Movie Song of the Week: “Bye Bye Life”

I have no idea whether or not the Angel of Death would look anything like Jessica Lange. In fact, the one woman in my life who looks anything like Jessica Lange actually saved me from a premature death back in 2004. But it says something about Bob Fosse's vision that Lange's performance as the Angel of Death in 1979's All That Jazz received an endorsement from priest/author Andrew M. Greeley of all people. And I kinda like it too -- though I would probably envisage my angel as looking more like Salma Hayek or Dolores del Río.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this week's number. Even if you disagree with Ms. Lange's performance, the song is still good.

Movie Song of the Week: “Everything Old Is New Again”

As you might have guessed from this week's very light blogging, this hasn't been one of my better weeks. So I can't help but post one of my favorite cheery numbers from 1979's All That Jazz in the hope that the goddess Ann Reinking and her follower Elzsebet Foldi might distract me from an otherwise inevitable pity party.

I hope you all enjoy it.

Trailer of the Week: Jaws (1975)

Quick! Go see a movie today before the summer's over.

Something bright and cheerful and full of humor...like this:

R.I.P. Steve Gerber

Ay, Dios. The icons of my teenage years seem to be dying all over the place. First actress Suzanne Pleshette died on the 19th of last month, then actor Roy Scheider died on the 10th of this month, and now I find out that comic book writer Steve Gerber died on the 10 of this month as well.

True, he was never as famous as the first two people...but he should have been. As creator of the comic book series Howard the Duck, he was very easily one of the best comic book satirists of the 1970s. Indeed, his work still packs a heck of a wallop even today.

Unfortunately, when most people think of Howard the Duck, they think of the George Lucas film of the same name, a movie even the most ardent Gerber fans have trouble defending. (Indeed, Gerber fans like myself hate the movie even worse than most people because we're familiar enough with the source material to suspect how great a Howard the Duck movie could have been had it been in the hands of the right filmmaker.)

Fortunately, Gerber's comic book work is starting to become available in paperback. But for how long, I won't even pretend to guess.

Please do not judge the guy by that stupid movie. Judge him by his words.

Come to think of it, that's how all great writers should be judged: by their words.

R.I.P. Roy Scheider

Roy Scheider, the star of such films as Jaws and All That Jazz, passed away this past Sunday.

He will be missed.