Journeys in Mykronesia

1,000,000 Monkeys

Movies are fun.  Thinking is hard.  But computers are easy!  Thank goodness Brittany Shoot made expressing an opinion painless with the Videoblog Comment Generator.  I expect to use it frequently.

Boing Boing Discovers the Turtles

Mark Frauenfelder of Boing Boing and the Silent Porn Star recently discovered the Turtle Club. Anyone from Fairbanks, Alaska knows the Turtle Club has the best prime rib and crab legs in town.  "RUAT - YBYSAIA".

Relationships in a Paragraph

A wonderful challenge.  Reminds me of Felix Feneon's Novels in Three Lines.  My contributions follow:

1. We played tennis on a warm, dry afternoon. I missed every volley I returned. She gracefully conceded defeat and left with a wry smile.
2. She polished her blood-red boots with particular care. She didn't polish much else. Sometimes there really is nothing to say. But she said it so eloquently.
3. A drowsy turtle is a dilemma. To tap or not to tap? I did a bit of both. The turtle eventually arrived, but the hare was long gone.
4. The stars perform in the windshield and demand the same in return.  Our absent-minded kisses soon became inadequate. But she was a far more diligent performer than I.
5. At the time, I never wondered why she laughed. She smiled when I touched her, over and over. She smiled when she drew the line. And she smiled when I brought her roses. She knew they were wilted, even if I didn't.
6. Many are born administrators. Only a few realize it. She knew how to do things properly and gave careful instructions. There's no use pretending you can train the untrainable.
7. Wild-eyed, I followed her home. So ripe, so wrong. An open secret: the hypnotized always act on their desires.
8. She watched me laughingly in class, and I performed for her. I loved her best when she was gone, and I suspect she agreed. Exasperated, she dropped me once and then again. There won't be a third time.
9. As a writer, she found the film academic. As a writer, she found the article dull. As a writer, she didn't much care for him. As a writer, I was done writing.
10. Elegantly, she brushed out her hair. Daintily, she picked though her salad. Discreetly, she signaled her boredom. Quietly, I walked away.
    

Suggested by The Sheila Variations via From the Archives.

The Godfather of Avant-Garde Cinema

In September 2007, Senses of Cinema published my interview with Jonas Mekas, Me, I Just Film My Life.  This interview was a follow-up to another, also published by Senses of Cinema.  Yeah, I know the introductions are similar.  I had to write it really fast.  Anyway, I think the second is better, and that's what counts, right?

The avant-garde is about sex. Like it or not.

On October 17, 2007, the Stranger ran my review of Other Cinema DVD's release Xperimental Eros.  It's really a good disc.  I'm an especially big fan of Naomi Uman's Removed.

Is that a movie in your pocket?

Time to catch up with some old reviews, as I'm finally back in NYC.  On May 23, 2007, the Stranger ran Hey, Full Series Pass!, a column I wrote on the occasion of the Seattle International Film Festival, recommending websites presenting unusual internet videos.  Don't worry, it's pretty tame.

Monster by Mail

A few weeks ago, Boing Boing noted a cartoonist ("jawboneradio") offering to draw the poster for any horror film you cared to name on a postcard, and mail you a time-lapse movie of its creation. I requested a poster for "Uncle Fishhook's Free Bicentennial Zombie Underground," a title derived from a Jack Smith performance aimed at Jonas Mekas (aka "Uncle Fishhook). Here's the photo and the movie.

The Peculiar Story of United States v. Miller

Jackson "Jack" Miller

I recently posted my first completed law review article, The Peculiar Story of United States v. Miller on SSRN. The paper provides a historical account of United States v. Miller (1939), the only Supreme Court case construing the Second Amendment. The Siloam Springs, Arkansas police picked up Jack Miller (pictured above) and Frank Layton with a sawed-off shotgun, and the federal government charged them with violating the National Firearms Act, the first real federal gun control law. The district court held the NFA violates the Second Amendment, and the Supreme Court reversed. I argue Miller was a test case arranged by the government and Judge Ragon of the Western District of Arkansas. I argue the Supreme Court didn't adopt a theory of the Second Amendment right, but did imply it protects a limited individual right to possess and use firearms suitable for militia service.

Professor Dudziak of the University of Southern California Law School and the Legal History Blog graciously posted a notice of the paper here. More images follow:

Paul E. Gutensohn (Miller's lawyer)

Judge Hiram Heartsill Ragon
of the Western District of Arkansas

Irish O'Malley (born Walter Holland)
"leader" of Miller's gang

Kenneth Anger Review

This week, The Stranger ran my review of Fantoma's new Kenneth Anger DVD, which includes his first five extant films, Fireworks, Puce Moment, Rabbit's Moon, Eaux d'Artifice, and Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome.