b.rox

By strange coincidence, I found myself watching The Big Chill Friday night. It’s one of those super-famous movies that I’ve just somehow never seen.
Alas, when the flick was over and I turned in for the evening, I neglected to leave a trickle of water running, as I’d done Thursday night. This, despite the fact I [...]

I recently got word that Helen Hill’s film Scratch and Crow has been named to the National Film Registry.

Each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films to the registry that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant to be preserved for all time. These films are selected as works of enduring importance to American culture.

We [...]

Thanks to Sean for turning me on to this animated short.

The Waif of Persephone from Nick Cross on Vimeo.
At first I was thrown off by the complete absence of Demeter, but it becomes clear that Mr. Cross has quite a different take on the old story. Amazing work! I’m getting the DVD because, you know, [...]

One of the key tensions in my relationship with Xy has to do with television. To put it bluntly, she’s for it and I’m against it. I long ago gave up the battle to keep television out of our home, but at least we don’t pay for cable or satellite. We get our TV off [...]

I think it was four years ago or so. Definitely pre-Katrina. I couldn’t sleep one night, so I was sitting up at the computer and I googled my name. I came across my entry on the IMDb which I hadn’t looked at for a while.
It puzzled me to notice I had a 2002 story [...]

I’m nearing the end of my project of excavating old images from the depths of my hard drive. There have been some interesting discoveries along the way. A few days ago, I found a set of photos I thought had been lost, from March 23rd, 2002. That’s when I made a road trip to Shreveport [...]

And now here comes a video from the unfathomable T Bill featuring Xy and yours truly at the Kroger grocery in Bloomington, Indiana, circa mid ’90s. I guess I gave this raw footage to T Bill when he visited years ago and then forgot about it. I never expected to see it again. But, lo [...]

We’ve finished our second pass through the alphabet. The first go-round took three years and was interrupted by Katrina; this second go-round took thirteen months and was interrupted by the birth of our daughter.
Out of 130-odd DVDs, my favorites were 28 Days Later, A.I., The Bridge on the River Kwai, Baraka, The Bicycle Thief, Cabaret, [...]

I didn’t have anything to do with the production of this short video from 1994, but friend Rob Womack just advised me it’s on YouTube and it certainly deserves to be seen by more people.

Observant viewers will note Xy in the role of Athena. Bonus points if you can spot her other appearance.

Some friends have suggested posting old ROX videos on YouTube.

I wonder if this is a good idea?

Xy and I went to see Sweeney Todd at a suburban cineplex last night. It’s a truly impressive film, masterful, the latest iteration of a story that goes back at least 160 years — and yet I had two major reservations.
For one thing, both Xy and I were somewhat squeamish with regard to the graphic [...]

The struggle over public housing has been building for years here in New Orleans. Now it’s ramping up to new levels.
It’s a disgusting and pathetic spectacle. With apologies to Mom and Dad, it’s a clusterfuck. There’s just no other word to describe it. I don’t have it in me to play reporter and account for [...]

Last night Xy and I took one of her students out to dinner at Venezia’s. We had pasta and pizza and then got desert at Angelo Brocato’s. After that we went to see The Golden Compass at the Prytania.
Caitlyn is very quiet and serious, one of Xy’s smartest students. In fact, Xy’s says Caitlyn is [...]

Please take a moment to contact your local PBS affiliate and ask them to air the film Helen Hill: Celebrating a Life in Film. You can get further information about how to do this here.

Let me see if I got this straight. The American Society of Civil Engineers got pissed off about the video PSA produced by high school students and posted by Levees.org to YouTube. ASCE demanded the video be removed. So Levees.org removed it. Then, the Times-Picayune wrote a story about it. As part of their online [...]

There will be a segment about Helen Hill’s unsolved murder case on America’s Most Wanted tomorrow night. I believe they’ll be using some video I shot of her jazz funeral.
Also, Helen’s brother, Jake Hill, is in New Orleans to hold a meeting and press conference at the Sound Café (2700 Chartres) this afternoon (Sept. 14th, [...]

In anticipation of tonite’s massively hyped match between the Saints and the Colts, I’d like to draw your attention to ROX #82: The RCA State.
In this episode, we visit the famed RCA Dome, scene of tonight’s action. Note that this was shot back in 1995. But it’s still relevant, dammit. Watch it if you don’t [...]

On Thursday, Xy and I went on down to Spanish Plaza, caught the tail end of Dennis Quaid and the Sharks and watched The Big Easy on the big screen. (I wrote about this event in advance, but remember, I am not a marketing tool.) It was fun in a cheesy way. As Chris Martel [...]

I was interviewed this morning for Falling Together, which is a documentary film about the rebuilding of New Orleans. (At least I think that’s what it is. I can’t keep up with all that’s going on.) We sat on the porch of my neighbor’s abandoned house, and I talked for almost 90 minutes. I didn’t [...]