mulberry fields forever

click the photo to read my reminiscence of the muriel winner for the fiftieth anniversary award of the best film from 1961.

vote early and often

ok, the biggest awards of the season are upon us - the muriels.

from now through 3.4.12 the results of our voting will be posted regularly at the above link and eventually collected, along with our individual lists, here. if you're a regular around here, you know how stridently anti-list and anti-award i am. lists, on the internet and elsewhere, are almost always garbage to generate traffic and spur arguments that illuminate nothing. awards for art are patently ridiculous, as the subjective nature of the whole endeavor makes the result immeasurable, unquantifiable from one to the next. so, bear in mind when you read my results i am not saying "best" so much as "my favorite". the nature of the muriels is much more about devoted fans kicking cinema around and, with any luck, spreading the word about films in a way that might excite people to seek them out, if they haven't already. i have posted a handy muriel-approved button to the right of the screen here so you can just click that to check on the daily updates. enjoy and i hope you discover something fun and new.

just give me a decent muriel

the fine folks over at the muriel awards have been gracious enough to ask me to participate in this year's festivities and i couldn't be more pleased to take part, as some of my favorite web-based film writers contribute their two cents each year. i invariably find out about some great thing i missed via their thoughtful and eclectic ballots. right now i am scrambling like mad to catch up on the things i missed in 2011 to make sure no cinematic stone is unturned come 2.4.12, the day my ballot is due. in the meantime, head on over if you'd like to see the results from the past few years or a picture of muriel herself, the guinea pig this whole shebang is named after.

that is actually not muriel. she could probably lift at least twice that.

you can also check out our science is too tight while you're at it, which is where all the excellent work from muriel voters is regularly collected for you in one convenient place. peek in on what the other voters are watching, reading and writing about in our run up to the furriest award of the season. in the meantime, i will be filling out my ballot about a dozen times between now and then. see you on the red carpet!