Cinema Paradiso

It's no secret that I'm a fan of Neal Shaffer's. Neither is it any secret that Elias and I have spent the last six months working out details and carefully negotiating with him to try and get his graphic novel One Plus One on the silver screen with Elias and I in the drivers seat. (that's another long story, and if more comes of it than talk from anyone, you'll all be the first to know, but we're working hard to try to make it a reality)

What seems to have been a secret is that Neal has a hidden body of work online. Aside from his blog (which is quite insightful, if not a bit infrequent) I discovered a trove of articles he'd written for various places. I found one that I thought would be worth all of you reading. (They're all worth reading, but this one seemed a bit more special.)

So, click this link and read it. I'll wait for you to get back.

You're back? Great. I think this is the sort of journalism that needs to be done more often. It's not groundbreaking, but it really gives you a sense of the event and makes you want to be there to experience it yourself. Hell, more than a few times while reading this I asked myself why there isn't anything like this around me. I think we need to do more things like this as communities. Could you imagine 4,800 people sitting in a parking lot or a park, watching a great movie for free? I think we'd have a much stronger sense of community. (I'm with Vonnegut and his crazy notions of massive extended families.)

Anyhow, I just wanted to turn you onto something that I thought was cool. And I know Neal occasionally reads this blog, so I want to disclaim that this is in no way me trying to kiss his (or your) ass.

UPDATE: Apparently the link to the article was bad. It was my fault. But this blog is so well read, no one informed me of it until Neal in his comment. Thanks Neal.