My blog’s 2nd anniversary

I just realized (three weeks late) that my blogathon has now been on the Internet for two years. So, since I haven’t had much to write about lately, I thought I’d take this opportunity to publicly pat myself on the back.

First off, thanks to the 179 (!) followers of my blog. I hope it’s been entertaining enough, or at least readable.

Second, I thought I’d mention a few of the blog’s recent highlights.

The year I went blogathon-happy. You know how you get an idea in your head that won’t let go until you jot it down? In my case, that resulted in an awful lot of blogathons in the past year — six, to be exact, or an average of one ‘thon every couple of months. And those are just the ‘thons that I created — I shouldn’t even count the number of ‘thons in which I participated.

(Which reminds me — my Monty Python Movie Blogathon is only two months away! Click on the banner below for more information!)

The year that I discovered the Twitter Live Tweet. Do you enjoy watching movies with an audience but can’t always get out to see a movie? Twitter.com has “Live Tweets” throughout the week (usually at night) where you can click on a link and watch a movie online for free while commenting on it with other Tweeters. I do a Live Tweet on Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. EDT named #SatMat, where I “screen” mostly B-movies and the like. Other Live Tweets throughout the week focus on drive-in fare, action movies, and outre sci-fi.

If you’re a Twitter member, check out some of the Live Tweet hashtags and start enjoying movies-with-audiences in the comfort of your own home! (If you need help navigating the Live Tweet universe, message me on Twitter at #SatMatTweet. Meanwhile, I advertise my weekly Live Tweet movies in a banner on the right-hand side of this blog.)

Sybil Danning’s fandom continues. As I noted on my first-anniversary blog, I posted a review of They’re Playing with Fire (1984), a movie starring Sybil Danning that is completely negligible save for one astounding sex scene showing Sybil at her nudest and most enthusiastic. I made it very clear that my review was tongue-in-cheek, but amazingly, this review continues to be my blog’s biggest draw; since I posted the review on March 19 of last year, it has received an astounding 4,764 views. No “Comments” or “Likes,” though — I guess the movie’s viewers have been too busy studying the movie’s cinematic qualities to leave me a comment about my review.

Adrienne Barbeau. I’ve made her my blog’s mascot and have mentioned her on this blog every chance I’ve had. How come she never returns my phone calls?

Anyway, thanks again to my loyal readers. I’ll try to make this blog interesting enough to last at least another year!

And now for something completely different — announcing THE MONTY PYTHON MOVIE BLOGATHON!

 

(DISCLAIMER: This blogathon is not in any way connected with or endorsed by Python [Monty] Pictures Ltd. or any member of Monty Python.)

On Oct. 5, 1969, the British comedy collective soon to be known as Monty Python first made its presence felt when “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” made its world premiere on the BBC. As the show was the final broadcast for BBC’s Sunday-evening programming, Python member Michael Palin said that their original audience consisted of “burglars and insomniacs.” From those humble beginnings sprang forth a laugh factory that influenced generations of British and American comedy makers.

To honor this hallowed anniversary, I announce The Monty Python Movie Blogathon. I know it’s ironic that I’m creating a film blogathon for a comedy troupe that began in TV — but let’s face it, if we allowed the Pythons’ TV entries into this ‘thon, it would be running for months! So here are the rules.

No duplicate entries about the same movie. You are about to be provided with a menu of choices generous enough that no blogs should have to overlap.

Do’s – You may blog about:

• obviously, any of the Pythons’ team films, from And Now for Something Completely Different through The Meaning of Life. (Although not all of the Pythons participated in the three Secret Policemen’s Ball concert films, these can be included as well. If you wish, you may also review the DVD of Monty Python Live [mostly], the 2014 reunion concert of the surviving Python members.)
• any movie — comedy or drama — in which a Python member played a starring or supporting role.
• any movie in which a Python member participated in the writing and/or directing. (This obviously includes the vast filmography of Terry Gilliam.)
• any filmed biography of the Pythons.

Don’ts – Please, no reviews of any of their TV work, as a group or separately, or as I mentioned, we’d be here for days. That said, I will make two exceptions to this rule: (1) any aforementioned Python biographies that happened to appear on TV; and (2) The Rutles (1978), Eric Idle’s irresistible mock-biography of The Beatles.

How Do I Join the Blogathon?

In the “Comments” section at the bottom of this blog, please leave your name, the URL of your blog, and the movie you are choosing to blog about. At the end of this blog entry are banners for the ‘thon. Grab a banner, display it on your blog, and link it back to this blog.

The blogathon will take place from Sat., Oct. 1, through Mon., Oct. 3. When the opening date of the blogathon arrives, leave a comment here with a link to your post, and I will display it in the list of entries (which I will continually update up to the beginning of the ‘thon, so keep checking back!).

I will not be assigning particular dates to any blog posts. As long as you get your entry in by the end of the day on Oct. 3, I will be satisfied. (That said, the earlier the better!)

Again, be sure to leave me a comment and grab a banner, and have fun with your blog entry!

Here’s the line-up so far:

Movie Movie Blog Blog – The movie version of Graham Chapman’s A Liar’s Autobiography

BNoirDetour – Terry Gilliam’s Brazil

Cinematic Frontier – Terry Gilliam’s The Fisher King

lifesdailylessonsblog – Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life

Serendipitous Anachronisms – Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The James Bond Social Media Project – John Cleese in the James Bond films The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day

Moon in Gemini – John Cleese and Michael Palin in Fierce Creatures

The Midnite Drive-In – Terry Gilliam’s Time Bandits

Radiator Heaven – Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

Reelweegiemidget Reviews – Eric Idle in National Lampoon’s European Vacation

 

 

 

 

 

 

2nd Annual SEX! (now that I have your attention) Blogathon – Day 1 Recap

Summer is starting off with a bang (ahem), as we get our first round of blogs featuring movies that suggest sex rather than overtly depicting it. Tap into our bloggers’ psyches as we present

(If you want to read any of the entries listed below, click on the name of the respective blog to link to their entry.)

Moon in Gemini discusses how sexual chemistry makes Montgomery Clift take a turn for the worst (and for Elizabeth Taylor) in A Place in the Sun.

B Noir Detour details how Edward G. Robinson’s desire for Joan Bennett ends up bringing a dark shade into his life in the film noir Scarlett Street.

Vivien Leigh’s sudden appearance in the lives of Marlon Brando and Kim Hunter adds to their sexual (and other) tensions, as Defiant Success points out in her critique of A Streetcar Named Desire.

Thoughts All Sorts bypasses film criticism and just lovingly states why the passion between Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice gives a “tingly” feeling to moviegoers.

Meredy.com shows us why Jean Harlow believes that, while blondes might have more fun, she’ll get further up the social scale as a Red-Headed Woman.

Even high-society people can’t always get what they want, as Pfeiffer Pfilms and Meg Movies points out in his take on Michelle Pfeiffer and Daniel Day-Lewis’ doomed romance in The Age of Innocence.

And lastly, Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell are unapologetic in their lust for, respectively, diamonds and muscular men, as your faithful correspondent points out in my genuflection to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

And we still have two more days of fun, sexy movies to go! Keep this blog bookmarked and check back with us, as further entertaining reviews shake up the blog world!