2 Vids, other film blogs, PS I'm on holiday

Yes, I said it in May, but I found more blog posts within myself. I powered thru June, July, August, and September like a 1-ton lovin' machine because that's what I am. This video shows, more or less, what happened to me recently:

"...I can dodge bad movies?" "No, Thaddeus... when you're ready, you won't have to."

Except you didn't see the kiss before my revival, and, rumors be damned, I never had a physical encounter with Hugo Weaving; other than that, it was pretty much what you just saw. & I inspired myself to keep posting through injuries, hospital trips, rough work conditions, and big life changes. Others have written through worse, how could I not?

But keeping this site is a labor of love, and it feels like I'm "makin' love out of nothing at all." While it's doable, now I need a recharge; I like what I write and even I get tired of hearing me singing solos. Thus I am weary, having said before that breaks would be necessary. So here we are, announcing my leave in my 199th post =)

Yes, I was holding for applause.

The upside: The 2011 pace was at least what I promised, 12x/mo, and I beat my combined output for 2009 and 2010. If you've followed me, you noticed that I upped the pace even more. I made 6 additional posts in August & September, with which I could've easily strung everyone along until November. I didn't because I run a class operation, and believe in finishing strongly. And I wanted to play with my schedule a bit, even while planning this break. Maybe when I come back, I'll post every day..

I also changed up my style a bit, reducing my standard 1200+ words per post. That came with a sacrifice - just a handful of articles in that time, and I was lagging in review entries 'til recently. Yet what should I have done? Use my very limited time to keep plugging away, or just care less? I have things to do, and it's the perfect time to take a knee. As such:

Let me kick things off with one of the best statements on the temporary nature of all human things -  David Bowie covering Jacques Brel's My Death. You can listen while you read on... It feels right, y'know?

Lyrics somehow prettier than they are morbid can be found here.

During this vacation, I'll still respond to email and to comments left on the site. Once I know how long I'll need, I'll post a time-frame and a plan. I won't leave you with just bad news, tho. I prepared a Halloween-themed MRQ, so you will have my thoughts on several scary movies by October 27; you can plan your holiday video rentals accordingly. I also have (a) two youtube gems to offer, and (b) some suggestions for film sites to check out in the meantime. Let's put first things last:

As always, I don't agree with AV Club across the board, but they usually have a lot of thoughtful things to write about movies (as well as tv, music, and pop culture). They also have a devoted set of people who comment there, and you might find a lot of informative/funny/deep discussion that way.

Jack L writes much more often than I, tackling a wealth of foreign, classic, silent, and modern films. He's very smart and direct in his reviews; I also think he's rather fair about things, like admitting that he has a lower tolerance for violence than many. I like his work and his approach to writing a lot.

Dylan, né Fletch, posts at ManILoveFilms.com, and he also "blogs harder" than I do. The only gripe I've ever had with him was when he closed his former site, blog cabins, to go where he is now. And really, my only problems have been not getting site updates because he's not on blogger anymore. He has many great features, and I always like reading what he has to write. His site has several other nifty writers, among them Heather and Kai, who all contribute reviews, weekly Top 5 (or 10) lists, in addition to talking on a weekly podcast.

Vancetastic at The Audient has a lot of thoughts on films, and discusses them in many different ways. He can be pretty fun to read, and ranges between older pictures and new releases much more often than I do. 

Matt at Dark Matters writes about various movie and game news and reviews. His recent fine review of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy captures the appeal of the film nicely, gives appropriate warnings on some scary-sounding torture & the need to really pay attention to the dialogue. He writes so concisely, I'm almost jealous. He also put up great pics of Christine Ricci hosting a party for PlayStation's Move technology; I don't care about the gaming system, but I do wonder how much she was paid to party for Sony in that dress.

I also recommend M. Hufstader at The Smoking Pen. She covers old movies (like her Bond blogathon) and new releases, and loves posting about cinematic badasses. I like her style and her approach to movies - very smart, but also easy-going. She's cool, and as a fellow NYC film-fan, she's worth my attention, as well as yours.

Finally, I learned about a new tumblr-style blog called "The Final Image." It's an on-going site with images from the very last shot of various pictures. The selections are nifty - Ghostbusters 2, Breathless, Touch of Evil. It's more in the style of my fondly-loved "IWDRM," but I like it and hope they keep expanding their selection. These are my film blog recommendations, & I hope you like them too.

So, what's left to say/write? I try to make my posts interesting, thoughtful, and entertaining. I have a lot to focus on now, I don't need to give so much time to blogging, and there's really not much response by way of comments here; I mention it because I don't really have a good sense of how many people check out my work. I love a good debate about film but usually I'm in the writer's version of the rope-a-dope, putting great effort into what's mostly a 1-way conversation. Most-ly...

See, I'd be writing whether or not people have anything to say about my opinions and thoughts, yet I also write different stuff that doen't go up here. I cover movies online because I know the topic well, find it easy to discuss, and can create something new in a short time. If we sat down for a drink or coffee, though, I might talk about art, culture, history, music, or random stuff on my mind; I'd crack a lot of jokes too. The general lack of feedback is less pressure to write, at least, tho it also reduces my motivation.

As to those videos I promised: first, the Scary Mary Poppins Recut Trailer:

Nice, huh? I've been fairly selective about what I put up, but everyone loves a clever film parody, don't they?

And, in case any of you did miss this next video, it's the way-old-and-popular-already parody of "127 Hours," starring Wile E. Coyote:

Look over my old reviews or articles. Check out some great fan-made gems or parodies. I will be back, and I hope you have a nice time while I'm out. I send a hearty "thank you" to everyone who's been reading and commenting. I'm Audie, ya'll!

UPDATE: This post was published on October 8th, which was earlier than I intended because I'd been debating whether there was anything else I wanted to post for the two weeks before this entry actually went live. Of course, on October 10th, Netflix made a big announcement that I simply had to write about (and I found a great funny video), which required me to come out of vacation to comment. Given all that, I decided to re-date this post to appear after. And now I'm officially tired of explaining things.