Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
You know what? I’ve got a real problem with finishing things. Insert obligatory joke about the ‘90’s Lists here. I feel bad about it. There are a number of events I’ve gone to where I’ve only been able to ever transcribe or write up partial coverage, and that’s a crying shame. I was talking to someone about it recently, and I made the crack, “Well, at least it’s just a personal problem, and not a professional one.” But that’s not true. I do take it seriously, the dialogue with you as a reading audience, and I deeply appreciate those of you who have been supportive over the last few months. My screenwriting partner and I ran into an unexpected but wonderful run of work, and we ended up double-booked. Actually, technically, I guess we’re triple-booked, but two jobs are for the same people, so there’s at least the illusion of sanity. Because of the heavy load, AICN has become an involuntary second priority, something I’m sure Harry loves hearing.
So one of the things I have to finish is my FanTasia coverage. I can’t overstate the importance of this festival for genre fans. It’s a chance to see a cross-section of everything that people will be talking about, are talking about, and haven’t started talking about yet. For example, when I went in 2001, one of the films that got a lot of attention and appreciation at the festival was MILLENNIUM ACTRESS, which Go Fish Pictures, the new anime distribution arm of Dreamworks, is about to release theatrically in limited markets this weekend. Two years later. We were the first western audience to see the movie, and it was a pretty remarkable experience. There are several moments that I think are worth sharing from this year’s festival, so I’m going to continue with that in today’s column. There are also some events I haven’t written about at all, but should have, including an unscheduled set visit that turned out to be one of the most enjoyable afternoons I’ve had so far this year. There’s also a bit of a mission statement that I want to make, since I’m about to shift some of my attentions here at AICN, hopefully to very good purpose.
I need this outlet. More than ever, I appreciate how much AICN means to me as a way to vent. July and August have been a blur of deadlines and travel and health problems, and I was starting to feel like I was drowning. I’m trying to adjust to what is often an 80 or 90 hour work week, and it’s wreaking havoc on my personal life. I say all of this as precursor to the idea that today’s column is about me trying to remind myself why it is that I’m working this hard in the first place. One of the most common questions I’m asked by people when I run into them right now is, “Why would you bother still writing as Moriarty?”
It’s because of the experiences I get to share with you, the cool stuff I get to read, and because of those wonderful moments of discovery where I stumble across something that I simply have to share because of how it affects me.
Allow me to elaborate...
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT MORIARTY’S VISIT TO THE SET OF WILL FERRELL’S NEW FILM ANCHORMAN!!
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT MORIARTY’S FAVORITE FILM OF THE FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL, AND ABOUT FAB PRESS, A DAMN FINE PUBLISHER!!
CLICK HERE TO READ MORIARTY’S REVIEW OF WES ANDERSON’S NEW SCRIPT THE LIFE AQUATIC!!
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE RETURN OF MORIARTY’S DVD SHELF!!
I'm writing up more of my FanTasia reviews for this coming week, as well as my reactions to SECONDHAND LIONS and UNDERWORLD, both of which are coming out on Friday the 19th. There are a number of other goodies I've got brewing, but I'll wait until they're ready before mentioning them here. Suffice it to say... there's no sleep scheduled any time soon.
"Moriarty" out.
