Isn't it Soderbergh who's going to release his next film in theaters and on DVD the same day?

I've been talking about this a lot with people lately. I think it's just another step in Soderburgh's admirable quest to prove that filmmaking is now cheap and accessable to anyone who wants to be a filmmaker.

His first big step in this quest was shooting Full Frontal entirely on a Canon XL1, and editing it entirely on a Mac with Final Cut Pro. I think this next step, releasing in theaters and on DVD the same day is partly a way of saying "and if you add DVD authoring software to that Mac, you're your own distributor now as well!"

Both of those are fine and well and good, and I applaud him for them.

The point that I think Soderburgh misses is that he can get Julia Roberts and George Clooney to be in his movies. I cannot.

Not yet, anyway.

I had an awful day at work. The kind that made me start hitting the job ads and getting depressed about my prospects for getting anything better. I headed home depressed and angry, but with a copy of The Blues Brothers movie from Amazon. I put that puppy in and within about 10 min. I had a very broad smile pasted to my face. Fantastic music and lots of silliness. Praise Jebux.

The point that I think Soderburgh misses is that he can get Julia Roberts and George Clooney to be in his movies.

Well, then you just aren't trying hard enough.

Slacker.

The point that I think Soderburgh misses is that he can get Julia Roberts and George Clooney to be in his movies. I cannot.

But the real question is can you get Nameless Numberhead Man in your movies?

I think it's just another step in Soderburgh's admirable quest to prove that filmmaking is now cheap and accessable to anyone who wants to be a filmmaker.

That, and I get the impression that he gets bored very easily, so he's constantly trying new things.

I think I would be more likely to impulse buy a movie on the way out the door if I really liked it. With the delay from the release of the film to the DVD release, I am more likely to put it on my wishlist until I can justify the expense.

I'd rather have the DVD available in stores than at the theatre. Crowd control is bad enough as it is.

OK, so this was bothering me, and this isn't really a resolution, but ...there was a sign in Brokeback that had me going huh? and trying to figure out where exactly it was supposed to me. Probably no one else noticed it, it was just a El Paso/Juarez mileage sign. I just looked up the filming locations and the reason it had me blinking is....I've seen that sign or one very much like it, frequently. It's in Mesilla, NM, not far from where I grew up.

How cool! And also, weird. Didn't they film in Canada? But I guess that sign would add realism for being in Texas.

It was filmed in Alberta, but I guess that's why prop people get the big bucks.

Brokeback Mountain continued to be moving at breakneck speed toward Oscar glory as it picked up the most nominations by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) today (Thursday) and was among the nominees Wednesday for best picture by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). The film was included in SAG's top category -- best ensemble cast, along with Capote, Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck., and -- a surprise -- Hustle and Flow. Heath Ledger, generally regarded as the favorite for the best-actor Oscar, was among the guild's nominees for outstanding performance by a male actor, along with Russell Crowe (Cinderella Man), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line) and David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck.). In the female category, the nominees were Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Judi Dench (Mrs. Henderson Presents), Charlize Theron (North Country), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), and Zhang Ziyi (Memoirs of a Geisha). All three guilds snubbed such box-office blockbusters as Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe and King Kong.