Who wouldn't want to watch it after that description?

Earlier this week, I recorded a movie called Blast of Silence off of TCM. The film is considered a lost classic of Film Noir and is a favorite of Martin Scorsese's. It's even been released by the Criterion Collection on DVD.

Of course, I found out all this info after the fact. The main reason I recorded it was the synopsis that the Dish Network gave it:

"A hit man comes to New York to kill a gangster and gets the gun from a big guy with a beard."

I think whomever was writing the film descriptions was bored that day.

Local boys make good

A brief moment of glee at seeing Jacksonville's own Chamblin Bookmine appear on Boing Boing (via Ecstatic Days). Even after visiting the famous used bookstores in places like DC, London and New York City, they still don't hold a candle to the place I've been going to for over 25 years here in "Cowford".

T-minus 31

Mrs. Mosley is due to give birth on the 26th of June, which is one month from today. It could be later, of course, but it could just as easily be earlier. So the Mosley household is quite busy getting things ready and, therefore, posting will be light here at Acrentropy.

So do yourself a favor and instead of waiting for me to post something brilliant, go build that deck you've been wanting. Or better yet, come install my shutters for me. It's not like I'm looking forward to the job.

LEGO ups and downs.

I have updates on two LEGO related stories I posted about earlier this year.

First, the awesome-sounding "LEGO Battles" game for the Nintendo DS is becoming less impressive as the details emerge. Red and White linked to a story about it earlier in the week, and all the screenshots make it seem like LEGO-in-name-only. It's just a bunch of cartoony looking characters running around a green field and battling with each other. I may change my mind about this, but for right now I'm not feeling compelled to save a couple hundred bucks for the console and game.

And second, the rather pricey "LEGO Architecture" designer sets have come out with a pair of Frank Lloyd Wright pieces: The Guggenheim Museum (on sale now) and Falling Water (coming soon).

Now this is more like it. I have no doubt that this will be more expensive than the skyscraper sets (by virtue of the number of pieces alone), but this is something that I wouldn't mind at all having on my mantle. Simply gorgeous.

"Subterranean Filmsick Blues": The List

We have a winner! Congratulations to Jonas Sjogren (ooh, I see expensive Swedish shipping fees in my future) for being the first to guess all 88. Here's the list:

1) Back to the Future
2) Fight Club
3) The Princess Bride
4) Reservoir Dogs
5) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
6) The Untouchables
7) L.A. Confidential
8) Midnight Cowboy
9) Casablanca
10) Harry Potter & The Sorcerers Stone
11) The Empire Strikes Back
12) Dogma
13) Psycho
14) Miller’s Crossing
15) When Harry Met Sally
16) The Alamo
17) The Muppet Movie
18) Chicago
19) Mean Streets
20) The Blues Brothers
21) Singin’ in the Rain
22) Run Lola Run
23) Mary Poppins
24) Heat
25) The Little Shop of Horrors
26) The Conversation
27) Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
28) Ocean’s Eleven
29) JFK
30) Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
31) The Fugitive
32) Pulp Fiction
33) Almost Famous
34) The Truman Show
35) Die Hard
36) The Odd Couple
37) Dirty Harry
38) Groundhog Day
39) The Wizard of Oz
40) Once Upon a Time in the West
41) Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
42) A Clockwork Orange
43) Shakespeare In Love
44) Duck Soup
45) The Sting
46) Glengarry Glenn Ross
47) All About Eve
48) Shrek
49) Raiders of the Lost Ark
50) Sneakers
51) Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
52) Midnight Run
53) Full Metal Jacket
54) Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban
55) Raising Arizona
56) Boogie Nights
57) Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
58) The Dirty Dozen
59) Annie Hall
60) Back to School
61) Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
62) Platoon
63) Cool Hand Luke
64) Rio Bravo
65) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
66) Monty Python’s the Meaning of Life
67) The Shining
68) Juno
69) Scent of a Woman
70) Terminator 2
71) Ed Wood
72) Scarface
73) The Incredibles
74) The Godfather
75) Breakfast at Tiffany’s
76) Animal House
77) Office Space
78) Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
79) Young Frankenstein
80) The Matrix
81) The Thing
82) Monty Python’s Life of Brian
83) Citizen Kane
84) On the Waterfront
85) One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest
86) Blazing Saddles
87) The Great Escape
88) I’m Not There

Alonzo's Contest is now LIVE!

Here are the rules:

1. All 88 films must be named in the order they appear.

2. Exact titles are required, particularly for films in a series. "A Star Trek film" or "A James Bond film" won't do.

3. Email your entry to me at alonzomosleyfbi@yahoo.com with the subject heading "Clipshow Contest".

4. One entry per person.

5. Once we have a winner, I'll announce it here and post the title list.

Good Luck!

Contest Reminder

OK, folks. I'm hanging it up for the week. Remember, the clipshow for my contest will post between 7pm and 8pm Sunday evening EST. The first person to email me the entire list of 88 films (with exact titles and in correct order) will win a DVD prize pack. Good Luck!

251 days...

I don't know whether to say "See you later, Alligator" or "After while, Crocodile". Either way, our Egyptian homeboy has a toothy grin.

(Picture courtesy of Get Lost Podcast)

Bowling for Sandercoe

Having recently finished the short, I remembered one I'd seen several years ago that still blows me away. When i look at mine and then look at this, I realize how many leagues away I really am:



And just for added instruction, here's a video of how meticulously the bowling effect was achieved:

"Thank you so bloody much, WMG."

I wrote a month ago about one of my videos being muted on YouTube. My first inclination was to leave it as-is, but the a friend of mine got me thinking of YouTube's new footnotes feature and... well, here's the re-edit:

A Tale of Two Robots: Chapter Six - Red Dusk

After four months of hard work, the film was finally finished last week and posted late last night. So, without further ado...

"Road cones protect my head."

Via Metafilter:



Boy, that Sunflower sure sounds like Janet Jackson.

Yesterday's post title: Explained

This is quite the little earworm:

"They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard!"

Until tomorrow when I get my project uploaded, I'm passing along this (via BuzzFeed):

Was Paul notified about this?

Just a reminder: A corporate-sponsored ray of sunshine is still a ray of sunshine. With that in mind, thank you T-mobile for this (via Metafilter):

Roscoe Lee Browne Quote of the Month: May 2009

So we go from the sun-drenched Caribbean melodrama of last month's film to... the sun-drenched Caribbean melodrama of this month's subject: Topaz. And though we have Hitchcock behind the wheel this time out, this is one his later films and is certainly not in the class of North by Northwest.

But before the film goes to Cuba halfway through and follows around some characters about which we care little, we have the film's best feature: a thrilling set piece that takes place at a New York hotel where a Cuban delegation is staying. Our protagonist Andre (Frederick Stafford) needs someone to make their way into the hotel and photograph some documents. He recruits freelance agent Philippe (Roscoe Lee Browne) who owns a florist shop in town. In the back of the shop, they go over the plan.

Andre Devereaux: "How do you propose to get up there?"

Philippe Dubois: "Oh, I think I’ll be a reporter. I’m loaded with press cards. Who do you think I ought to work for tonight? Ebony? Playboy? The Jersey City Post Ledger?"

Andre Devereaux: "Ebony."

Philippe Dubois: "Oh, I think they identify better with Playboy."

Andre Devereaux: (shakes head) "Ebony."

Philippe Dubois: "Oh, man, are you square. OK. Let’s go."