Movies on a Big Screen…the blog!

Indiana University Press has published a new book entitled, The Year’s Work in Lebowski Studies, edited by Edward P. Comentale and Aaron Jaffe and featuring an endnote by MOBS pal, supporter and helper William Preston Robertson.

You may remember Robertson from one of our screenings of the film he co-directed, Rock That Uke (available from Amazon and other places), and he also previously authored The Big Lebowski: The Making of a Coen Brothers Movie.

In any case, this new compilation of essays from 21 fans and scholars promises it “contains neither arid analyses nor lectures for the late-night crowd, but new ways of thinking and writing about film culture.”

Here’s the table of contents:
Introduction / Edward P. Comentale and Aaron Jaffe
Part 1. Ins (Intrinsic Models and Influences)
1. The Really Big Sleep: Jeffrey Lebowski as the Second Coming of Rip Van Winkle / Fred Ashe
2. A Once and Future Dude: The Big Lebowski as Medieval Grail-Quest / Andrew Rabin
3. Dudespeak: Or, How to Bowl like a Pornstar / Justus Nieland
4. Metonymic Hats and Metaphoric Tumbleweeds: Noir Literary Aesthetics in Miller’s Crossing and The Big Lebowski / Christopher Raczkowski
5. The Dude and the New Left / Stacy Thompson
6. The Big Lebowski and Paul de Man: Historicizing Irony and Ironizing Historicism / Joshua Kates
7. Lebowski and the Ends of Postmodern American Comedy / Matthew Biberman
8. Found Document: The Stranger’s Commentary and a Note on His Method / Thomas B. Byers
9. No Literal Connection: Mass Commodification, U.S. Militarism, and the Oil Industry in The Big Lebowski / David Martin-Jones
10. “I’ll Keep Rolling Along”: Some Notes on Singing Cowboys and Bowling Alleys in The Big Lebowski / Edward P. Comentale
Part 2. Outs (Eccentric Activities and Behaviors)
11. What Condition the Postmodern Condition Is In: Collecting Culture in The Big Lebowski / Allan Smithee
12. Holding Out Hope for the Creedence: Music and the Search for the Real Thing in The Big Lebowski / Diane Pecknold
13. “Fuck It, Let’s Go Bowling”: The Cultural Connotations of Bowling in The Big Lebowski / Bradley D. Clissold
14. LebowskIcons: The Rug, The Irong Lung, The Tiki Bar, and Busby Berkeley / Dennis Hall and Susan Grove Hall
15. On the White Russian / Craig N. Owens
16. Professor Dude: An Inquiry into the Appeal of His Dudeness for Contemporary College Students / Richard Gaughran
17. Abiding (as) Animal: Marmot, Pomeranian, Whale, Dude / David Pagano
18. Logjammin’ and Gutterballs: Masculinities in The Big Lebowski / Dennis Allen
19. Size Matters / Judith Roof
20. Brunswick = Fluxus / Aaron Jaffe
21. Enduring and Abiding / Jonathan Elmer
Endnote: The Goofy and the Profound: A Non-Academic’s Perspective on the Lebowski Achievement / William Preston Robertson

So if ya like Lebowski, you might want to add it to your Christmas list. It’s also available at Amazon.

And in the “entirely unrelated” department, last night at the screening of Medicinal 101, I got tipped off about a very cool event in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There’s a theater group there named Commedia Beauregard who for the past two years has done the holiday standard, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, BUT – they do it in Klingon!

And this year, they’ll be doing it over 12 nights! If they were only touring…

Well, I finally had time to write about this!

If you haven’t heard, WWE wrestler Christopher Keith Irvine – I mean, Chris Jericho – was at this year’s Sacramento Horror Film Festival to do a Q&A for the film he’s in, Albino Farm. And so, he was on-stage with SHF’s MC, nationally syndicated late night horror host, Cinema Insomnia’s Mr. Lobo.

But he did a lot more than just “A” – specifically, drunkenly calling Mr. Lobo “Hadji” and if that wasn’t enough, then calling him a “fag.”

An edited video made it to TMZ, so take a look:

But apparently this video doesn’t begin to cover the verbal abuse drunkenly hurled about by Christopher Keith Irvine – I mean, Chris Jericho. He apparently mocked the cast and fans of Repo! The Genetic Opera more than is shown in the video above, along with ridiculing “film geeks” everywhere. And managed to spill his “apple juice” down the front of his shirt, which Mr. Lobo chivalrously dabbed at with his trademark green and black tie.

In any event, Christopher Keith Irvine – I mean, Chris Jericho – issued the following non-apology apology:
“I realize some inappropriate comments were made and I apologize if I offended anybody. Just know that everyone on stage was having a blast and we all shared a drink and a laugh after! The good news is I got my wish of being posted on TMZ.” The truthfulness of “everyone on stage was having a blast and we all shared a drink and a laugh after,” is highly questionable. OK, it’s really just not true.

Then GLAAD issued the following statement on the controversy:
“There is no time, context or occasion in which it is acceptable to utter racist and anti-gay slurs. Jericho’s hollow apology ‘if (he) offended anyone’ is a template used by many and is insincere and worn.”

At the same time, Mr. Lobo realized that this behavior could not be left unchallenged — literally! Here is video of the “press conference” he held, which also made it to TMZ:

Now I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen Mr. Lobo’s remote control thumb in action, and this ain’t a challenge anyone wants to take too lightly. Apparently Christopher Keith Irvine – I mean, Chris Jericho – felt the heat, too, as he posted to his twitter stream the following:

“Mr Lobo rules….and is in no way related to Sheriff Lobo.”

Nice try, but do you really think that’s gonna appease a resolute Mr. Lobo who now is in the position to defend the honor of legions of movie fans? I don’t think so…

And now it’s made it to Fox 40 news – embedding video from Fox40 was slowing down the blog – so just go to their site to see the news report:

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxltmz,0,1867071.story

Stay tuned to Cinema Insomnia for updates on this developing story!!

Last month, a guy named Matt contacted us about proposing to his girlfriend, Rahel – and wanted to do it at MOBS – and the whole thing would be a surprise to her!

He had put together a compilation of video of the two of them which would run with trailers. At one point in the video, the screen goes black, and during that time is when a spotlight would hit them and the actual proposal happens. We had previously figured out where they’d sit and had the spotlight pre-aimed, and last night – on Sunday, November 8, 2009, it all went off without a hitch! EXCEPT… I forgot to bring a camera, so we have no pictures of them at MOBS.

Oh – and she did say “yes!”