Calle Santa Fe (Carmen Castillo, 2007)
Oct
5
Miguel Enriquez holding Carmen Castillo in a family snapshot. DPs: Ned Burgess, Sebastián Moreno, Raphaël O'Byrne & Arnaldo Rodríguez.
Your Safety First (George Gordon, 1956)
Oct
5
2000
The protagonist, voiced by George O'Hanlon, reading an ad for tomorrow's car in the October 5, 2000 newspaper.
Spectres of the Spectrum (Craig Baldwin, 1999)
Oct
4
A scene from the TV series Science in Action (1950—1966) showing Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier. DP: Bill Daniel.
“I'm gonna be happy for a change.”
The Sniper (Edward Dmytryk, 1952)
Oct
4
Man's hands, one bandaged, holding a rifle. DP: Burnett Guffey.
– Edward Miller
Le boucher [The Butcher] (Claude Chabrol, 1970)
Oct
3
Popaul (Jean Yanne) and Hélène (Stéphane Audran) in the former's butcher shop. DP: Jean Rabier.
Medium (Jacek Koprowicz, 1985)
Oct
2
A man in an impeccable, light-colored suit. His nose is bleeding. DPs: Jerzy Zieliński & Wit Dąbal.
Dwaj panowie 'N' [Two Gentlemen 'N'] (Tadeusz Chmielewski, 1962)
Feb
29
Elzbieta Brylska (Joanna Jedryka) and Sgt. Jan Dziewanowicz (Stanislaw Mikulski). DP: Jerzy Stawicki.
– He's got a calendar in there.
– What day is it?
– It's a broad in a cowboy hat.
– Scooby doo bi doo ba ba.
Private Property (Leslie Stevens, 1959/1960)
Jul
21
Duke (Corey Allen) and Boots (Warren Oates) “watching TV”. Ann Carlyle (Kate Manx) stripping for her husband is on. DP: Ted D. McCord.
Date watched, not the date in the movie. The quote was too good to leave it off this blog.
This film blog, which is part of the fediverse, compliments my Mastodon musings and to a degree my Letterboxd logs. It consists of three parts:
The oldest is the Bales 2023 Film Challenge. This was a 2023 fediverse (and Twitter/X) challenge where the participants had to post about a film based on the daily theme. 2023 wasn't the kindest year, and at one point I had to skip a title. And then more. And more. And in 2024 I'm still catching up. Read about it on Letterboxd. Note that blog posts are timestamped on their corresponding daily challenge; you may have to scroll all the way back a year, or follow the #Bales2023FilmChallenge, #Bales2024FilmChallenge (December only) and #Bales2025FilmChallenge tags.
Then there is the Film du jour. This too once was a Letterboxd list until a blogger, backed by LB, blatantly copied my list and ran off with my gold medal. That list is now private and the titles – auto-posted on Mastodon on the day they take place – can be found here under the tag #FilmDuJour. The titles repeat yearly, with more and more ingredients added. It's like the soup of the day, but in celluloid form. Delicious!
Talking about food. Over time I announced my film-watching-during-dinner on Mastodon with the hashtag #FilmDinner. Initially just with a nice/interesting still, but then I decided to post a screenshot of a food-related moment in said movie.
The most recent addition is #Arcs, journaling those odd moments where I watch two or more films in a row with very similar scenes or setups. That happens, more often than anticipated.
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