LIE #71: Better than Jesus’ Birthday: “2001: A Space Odyssey”

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968; Stanley Kubrick; screenplay by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, from a story by Clarke; special visual effects supervisors: Wally Veevers, Con Pederson, Tom Howard and Douglas Trumbull)—a hyper-real/hallucinatory/mystical vision of hope and human advancement to oppose the retrograde, conformist steps the world actually took in the real year 2001, In 70mm (!!!!) on Christmas Eve 2012 at the Lincoln Center, where the projectionists still know and respect their craft: It was better than heroin!

Gerry Anderson Always Knew the Value of Blowing Up Stuff!

It happens in threes…

First we lose two great character actors, Jack Klugman and Charles Durning,

then visionary TV producer Gerry Anderson (1929-2012).

As influential as Roddenberry, Serling or Lucas, Anderson captured the imaginations of children of all ages—but mainly boys with tech-fetishes and space madness, including me.

As a kid, how many reams of paper did I fill up with my ballpoint pen illustrations of his Eagles, Thunderbirds and spinning-top UFOs? How many hours a week did I play with all the toys I had from his shows?*

RIP, Mr. Anderson, you were F.A.B.

Forget It, Zugsmith: It’s Chinatown (& Merry Xmas!)

First off,

Merry Xmas!

And Happy New Year!

Here’s hoping 2013 is better for all of us!

(Now tell all your friends to start following LERNER INTERNATIONAL!)

(please!)

I don’t really like the holiday season, but must pay it some respect, if only as a form of supernatural self-defense—which is why the image up top is Chuck Heston aping the Big JC (Happy B-day, you crazy peace-lovin’ lug, you!) from the conclusion of the underrated post-apocalypse flick /commentary on important stuff The Omega Man—oh, look to the right, and there’s yours truly in happier days!

The Holidays are a haunted and forlorn season, infused with more pained ghosts and evil hobgoblins than Halloween.

This time of year gives me the shivers in more ways than one.

However, today we do look at a film that touches on drug addiction, prostitution, racism, sexism, mysticism, degeneration, transgression, narcotics trafficking, and all the sordid aspects of the “Yellow Peril” hiding in the slums and sewers of America!

In other words, the perfect Xmas movie!

LIE #68: The November 2012 Index

So jeez, what the hell happened in November? And why does it take me so long to post about it?

Houseguests crashing over because of Hurricane Sandy, much mental turbulence due to the job search, houseguests bringing over rare films, heat waves, cold fronts, visiting friends I haven’t seen in a while, living a genuine life not just a vicarious one,

plenty of DVDs thrown into my lap via the lovely folks at the New York Public Library (love ya!), and

a delicious Thanksgiving dinner (cooked by yours truly*) almost ruined by psychotic relatives…

Oh, the usual…

The Year of the Dragon’s Best New Old Films—As Well As 2012’s Best Films Seen—Before the Mayan Apocalypse Resets the Clock of Infinity!

Is this list too early?

Well, I seriously doubt I’ll be seeing anything truly impressive in a movie theater or on DVD or via streaming before the end of the year, and anyway, by posting this before the end of 2012, I’m throwing down a gauntlet to the cinema godz:

Now they will be forced to put a truly awe-inspiring film into my path…

And then, I will be glad to go back and revise this post!

(Because do you think I’m actually going to get to see Zero Dark Thirty or The Man With the Iron Fists or Holy Motors in a theater this year? More than likely I’ll catch ’em on DVD from the public library sometime in 2013…)

On the other hand, LERNER INTERNATIONAL could be posting this list ahead of any Mayan Apocalypse that could be roiling our way…

Besides, Cthulhu and his buddies are always lurking around the corners…

LIE #66(6): Escape From Beneath the Conquest of the Planet of Squeaky’s Revenge! Taking “The Zed Zee Quiz”

For once, I am a force for good! Huzzah!

In the wake of LERNER INTERNATIONAL’s First Quiz and My Answers to said quiz, the fabulous Sq.Dave of The Zed Zee Conundrum (and the unfortunately now-defunct Rockin’ Monkey) posted his own quiz!

Quiz! Quiz-quiz-quiz!

Quizitty-quizzy-quizerino!

Very much a continuation of my own topic for quizification—that topic being “Favorite That’s Not”/“Silver Medal,”

Sq.Dave has come up with several excellent questions of his own—

Answers below/Gentlemen, start your engines!