Thmazing's Thutopia

I have a couple of clever titles for this post in mind but had better not use either of them since the inevitable result will be people seeing that title and the following photo and leaping to the unwarranted conclusion that Jack Black is LDS (which is a rumor that will undoubtedly be started soon anyway but which I would rather could not be traced back to me) and besides, then people will not be readied for the surprising and unrelated ending which they nonetheless should be looking forward to

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Jack Black's new movie is also Jared Hess's new movie. This means that not only will this be a movie to keep an eye on, but it will be a movie, the viewing of which must take precedence over the lives of beloved family members.

I was attending BYU the same time as Mr Hess but never knew him. In fact, it wasn't until I graduated that I put the BYU film department's bad reputation aside and began seeing some of the short films they were producing. I saw some really good ones. Prometheus, The Snell Show, Postcards from France, Peluca....

Ah, Peluca. A film by Jared Hess. The Duganators and the Thteeds were huge Peluca fans. We showed it to many people on many occasions. Then the Duganators moved to a mystical land called "Back East" and that was that.

One year, Lady Steed and I went and saw Lucky Break at the Sundance Film Festival. The next year, our son was about two months old and we decided not to attend the festival and we didn't even look at the program. Which was a mistake, because we thus did not see the image that representing some film called "Napoleon Dynamite". Had we seen it, we would immediately have recognized our beloved Seth. And, had we seen it, we would have found a way to see Napoleon Dynamite at Sundance and then I would be more completely idolized by my high school-aged acquaintances.

Anyway, the real point here is that before Jared and Jerusha Hess became the new force in Hollywood comedy, they were bumming around the same college campus I was. I likely passed Napoleon himself many times, as animation majors and graphic design majors shared a building. I probably looked at his storyboards on the wall as Lady Steed spent hours and hours (and hours) silkscreening circus posters.

Imagine if I had sent an email via the school's system to these blokes whose work I admired. Perhaps I would be emailing them still. Not that I require celebrity offal in my life, but hey! networking's all the rage!

Another Hollywood Power Couple-bound pair of BYU grads is Andrew and Anne Black, whose Moving McAllister is supposed to be coming out this year.

When I was bludgeoned into the four things chain, one of the movies I wanted to include was the Blacks' BYU-centered version of Pride & Prejudice.

This movie has been unfairly slandered by high-minded artistic Mormons as crap. It is not crap. It's good. Good enough that if Byuck were to be made into a film, Mr Black would be my first choice for director, and what higher compliment can a writer pay?

Black's The Snell Show was one of my other favorite short films out of BYU's film department and, once again, I could have sent a short email saying Nice Job! and Cool Flick! but I didn't. And now my first-choice director doesn't know me from Adam.

I'm not sure what my point is here, but it might be related to the choice Lady Steed and I are making. The Antelope Valley Independent Film Festival is next week and instead of networking there, we intend to be networking with a different set of people.

Now I will admit we are coming in part because I foolishly entered into a legally binding commitment to attend some party in my honor, but the bigger truth is that we want to come.

I've made my networking decision [cue swells of romantic strings] . . . and that decision is you.


ps: and to the best of my knowledge, jack black is not lds