Some guy in a monkey suit was the big thrill of King Kong. No, not the Peter Jackson one, which I didn't go see this weekend. The 1978 Jeff Bridges version I watched as a child was on AMC last week. Thanks to DVR, I snatched to watch at my own pace.

Why in the world I thought at four or five that this was such an incredible movie, I don't know. I remember having Kong toys and shirts and staying up for Kong and Godzilla marathons. It was this spectacle of attempting to reach for something bigger - I tell myself now.

What really got me watching it now was Kong's climb up the World Trade Center. It feels like forever we've been mourning the bombing of the WTO; so, the occasional glance on Friends kind of tugs at the heart strings. Here was something more, something from my childhood that finally put those towers in perspective.

An image of safety and home to this big monkey also represented a time of innocence and power from my childhood. Now, that image is suppose to represent something else, which I still haven't figured out yet. Terror? Death? Insecurity? I've got plenty of images for those, I don't need the towers for that.

So, here were the towers in a context that I had forgotten. Having meaning which I didn't remember at first. Movies deal in those kinds of memories all the time. It's part of that reason I give my dad when he asks why would you watch a movie again. Maybe this time, it will mean something different or maybe it mean exactly the same.

When things change, it becomes so important to have something to go back to. Something that's stable if only a celluloid flicker in the dark.

j.brown

It's all always good to remember - some days are better than others. So, don't worry about the others.

A long day of screening films for the Carolina Film & Video Festival ended on a very good note. I got word that Action is coming to DVD. The great Jay Mohr TV Series is finally coming to DVD. How can you not love a series with Buddy Hackett as a limo driver and Illeana Douglas as a child star turned hooker turned production exec.

That and the Miami Vice trailer posted.

At the end of the day, Action may have been a satire of Hollywood, but it was full of more heart and soul than 90% of the Hollywood schlock that's out there.

So, I saw about 65 movies today and about five of them were good. Top of the heap, I will only say that it involves Circus Liqour which is a couple blocks from my friend Nicole's apartment in North Hollywood.

Rock on,
jbrown

Just wanted to take a minute to thank Chris Bavle and everyone that helped me finish shooting The Nutz. The three-minute comedy showed last week at The Scene in Greensboro to a good response. I'm sending it out to some festivals and we'll see where things go from there.

Submissions closed for the Carolina Film and Video Festival last week; so, along the holidays and my birthday, I'll probably be watching films and helping book rooms to the February event. If the phone doesn't ring, you know it's me.

Also, I want to give a quick shout out to my former student Chris Nichols. He's got a short trailer, "Dark Hollow," that he's sending around. Good luck!

Last for today, and I'll try to make this a regular thing, please pass along that the UNCG Grad Students will be holding a casting session Jan. 14 & 20 for Spring Practicum projects. To find out more, check out the website Brandon Johnson put together.

j.brown

Just some pics to keep in mind

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