The Princess Bride for a New Generation (Archives)

Discovered this in my February 2008 drafts.....

This post started as a result of an initial post that labeled
William Goldman’s The Princess Bride on of my “Top 20” favorite books.

Fast forward to the Fall of 2007: The Princess Bride, the film, was
released on DVD in a 20th anniversary edition. I was contacted by FOX
because of my prior post and asked if I would help publicize the release of
the DVD. Many readers may recall the banners ran on BillyBlog for a month
or two. One of the things I was offered in return for plugging the DVD was
a complimentary copy for myself. Seemed fair.

Only it never came. At some point I realized this and contacted the woman
at FOX who initially approached me about the banners and plugs. She
apologized for the mix-up and promptly sent me my copy. By then it was
December and life was nuts. I thought it would be great to sit down with
the kids and watch it, blogging about their reactions. Trying to get all
cylinders firing at the same time with a family of four in a two
working-parent household is a challenge. Especially since the invention of
the DVR. Especially since watching a re-run of iCarly is more appealing to
an 11-year old than watching some movie your parents want you to watch.

But this past Saturday night, the stars aligned and we all watched The
Princess Bride together. My 9-year old tomboy was reluctant, as she is
loathe to do anything involving a princess. Bless her soul. But we
convinced her and we all were soon transported back to the Kingdom of
Gilder and relishing Rob Reiner’s fourth film as director.

A side note about Rob Reiner: if you look at his directorial debut (This is
Spinal Tap) and his ensuing films (The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, The
Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, Misery, A Few Good Men), it wasn’t
until 1995’s North, that he hit a brick wall. Not a bad run.

An Unusual New Years' Eve

December 31, 2015, found me in Manhattan with my family.

I left work early, headed home and made a pit stop at Red, White & Brew, where I grabbed a Blizzard of Hops Winter IPA, from Tröegs Brewing. (More on that later)

Then the family headed into the city and went to the 7:00 show at Eastville Comedy Club.

Among the comics we saw were Dave Smith and Mark DeMayo.

From there, we wandered to Union Square, considered the line at Max Brenner's and then decided to miss the stroke of midnight and catch a 9:50 showing of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2.

When the movie was over, it was 2016. The subway got us home at about 2 AM on January 1.

Happy New Year to All!

Updates from Monday, August 27

Let's look back....

I updated this post with a link to a local television news story about the funeral of William Alfred Bujold. My cousins Marc and Noelle are among the family interviewed.

I retro-posted here about the Brooklyn Cyclones-Oneonta Tigers game at Keyspan Park last Friday night.

Um, we used some old movie passes to see this film:


Check out the movie website here.

Movie Review: In Her Shoes

I started this in June, and it was left unfinished. So, two months later, let me try and wrap this up. In fact, it seems fitting to run it on Poetry Wednesday.


What? A movie review of a film that was released a year and a half ago? Sure, why not? It was on the DVR for a few months until we finally watched it, in this vast wasteland after the regular television season ended and the Summer reality/replacements begin in earnest.

In all honesty, I was expecting a goofy chick flick with little to offer me intellectually. Hey, nothing wrong with that, sometimes those are just what the body needs, a little mindless entertainment.



But what we got was a very compelling story with quality performances from all of the stars, including the much-maligned Cameron Diaz.


The film is based on the smash-success novel by Jennifer Weiner, one of the pioneers of the "chick-lit" revolution in the late 90's/early '00s. Do note, the "chick-lit" marketing machine was exactly that, a craze created by publishers to sell books. That's why so many books in the genre were designed with covers that seemed so similar--like an Easter basket exploded.



So, many may say, "Yeah, sure you liked this movie. Cameron Diaz afforded plenty of fascinating scenery!"


But, what locked me in was a scene mid-way through the film, a turning point, where Diaz's character meets an old man dying in the hospital and he has her read to him, starting with one of the best poems ever written in the English language, Elizabeth Bishop's "One Art":

One Art
by Elizabeth Bishop
The art of losing isn't hard to master; so many things seem filled with the intent to be lost that their loss is no disaster. Lose something every day. Accept the fluster of lost door keys, the hour badly spent. The art of losing isn't hard to master. Then practice losing farther, losing faster: places, and names, and where it was you meant to travel. None of these will bring disaster. I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or next-to-last, of three loved houses went. The art of losing isn't hard to master. I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster, some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent. I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster. --Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident the art of losing's not too hard to master though it may look like (Write it!) like disaster.

And then, later in the film, they drop a poem by e.e. cummings. Is it any wonder why I liked this film?

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It's a touching film with a wonderful use of poetry. I recommend it.

Rata-tastic!

Saw this today. Simply awesome.

A smart, brilliantly-entertaining film from the geniuses at Pixar.

Funny and inspirational.

Throw a dart and hit a glowing review.

Go see it.

100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers Montage

This is cool. Thanks for Benjie for dropping it my way.



The clip is posted with a key to all the movies here.

Bridge to Terabithia: Review by Guest Blogger, Jolee Cohen

I saw this film today with the offspring. Jolee, the eldest spawn of BillyBlog, offers the following review:

Bridge to Terabithia is now one of my favorite movies. Some of the scenes just remind you of your home. Casual fights over the remote, races to the bathroom, etc., but other scenes take you off to a far away planet, world and even universe, lifting your imagination to the next level. After and even during the film, it makes your mind take you off to some magnificent kingdom, where you imagine peacefully with no annoying brothers and sisters, yelling and screaming parents and howling cats, dogs and maybe even pigs. This movie tells you what actually imagination is and how you can use it. It tells us imagination is used every day, from morning ‘till night. I really recommend this movie for some adults and kids ages 6-12. I say that because adults might find it interesting as well would kids. No one like a teenager, who would think Terabithia, is too boring for him or her, or anyone too young who might take it as a frightening place. I know I liked the movie, and if you see it, I hope you like it too.

Thanks to Jolee for the guest post.

Reign Over Me - In Theatres Next Spring

Ya, I know, BillyBlog's been a little weak on content lately. Sorry. Here's a movie clip. See if you can guess why I stumbled across it:

Robert Altman, 1925-2006

Legendary film director Robert Altman has died in Los Angeles.

His film, The Player, is one of my Top Ten favorite movies of all time. America has lost a legendary director.



Here is the quintissential opening shot (no cuts!) of The Player. Pure brilliance in filmmaking. Eight minutes and worth every second:

Hop on the James Bondwagon

This Friday, the newest James Bond hits movie screens everywhere. Here's the theatrical trailer:



The buzz is extremely positive and loud. I'm just hopping on the bandwagon, as James Bond is a panel in our popular culture's fabric. Here's the art from the 1960's version:


The first Bond film I ever remember seeing in theaters was Moonraker, which is so camp by today's standards it's almost, nay,is very silly.



But my first Bond experience was the repeated airings in the early days of HBO of Live and Let Die. It is perhaps due to this early repeated exposure that it remains my favorite film in the series. That, and an awesome theme song.


Listen to all the 007 theme songs and see the movie posters here. Or "Live and Let Die" here. That one's the original by Wings. Thanks to Anablog for the tunes.

On a side note that I can't resist relaying, I once played a Bond villain of sorts in a performance in the quad at Occidental. Our dorm staged a skit in something of a Bond homage, with me in a green dress and wig, seated in a wheelchair, with large balloons placed under the dress to represent a gigantic bosom. I stroked a live cat, which lived in the room next to me, illegally, with the live-in girlfriend of a classmate, Doug Copely. I was in the role of Brigida Blofeld, the bond villain melded with our Dean of Students, Brigida Knauer.

The skit ended with our resident Sikh, Hardeep "Sherry" Thind, as the uber-Bond hero, with his hair unwound into a long-flowing mane, puncturing the balloons, which were the source of my "power". Apparently, it was quite a sight, as Sherry took several jabs at my balloon-bosoms with a blunt dagger, as I struggled mightily in the wheelchair to hold on to the cat, who was already freaked about being outside, but was doubly traumatized by the wild-haired and bearded Sikh gentleman making violent gestures and causing loud noises to erupt from my chest.

I believe Doug had "borrowed" the cat without asking his girlfriend, and that she was none too pleased when she found out later what had transpired with her precious feline. The scratch marks on my neck and shoulders did not console her, unfortunately.

Anyway, if that image isn't seared into your afternoon, enjoy this treat, courtesy of the film site Cinematical, which has accumulated every Bond trailer made going back to the poor quality of Dr. No, all the way up to the present. Check it out here.