Readers know that I have a penchant for deeply-depressing and dark films. I’ve been like that my entire life. Here are trailers from just three of my favorites. First, Short Cuts (which I watched again today):
Slope of Hope Blog Posts
Slope initially began as a blog, so this is where most of the website’s content resides. Here we have tens of thousands of posts dating back over a decade. These are listed in reverse chronological order. Click on any category icon below to see posts tagged with that particular subject, or click on a word in the category cloud on the right side of the screen for more specific choices.
Two Ways Of Hedging Disney
Dying To See Star Wars
One of the trending hashtags on Twitter in recent weeks was #ForceForDaniel, a campaign to get an early screening of the new Star Wars movie for a dying fan, Daniel Fleetwood. Director J.J. Abrams had the film screened for the man at his home, as The Verge noted below.
J.J. Abrams helped a dying Star Wars fan see The Force Awakens early https://t.co/mXv5d0gAVv pic.twitter.com/bSjd5tdjEc
— The Verge (@verge) November 5, 2015
It wasn’t the first time, incidentally, that Abrams accommodated a dying fan: In 2009, he gave the late Randy Pausch (of Last Lecture fame) a cameo in his Star Trek reboot.
A Boost For Disney (more…)
CNBC in One Screen Grab
This snapshot from this morning pretty much sums it up:
- Attractive young women showing off their legs;
- Dennis Gartman being treated as some kind of guru.
Must-See Movies
As my son has been growing up, it is starting to dawn on me what an important responsibility I have to him as a father to make sure he watches the key movies of (male) society so he’s armed with crucial cultural references. I’ve put together a starter list of 37 movies off the top of my head. I’d be interested to know what other suggestions you might have. UPVOTE any movies you see in the comments section with which you agree. Maybe I’ll make the final list a permanent part of the blog.
Let’s Reclaim This Word
Time for a mini-rant because, like the late, great George Carlin, I don’t have pet peeves: I have a zoo of major fucking psychoses.
I’d like us, as a people, to reclaim the noun “conversation”. To my old-fashioned way of thinking, a “conversation” is an exchange of ideas between two interested and engaged parties. I love a good conversation. They don’t happen often enough. I want to hear what you have to say, and if I have something meaningful to say in reply, I’d like to share it with you. Hurray, conversation.
