Post-Cinecon hangover

Jim, Ian, Regina, Bobb, Barbara, Bill, Lynne, Will, Bob, Ben, Steve L.

Back to Conrads after the double hiatus of Ernest Borgnine and Cinecon, as soon as Bob turned up it was inevitable that Cinecon and how it went was going to be a major topic.
Favorite films this year included Ninth Guest, Speedy, I Can't Give You Anything But Love Baby, Texan, Home Maker, and The Case Against Brooklyn. A pretty wide range, but there were as many as 40 films shown each day over the five days - and Will wants another two days! While Bob nearly keeled over at that idea, I think we should print Cinecon + 2 t-shirts and launch a campaign. After all, if the Edinburgh Festival can be extended over the whole month of August, why not Cinecon (OK Bob, just kidding - for now!)
Clearly there is a mood to extend Cinecon, though, but the question is how? More workshops, more than one screen, introductions to more films and a wrap party were among the hotly contested suggestions. As the number of living survivors of the silent era is beginning to dwindle rapidly, it might not be too soon to get hold of them - live or on camera - while we can.
Cinecon led to an extended discussion of those perennial twin themes, Hollywood Boulevard changing and the Walk of Fame falling into disrepair - and what to do about them. Bob reckoned it costs as much as $25,000 to have someone added to the Walk, usually screwed out of a studio or TV station, but the Chamber of Commerce does little in return to maintain the fabric of the entries. The Kodak Center has done a lot to revive the Boulevard, but it is piecemeal and the halo effect fades as you go east. Maybe the Pantages development will get the upgrade moving from the other direction, but you've got all those disused movie theaters in between and ownership of the properties is divided between too many hands to get a co-ordinated effort without huge organization. Maybe the hand of commerce will eventually do the trick.
Somehow I have to segue from Hollywood to Jim's birthday, so I'll stop off on the brief but energetic discussion of 'segue' which Ian insists on spelling Segway - a version which has been claimed as the brand name for those stand-up scooters that are so popular in DC and catching on in LA. This strange lapse by Ian was particularly ironic in view of the fact that he featured in the LA Times crossword on Sunday - 'British invasion rocker Whitcomb'. As he admitted, this places him well above the vast majority of the population in terms of fame, but below the A-list of McCartner, Jagger or Lennon. Does that make Ian a B-lister? Surely not.
From mis-spelling to mispronunciation: Bobb, Barbara and Will ran through an exposition of variably pronounced place names, from Ohio, and Missouri to Arkansas and even Los Angeles, ending on the ever-popular Sepulveda.
In the midst of all this, Jim 'When I'm 64' Dawson sat quietly basking in his new-found old age, surrounded by Regina's deliciously squishy dark chocolate cupcakes - which I found went down remarkably well with vanilla ice cream and a cup of coffee. Now you can't get that at the Parkway Grill!

CAUGHT ON THE BREEZE
You are just as old as you feel - but what if you feel old?
Let's have a prenup that we're never getting divorced
I don't spend a nickel on anything that doesn't appear on screen
Trouble is, everything today is about people with super powers
There are a lot of shades of black