Monstrous links

Good news! Page and I have begun talking about rescheduling the Terrorthon. It was truly unfortunate that we've had to put it on hold for as long as we have, because we had a fairly large amount of people lined up to take part. I don't know if we can get as many the second time around, but I do know that Page has her heart set on making this blogathon happen, and I'm just as eager to help her with it. We haven't settled on an exact date yet, but sometime around Halloween might be a possibility (which, strangely enough, was my original suggestion!). Either way, we haven't forgotten about it, so we hope you won't either.

For all you filmmakers out there: Katha Cato from the Queens World Film Festival wants me to remind you that they're now taking submissions for the 2014 edition, which will be March 4-10. Once again the opening night venue will be the Museum of the Moving Image, and once again there will be all sorts of year-round programming. For more information, visit the website.

I've been meaning to address the recent talk about the future of Hollywood, specifically the comments made by directors Steven Soderbergh, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Ryan sums up my feelings on the matter, but I'd also like to add this: much of this larger debate has focused on the studios and the moviegoers, but what about the theater owners? If the moviegoing experience needs to be more enticing, I'd much sooner trust the individual theaters to make that happen than the studios imposing order from above. 

After all, the theater owners are much closer to the audiences, not to mention their communities - and that's what I believe it comes down to. The theaters need to foster a greater sense of community with their patrons. A couple of years ago, I threw out a few ideas about how theaters can improve comfort for audiences. There's much more that I could add to this list, but like I say, any kind of outreach should come from the theater owners and it needs to fit the needs of the community. This strikes me as a much more sustainable solution for the industry than $50 premium tickets.

How much does Aurora love Judy Garland? This much.

While at BAM last weekend, I saw that they're currently showing all nine of Hitchcock's surviving silent films as part of a series. Here's more about them.

This comic strip pays tribute to Roger Ebert in a way that'll bring a tear to your eye.

Former child star Mara Wilson talks about the perils of being a child star - and how she managed to escape them.

And finally, much love to my pal Caftan Woman for 25 years of marital bliss.