Over at Self-Reliant Filmmaking, Paul Harrill announces his intention to boycott sequels and remakes. Noting that only seven of 2007’s 20 top grossing films thus far could be described as first generation, Harrill positions his gesture towards abstinence as a protest against the lack of “original” hit Hollywood films.

“Shutting myself in a dark room isn’t going to make the headache that is this list of movies go away, but…even if some of these movies are ok, I’m sick of the practice in general principle. Why encourage Hollywood to do it any longer?” Harrill also compares his sequel cold turkey to giving up caffeine, which he says he initially did 15 years ago in order to cure headaches, only to learn that (to paraphrase Arrested Development) he gets off on withholding. “I learned early on in the process how good it felt to just deny something to yourself.”

Harrill’s argument is a strange melding of political and personal: he wants to make choices that send a message, if not to than certainly about Hollywood; at the same time, he gives the impression that he enjoys self-denial far more than anyone could hope to enjoy Rush Hour 7 or Shrek 32. Is this a protest action, or pure personal fetishism? Harrill’s commenters don’t seem particularly eager to let him get away with either.

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Self-professed “retarded bandwagon-y blogger” Wiley Wiggins has started a micro-blogathon of sorts, dedicated to First Film Crushes. I covered this territory during the Film Characters Who Changed My Life blogathon, but because I too am retarded and bandwagon-y, I’m reposting my answer here:

The afternoon that I watched Ghostbusters for the first time (on VHS, aged six) is my earliest memory of feeling sexual attraction to another human being. Bill Murray was hardly an adonis in 1984 (or ever), and even at six, I think I knew that, but I was drawn to this strange, pock-marked man nonetheless. I even remember the exact moment of the film that did it for me: Ray and Peter have just been kicked out of the University, and they’re standing on the steps to the library, passing back and forth a bottle of booze. Ray is afraid of getting a real job; Peter, rocking back and forth on his heels, tells his partner that they were destined to lose their jobs so that they could start their own paranormal investigation agency. To this day, I’m still attracted to wild-eyed drunks with crackpot schemes, but now I try to pick specimens with better skin.

Unfortunately, that clip is not on YouTube, but the “cats and dogs” speech embedded above is pretty good, too.

I’ve been tagged by FilmSnob to participate in the Eight Things meme that’s been going around. All the cool kids are doing it, and it’s Friday, so why the hell not? But in the interest of keeping things around here *somewhat* on topic, I will try to keep this semi-film related. First, the rules:

Rules:

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.

2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their eight things and include these rules.

4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don\’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they\’re tagged and that they should read your blog.

Now, the things:

1) I have never seen the following films: Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, The Goonies or Gremlins.

2)When I first moved to New York, I was broke, working full time and going to school at night. I came up with a crack-pot scheme to track down Peter Bogdanovich and convince him to let me be his personal secretary. I was totally ready to put it into action, until a roommate talked me out of it.

3) I’ve walked out of far too many films in tears–films that could not in any way be construed as tearjerkers–films like Dodgeball, and Independence Day. I think there’s actually something wrong with my eyes; they tend to tear up when I stare at any kind of screen for a long stretch of time. This is just one of many reasons why, like FilmSnob…

4) I prefer to see films alone. Another reason: I get extremely claustrophobic in movie theaters unless there is at least one empty seat next to me.

5) I have dressed up as the following fictional characters for Halloween: Holly Golightly, Sally Bowles, Marla Singer.

6) Speaking of Sally Bowles: I’m such an unrepentant Judy Garland fanatic that I give a pass to pretty much everything Liza Minnelli does. With the possible exception of Arthur 2: On the Rocks.

7) I have a ton of VHS tapes that I rescued from bargain bins with the intention of burning them to DVD, but that, due to my own stunning laziness, are just sitting on my shelves collecting dust. Some of these include: Where the Green Ants Dream, Two For the Road and Zabriskie Point. I hate myself for being this lazy, but the self-loathing just breeds more laziness.
When I was in ninth grade, I went to see Pulp Fiction with a guy named Gil, who went on to direct Monster House.

Now that that’s over, I beg for attention from tag the following bloggers to participate in the meme: Aaron Dobbs, Michael Tully, Ariel Waldman, Tom Hall, Wiley Wiggins, Gabe Rivera, Randall Bennett , Jason Calacanis, and Virginia Heffernan.