joyeux noël

happy birthday, jim henson.

“when i was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. my hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there.” – jim henson

puppeteer, director, artist, and creator of freaky, long-haired, dirty, cynical muppets and oh-so-subtle pitches, jim henson was born 74 years ago today. there are very, very few people i’m willing to call a true inspiration and “idol,” much less a genius, and jim henson deserves all three titles. he was the brains behind a good chunk of what was good in my (and i doubt i’d be wrong if i said your) childhood — sesame street, labyrinth, muppet babies (my fav), fraggle rock, bear in the big blue house (ok ok, so bitbbh came after his death, but still), the muppet show, the dark crystal, and on and on. i often curse my vivid imagination. it’s the reason i’m deathly afraid of the dark, after all. but i’m sure i would be a lot less creative, imaginative, inventive, and overall awesome had there never been a jim henson to encourage the power of creating objects and ideas and possibilities in my own mind.

“muppet babies, we make our dreams come trueee
muppet babies, we’ll do the same for youuu
when your room looks kinda weird and you wish that you weren’t they-ur
just close your eyes and make believe, and you can be anywhereee.”
-excerpt from muppet babies theme song

the children (and adults) of yesteryear miss you, jim. and the children of today and tomorrow have no idea what they’ve missed. lord help them!

image via the joy boys – jim kinda resembles a dark-haired shaun white

and while i’m at it, happy belated birthday to ethan coen, the youngest half of my favorite directing duo! i love you, ethan! one day i will be your protégé and we will take cannes by storm!

photo by mark blinch

enzo

although i’m a disgustingly huge fan of the italian neorealism era in cinema, ladri di biciclette (or “bicycle thieves,” in english) is one of those movies that i’m almost embarrassed to say is one of my favorite movies of all time. in film school, there’s a short list of films that you’re sort of expected to regard well and admire — citizen kane, the godfather and fistful of dollars trilogies, casablanca, the searchers, breathless, etc. bicycle thieves is a high-ranking member of that club. telling a professor or fellow film student that bicycle thieves is one of your favorite movies is like a fashion student proclaiming that their favorite designer is coco chanel. both are classic, revered, timeless… and not exactly radical choices.

i won’t get into the details of the film as this isn’t a review of or commentary on bicycle thieves (maybe later). this is meant to serve as my official answer to the third most popular question film students are asked, aka “who’s your favorite actor?”

before i let you in on who my favorite actor ever is, i’ll give you three facts about him:

1. he wasn’t and is not a professional actor.
2. he currently works as a math teacher.
3. he was picked off the street for his role when he was 7-years-old, solely because vittorio de sica loved the way he walked.

if you’ve seen the movie, you should know who my favorite actor is.

drumroll. read the rest of this entry »