
by Sam Juliano
For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon has officially concluded, but latecomers are more than welcome to avail themselves of both the donation links under every submission, and can still send on science-fiction film reviews for the rest of the week. I will diligently post any received under the home post, which presently sports 21 reviews. I don’t know the final figures, but I do know that both Marilyn Ferdinand and Roderick Heath were delighted by the manner in which the five-day venture proceeded and like myself have evinced the philosophy that the assets will help towards the goal of restoring the 1918 silent Cupid in Quarantine. Speaking for myself I must say I had a whale of a time serving as host for the final official day (Sunday) and was astonished at the high-quality of each and every submission. Needless to say the posts sent on from both Ms. Ferdinand and the renowned writer and critic Farren Smith Nehme were to put it mildly – stupendous. But so were all the others, including a late entry on the politics of Doctor Who by the guest writer Varem Mehta at Andrew Hartmann’s US Intellectual History blogsite. The numbers recorded at Wonders in the Dark were the highest in about two years. The home post attracted 401 page views yesterday, while overall the 1,700 plus total for the day was similarly the most impressive over the same period. Just today another 112 page views are registered under the home post, meaning well over 500 for a two day period of live activity. I don’t mean to boast, but I’m just saying…..To repeat: It ain’t over till its over, and anyone still wishing to help out the cause with donations or reviews (right now the former is begging for some serious attention!) get on the bandwagon! A great big thank you to all those who made this project such a resounding success!!!
Venture Number 2 is also moving forward. Best Films About Childhood polling and countdown is officially in gear today, when Top 60 ballots will be accepted and sent on to the e mail chain during the course of the day. The window for accepting ballots will run till Sunday evening, May 31st at 11:00 P.M. At that point the results will be in the hands of Voting Tabulator extraordinaire Angelo A. D’Arminio Jr., who will spend a week with them, announcing the figures on or around June 6th. After that assignments will be gobbled up by the writers, and the countdown will launch at Wonders in the Dark on Monday June 15th. The Top 60 Greatest Childhood Films Countdown will run Monday through Friday for twelve (12) weeks, meaning it will conclude sometime in the middle of September. So far ballots have been received from Allan Fish, Shubhajit Lahiri and Pat Perry. Allan’s was sent out to the chain two months ago, while the latter two will go out to the group today. My own ballot will also be sent out tonight to said fraternity.
Lucille, young Sammy, Jeremy and I spent Friday night at Joey’s Restaurant in scenic Hewitt, New Jersey listening to the incomparable guitarist/soloist Gene Focarelli do his thing on the occasion of Sammy’s 18th Birthday. We wanted to celebrate that watershed in some manner of style and in the company of good friends, and we managed both with much room to spare. Gene even performed his own song “Five Minutes More” which frankly has long deserved release in the professional circuits. Focarelli’s guest musicians did a fabulous job as well, but nothing to match his soulful virtuoso work. (more…)
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