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Documentaries are on my television. The Toronto Raptors are getting ready for the playoffs. My wool scarf has been worn only once over the last three weeks. I’m no longer looking for patches of ice on the sidewalk as I am avoiding puddles.

Spring is in the air.

It’s an optimistic time, that time of renewal, and time of taking stock. I find myself heavier into the latter and hoping that it leads to results for the former. How about you? Feeling rejuvenated? Creative? Ambitious? Hopeful?

I ask because it seems like all around me are going through so many different things. I seldom know what I should be feeling – sometime excitement, sometimes empathy. It all gets determined when I catch the tone of their voice. I’m there to be whatever I’m needed to be…I guess it just leaves me wondering what I need myself to be.

Maybe that’s why I haven’t been able to stay on a normal routine, or make any concrete plans. But that all ends now. It’s time to do some spring cleaning – inside and out – and time to get the place ready for sunnier times.

This is all very stream-of-conciousness I know, so thanks for reading this far. Hopefully I’ll be a bit more grounded when I gather up links for you next week. For now I will take my leave…and get to work.

 

For your listening and reading fulfillment, I give you…

 

Local critic – and all-around good guy – Norm Wilner has planted his stake in the wild frontier of podcasting. Norm’s show, Someone Else’s Movie, looks to bring in creative types to discuss the films the love…and obviously not ones they were part of. Take a listen to Episode One, refill your glass and move directly into Episode Two.

The next film I’m greatly looking forward to this spring is KUMIKO THE TREASURE HUNTER. Reel Talk has already caught up with it, and only stokes my anticipation with her review.

A series that I don’t link to NEARLY often enough is Catherine Stebbins’ Love Letters to individual years in film. She zeroes in on one year at a time and digs in…digs deep…asks for suggestions…and goes beyond the usual suspects. Recently she tackled the year I was born and capped it all off with a truly epic love letter to the films of 1978. Give it a look.

As time goes by, one tends to be a little less vocal in their celebrations. It’s the difference between your 21st birthday and your 32nd. This week Gman Reviews turned five, and while Mister Robinson decided to keep things low-key, let me be one to say that we are all better off thanks to his decision five years ago to start putting his thoughts out there for us to consume.

Over at The Mezzanine, Corey Atad is taking a long look at the uptick in Christian filmmaking in the new century. How long a look? Well…here’s part one.

I’m beginning to think that I am deeply guilty of Homerism, since there’s no other way to explain how tickled I get when yet-another person discovers ENEMY for the first time. This week, it was Allie’s turn.

Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention THE HUNTING GROUND since it is handily the film that stayed with me the most of all the films I watched this month. Last week, Matthew from Black Sheep put up an interview with the film’s director Kirby Dick, so let’s chalk this up to my knack for “better late than never”. Read the piece, then see the film.

 

As for the Tweet of the Week, Willmore nails something I’ve been feeling quite strongly for years now…

 

 

 

Enjoy!