Watched this last night and loved it. I've always been a bit of a sucker for "minor" Polanski. One tech geeky question: does anyone know why the disc is so dark? Granted, I watched the SD version, but the actors faces (especially) are often obscured in shadow in a way that makes me think it's a creative decision. Was it a Polanski-approved choice?

Wheat Chex-Corn Chex-Rice Chex-Oat Chex-Raisin Bran Chex Night of the Hunter-Night of the Hunter-Night of the Hunter-Night of the Hunter-Night of the Hunter This is the most fucking stupid little parlor game in a realm that takes pride in coming up with fucking stupid little parlor games (remember the whole "swimming pool movie" thing a while ago?). The thing I hate about the AV Club is its need to compartmentalize and list-ify all encounters with music/movies/etc. It won't be long before every article on there is a series of bullet points. That said, I do very much admire the Mike D'Angelo column. But, ye gods, that New Cult Canon thing? Ugh.

I love both ANTICHRIST and DANCER IN THE DARK (I've liked all of the LvT films I've seen). I think that his funny lil' antisemitic rant is pretty reprehensible (and fail to see any Polanski correlation). And I think the Cannes sanction is absurd. I guess I'm kind of a centrist here.

Thanks for this! I'm a huge Fahey/Kottke fan so I'll add this guy to the heap of under-appreciated musicians I, uh, appreciate. Given your musical proclivities, I highly recommend you check out the VDSQ acoustic guitar series. The Chris Brokaw stuff is especially stunning.

I hope someone Youtubes* this for posterity. Wish I could swing by! *(The English language has been bastardized enough to where "Youtube" is a verb now, right?)

I like how the article smash cuts to a portrait of the Pinkett-Smiths. That's the scariest still of them all! Great collection of films my squeamish self has (mostly) avoided. I do love TROUBLE though.

Oliver_C - I subscribed to PREMIERE from 1991 to 2000 and those William Goldman Oscar pre-mortems still pop into my head from time to time. (Other fond Premiere memories include the DFW Lynch piece, the David Strick photos, and the John H. Richardson stories on Scientology and Sonny Gibson.) Good call. Hasn't everyone figured out by now that this current troll is merely the latest incarnation of the previous troll? The same sociopathic subtext (and subject-derailing result) underlies the comments of both.

I always love this album in theory rather than practice (kind of like the Eno DALI'S CAR live set). It's three of my favorite artists (and Nico) performing some of my favorite songs ("Shouting in a Bucket Blues" - YOWZA). Maybe it's owing to the quality of the recording, but it always feels a little flat or rote when I spin it. According to the internet, Cale performed "Gun" during this set but it didn't make the cut. How could that have missed?!

Lovely piece, Glenn. I've bounced from cozy offices to grueling sweat mills more times than any competent tradesman should. You've nicely captured that schizoid sense of "what am I doing here"/"hey I could get used to this bullshit-less existence" that always permeated my forays into manual labor.

Nathan: Did you happen upon Damon Packard's fire sale? (http://tinyurl.com/26ehpxa)

Man... prior to reading this blog ere these past coupla weeks, I had no knowledge of either Ray Carney or John Nolte. I love you Glenn but I think SCR is destroying my innocence.

Just noticed that this is tagged as "polemics." Brilliant.

(The program has since "gone rogue"; I no longer have control.)

Full disclosure: Nolte is something I created for the 10th grade science fair (this was back in '92, hence all the Al Bundy references). It was the early days of the internet, so he's a pretty basic bot/troll. He's mainly programmed to latch on to certain words/phrases and regurgitate them, adding a pithy one-liner (at least, they seemed pithy to me when I was fifteen). It was a simple algorithm. I got a B.

That's right, the mascara snake. Fast and bulbous. ('Bout all there is left to say on this matter, actually.)

brad - Let me do the honors: Nolte and his BH goons are fuckhats, asswads, blowhards, and boohoos. Which all might be forgivable had they A SINGLE THING TO SAY. I had been blissfully unaware of their site (and yet, somehow, aware of the Panahi petition) up until this little kerfuffle. I hope to remain so in the future. They and their Fox News compatriots are major contributors to the destruction of conservatism's proud intellectual legacy.

Um... I had a point before it was derailed by Some Guy. It was that most public conservative mouthpieces these days can't hold an articulate, respectful debate. That they resort to blustering ad hominem attacks and strain gnats while swallowing camels. I think that was my point. And it's now been made for me, both here and at MUBI. So... never mind.

Yick. I stand guilty as charged using the other "F" word. I was employing it as hyperbole, as explained there. Indeed, anyone attuned to Nolte's beloved irony can probably see what I tried (and failed) to do there. If I've soiled the MUBI name, I apologize.

I had to stop after the unveiling of his "clever" headline. I like how he doesn't even pause to think that such a hilarious anecdote might be a little inappropriate because, y'know, Ledger died tragically and all.

New Lodge Kerrigan?! As the kids say, FUCK YEAH.

Rublev, avant-rock, epicurean revel, and (though subtle) scorpions. Here all things Running meet in a glorious screed. Thanks. I'm e-clipping this recipe.

@ Ben - I can't believe someone would use "shekels" in a particularly loaded context AND THEN invoke the Holocaust. The Old Skull reference works, but this conflict also reminds me of the less-obscure tagline to a horrible sequel: "Whoever wins... we lose."

Yep. Just so long as you make a lot of catty fashionista remarks (i.e. "Memo to [SO-AND-SO]! [BYGONE FASHION ERA/OBSOLETE CELEB] called! They want their [ILL-ADVISED ARTICLE OF CLOTHING] back!")

Some Velvet Morning in MORVERN CALLAR. Anything by Can in anything (most recently - Vitamin C in BROKEN EMBRACES). The Louvin Brothers' Satan is Real in JESUS' SON. The brief snatch of King Crimson in CHILDREN OF MEN (though I think they kind of wasted the awesomeness of the song there). I could go on and on...