Linkboy

Guardian an "intimate" Q & A with the one and only Hilary Swank. Admit it: you want to know how often she has sex and what her most embarrassing moment was.
<--- ExpressUK talks to Lucy Punch whose career has apparently been reheated by playing that golddigging bimbo in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger last year.
Movie|Line offers up suggestions for replacing Darren Aronofsky on The Wolverine. I do vaguely like the Andy and Lana Wachowski suggestion. The others, not so much.
The Playlist Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play The Holiday Killer in The Dark Knight Rises (2012). That'll mean something to some of you but for me it's the first Bat villain from a movie that I'd never heard of prior to the movie.
Every Film in 2011 Just like it sounds. Hats off (but maybe straightjacket on?) to this UK guy Neil White who is going to review every film released in the calendar year. Insanity! He's already to #105 (The Adjustment Bureau).
Orlando Sentinel here's a charitable movie promotion: Disney is encourage potential young Tangled customers to get their hair cut. The locks go to making hairpieces for those suffering from medical hair loss.

One of my friends asked if I wanted to see [lists four movies] yesterday. I say 'I'll see any of those but Paul.' My friend is all "oh, right. You hate geek things." Total misconception! So many people think this about me so I feel defensive. Not true. loves geeky things. I just have a weird ambivalence about fanboy culture because it's too narrow/noisy. I love superheroes and sci-fi and such but how you gonna live on only one to three genres? Why limit yourself? If you're not also taking in classic cinema, Almodóvar, serious actressing, arthouse, silent film, talky dramas, and other genres you're going to die of artistic malnutrition! So I say "Ugh, stop it. I do so love geek things. But Paul? Seth Rogen voicing a CGI alien?"

[Diesel Sweeties]

For what it's worth I ended up at Rango finally. Y'all were right to push me in that direction. In case you aren't aware, the "Reviews" on the banner will take you to an index of movies seen and screening log and when I've reviewed something the link itself. I'm behind so I'll need to do capsules soon.

Off Cinema Diversions
Towleroad photos of last night's super moon. It was just blinding and beautiful here in NYC. Were any of you killed by werewolves?
Warren Ellis issued a challenge to his readers to remake/remodel The Fantastic Four. Super fun illustrations followed. They don't mention it in the thread but 2011 (November to be precise) marks the 50th anniversary of the cosmic ray mutated superfamily. Too bad the film version was so terrible.
Spiegel Knut the famous polar bear has died.
The Awl answers the question "What is a Rebecca Black?" in case you noticed that name clogging up your twitter feed and facebook wall this past week.
Vulture has a funny "dos and don'ts" for making your own Friday style viral hit. Warning: Disturbingly homogeneous Teen Girl emerges! I haven't been a teenager in a long time but I remember there being more than one kind. I mean there's even several different types on Glee each week.
Antenna offers an informative primer on all sorts of things going down with Netflix, Google, MPAA, NPR if you, like Nathaniel, find the behind the scenes of  media-internet-showbiz occassionally confusing / disorienting.

Jagged Linky Pill

Grrrrrr. I'm totally not speaking to Critical Condition and Low Resolution right now because they did not include me in their awesome trip back through every track of Alanis Morrissette's "Jagged Little Pill" for its 15th anniversary. I'm going to write a list song about all the reasons I'm mad at Mark and Joe and then I'm going to screech it out unintelligibly over massive pop hooks and sell 14 million copies. I won't share a damn cent with them. They oughta know.

Under Link Swept
DListed Ewan McGregor being incredibly adorable with a puppy
For The Record is another theater event for movie fans in Los Angeles. It's a concert evening celebrating the music of Baz Luhrmann's films with a rotating cast from stage, tv, and screen. Sounds great. Between this and Streep Tease I so need a plane ticket right about now.
My new Plaid Pants loves Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins. I kinda wanna see it but I'm nervous about the intense violence. Audition was a little much for my girlish constitution... I nearly passed out.

Basket of Kisses checks in with the Mad Men cast during this agonizing wait for ANY news of a Season 5.
Vulture Billy Crystal will maybe possibly he'll think about it host the Oscars again if they have less statues handed out. F*** you Billy. I like seeing Costume Designer and Art Directors and all the rest win. Seriously, F*** you.
Socialite's Life Sandra Bullock is looking kind of deglam on the set of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.
Kenneth in the (212) starts a funny rumor about Bradley Cooper.
Cinema Blend has some drawings of Mother Gothel before she morphed into the Mother Gothel we know from Tangled which comes to DVD/Blu-Ray real soon.

That's a wee sample. We trust you'll remember that we're happy with the Gothel we got.

Blogs of Entanglement
The Guardian does some frightening though highly plausible thinking about end game of the new world order of film journalism (i.e. fannish blogging).
Pajiba, in light of last week's Tech Crunch vs. Cinematical scandal, pats itself on the back for not playing the PR game. See I'm not the only one navel gazing this week about how I blog! Must be something in the air.

For the record I've never been told by anyone to tone it down -- though I do get the rare nasty e-mail from people in the biz about certain comments I have made about certain actors and actresses -- but I kind of wish the studios were giving me money so that I could theoretically be asked to tone it down. I'd welcome an ethical challenge for money. ;)

 Supposed Former Celebrity Junkie
PopEater has a really interesting piece from Jo Piazza's CELEBENOMICS on Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan's mutual disintegration and why Charlie Sheen seems to be benefitting from his downfall financially whilst Lohan's fortunes and fandom continue to dwindle.

She theorizes that it's about branding and embracing of your flaws, or... "Make your mess your message." Good read but I still think the way these things usually play out this way is basic cultural sexism. Think for a minute how many anti-heroes the culture embraces to the point of total amoral adulation (Hi the entire gangster movie genre!) and then try to think of how many criminal women are similarly adored / emulated. Another thing that's totally not discussed is their respective talent. Lohan's self-immolation is SO much more depressing because to get where she's, uh, not, now, she had to cast aside real movie star presence (super hard to come by else every working actor would have it) and acting chops. Why shouldn't Sheen embrace his mess as a message? What else has he got? It's not like he was ever that magnetic on the big screen or particular genius at small screen comedy despite earning gazillions from those laugh tracks on Two and Half Men.

You Oughta See
My god. I keep forgetting to share this. You've probably seen it by now...

A Brief History of Title Design from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.

I think the best thing about it is how it trusts the audience to infer some of the titles, since the openings are so iconic. Like that flash insert of Rosie Perez shakin' her thang for Do The Right Thing or all those snippets of credits that are just names rather than the title itself. It's a beauty, huh? If I could ever figure out how to rip DVDs in a simple way (last time I asked it seemed to involve about 5 different programs for one task) without spending a fortune I would make such great edits. I know it must be much simpler than I understand since everyone and their dog does it, some with natural talent like this, others with expensive software but less artistry.

Link Man

Oscar Stuff
NY Post bad press for the lucky Weinsteins. It waited till just after the Oscars to surface. Just like that King's Speech porn set situation happened after voting. Hmmmm.
Your Movie Buddy shows his Oscar night party food. Consider it a sequel to Alexa's Curio on Oscar snacks.
Gold Derby wonders if Hugh Jackman will be back to host Oscar soon. Quotes from Jackman.

Enough about that shiny gold man. Next!
Cinema Blend Is it Jennifer Lawrence vs Hailee Steinfeld for Hunger Games? They're very different choices.
Quiet Earth ranks every Philip K Dick screen adaptation in honor (?) of the opening of The Adjustment Bureau.
Pajiba assesses the career of Michael Biehn (The Terminator) post James Cameron. If you ask me it was super lame of Cameron not to squeeze him into Avatar somehow.
The Ampersand here's one for you TV buffs. "The Ghosts of Sitcoms Past" Can you name these characters?

Finally... Nicks Flick Picks wants your help on a class assignment. He teaches a film criticism course and he wants to know which of these "teasers" would entice you to read a full review and why? So click over and leave your (positive) comments. These are student reviews. They need encouragement. It's a good exercize if you've ever written a review yourself or just to suss out why you respond to the ones you do respond to.