Only five days until THE UNEMPLOYMENT BLOGATHON!

Just a gentle reminder that our blog’s The Unemployment Blogathon will begin five days from now. There’s still plenty of time for you to sign up and find out how to enter the ‘thon with your blog entry about any movie with an unemployment-related theme. Click on the banner above for more information!

Also, three weeks after The Unemployment Blogathon has ended, we will be hosting The Honeymooners Blogathon — and again, there is still plenty of time to enter the ‘thon and write about your favorite aspect of this classic TV series. Click on the above banner for entry information.

Announcing THE HONEYMOONERS BLOGATHON!

If you’re a fan of Ralph Kramden & Co., it’s time to take a trip to the moon (or at least to 328 Chauncey Street) as we present

We want this blogathon to be as inventive and fun as the TV series that inspired it. Therefore, like Ralph in the episode “Young Man with a Horn,”

we have taken stock of this blogathon’s potential and would like to present you with its weaknesses and strong points. (In other words, here’s what you can and cannot write about for this blogathon.)

Strong Points (Do’s)

You may write about any incarnation of “The Honeymooners”: The “Classic 39” episodes; the 1950’s “Lost Episodes” that were revived in 1985; the “Honeymooners” musical-based segments of Gleason’s 1966-1970 CBS variety show; and the hour-long “Honeymooners” specials that Gleason did for ABC in the late 1970’s. You can write about a single episode that you like, or you can write about the entire series.
Studies and critiques of the individual characters.
Facts and anecdotes related to the making of the series. (Just two examples: Leonard Stern was an early writer for the show and went on to produce “Get Smart” and “He & She” among other hit sitcoms. Louis Sorin, who played opposite Groucho Marx in the early Marx Bros. talkie Animal Crackers, appears as one of Ralph’s irritated neighbors 26 years later in “Mama Loves Mambo.” Tell everyone something we don’t already know about this TV show. Research can be fun!)
Parodies of the show? Why not? Write about the “Honeymooners” take-offs performed on “In Living Color” and early “Saturday Night Live,” or the three “Honey-mousers” Looney Tunes cartoons produced by Warner Bros. from 1956 to 1960.
Yes, if you dare, you can even write about the 2005 movie version of The Honeymooners, starring Cedric the Entertainer.

Weaknesses (Don’t’s)

No mini-biographies of the series’ stars or backstage personnel, except as such information relates to the TV show (see my Leonard Stern example, above).
No personal anecdotes such as “I was 10 years old when I first came across ‘The Honeymooners’ on TV.” We already know we all like “The Honeymooners,” or we wouldn’t be participating in a blog about them.
No duplicate entries. We will continually update the list of blogathon entries that is shown below. Please check back on it to ensure that your idea is not already taken.

If you have your own idea for a blogathon entry, let us know. If it fits in the “Strengths” category, we’ll allow it.

Instructions

In the “Comments” section at the bottom of this blog, please leave your name, the URL of your blog, and the movie you are choosing to blog about. Below are banners you can use to promote your blog entry. Please choose a banner, display it on your blog, and link it back to this blog.
The blogathon will take place from Fri., Oct. 25, through Sun., Oct. 27, 2019. When the opening date of the blogathon arrives, leave a comment here with a link to your post, and I will display it in the list of entries (which I will continually update to the beginning of the ‘thon, so keep checking back!).
I will not be assigning particular dates to any blog posts. As long as you get your entry in by the end of the day on Oct. 27, I will be satisfied. (That said, the sooner the better!)

Again, be sure to leave a comment below and grab one of our banners, and have fun with your blog entry! Here’s the line-up so far (and away we go…):

Movie Movie Blog Blog II: “Suspense” (1953), “Head of the House” (1956), and the “Second Honeymoon” special (1976)

Movierob – The Honeymooners (2005)

Caftan Woman – Musical moments from “The Classic 39”

The Midnite Drive-In – “The Man from Space” (1955)

Wide Screen World – “Mama Loves Mambo” (1956)

Announcing THE UNEMPLOYMENT BLOGATHON!

Moviemakers know that getting and keeping a job is always on everyone’s mind, as countless movies dating back to the beginning of film have looked at this subject. Let’s look at the wide variety of angles from which this topic has been explored, as we present

THE UNEMPLOYMENT BLOGATHON!

What We’re Looking For

Your blogathon entry should be about a movie whose main plot, or at least a prominent subplot, concerns unemployment for one or more of the main characters. Please do not write about a character who is simply unemployed for his own sake.

(For example, Charlie Chaplin started out many of his movies with his Tramp character not having a job — but that in itself was not always the focus of his movies. For this blogathon, if you write about Chaplin, we’d prefer you write about one of his movies where his seeking employment furthered the plot, as in City Lights or Modern Times.)

That said, if the movie concerns not having, getting, or keeping a job, you can choose from any genre, from comedy or drama to musical or animated film. Also, no duplicate entries, please. The listing (below) of blogathon entries will be continually updated; check it to be sure your intended entry isn’t already taken.

Instructions

In the “Comments” section at the bottom of this blog, please leave your name, the URL of your blog, and the movie you are choosing to blog about. Below are banners you can use to promote your blog entry. Please choose a banner, display it on your blog, and link it back to this blog.
The blogathon will take place from Fri., Oct. 4, through Sun., Oct. 6, 2019. When the opening date of the blogathon arrives, leave a comment here with a link to your post, and I will display it in the list of entries (which I will continually update to the beginning of the ‘thon, so keep checking back!).
I will not be assigning particular dates to any blog posts. As long as you get your entry in by the end of the day on Oct. 6, I will be satisfied. (That said, the sooner the better!)

Again, be sure to leave a comment below and grab our banner, and have fun with your blog entry! Here’s the line-up so far:

Movie Movie Blog Blog II – Hallelujah I’m a Bum (1933)

The Midnite Drive-In – Falling Down (1993)

The Stop Button – Mondays in the Sun (2002)

Outspoken and Freckled – That Touch of Mink (1962)

Caftan Woman – Gold Diggers of 1933

Movierob – Lost in America (1985), Capitalism: A Love Story (2009), and Everything Must Go (2010)

A Shroud of Thoughts – Bicycle Thieves (1948)

Moon in Gemini – Bridesmaids (2011)

Taking Up Room – The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Pure Entertainment Preservation Society – All This, and Heaven Too and The Shop Around the Corner (both 1940)

Only one week until AN ALAN SMITHEE BLOGATHON!

It’s not too late to enter our upcoming An Alan Smithee Blogathon that “pays tribute” to the film director who exists only when a real film director wants his name taken off the project! Click here to read more about the blogathon and how to enter.

Announcing AN ALAN SMITHEE BLOGATHON!

We figure it’s long past time to pay tribute to Hollywood’s most ubiquitous director with

AN ALAN SMITHEE BLOGATHON

Don’t tell me you’ve never heard of him. From 1968 to 2000, Smithee presided over some of the most notorious movies ever made. The only thing that would have further enhanced his legend is if he’d been a real person!

Actually, “Alan Smithee” was the pseudonym used by the Directors Guild of America whenever a movie director, dissatisfied with the final product, claimed that he or she had not been allowed to exercise complete control over the movie. So let’s have some fun with this, and investigate the wide varieties of movie stories and styles used by Mr. Smithee!

(We think you’ll be surprised at some of the big names involved here. Directors and actors as varied as John Frankenheimer, Dennis Hopper, and Kiefer Sutherland have resorted to the “A.S.” technique.)

However, before you commit to this blogathon, please carefully read the rules below. The name “Alan Smithee” has been applied to an awful (and I do mean awful) lot of Hollywood projects. So if we don’t establish some ground rules, we could be writing about Alan Smithee all year!

Do’s and Don’t’s

Please, write only about a theatrical, direct-to-video, or TV movie in which Alan Smithee is credited as the main director. No Second Unit Directors, no music videos, no TV network- or airline-edited movie versions, and no other media such as video games or comic books. (And frankly, the only reason I’m allowing any exceptions to be reviewed is that I’m just dying to read someone’s review of The Birds II: Lands End.)
If you need a starting point to find an Alan Smithee movie, click here to go to Wikipedia’s listing about Alan Smithee, or here to find a similar listing at the Internet Movie Database. Or Google “Alan Smithee movies,” and a listing of them will appear at the top of your computer screen.
No duplicate entries, please. The listing of blogathon entries is below and will be continually updated. Be sure to check the list so that you don’t choose an entry that is already taken.

Instructions

In the “Comments” section at the bottom of this blog, please leave your name, the URL of your blog, and the movie you are choosing to blog about. The one and only banner for this blogathon is at the top of this blog entry. Please display it on your blog, and link it back to this blog. (Sorry, I didn’t see much point in creating elaborate banners since Alan Smithee is not as familiar a director as, say, Alfred Hitchcock.)
The blogathon will take place from Fri., Aug. 30, through Sun., Sept. 1, 2019. When the opening date of the blogathon arrives, leave a comment here with a link to your post, and I will display it in the list of entries (which I will continually update to the beginning of the ‘thon, so keep checking back!).
I will not be assigning particular dates to any blog posts. As long as you get your entry in by the end of the day on Sept. 1, I will be satisfied. (That said, the sooner the better!)

Again, be sure to leave a comment below and grab our banner, and have fun with your blog entry! Here’s the line-up so far:

Movie Movie Blog Blog II – An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn (1997)

Movierob – Death of a Gunfighter (1969) and Solar Crisis (1990)

The Midnite Drive-In – Bloodsucking Pharaohs in Pittsburgh (1991)

Realweegiemidget Reviews – Catchfire (a/k/a Backtrack) (1990)

Announcing THE HOTTER’NELL BLOGATHON!

Already it’s that time of year — that time when, from the moment you step outside your home in the morning, all you can think about is the immense amount of perspiration that is being drained from your soul. In that spirit, we proudly present…

THE HOTTER’NELL BLOGATHON!

Rules for the Blogathon

Your entry can be about any movie that has a summer- or heat-wave-related theme. Do’s? As long as your choice has such a theme, you can write about a movie in any genre — short subject, cartoon, feature film, documentary. The blue sky’s the limit! Don’t’s? Please make sure you write about a complete movie, not just one summer-based scene from a movie. And please, no duplicate entries. Check out the list of blogathon entries below (which will be updated regularly) to make sure your choice isn’t already taken.
In the “Comments” section at the bottom of this blog, please leave your name, the URL of your blog, and the movie you are choosing to blog about. At the end of this blog entry are banners for our blogathon. Grab a banner, display it on your blogger, and link it back to this blog.
The blogathon will take place from Fri., June 21, through Sun., June 23, 2019. When the opening date of the blogathon arrives, leave a comment here with a link to your post, and I will display it in the list of entries (which I will continually update to the beginning of the ‘thon, so keep checking back!).
I will not be assigning particular dates to any blog posts. As long as you get your entry in by the end of the day on June 23, I will be satisfied. (That said, the sooner the better!)

Again, be sure to leave a comment below and grab a banner, and have fun with your blog entry! Here’s the line-up so far:

Movie Movie Blog Blog II – Body Heat (1981)

Movies Silently – His First Flame (1927)

Realweegiemidget Reviews – Vacation (2015)

Caftan Woman – Heat Lightning (1934)

The Stop Button – Heatwave (1982)

A Shroud of Thoughts – Rear Window (1954)

Outspoken and Freckled – Agatha Christie’s Evil Under the Sun (1982)

Silver Screen Classics – The Seven Year Itch (1955)

The Midnite Drive-In – Jaws (1975)

Moon in Gemini – The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)

In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood – Julie (1956) and North West Frontier (1959)

Taking Up Room – My Father the Hero (1994)

THE LAUREL & HARDY BLOGATHON is here!

It’s time for another nice blogathon mess! Join us this weekend as we celebrate the wonderful work of these two timeless movie comics.

If you are one of the ‘thon participants, please leave your blog’s name and the URL of your ‘thon entry in the “Comments” section below, and I will provide a link to it here ASAP. If you’re simply here for some fun reading, the entry list (below) will be updated regularly throughout the ‘thon. I will also provide daily updates to same on my blog. Enjoy, all!

(To all blogathon entrants: At blogathon’s end, I will put all of your names into a hat [no, scratch that, a Laurel & Hardy-like derby]. The winning name will receive a slightly used copy of English professor Charles Barr’s 1967 book Laurel & Hardy [cover shown above], an academic study of their movie work that ranks as one of my favorite Laurel & Hardy biographies. (If you’re not familiar with the book, I have reviewed it here at my previous blog.)

(NOTE: This offer applies only to entrants who reside within the United States. Seriously. Nothing xenophobic intended, I just don’t have the money for transcontinental postage.)

Here is the list of participants. Click on the individual movie names to link to the blogathon entries.

Movie Movie Blog Blog II – Laurel & Hardy’s appearance on NBC’s “This Is Your Life”

Laurel & Hardy Blog – Atoll K

The Laurel & Hardy Blog – Early to Bed and You’re Darn Tootin’

Caftan Woman – Hog Wild

The Scribe Files – Audio Laurel & Hardy

Movies Silently – Putting Pants on Philip

Queerly Different – Stan & Ollie (2018)

POSTSCRIPT: While I have your attention, please allow me a couple of shameless personal plugs.

First off, this blog is a “sequel” because I got locked out of my first blog. Nevertheless, it is still available for reading, and it has reviews of all of Laurel & Hardy’s “team” movies. Just go to the white-boxed search engine in the upper right side of your screen, type in the title of a L&H movie, and read the review! My first blog is at:

https://moviemovieblogblog.wordpress.com/

Secondly, last year, I created a podcast which also offers my reviews of L&H’s movies as well as sundry other L&H-related minutia. Click on the banner below to visit it, and listen away!

Only one week until THE LAUREL & HARDY BLOGATHON!

It’s only one week until our Laurel & Hardy Blogathon! If you are a fan of Stan and Ollie and want to pay tribute to them, you’ll never get a better chance than this one. When the blogathon is finished, we’ll conduct a random drawing of all the blogathon’s contestants, and the winner will receive* a free copy of Charles Barr’s terrific 1967 study of their work, the insightful book Laurel & Hardy. Click here to find out the rules for the blogathon.

*When you go to the hyperlink above, be sure to read the special notes about the blogathon’s prize winner.

Announcing THE LAUREL & HARDY BLOGATHON!

Welcome to the first week of my new blog! What better way to christen it than with a blogathon?

The classic film comedy team of Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy are much in the news lately, thanks to the recent bio-flick Stan & Ollie (which I was happy to critique at my previous blog — click here for my review). So, as much as I adore Laurel & Hardy, I thought I’d bring them with me to my new blog!

Rules for the Blogathon

Your entry can be about anything specifically related to Laurel & Hardy as a team. The obvious choice is to review one or more of their movies (or your own review of the Stan & Ollie movie), which would be fine. I would also welcome reviews of L&H biographies, or essays about their careers.
If you can come up with a variant not listed above, let me know and I’ll accept it if it fits. Please do not write an entry such as “The first time I saw a Laurel & Hardy movie.” I would like your ‘thon entry to be somewhat educational about the team — an attempt to, as Ollie might say, promote blogathon readers to higher endeavors!
I will allow no more than one duplicate entry on the same subject. (For example, if you want to review the Stan & Ollie movie, and only one other person has already claimed that subject, you may do so as well.) Please review the entry list below (which will be updated regularly) to ensure that your choice isn’t already taken.

How Do I Join the Blogathon?

In the “Comments” section at the bottom of this blog, please leave your name, the URL of your blog, and the movie you are choosing to blog about. At the end of this blog entry are banners for the ‘thon. Grab a banner, display it on your blog, and link it back to this blog.

The blogathon will take place from Friday, Mar. 1 through Sunday, Mar. 3, 2019. (This is to provide some Stanley-like symmetry, with our blogathon coming in like a lamb and going out like a lion.)

When the opening date of the blogathon arrives, leave a comment here with a link to your post, and I will display it in the list of entries (which I will continually update up to the beginning of the ‘thon, so keep checking back!).

I will not be assigning particular dates to any blog posts. As long as you get your entry in by the end of the day on March 3, I will be satisfied. (That said, the earlier the better!)

Prize

At blogathon’s end, I will put all of the entrants’ name into a hat (no, scratch that, a Laurel & Hardy-like derby). The winning name will receive a slightly used copy of English professor Charles Barr’s 1967 book Laurel & Hardy (cover shown below), an academic study of their movie work that ranks as one of my favorite Laurel & Hardy biographies. (Again, if you’re not familiar with it, I have reviewed it here at my previous blog.)

(NOTE: This offer applies only to entrants who reside within the United States. Seriously. Nothing xenophobic intended, I just don’t have the money for transcontinental postage.)