes for this year. My list includes:

The Divine Comedy – Dante

Random Harvest – James Hilton

Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert

Black Narcissus – Rumer Godden

Othello – Shakespeare

Bring on the Girls – Guy Bolton and P.G. Wodehouse

Paradise Lost – John Milton

I’m feeling a bit ambitious this year, but we’ll see how it goes.

Movie Watching Goals for 2017

I don’t actually have many movie watching goals for this year. I tend to watch as the spirit moves me. I want to see Black Narcissus after I read the book…and get my hands on a blu ray edition. My understanding is that Powell and Pressburger films particularly benefit from the clarity and vibrancy of blu ray. Also Red Shoes.

I would also like to see Cabin in the Sky, 12 Angry Men, On the Waterfront, and a few Marx Brothers films. But my biggest goal is to see many of the films that TCM and Fathom Events are presenting in select theaters: Singin in the Rain, An Affair to Remember, All About Eve, North by Northwest, The Godfather, Bonnie and Clyde, The Princess Bride, E.T., Casablanca…

I’m seeing Singin in the Rain this weekend in theaters, which seems a fitting tribute in memory of Debbie Reynolds. I’m trying to talk as many people into coming with me as possible.

What are your goals for this coming year?