As you'll have seen if you peruse the message board, a post linking to Tim Lucas' Video Watchblog column about the new Criterion Collection Mr. Arkadin DVD set resulted in some less than adulatory (but hardly vicious) words being written about Lucas, which in turn resulted in him ripping those of us who dared to question his ways (without dignifying us with a link, of course). Frankly, it all seems to me to be much ado about nothing; not being able to take some fairly tame criticism on an out of the way message board simply makes him look like a nut. Whatever. It any event, as Lucas clearly stated in his follow-up blog entry (you'll find the link in this thread), it's none of our business commenting on his personal (yet published) writings, even if they are read by thousands, as he is keen to remind us. You can comment on my writings though, I'm not that much of a maniac. Yet. [You can't hear it, but I'm laughing insanely right now] Let’s change the subject, lest I receive another stern keyboard-lashing.
So what else is happening? Err...not much. A couple DVD announcements; one is the UK Ambersons release, which we mentioned here some time ago, is finally up for pre-order, at least at Play.com. Note the pretty lame cover. How it will look is anyone's guess, given Warner's never-ending search for usable elements. Street date is May 29. Also, the Mercury radio version of Ambersons is also available, though I would bet that whenever Warner gets around to releasing the film here, that will be included. So I personally wouldn't spend $15 on a CD of it, but that's just me.
The other DVD announcement is also from the UK, where the fine people at the Masters of Cinema collection have announced F for Fake as an upcoming part of their collection. An early list of features only includes an HD progressive transfer, the trailer, an interview with Jonathan Rosenbaum, and "Hearts of Age." "More" is also promised, but we'll have to see what that might entail. No date or cover art yet.
I originally intended, when I replaced the old News page with this blog format, that I would update more frequently, if not with actual news (of which there isn't a whole lot, frankly), with new features on the site, and what have you. Needless to say, judging by the number of posts I've made, that hasn't exactly worked out. I have often had plans for this site that either fizzled out or simply didn't come to fruition, and that's just how it goes, given time and inclination and so on. I have wanted to begin updating the various sections of the site, because many pages could use a good overhaul, but it has come to seem like a rather onerous task that I haven't wanted to deal with.
It occurred to me a week or two ago that this month marks the fifth anniversary of the site, believe it or not. That is a long time to be doing something like this, I thought, and I have to admit there was a niggling thought of "do I really want to keep doing this?" Given the amount of work put into the site over the years, as well as the message board, I would find it hard to simply give it up, or even turn it over to someone else. I am sticking around, no worries there (I'm sure plenty of brows are being wiped in relief as this is read), and I will even try to get some work done on the site. I've had some projects I've wanted to work on for a while, and just maybe I can make some of them happen in The Glorious Sixth Year of the site. Or, next March, there will be another post from me saying "It's been six years, and I haven't done squat since last year!" We shall see. As always, send me your news and notes, love letters and hate mail, and I'll be back soon with some initial impressions of the Criterion Arkadin set, once I get it.
Addendum: I have finally figured out why the Archive links were not working. All of them should be working and available, if you want to see anything you may have missed.
