It has been brought to my attention that I made a gross mistake in failing to mention that the magnificent Benji Thurber is the co-brains behind Peter King = Doofus. My sincere apologies for this oversight.
I LOVE YOU, BENJI. PLEASE UN-BLOCK ME!
Also, check out Fritz Lang’s Spies from 1928. The prototype of every single spy flick you’ve ever seen.
Hi everyone,
My apologies for being so long with an update (I say “everyone,” of course, with the false expectation that anyone is still reading this blog).
So…life as a graduate student in Atlanta. I’m nearing the end of the third week of classes, and so far everything is proceeding swimmingly. Reading is of course voluminous, but in general I enjoy and get a lot out of it. The end of the semester will likely be quite stressful, though. We’ll see. My job at the theology library is pretty engaging as well. I spent an hour scanning a Catholic missal from the 1540s. Well, if you actually know me, you know that I would find that engaging. Yeah…
Some highlights: I met Crispin Glover at an arthouse a few weeks ago. He was presenting What Is It?, his controversial film in which most of the actors have Down syndrome. The film itself was largely inaccessible-even for an art film-but his discussion of it brought up some interesting issues. The gist of his argument was that Hollywood gives away Oscars to stars who portray characters with physical or mental disabilities, but if an actor who has Down syndrome portrays a character who doesn’t necessarily have Down syndrome within the context of a film, it’s considered something of a taboo, or it at least elicits an acute discomfort. Glover is definitely an odd guy, but the discussion was very interesting.
On the nostalgia front, check out the season premiere of The Middlebury Radio Theater of Thrills and Suspense this Saturday at 7PM. You can listen to the show live at the MRTOTS site or at the WRMC website. They’re performing The Big Sleep and have some new talent (In case you didn’t know, I am myself a MRTOTS alumnus). Peruse the site and check out the podcast…the whole shebang is rather close to my heart.
Finally, it has come to my attention that one Brian Sommers has started a Peter King-related blog. Having lived with Brian for four years, I know that this is extremely exciting. Check it out.
Well, that’s it for now. Sorry about the drop-off in reviews, but I’ll post some of my class-related writings once they…well…exist.
