So much has happened. Alberto Gonzales resigned as Attorney General. Another Republican was caught with his pants down (or his hands where they shouldn't be). The Beastie Boys were on Charlie Rose! What is the world coming to? Owen Wilson has tried to kill himself, and suddenly there were media mentions of Pagliacci: imagine, Owen Wilson can inspire Entertainment Tonight to make a reference to classical opera!

The world is going to hell in a handbasket, that's what's happening.

On various blogs: Michael Giltz is writing all over, and his blog is becoming a site where you can link to his articles in the New York Daily News, or on the Huffington Post website. George Robinson has written some nice stuff about Bunuel and Bill Douglas (www.cine-journal.blogspot.com). There's a little discussion on Dave Kehr's blog about the declining fortunes of film critics ("another one bites the dust") and it's prompted a few comments (www.davekehr.com). Joe Baltake has some interesting takes on forgotten films, such as four play-to-film adaptations of the late 1950s-early 1960s, cf. "Toys in the Attic", "All the Way Home", "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs", "Middle of the Night", and he makes the observation (how true, how true) that if you're a prestige picture and you fall short during award season, you're consigned to oblivion (www.thepassionatemoviegoer.blogspot.com). Carrie Rickey has some amusing comments on "Rush Hour 3" and the latest "Bourne" movie (http://blogs.phillynews.com/inquirer/flickgrrl).

So that's some of the reading on the net from friends, acquaintances, and other interested (interesting) film people. And i've been recommending David Bordwell's long consideration on Antonioni and Bergman (www.davidbordwell.com) for the last few weeks.

This week: two press screenings so far, "City Streets" (directed by Rouben Mamoulian, with cinematography by Lee Garmes and original story by Dashiell Hammett) and the doc "Rouben Mamoulian: The Golden Age of Broadway and Hollywood". The doc was very problematic. It wasn't the lack of film clips... it was the fact that the commentators were all polite, but there wasn't any passion on display. I had a lot of problems with that doc "Broadway: The Golden Years" that PBS is always trotting out during its pledge weeks... the reason being that the guy who made it seemed to be a little naive... but he let the people loose, and when you have people like Maureen Stapleton, Charles Durning, Elizabeth Ashley, Patricia Neal, June Havoc, Ben Gazzara, Charles Nelson Reilly, Gretchen Wyler, and on and on, all enthused and delighted to tell stories... you can't miss. But there's something a little tepid in "Rouben Mamoulian: The Golden Age of Broadway and Hollywood". At least it tells the story in a straightforward manner. But it just seemed enervated.

Last night, watched the DVD of "Les Enfants Terribles". Still such an enchanting movie. Am i wrong to love it so much? I watched the extras, including the little TV interview with Nicole Stephane. I remember seeing her when she introduced "Le Silence de la Mer" at MoMA when there was the Melville retrospective.