Low/no budget filmmaker blogs daily on subjects like video production, HD cameras, screenwriting, etc.
Anthony Minghella died earlier today. What a loss. He was only 54.
I loved The English Patient, I feel his treatment of the material has converted a so-so novel into a masterpiece.
Most recently, I saw Breaking and Entering which isn’t in the same league as The English Patient but it’s still an interesting and thought-provoking movie.
Goodbye and rest in peace.
Peter Sellers is one of my favorite actors. His 15 minutes in Lolita are the best part of the movie (for me). I’ve seen Dr. Strangelove at least a dozen time and I find new entertaining bits every time.
Here’s a one-minute interview with him doing accents - just after he completed Dr. Strangelove. (Courtesy of Gootube).
I was listening to the BBC (drive time) today and they said Mardi Gras was over in New Orleans. Made me think about Easy Rider and my “writer’s block” when it comes to reviewing great movies.
In my book, Easy Rider stands out for two reasons: Jack Nickolson and Laszlo Kovacs (cinematographer). Jack did a good job which took him to A-list status. Quite a different thing happened to Laszlo.
Laszlo Kovacs had to wear a “I’m not Vilmos” t-shirt, so he doesn’t get confused with Vilmos Zsigmond. Both of them left Hungary in 1956 with footage of the Soviet invasion which they sold in Hollywood.
For a long time “Easy Rider was my least favorite film, interestingly enough, because “Easy Rider” caused me the most heartache and the most bad times and all because I was rejected because of “Easy Rider.” It was just a few years back, you know, I just fell in love with this movie. And especially one element in that movie was so important to me because all these bike riding scenes through the trees and the forest, you know, you had this dappled light and you have this rainbow reflection in the lens, and that was a pretty unique creation at that moment. Nobody had ever done it.
Lens flares were considered a mistake back then. If you have an eye for detail, that’s not the only “mistake” in the movie. In the scene where the choppers are first seen, if you pay close attention, you’ll see a ton of lights getting reflected off the chrome surfaces. That’s another “mistake” that gets the message across in a powerful way.
His camera rig consisted of a “1968 Chevy Impala convertible… and put a half sheet of 4×4 plywood”. That’s why my dream “car” is a Toyota Hilux. It’s the low-budget filmmakers killer rig.
Laszlo recently got four Lifetime Achievement Awards. He’s a living proof of what my photography professor used to say: “underexpose or overexpose, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s consistent. You call this style.”
I tuned to BBC - just in time to get the confirmation for Hamas’ winning the elections in Palestine. It’s not something that came out of the blue. Most polls indicated that Hamas could score an easy win.
Considering both the USA and the EU have banned Hamas and renounced it as a terrorist organization. The EU subsidizes the Palestinian government with some 500 Million euros which leaves an important question: how will Hamas spend these? A good start for Hamas is “wiping out Israel” as suggested by Iran’s president Ahmadinejad. It’s been on their agenda, they simply lacked the funds.
Iraq’s election yielded a similar result in that the vast majority of the parliamentary parties are religious - some more radical than others. I don’t wanna be the CIA guy who’s looking at the map of the Middle East.
An interesting question is: “what are the chances that Zawahiri will send Hamas a letter similar to the one he sent to Zarqawi?” Something like “does and don’ts of running a successful Al Qaeda franchise.”
Bruce Willis has offered a million dollars (US) to anyone who turns in any of the Al Qaida leaders. It seems that Al-Zawahiri’s letter to al-Zarqawi has put Zarqawi’s name at third place so if you have any info on the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden, Aymen Al-Zawahiri or Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, you better contact Bruce Willis.
It’s kind of ironic that Bruce’s most memorable perfomance is that of John McClane in Die Hard. Even more ironic, the movie was stolen by Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber - a terrorist. How much terrorists have changed since 1988… The quality of the photos still sucks though.
I know this sounds like a BAD joke. While I’m blogging and checking my email at the same time, some people still persist with writing letters. The problem with any letter (yes, even emails) is that they might end up in the wrong hands. CIA’s hands.
In a 6,300-word letter, Ayman al-Zawahiri addresses his Iraqi “colleague” al-Zarqawi (read the letter here: English; Arabic).
I still need to go through (at least part of) it myself. Although some sources doubt its authenticity, I have toread it. I do write several scenes that are related to Al Qaeda in general, and Al-Zawahiri in particular. No wonder it took Arthur Hailey 2 years to do his “Airport” research.
Update: Hamas wins the Palestine elections. Will we see another letter from Zawahiri (ايمن الظواهري)?
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