THE ARCHIVE Chapter 5: Covers, Characters, and Wonders (April - June 2009)

The spring of 2009 initiated a more restless period, which would basically continue for a year as I scattered my work across different sites, before eventually coming home again. For now, the activity remained concentrated in one place even as another site, Wonders in the Dark, inspired me and absorbed much of my attention. Like Wonders, I hung my hat on "the movies" rather than just individual movies at this time, voicing my enthusiasm for the big picture of cinema history in a way I hadn't really been able to since starting the blog.

Subjects include favorite characters organized into fun categories, ambivalent thoughts about a celebrated children's classic, transcriptions of Francois Truffaut essays, Allan Fish's decade countdowns, and a particular film text with plenty of illustrations.

My highlight for this period has to be my movie book round-up, Reading the Movies, which expressed my prevailing mood of wide-ranging cinephilia and inspired many other bloggers to follow suit.

APRIL

A New Direction
Shifting gears as I contemplate a more measured approach

Godard/Nixon or, Why I Must See This Movie
I was struck by the amusing descriptions of King Lear in a Jean-Luc Godard bio

Just because you are a character, doesn't mean you have character...
Forty of my favorite characters

To Kill a Mockingbird
Critical but not altogether dismissive perspective on the beloved 1962 film

What Do Critics Dream About?
Transcribing an essay by Francois Truffaut

MAY

Fred and Ginger
Updating my Astaire-Rogers dance collection

Wonders in the Dark
Falling in love with the decade countdowns of the late, great Allan Fish

The Great Movies
One of my favorite movie books when I was growing up, illustrated with scans of its bold, colorful pages

Reading the Movies
This was definitely my signature post in 2009 - a collection of movie books that influenced me as a child, teenager, and young adult, with an invitation for other movie bloggers to join

JUNE

Three by Truffaut

Transcribing three essays by Francois Truffaut, on Citizen Kane, Muriel, and Roberto Rossellini


(I covered this period on Episode 5 of my Patreon podcast)

Next: Examining the Options (June - October 2009)
(in which I start writing for other sites, particularly the Examiner)
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Previous: Restless Hibernation (January - March 2009)

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