Dig a Hole: Eugene Polley, Co-Inventor of the Wireless Remote
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/22/24821/ Chances are you weren't familiar with the name Eugene Polley when the newscaster announced his death over this morning's coffee. Without his invention, chances are Americans would have been forced to take in a little more exercise as they …
Chicks in the City Takes Home SDSU Award for Excellence in Documentary Production
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/18/24642/ Earlier this week The Big Screen reported that Rebecca Tolin's documentary short Chicks in the City didn't make the cut at this year's SDSU Filmmaker's Showcase. It is my great pleasure to announce that despite the fact that it …
Count Floyd Terrified by Katy Perry in 3-D
Count Floyd here, kids, telling you that next week on Monster Chiller Horror Theatre we have a film so scary that pus will fall in buckets from your eyes! No, not Blood Sucking Monkeys from West Mifflin, PA or 3-D …
Meet First Position Director Bess Kargman This Weekend at Landmark Hillcrest
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/17/24595/ John Rubio describes First Position as a film that follows "the lives of several aspiring ballet dancers from around the globe (ages 9 to 19) as they train for the Youth America Grand Prix, a prestigious dance competition in …
These Are a Few of My Favorite Screens
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/17/24584/ I first visited Reading Cinemas Gaslamp 15 while the theatre was still operating under the Pacific Theatres banner. It was 1999 during a visit to San Diego to audition for the job of film curator at MoPA. What better …
And the Winner Is...
Sorry to have been away so long, but I moved and had no end of trouble getting the internet activated. They don't call them Cox for nothing. Battleship sank me in more ways than one. I have this trick knee …
Meet Rebecca Tolin, Almost-Participant in Thursday's SDSU Filmmaker's Showcase
Rebecca Tolin and I first met in 2002 when I guested on an art critics' show she produced for KPBS Television. After a ten year hiatus, two chance meetings reunite us. Rebecca began as a journalist on network TV before …
The Big Screen Trivia Contest Questions
Have you seen this man? http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/14/24353/ I don't know who the nitz on the right is, but the guy on the left is the winner of The Big Screen's trivia contest held last Thursday night at the House of Blues. …
Big Screen Trivia Party TONIGHT at House of Blues!
Happy May Ten! http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/07/24005/ After weeks of preparation the venue is set, the questions written, and the contestants selected and raring to go. Lickona and I even had our clown suits dry cleaned. The doors to the Crossroads Restaurant at …
Meet Pierce Kavanagh, Co-Founder of This Weekend's Inaugural San Diego Surf Film Festival
Did you ever have one of those days where halfway through an interview and it suddenly dawns on you that you know your subject? That's precisely what happened while speaking with Pierce Kavanagh, co-founder of this weekend's inaugural San Diego …
Still Time to Qualify for May 10 Big Screen Movie Trivia Contest at House of Blues
May 10. Thank God for the rain which has helped wash away the cinephiles and movie mavens off the sidewalks and into the House of Blues for The Big Screen's big anniversary blowout/trivia contest! Reader Andy and I were there …
Dig a Hole: George 'Goober' Lindsey
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/06/23969/ From the tips of his serrated felt beanie down to his pigeon toed gait, George 'Goober' Lindsey was American television's embodiment of the carefree, slow-witted yokel. Even more than his country cousin Gomer (Jim Nabors), whose frequent basso profundo …
Disney Puts on the Chihuahua to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo
Having been on the receiving end of many a wagging finger, nothing delights me more than when I catch a purported citadel of progressive orthodoxy like the Walt Disney Company with both hands in the politically incorrect cookie jar. The …
Interview: Lakeside Filmmaker Paul Blevins Brings Zombies to East County
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/04/23891/ Paul Blevins has a zombie on his back. For years he had been wanting to make a horror movie, but needed a spark. A Halloween gala at a friend's house proved to be the foundation for his dream project. …
This is Not a Review of This is Not a Film
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/03/23832/ Tomorrow night brings San Diego’s one and only screening of this year’s most highly anticipated film, and yet many of you will be wasting your time at The Avengers. The San Diego Asian Film Festival will screen Iranian director …
Backlot Streetscape in Atlanta's Tyler Perry Studios Gone With the Flame
Not since Tara was torched has a fire in Atlanta drawn this much attention. It took more than 100 firefighters to contain the four-alarm blaze that scorched the backlot screetscape at Tyler Perry Studios. "The 34th St." set, named after …
The African Queen, My, She Is Yare
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/01/23751/ The fabled scow that Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn navigate through John Huston's beloved yarn is once again shipshape, out of drydock, and, my, she is yare. (Yare. Were it not for Katharine Hepburn's Holiday, I might never have …
Dick Clark: As Powerful in Death as He Was in Life
http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2012/may/01/23703/ While it's not going to do America's oldest (and deadest) teenager much good, a judge ruled that Dick Clark Productions (DCP) does indeed own the broadcast rights to the Golden Globes Awards. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), the …
The Artist's Uggie Set to Release 'Bark-All' Autobiography
Uggie, the precious, scene-stealing pooch who wagged his way into the hearts of Oscar voters, is set to release an autobiography in October. Uggie: My Story, an "as told to" memoir, will be transcribed by author and mortal, Wendy Holden. …
Meet Sacha Baron Cohen's Bus at SDSU!
It's not the first time a prop bus was sent on tour. While vacationing in Los Angeles in 1977, I had the privilege of meeting the bullet-riddled bus that Clint Eastwood drove through the streets of Phoenix during the climax …