Bluish Barn

I am too busy to write 2,000 words, so here are two pictures:

1. Last Saturday’s Squirm Orchestra Performance. (Don’t forget, Saturdays in August = movies!)

2. Cicada escaping its shell near the back porch. I don’t know if this is a magicada/17 year cicada, but according to this chart, it could be. They are noisy and everywhere. Really, any insect with a musical drum  called a “tymbal” in its abdomen is a friend of mine. (Also note, there seems to be a lot of general concern over cicada noise ruining one’s wedding day and quite a few online planners and calculators to prevent this fate. Recently engaged, take note.)

Thank you everyone for your stellar movie suggestions. We’ll probably have a longer schedule of Thursday screenings some time in the Fall when we can screen some of those. With my hands pretty full with moving and renovating, I have been and will be doing less movie night organizing, but as my housemates get more active, we should be able to pick up right where we leave off.

This schedule is so special that it’s only four weeks long and it’s Saturdays instead of Thursdays. Every Saturday in August, in fact. 9pm unless otherwise noted, rain (inside) or shine (backyard).

August 4th: 8pm SQUIRM ORCHESTRA, music for short films by Svankmajer, the Brothers Quay, Trnka, Starevich, and others; family friendly - bring the kids!

August 11th: LEON (the original European cut)

August 18th: probably something special for Punk Week; will post it here as soon as we figure it out

August 25th: THE ROOM - Ann Arbor premier (?) of the best worst movie made in recent years (follow the link, read the reviews, watch the trailer…bring plastic spoons)

Screenings will always end by midnight. Arrive at 9pm sharp to see short films from local filmmakers and get a good seat for the features. Reserve seats by commenting on this post with name and # of seats. Please be respectful of our house and neighbors, so we can keep doing this. Thanks.

The time has come once again to make your suggestions for movies to screen when we start back up for our end-of-Summer schedule.

Think of movies that would be good to see on the bigger screen out under the stars in our backyard. Truly independent movies, local movies, or impossibly artsy movies that deserve to be screened at a microcinema. Plus, we try to fit one documentary and something foreign into each schedule.

If you’ve never posted a comment here before, your first post will be delayed for approval by the moderator (me). After I know you’re not spam, your comments get posted automatically.

Instead of a list of all the movies we’ve screened over the past year, here’s a list of the ones that for one reason or another have gone over the best or been the most memorable. It’s not always what you’d expect:

August 11 2006: If…
August 31: Breaking Away
Sep 14: Papillon
Tues Sep 19: [Bollywood night]
Oct 5: Wizard People, Dear Reader
Mon Oct 9: Who is Bozo Texino?
Oct 19: Plague Dogs
Oct 26: the Fearless Vampire Killers
Nov 2: Ann Arbor Film Festival pre-screening screening
Feb 1: Zardoz
Feb 8: A Thousand Clowns
Feb 22: the Beaver Trilogy
May 17: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
June 21: Angel Heart

Maybe that gives you some idea of what might work. Now get those suggestions coming...

Now that budget cuts have forced the Michigan Theater’s Cinema Slam to end its showcasing of local short films, we here at the Bluish Barn want to step in and offer local filmmakers a venue for their work. Filmmakers can drop off DVD or VHS copies of anything under 20 minutes, clearly labeled with contact info, on our front porch at 712 N 5th Ave. We’ll watch it, and if we like it, we’ll screen it before one of our features. If not, we’ll return it to you. We can’t promise any awards or intelligent feedback, but our audience here tends to be pretty open-minded and appreciative of local projects. At the very least, we can get your film watched on a big screen by and audience of people who you don’t know.

And don’t worry, the Bluish Barn will not be affected by any future moratorium on state grants, since we receive no government funding. Our budget is never threatened because we don’t have a budget.

Thursdays, 9pm, rain or shine. Free.

May 17: Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
May 24: Shallow Grave
May 31: Glengarry Glen Ross
June 7: Real Genius
June 14: Amadeus
June 21: Night of the Living Dead
June 28: Dogville

Screenings will always end by midnight. Arrive at 9pm sharp to see short films from local filmmakers and get a good seat for the features. Please be respectful of our house and neighbors, so we can keep doing this. Thanks.

The time has come once again to make your suggestions for movies to screen when we start back up sometime this Spring.

Think of movies that would be good to see on the bigger screen out under the stars in our backyard. Truly independent movies, local movies, or impossibly artsy movies that deserve to be screened at a microcinema. Plus, we always try to fit one documentary and something foreign into each schedule.

If you’ve never posted a comment here before, your first post will be delayed for approval by the moderator (me). After I know you’re not spam, your comments get posted automatically. And you can always email me at timothy at bluishbarn dot com.

Here’s a list of some films we’ve screened already, to give you a taste of what we like:

July 19: The Cruise
July 27: The Warriors
August 3: Badlands
August 11: If…
August 18: Instrument
August 25th: Stand By Me
August 31: Breaking Away
Sep 14: Papillon (McQueen and Hoffman in classic prison escape flick)
Tues Sep 19: [Bollywood night] (to honor Twitch microcinema; curated by Vinh/Zack)
Sep 21: City of God (Brazil; growing up gangster in poor Rio de Janeiro)
Sep 28: Titticut Follies (Wiseman doc about mental institution talent show)
Oct 5: Wizard People, Dear Reader (Harry Potter re-narrated)
Mon Oct 9: Who is Bozo Texino? (secret history of hobo graffiti; $5-$10 sliding scale to Bill Daniel, travelling filmmaker)
Oct 12: the Celebration (Denmark; Dogme #1; family dinner gone wrong)
Oct 19: Plague Dogs (animation; escaped lab dogs hunted as Bubonic carriers)
Oct 26: the Fearless Vampire Killers (Polanski vampire spoof)
Nov 2: Ann Arbor Film Festival pre-screening screening
Jan 11: Assasination Tango - all Robert Duvall; with Argentinian food served by housemates just back from Argentina
Jan 18: Dead Man - Jarmusch directs, Depp stars, Neil Young scores
Jan 25: Madisonfest: A Documentary - premier of Shawn Wernette’s documentary featuring one song by almost every single performer at last summer’s local music fest
Feb 1: Zardoz - ridiculous 1974 sci-fi drama featuring a young Sean Connery in heels
Feb 8: A Thousand Clowns - how can you argue with the tagline: “lift for the spirits, laughter for everyone”
Feb 15: Elevator to the Gallows - Louis Malle directs, Miles Davis scores
Feb 22: the Beaver Trilogy - no link; it’s best not knowing anything about this before you see it; an experience
Mar 1: The Falcon and the Snowman - young Hutton/Penn as real-life spies Boyce/Lee
Mar 8: Death and the Maiden - Polanski’s takek on Dorfman’s play about justice and revenge; riveting
Mar 15: the Idiots - Dogme #2; Lars Von Trier directs a social experiment of ‘idiots’

Next Thursday January 25th 9pm is your chance to hear one song by almost every single performer at last Summer’s Madisonfest. (One person declined to be filmed and the footage of two others was ruined somehow.) Local filmmaker Shawn Wernette was there with his camera during the entire local music festival, and he’s premiering his finished work here at the Bluish Barn.

Of course, if you missed the Madisonfest, this is your chance to get a sense of what happened. But what I like about the format is that it performs a sort of leveling to what can be a confusing and seemingly impenetrable local music scene for people who might not have ever heard of Madisonfest. You don’t have to be part of the scene to know about some obscure house show where one of these artists is playing. You don’t have to stay up late in a smoky bar or sit awkwardly among a bunch of reverent scenesters. And you don’t have to be assaulted with reminders about merch for sale or feel weird about leaving to go to the bathroom - or just leaving. People ignorant of the local “folk” scene - or whatever it’s called - can judge the performers alongside each other onscreen, one song at a time.

It’s incredibly mediated, but incredibly convenient, like many modern pleasures. Come get to know a huge chunk of Ann Arbor’s local music scene in 2 hours in the comfort of the Bluish Barn parlor room.

UPDATE: As I write this, a small army is working to cut the limbs that fell in our neighbor’s backyard and restore power by tonight!  (The friendly workers even agreed to let the wood drop onto our side of the fence so I could cut it up into firewood.)  So tonight’s screening of Dead Man is on!

Huge thanks to our new hardcore roommate Christina and Girl Next Door for sticking it out with me for 4 days of 40-degree temperatures inside our house. All our other neighbors were smart - though unadventurous - and left.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that 40 degrees doesn’t sound all that cold. We’ve all spent a night or two camping in that kind of weather. But when it’s inside your house, all day long, and the high outside is in the 20s, and there’s no light for most of the time, it can be very taxing.

And in the middle of all this, what arrives in the mail? An energy bill from DTE. Sorry if I don’t exactly hurry to pay that one.

So anyway, we’ll be truly celebrating tonight. Come join us.

ORIGINAL POST:

When freezing rain hits just before a deep freeze, everyone has a good few days to pull out our phones - I mean our cameras - and take pictures of things like this:

But something like 36,000 powerless DTE customers also have a good few days to freeze our asses off. Mid-day temperature reading inside the Bluish Barn today: 40 degrees.

40 degrees! We can see our breath quite well.

DTE says - but doesn’t promise - that power will be restored by Thursday afternoon. If it’s not, Thursday’s 9pm screening of Dead Man might have to be cancelled.

Here’s the movies we’re going to screen this Winter. The rule about always screening movies at least one of us has seen went completely out the window. Half of these were recommended by regular guests and will be fresh viewings for us. Come join us, it should be fun. Every Thursday, 9pm, free, BYO.

Jan 11: Assasination Tango - all Robert Duvall; with Argentinian food served by my housemates just back from Argentina
Jan 18: Dead Man - Jim Jarmusch directs, Johnny Depp stars, Neil Young scores; Western
Jan 25: Madisonfest: A Documentary - premier of Shawn Wernette’s documentary featuring one song by almost every single performer at last summer’s local music fest
Feb 1: Zardoz - ridiculous 1974 sci-fi drama featuring a young Sean Connery in heels
Feb 8: A Thousand Clowns - how can you argue with the tagline: “lift for the spirits, laughter for everyone”
Feb 15: Elevator to the Gallows - Louis Malle directs, Miles Davis scores
Feb 22: the Beaver Trilogy - no link; it’s best not knowing anything about this before you see it; an experience
Mar 1: The Falcon and the Snowman - young Hutton/Penn as real-life spies Boyce/Lee
Mar 8: Death and the Maiden - Polanski’s takek on Dorfman’s play about justice and revenge; riveting
Mar 15: the Idiots - Dogme #2; Lars Von Trier directs a social experiment of ‘idiots’

Please arrive on time and be respectful of our house and neighbors. Thanks.

The time has come once again to make your suggestions for movies to screen when we start back up sometime this Winter.

Think of movies that would be good to see in a room (all Winter screenings will be inside) full of people. Truly independent movies, local movies, or impossibly artsy movies that deserve to be screened at a microcinema. Plus, we always try to fit one documentary and something foreign into each schedule.

And let me know if you’d attend another Ann Arbor Film Festival pre-screening screening. They have a lot more submissions to screen, so if there’s enough interest, I’d be willing to do it again.

If you’ve never posted a comment here before, your first post will be delayed for approval by the moderator (me). After I know you’re not spam, your comments get posted automatically. And you can always email me at timothy at bluishbarn dot com.

Here’s a list of some films we’ve screened already, to give you a taste of what we like:

July 19: The Cruise
July 27: The Warriors
August 3: Badlands
August 11: If…
August 18: Instrument
August 25th: Stand By Me
August 31: Breaking Away
Sep 14: Papillon (McQueen and Hoffman in classic prison escape flick)
Tues Sep 19: [Bollywood night] (to honor Twitch microcinema; curated by Vinh/Zack)
Sep 21: City of God (Brazil; growing up gangster in poor Rio de Janeiro)
Sep 28: Titticut Follies (Wiseman doc about mental institution talent show)
Oct 5: Wizard People, Dear Reader (Harry Potter re-narrated)
Mon Oct 9: Who is Bozo Texino? (secret history of hobo graffiti; $5-$10 sliding scale to Bill Daniel, travelling filmmaker)
Oct 12: the Celebration (Denmark; Dogme #1; family dinner gone wrong)
Oct 19: Plague Dogs (animation; escaped lab dogs hunted as Bubonic carriers)
Oct 26: the Fearless Vampire Killers (Polanski vampire spoof)
Nov 2: Ann Arbor Film Festival pre-screening screening