This year's BNAT Application
It's pretty long. Text .
How old will you be at BNAT this year?
36
Where do you live?
San Francisco, CA
What is your favorite "special drug" ?
Like any good citizen, I recognize that proper emotional stasis requires a constant careful balance of many different drugs to maintain a respectable level. I am highly unlikely to ever be arrested for criminal underdosing of caffeine. Some unusually loud MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND is a good mellow on the commute home from a long day spent in critical phase, Hammer horror and The Venture Bros. bliss me out, indoor rock climbing gets me jazzed, and once in a while I really dig some absinthe.
What is your favorite masturbation material?
I have a pretty fertile imagination. Who needs materials? Regardless, variety is the spice of life, so much like THX, "channel surfing" ends up being the norm.
In a Dystopian Future, what do you hope to be doing?
I am so torn on this, in completely opposite directions. On one hand, I long for the posthuman future wherein I abandon this smelly, high-maintenance meat prison to live as a ghost in the machine, virtually immortal and free to explore the Universe (provided I can avoid being reprogrammed to Obey). On the other hand, part of me just wants the postapocalyptic Mad Max world where I can walk the Earth righting wrongs and staying alive by virtue of my wits, my dog and my shotgun. It is a dilemma.
What is your favorite Dystopian Film about the Future & Why?
I think I'm about to subconsciously resolve that dilemma. I think I'm going with GHOST IN THE SHELL. It often seems to get lumped in with cyberpunk and thus written off as dated these days, but I always thought the ideas they were playing with transcended simply aping the shallow tropes of the genre. There's a lot of genuinely thoughtful exploration of that very interesting intersection of philosophy, psychology, neurology and computation that often gets labeled "cognitive science" these days, and which continues to increase in relevance. I'm a total sucker for that postsingular transhuman sort of setting, where questions of what it means to be human aren't just ageless philosophical abstracts, but clear, present and urgent.
What was your most uncomfortable experience with Law Enforcement personnel?
Most likely that would be the time in college I was on my way to a Halloween party and a campus officer followed me to my destination, blocked my car in and proceeded to verbally accost me on how, in his opinion, I looked like I had been thinking about running a stop sign. As I was busy processing the oddness of this situation, he shined his flashlight around in my car and asked, "so, what's up with the crossbow?"
Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... George Lucas.
Visionary Imaginitive Coiffed Trendsetter Nostalgic Geek Introspective Perfectionist
Like THX 1138, you wish to be entertained. What do you expect and desire from BNAT 1138 and how do you realistically expect this to be accomplished?
I admit my expectations of BNAT are pretty high at this point. It's been the high point of my year for the last two years, and short of not getting to go I don't see that changing. Most importantly, I expect to see at least one strong contender for The Best Thing I've Ever Seen In My Life, and for it to have been made fifty years ago and I never heard of it before that extra-long day in early December. On the other hand, I expect to see something that will HURT me, and I will come away stronger for it. And I expect to be able to share all that with a whole room of incredibly awesome geeks, most of whom are in that same state of "where has this movie been all my life" as I am. I expect, if I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity, to introduce someone new to the best cinematic experience anybody will ever have, and, having spent many years vicariously sharing in Smallerdemon and Placeboeffect's BNAT experiences second hand, to be able to finally return the favor. As for how it will be accomplished, well, I still contend the "mystery lineup" format combined with a room full of intense geeks makes anything better than The Poughkeepsie Tapes more awesome, but as for the details of how it's carried off, I still have no idea. I know I couldn't manage it if I tried. I've just seen enough to trust that, somehow, it will be.
Producer of THX 1138, Francis Ford Coppola has recently spoken about the death of film, if you were in charge of studios, how would you keep Film relevant in this modern world we live?
I actually couldn't disagree more with Coppola on this. Film isn't what's dying. It's the regimented clockwork studio system geared to maximizing profits and industry control that's becoming less relevant. The art isn't suffering; the business is. Does anybody really imagine that people suddenly don't want to be told the kinds of stories film has been telling them for a hundred years? The studios built a colossus based on market conditions that no longer obtain. Now the sand is blowing out from under it and all they know how to do is to push rocks first under one corner then another and another in an attempt to keep the whole thing from falling over. Soon it will be precariously balanced on nothing but stacks of rocks and collapse will be unavoidable. What would I do if I were in charge of the studios? Probably push rocks. When you're standing in the shadow of the thing, it seems like the only sensible thing to do. On the other hand the world has changed. The elements that keep people on their couches and out of theaters are here to stay, and I think the players that survive that environment won't come from the traditional studio system. Already footpaths are starting to appear across the carefully manicured lawns. Eventually they will be paved and become the new system. Theaters may suffer in the short term, but most of them deserve to. Unless you're lucky enough to live near a well-loved local historic or independent theater, chances are your local megaplex is a filthy cattle-pen operation staffed by surly minimum-wage teenagers who couldn't care less about your film much less Film. People still love the social experience of a great movie in a great venue with a great crowd. Many of them just can't remember the last time they had that experience. Cut costs have resulted in cut quality, and a quality experience beyond the simple novelty of the film is exactly what's needed to get people off their couches. In short we need fewer megaplexes and more Drafthouses. Film won't die. People still love film, and anything that is loved will find a way to survive. A system that brings a little "ars gratia artis" (as opposed to "ars gratia pecuniae") back into the equation can't lose.
What is your favorite Sid Haig performance?
I've got to hand it to Ralph in SPIDER BABY. Who says going Full Retard is a bad idea? Strangely, he reminds me a bit of Vin Diesel here.
What is your favorite Robert Duvall role?
Think I need to go with Prendergast from FALLING DOWN.
What is your favorite Donald Pleasence role?
Well here I was, all ready to be lame and go with Blofeld, then Meghan pointed me at the fantastic THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS. Pleasence, probably as young as I've ever seen him, very nearly steals that movie. Hare is so slimy he makes your skin crawl.
Name your favorite film that Walter Murch has taken part in.
Callback to last year, but Murch worked on the re-edit of TOUCH OF EVIL. There you go.
At the BNAT Pre-Party, what are you looking forward to most at the HIGHBALL?
Karaoke
What is your favorite song to perform at Karaoke?
Let's say LIE STILL, LITTLE BOTTLE by They Might Be Giants.
List the 3 future films and 3 vintage films you most would like to see at BNAT 1138.
Future: AVATAR, LEGION, SHERLOCK HOLMES Vintage: If the trailers are any indication, any of the EVIL DEAD series paired up with Legion would be awesome. SORCERER (1977) because I saw a short about it, but have not seen the film itself, and the circumstances that killed that movie, and practically Friedkin's career, intrigue me. Finally, THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL (1960), probably the best, creepiest realization of the Jekyll/Hyde character I've ever seen.
And here's the obligatory bald pic for this year (click to embiggen):
How old will you be at BNAT this year?
36
Where do you live?
San Francisco, CA
What is your favorite "special drug" ?
Like any good citizen, I recognize that proper emotional stasis requires a constant careful balance of many different drugs to maintain a respectable level. I am highly unlikely to ever be arrested for criminal underdosing of caffeine. Some unusually loud MY BRIGHTEST DIAMOND is a good mellow on the commute home from a long day spent in critical phase, Hammer horror and The Venture Bros. bliss me out, indoor rock climbing gets me jazzed, and once in a while I really dig some absinthe.
What is your favorite masturbation material?
I have a pretty fertile imagination. Who needs materials? Regardless, variety is the spice of life, so much like THX, "channel surfing" ends up being the norm.
In a Dystopian Future, what do you hope to be doing?
I am so torn on this, in completely opposite directions. On one hand, I long for the posthuman future wherein I abandon this smelly, high-maintenance meat prison to live as a ghost in the machine, virtually immortal and free to explore the Universe (provided I can avoid being reprogrammed to Obey). On the other hand, part of me just wants the postapocalyptic Mad Max world where I can walk the Earth righting wrongs and staying alive by virtue of my wits, my dog and my shotgun. It is a dilemma.
What is your favorite Dystopian Film about the Future & Why?
I think I'm about to subconsciously resolve that dilemma. I think I'm going with GHOST IN THE SHELL. It often seems to get lumped in with cyberpunk and thus written off as dated these days, but I always thought the ideas they were playing with transcended simply aping the shallow tropes of the genre. There's a lot of genuinely thoughtful exploration of that very interesting intersection of philosophy, psychology, neurology and computation that often gets labeled "cognitive science" these days, and which continues to increase in relevance. I'm a total sucker for that postsingular transhuman sort of setting, where questions of what it means to be human aren't just ageless philosophical abstracts, but clear, present and urgent.
What was your most uncomfortable experience with Law Enforcement personnel?
Most likely that would be the time in college I was on my way to a Halloween party and a campus officer followed me to my destination, blocked my car in and proceeded to verbally accost me on how, in his opinion, I looked like I had been thinking about running a stop sign. As I was busy processing the oddness of this situation, he shined his flashlight around in my car and asked, "so, what's up with the crossbow?"
Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... George Lucas.
Visionary Imaginitive Coiffed Trendsetter Nostalgic Geek Introspective Perfectionist
Like THX 1138, you wish to be entertained. What do you expect and desire from BNAT 1138 and how do you realistically expect this to be accomplished?
I admit my expectations of BNAT are pretty high at this point. It's been the high point of my year for the last two years, and short of not getting to go I don't see that changing. Most importantly, I expect to see at least one strong contender for The Best Thing I've Ever Seen In My Life, and for it to have been made fifty years ago and I never heard of it before that extra-long day in early December. On the other hand, I expect to see something that will HURT me, and I will come away stronger for it. And I expect to be able to share all that with a whole room of incredibly awesome geeks, most of whom are in that same state of "where has this movie been all my life" as I am. I expect, if I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity, to introduce someone new to the best cinematic experience anybody will ever have, and, having spent many years vicariously sharing in Smallerdemon and Placeboeffect's BNAT experiences second hand, to be able to finally return the favor. As for how it will be accomplished, well, I still contend the "mystery lineup" format combined with a room full of intense geeks makes anything better than The Poughkeepsie Tapes more awesome, but as for the details of how it's carried off, I still have no idea. I know I couldn't manage it if I tried. I've just seen enough to trust that, somehow, it will be.
Producer of THX 1138, Francis Ford Coppola has recently spoken about the death of film, if you were in charge of studios, how would you keep Film relevant in this modern world we live?
I actually couldn't disagree more with Coppola on this. Film isn't what's dying. It's the regimented clockwork studio system geared to maximizing profits and industry control that's becoming less relevant. The art isn't suffering; the business is. Does anybody really imagine that people suddenly don't want to be told the kinds of stories film has been telling them for a hundred years? The studios built a colossus based on market conditions that no longer obtain. Now the sand is blowing out from under it and all they know how to do is to push rocks first under one corner then another and another in an attempt to keep the whole thing from falling over. Soon it will be precariously balanced on nothing but stacks of rocks and collapse will be unavoidable. What would I do if I were in charge of the studios? Probably push rocks. When you're standing in the shadow of the thing, it seems like the only sensible thing to do. On the other hand the world has changed. The elements that keep people on their couches and out of theaters are here to stay, and I think the players that survive that environment won't come from the traditional studio system. Already footpaths are starting to appear across the carefully manicured lawns. Eventually they will be paved and become the new system. Theaters may suffer in the short term, but most of them deserve to. Unless you're lucky enough to live near a well-loved local historic or independent theater, chances are your local megaplex is a filthy cattle-pen operation staffed by surly minimum-wage teenagers who couldn't care less about your film much less Film. People still love the social experience of a great movie in a great venue with a great crowd. Many of them just can't remember the last time they had that experience. Cut costs have resulted in cut quality, and a quality experience beyond the simple novelty of the film is exactly what's needed to get people off their couches. In short we need fewer megaplexes and more Drafthouses. Film won't die. People still love film, and anything that is loved will find a way to survive. A system that brings a little "ars gratia artis" (as opposed to "ars gratia pecuniae") back into the equation can't lose.
What is your favorite Sid Haig performance?
I've got to hand it to Ralph in SPIDER BABY. Who says going Full Retard is a bad idea? Strangely, he reminds me a bit of Vin Diesel here.
What is your favorite Robert Duvall role?
Think I need to go with Prendergast from FALLING DOWN.
What is your favorite Donald Pleasence role?
Well here I was, all ready to be lame and go with Blofeld, then Meghan pointed me at the fantastic THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS. Pleasence, probably as young as I've ever seen him, very nearly steals that movie. Hare is so slimy he makes your skin crawl.
Name your favorite film that Walter Murch has taken part in.
Callback to last year, but Murch worked on the re-edit of TOUCH OF EVIL. There you go.
At the BNAT Pre-Party, what are you looking forward to most at the HIGHBALL?
Karaoke
What is your favorite song to perform at Karaoke?
Let's say LIE STILL, LITTLE BOTTLE by They Might Be Giants.
List the 3 future films and 3 vintage films you most would like to see at BNAT 1138.
Future: AVATAR, LEGION, SHERLOCK HOLMES Vintage: If the trailers are any indication, any of the EVIL DEAD series paired up with Legion would be awesome. SORCERER (1977) because I saw a short about it, but have not seen the film itself, and the circumstances that killed that movie, and practically Friedkin's career, intrigue me. Finally, THE TWO FACES OF DR. JEKYLL (1960), probably the best, creepiest realization of the Jekyll/Hyde character I've ever seen.
And here's the obligatory bald pic for this year (click to embiggen):