Festivus!

With the holidays upon us, the thoughts of even the most Grinch-like among us turn to much-needed rest and relaxation. Some non-denominational folks, unwilling for whatever reason to observe the more religiously-themed holidays of the season, have latched upon Festivus, a fictional holiday introduced in the long-running TV sitcom Seinfeld.

Though celebrated in its original form on December 23, Festivus ("for the rest of us!") has been observed a number of different ways on various dates. A friend of your blogger has cordoned off January 1st to observe a Festivus-for-one, planning to cook a couple of new dishes, play some video games, and, most crucially for our purposes, see a couple of movies that have been waiting patiently in his queue.


At Jaman we are all over this idea, and in the spirit of Festivus giving (...yes), offer up a couple of classic films at no charge. As we've stated previously, The Third Man is a film that everyone should see, but we'd also add Alfred Hitchcock's black-and-white classic The 39 Steps to the must-see list. Both movies are classic yarns, easily enjoyed on a cold dark Festivus night with warm beverage in hand.

Back To The Culture Wars

We've been following the controversy surrounding the removal of the late artist/activist David Wojnarowicz' film "A Fire In The Belly" from a show in Washington, DC's National Portrait Gallery. I'm frankly astonished that it took THIS LONG after the Republican victories in the November election to resume the culture wars, but I'm completely unsurprised at the wrong-headedness of the attacks. The main complaint that taxpayer money was used to fund the hate-speech of the video is insanely off-base, as the exhibition itself was funded by a record number of individual donors, as well as foundations that support gay & lesbian issues.

Since Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), the presumptive incoming House speaker, has made his opinions known on the subject we can expect this to be but the first salvo in this decade's own culture war. We're delighted to see that artists and arts organizations around the country are stepping up to meet the threat, and that the film is more widely available than ever (and ironically, thanks to the controversy, more likely to be seen by people who wouldn't otherwise have bothered). Meanwhile, the complete "A Fire In The Belly" has been put on line for those who wish to view it, and we're proud to embed it here.

A Fire in My Belly from ppow_gallery on Vimeo.