Your link in this post still works for anyone who hasn't blocked or been blocked by that account. I just reported & blocked it. Thanks.

It's also on their website: drawnandquarterly.com/books/acme-n...

Actually, now I don't remember if Ware did earlier Criterion covers - his posters for Uncle Boonmee and Tokyo Story weren't for Criterion. Maybe I was thinking of those and/or Adrian Tomine's Ozu stuff... This might be Ware's first Criterion cover.

The lead actor in The Dirk Diggler story, Michael Stein, plays Cheadle's failed stereo customer in one scene in Boogie Nights.

Oh, & Ridgely had played Jack Horner (Reynolds' Boogie Nights character) in the earlier short film, The Dirk Diggler Story! So Anderson worked with him on that short before Hard Eight & Boogie Nights. I wonder if he minded playing a different, smaller role in Boogie Nights...

& Robert Ridgley, who played the Colonel in Boogie Nights, was the Keno bar manager in Hard Eight (Paltrow's boss). So there were a handful of actors who appeared in both movies. Two of the four Hard Eight leads were in Boogie Nights, plus a few minor characters (I guess day players).

6/4

Oh! Actually, Melora Walters was also in Hard Eight, as Samuel L. Jackson's companion in his final scene. So she was in Paul Thomas Anderson's first three films (like Reilly, Baker Hall, & Hoffman), plus The Master. She might give the best performance in Magnolia, a film packed with great work.

5/4

You can see similarities between Hard Eight & Boogie Nights, but the latter is much bigger & more ambitious, a very impressive step up from his indie drama debut. Maybe a more ambitious leap than Tarantino's from Reservoir Dogs to Pulp Fiction. & a perfect lead-up to Magnolia.

4/4

The Boogie Nights visual storytelling is similar to Hard Eight but is more ambitious & pulls even more from Scorsese in the writing as well as the camera movement & editing. Hard to imagine this film without GoodFellas.

The ensemble juggling is tighter than Altman's loose, improvisatory approach.

Three actors from Hard Eight reappear in Boogie Nights - John C. Reilly & Philip Seymour Hoffman are in ensemble parts, while Hard Eight's protagonist Philip Baker Hall gets a one-scene cameo, & the camera & editing treat him like a big star.

A creepy (Michael Penn?) music cue also reappears.

2/

I remember hearing about Buzz Aldrin having depression after his moon mission.

Definitely! Thank you for posting it.

Shatner's reflection on his trip to space is well worth reading. Very sobering.
variety.com/2022/tv/news...

I'd be interested in seeing that video, if you remember where it was.

You have a good brain, nevertheless.

There's no ethical way to use ANY generative AI. It's plagiaristic & harms the environment, in addition to encouraging suicide & funneling money to Trump, as you mention.

I was with you until you started recommending alternative AI chatbots.

I do hope this gets some people to stop using ChatGPT.