In exactly a month, Ryan Kelly and I will launch the Steven Spielberg Blogathon on December 18. Since there are a lot of movies I want to write about and since writing about them will take up an awfully large amount of my weeks and creative hours, I'm making a pledge: no blogging for a month. Don't be surprised if you don't see any new reviews or essays here for the next handful of weeks--I'll likely be busy in my bedroom writing about Spielberg movies and preparing them for the blogathon. Or I'll be consciously avoiding writing entirely, and you won't know it. One of those two things.
I can't promise that I won't break the pledge, of course. Since the Coens' True Grit gets released on Christmas Day, I might decide to publish some posts about my thoughts on True Grit itself (the Charles Portis novel, the original Henry Hathaway/John Wayne film) in preparation for that remake. And maybe I'll even review the remake. Again, no promises.
So, will I end up breaking the pledge? Will I not? I don't know--I'm making this up as I go along...
Adam, as I may have mentioned a while back, I do plan to pen/revise a review of A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, if this is acceptable to you. I well understand why you would need to employ the upcoming weeks for preparation, and this is a massive endeavor.
ReplyDeleteI am assuming you are well aware of this, no?
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6AI51H20101119
I can't say how excited I am as I am a fanatic of this person and subject! No brainer of course.
Sam, yeah, I read about that yesterday--even though I'm sad that Liam Neeson decided to drop out, Daniel Day-Lewis will give it new life, I'm sure. He's worked with Scorsese, PTA, Michael Mann, Phillip Kaufman, Jim Sheridan, Merchant/Ivory, Richard Attenborough... and now Spielberg! I do admit that I have an easier time imagining him as Lincoln than I did Neeson. Still, I was looking forward to Spielberg & Neeson reuniting--but hey, you can't have 'em all, right? Now I just have to get back in Daniel Day-Lewis appreciation mode!
ReplyDeleteLooks like Spielberg's got his plate full for the next two years, thank God. Lincoln, Tintin, War Horse and maybe even Roboapocalypse. It's a fun time to be a fan :)
And we'd love a piece on A.I. As many pieces we can get on that film, in fact. I don't think enough of the blogosphere has recognized it as a work of art.
I'm gonna see about revising my own A.I. review. I'm rarely 100% pleased with anything I write, but it figures that my Empire of the Sun piece is one of a handful that I look back on and feel totally content. Eh, I'll whip up something for sure.
ReplyDeleteAh, I though you were saying "I Pledge to Quite Blogging IN a Month." Glad to see you're sticking around. As for myself, I am taking a sorta break from blogging - still committed to 2 weekly posts (the Sunday Matinee & Remembering the Movies) but nowhere near the 6-a-week I was doing.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I am looking forward to the Spielberg Blogathon and have an idea for it. It's somewhat low-key but will be a visual tribute rather than prose piece so it shouldn't overlap with anyone else's post. It will go up on a Thursday in December, since that's the day I usually do visual tributes. I'll let you know when it's posted.
Spielberg is one of my favorite directors, so this should be a fun blogathon to follow. Good luck.
Jake, that Empire of the Sun piece of yours may very well be the best thing anybody has ever written about that movie. It's certainly better than the reviews by Pauline Kael, Ebert and everyone else that came out during its release! And please do submit a piece on A.I. There doesn't seem to be enough discussion on it and we hope this blogathon will bring it all back.
ReplyDeleteJoel, haha... no way in hell I'm leaving permanently! Part of the reason why I'm posting this notice, though, is that those of you who drop by this site regularly (including all you good folks at Wonders in the Dark) don't end up being discouraged if there's nothing new here. It won't mean that I'm not hard at work writing--I am! But it won't all begin flowing out until the eagerly waited week of December 18.
Looking forward to your visual tribute.
The way this is headed, Adam's going to have to rename this "The A.I. Blogathon." It'll be fascinating/wonderful to take part in the discussion that should have been ongoing since the film's release.
ReplyDeleteOne thing's for sure: since so many people want to write about A.I., I'll elect not to. But I've got nearly a dozen others to write about in its stead.
ReplyDeleteAdam,
ReplyDeleteI will be submitting a post on JAWS, not so much a review as a look back. Hopefully this is ok. Working on it now.
A look back on Jaws sounds excellent, John.
ReplyDelete