The Informant! is not as funny as I think it is.

Tonight Jenny and I ventured into Midtown to see The Informant! at the Studio on the Square. I loved it. The best I can do to describe it would be to call it a true-crime-comedy, which isn't a real genre. It might not actually be that good, because several times I found myself the only person in the theater, which was at least half-full, laughing aloud at the subtler comedic moments.

Being a true-crime thing, the mystery of it is lost once you've seen the end, so it doesn't have much re-watch value. I'd see it maybe once more for the comedy, but I wouldn't buy it. So my advice is to go see it now or rent it.

The Studio was strangely slow for a Sunday afternoon, but by the time we left the lot was pretty full. The place hasn't changed at all since the first time I went there. It was the first showing on the day it opened. I saw Gladiator with Garrett and Nikkie. I wasn't intending to be at their first ever screening, it just turned out that we wanted to see Gladiator that weekend, and the Studio was the closest theater. I ordered the first ever plate of sausage, cheese, and crackers, which is still on the menu. This time, we just got a large sweet tea, a large green tea, and a small popcorn (which was large). Since I had a $25 gift card from my aunt Linda from last Xmas, the whole thing cost me $2.50. Even $27.50 isn't too bad for a movie for two, so I might try to get us to do this semi-regularly on Sundays, the only day Jenny and I are both off work.

Somewhat off.

Blah.
by AC - permalink

Feeling curiously tired and discombobulated (long word of the day), especially considering I slept all day. Well, it wasn't really "sleep" so much as a long series of continuously interrupted naps. And I didn't even go to bed until 7:30am, so maybe it's not so curious. This is so fucking boring, okay moving on.

The Li'l Film Fest went down Saturday and it was a hell of a thing. Giant, huge rush hearing people laugh at my short when it came up, especially as it followed Oddly Bouyant's faux-commercial starring Markus Seaberry, which was hysterical. The film turned out great -- not perfect, but funny and I think my idea came across well. If not, who fucking cares, people laughed!

Somehow I ended up sitting three seats down from Craig Brewer. I didn't really talk to him, but that probably wouldn't have turned out well anyway. I have a very strong suspicion that I would have blurted out something like, "Yeah, I'm glad you thought it was funny. Ah, you know, listen you should know that I've seen 15 minutes of a bootleg of Hustle & Flow, but otherwise I really don't know anything about you at all... I hear you do films." Not awkward at all.

Anyway it was also a pretty bittersweet night. Morgan Fox announced that after February the MeDiA Co-op will no longer be able to use its current space at the 1st Congo on Cooper. Then Sarah Fleming said that she and Chris Reyes are just flat out of the time it takes to keep the Li'l Film Fest afloat, and that Live From Memphis will not be producing it anymore. Fortunately there is definitely some hope on the horizon on that end; way, way too early to say anything about that just yet, but I do hope to be involved one way or another.

Oh, I have two of my final grades, in my two toughest classes, although "tough" is relative compared to those other "courses." Anyway 95 and 99 is a hell of a start for me. I never, ever expected to do this well. I mean that was the plan, but jebus, when did I get all book-smart? Where was this a goddamn decade ago? If I can't keep this going in the Spring, I'll be... well, not too shocked, but not very happy about it either.

Li'l Film Fest 8: Resolutions

Dig it, y'all.
by AC - permalink

Here's the official press release for the Live From Memphis film festival this Saturday. Come out to see some awesome short films, meet some cool people, and support some local filmmakers. I guess that last part would include me (wtf?).

Live From Memphis is pleased to announce "Li'l Film Fest 8: Resolutions (you know, the new year's kind)."
This festival marks the end of our 2nd year of Li'l Film Fests and we're very please to have made it this far.
A special thanks to all the filmmakers and local attendees who have made the past 2 years a truly unique and exciting experience.

Who: Local Filmmakers
What: Li'l Film Fest 8: Resolutions
When: Saturday, Dec. 15 @ 2pm
Where: MeDiA Co-op (1000 S. Cooper St.)

The following is a list of accepted films and filmmakers for "Li'l Film Fest 8: Resolutions:"
"Paper Doll World"
dir. Annie Gaia
"Absolute Resolute"
dir. Rachael Moeller
"Resolutions"
dir. Oddly Buoyant Productions
"Resolutions for the Irresolute"
dir. A.C. Gwin
"You Say You Have a Resolution"
dir. Marguerite Hibbets
"L'Hippopotame Vert FTW!"
dir. Edward Valibus
"I Resolve"
dir. Donald Meyers
"Nunca Mas (Never Again)"
dir. Angel Ortez
"First Things First"
dir. H.G. Ray
"Untitled"
dir. Benjamin Rednour
*Look for bonus entries by Adam Remsen and Sarah & Christopher!

For More information please contact Sarah Fleming at 901.523.9763 or email to info@livefrommemphis.com. We'll see ya' there!
Support Local, Promote Local
Live From Memphis
www.livefrommemphis.com

Changes coming. Maybe.

Also, I'm really busy.
by AC - permalink

I'd apologize for the lack of updates, but nobody reads this anyway. I'm thinking hard about archiving a number of posts and relaunching the blog with a new, ground-up redesign. I'm kickin' ass and takin' names (yes, literally) in my HTML course, and I think it's giving me an undeserved confidence in all things Web. My average is currently something like 99.6, and that's only because I keep passing on simple extra credit opportunities. The overall average from all four courses I'm taking is in the 97-98 range, but it's only because I'm doing virtually nothing else but schoolwork.

Real Life (read: having a life) is also eating up my free time, but in a good way. Saturday night I went with my friend Monica to the Memphis MeDiA Co-op to see the premier of a local indie film called omg/HaHaHa that she and her daughter had bit parts in. The film was fucking unbelievable. Director Morgan Fox, who's a really sweet guy, btw, addressed the unexpectedly large crowd before it started, and extended an open invitation to play Pac-Man on the big screen before the event started. Don't even try to rank that on the Midtown-o-meter, it'll just break. The movie itself was indescribable, so I won't try to describe it. But it was touching, and sad, and hilarious, and real, and thoughtful, and joyous, and beautiful, and experimental in any number of ingenious ways. He's working on getting a limited run at the Studio on the Square, and I can't wait to see it again (and again, and again...).

An extended trailer, more of a mini-cut, really, of Morgan's new documentary, This is What Love in Action Looks Like, ran before omg, and unbelievably, it looks even better. The trailer alone choked me up, it's just (and I'm going to do this again, but shorter) illuminating, and uplifting, and heartbreaking, and will definitely demand attention, just as omg will when it hits the festivals. More of Morgan's films and those he supports can be found at the sawed-off collaboratory pictures MySpace page.

To make the weekend even more surreal, I was back in Cooper-Young the very next afternoon to visit my grandma with my dad. Prowling exactly the same streets just hours after watching such a moving film all about the dynamic between parents and children for such a reason was... interesting, to say the least. I think I'm still processing it.

This seems weird and wrong, but I'm going to go ahead and move on to basketball now (that was my half-assed segue, and I'm not apologizing for it). The Grizzlies had a ridiculous night against the Rockets this evening. Darko went off (20 and 6), Lowry out-rebounded Yao, and Pau stepped up and clinched it with four straight freebies in the final minute. Miller had another solid all-around game after his slow start, and Rudy is proving to me that he's determined to bring something really special to the floor every night this season. His game is improved in every possible facet over last year, and his confidence is off the charts. This kid could be really, really good. My 6pm class ran long, so I missed most of the first half, but it was still a great way to wrap up a long, exhausting day.