(Oh,
yeah - because they're allegedly such sticklers about it - the Oscars®,
the Academy Awards®, Oscar Night®, and the Oscar® statuette
design are the registered trademarks and service marks, and the Oscars
® statuette the copyrighted property, of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences.)
Who
is this guy?
J. Alan Speer:
A now-thirtysomething survivor of New York University's graduate program
in Cinema Studies, a former competitive swimmer of some repute, proudly
and liberally educated by Calvin
College and its undergraduate English department, with additional
studies abroad in Paris and Istanbul for that extra-pretentious sheen.
Originally from east-central Illinois and currently residing in Ann
Arbor, Michigan, Alan spends his free time wondering what happened
to Sharon Stone's career, ran
his first half-marathon in June 2003, loses all willpower and
critical faculties before Bollywood musicals, and mortifies his body
regularly with Team Detroit Aquatics.
For the record,
it should also be noted that I grew up in the same town as did Gregg
Toland (b. May 29, 1904), famed Hollywood cinematographer (most
notably for Citizen Kane, of course) - although Charleston
hardly finds that a remarkable enough fact to so much as mention anywhere.
And as long as I'm milking film connections, my undergratuate alma
mater also produced such filmmaking luminaries as Paul
Schrader, Jeannine
Oppewall, and Patricia
Rozema. I'm hoping that somehow makes me just a smidge cooler.
For
even more about the genesis of this site, let me direct you to my
.
I'll
be your best friend?
Feeling
charitable? Seen a lot of movies? Check out my and let me know if you've seen any of these movies!
Have
Your People Contact My People
To
contact the author:
Blah
Blah Blah
Proud
Blithering Bluestocking at
Acknowledgements:
The
author would like to thank the following individuals for their invaluable
assistance in the creation of this Web site - to them plenty of credit
for the good stuff, and none of the blame for the parts that make your
retinas bleed: Sadie Jernigan,
Lorraine Lelis, John
Harms, Sarah Rassoul,
Mark O'Hanlon, and Bob
Simmons. If those names mean nothing to you, you're missing out
on some quality peerage.
I
am also honored to consider myself an aesthetic legatee of the following
individuals, whose cinephilia rubbed off on me in no small way: Tom
Cahill, Russ Kincaid, Sarah & Jeff Rassoul, Professor Paul Bodine,
the folks at Booth
Library's InterLibrary Loan service, Professor Roy Anker, Barbara
Anderson, Shweta Bahri, Adam Griffin, Ruby Baresch, Geoff & Jenny
Cowgill, Shelley Klop, and Brad Miller. Wish I still kept in touch with
most of you. Would love to see your top ten lists.
