She Blogged By Night

The 15th Annual Buster Keaton Celebration is Friday, September 28 and Saturday, September 29, at the Bowlus Fine Art Center in Iola, Kansas.

Buster Keaton was born October 4, 1895, in Piqua, Kansas. Piqua (pronounced "pee-quay") is a tiny town in southeast Kansas. In 1895 it was a railroad stop with a large hotel. Like many small town railroad stops, the hotel featured variety and Vaudeville shows. Joe Keaton and his wife Myra didn't live in Piqua, they were performers in a medicine show that happened to stop in town on October 4th of that year; Myra missed performing that night, as she wound up giving birth to little Joseph Frank Keaton. Keaton's father later recalled the medicine show was moved from the hotel to the "Catholic hall", due to a tornado that ripped through town the day Buster was born.

As a child, Buster was no stranger to accidents and falls. After a few minor injuries at work, his parents decided to keep him home with a guardian instead of taking him along to the theater. In one day Buster seriously injured his head and hands in separate falls, and then was unceremoniously whisked up by a tornado. The tornado thankfully plopped him down unharmed several yards away, but it was enough to make his parents change their minds: Buster was obviously safer on stage. At the age of three he began his act, being tossed and tumbled around the stage by what the New York Telegraph in 1909 called "a merciless father". This background provided Keaton with his trademark physical comedy, as seen in this still from "Steamboat Bill, Jr." (1928).

Keaton's legacy will be celebrated during the two-day festival in Iola, which is just a few miles from Keaton's birthplace in Piqua. The hotel is no longer in Piqua, having long been replaced by the co-op, but a field dedicated to his memory, along with a plaque and a small museum, mark Piqua's most famous son. Iola has held the Keaton Festival since 1993.

Links & Credit:
The Buster Keaton Museum
The 15th Annual Keaton Celebration
The Official Iola Keaton Celebration Site
Damfinos: The International Buster Keaton Society
Keaton and Chaney photo courtesy amy_jeanne at LiveJournal

This year's alt.movies.silent benefit calendar is on sale now! The amazing Rodney Sauer of The Mont Alto Picture Orchestra has organized the calendar every year since 2003, with profits going to benefit various silent film preservation projects. You can pre-order the calendar here.



The calendar began as part of a fund-raising project on alt.movies.silent, the Usenet group dedicated to silent movie discussion. While it's still officially the AMS calendar, it has become a favorite of silent film fans all over the Internet, not just denizens of Usenet. The calendar is always stunning, and is filled with important silent-era dates. Each month features gorgeous photographs provided by collectors of silent film memorabilia. Previous years proceeds have gone to the UCLA Film Archive, Library of Congress, Film Preservation Associates, and the George Eastman House. Buy your calendar now!

She Blogged By Night is my personal blog, a record of my journey through films and culture, focusing on lesser-known and hard to find films.

Statistically, SBBN does not get much traffic. Begun on September 24, 2007, by January 1, 2009, SBBN had received over 36,700 visitors. It gets on average 100 unique hits per day; the most hits in one day was 725, the least was 21. Many visitors come via Google Image Searches. This picture of Buster Keaton and Lon Chaney is very popular with hotlinkers, as is this entry on Gloria Grahame, and it causes me no end of grief.

POSTS:

There will be spoilers.

The content on SBBN is not intended to be neutral, it is intended to reflect my opinion and observation.

SBBN has one primary goal: to provide information on rare, hard to find, or forgotten films. My posts about these films are summaries with a bit of reflection and review in them, along with screencaps, photos, links, and even research information if I have the time or ability. They are not intended as full fledged reviews unless specifically noted, so please keep the bitchy comments about how I don't do a proper review to yourself.

I also like to post pretty, pretty pictures. Large photos are my favorite. Occasionally I will post photo-only entries or pair screencaps from a movie with quotes from different sources. While I sometimes blog about movies I don't like in my summary/reviews, the movies in my screencap posts are always films I enjoy. The quotes accompanying the screencaps may not seem like they're positive, but they are; I can be a bit oblique.

Also, I do an opinion post every Monday morning called "The Monday Morning Question". These are shorter posts primarily designed to start discussion.

POSTING SCHEDULE:

There may often be lengthy gaps between posts due to health issues or other craziness that occurs. In the past I made "sorry for the delay" posts when there was a long gap between entries, but will no longer do so.

I would love to update with summary posts at least 4 times per month, but it's just not feasible for me right now. Keep in mind that many of the movie summary posts take upwards of 10 hours to complete: it involves watching the film, grabbing screencaps, finding research material, writing, proofing, and finding other links, if there are any. Other posts to generate discussion take less time, but I try not to rely on them solely for content. My original plan was to update once a week, and I hope to get back to that schedule within a few months.

COMMENTING POLICY:

SBBN is no longer PG only. I and my commenters wander into R territory on occasion.

However, there is a no tolerance policy for assholes and shenanigans on this blog. No exceptions. I will delete any comment that contains unacceptable profanity or slurs directed at someone, is unnecessarily inflammatory, invokes ad hominem attacks, promotes illegal activity, spams, or even if I just darn well feel like it. Disagreement is fine, but remember that there's a fine line between constructive conversation and bossiness, intolerance and flaming. Comments for entries are usually on but may be turned off at my whim, especially if spammers are attacking the entry.

As I say above, the content here is entirely reflective of my own opinion and observation. This is not a negotiable issue. Sometimes I am not nice about a movie or actor, and you can discuss it, but you have no right to complain or chastise. These are my opinions on my blog written on my time and, ultimately, for myself. Anyone -- especially the oh-so-brave anonymous anyones -- who come here to tell me I'm a bad person because I'm slandering the character of their favorite actor will find their comments deleted. Repeatedly. Blogs are free; go nurse your grudges elsewhere.

BLOGROLL & SIDEBAR:

My sidebar contains a blogroll, a "webroll" which is a list of websites (as opposed to blogs) I recommend, blurbs, a little summary list of blogs I read, and a list of my recently watched films.

A blog may be on my blogroll but not on my list of recently read blogs, or vice versa. I don't add every blog I find to my blogroll, reading list, or webroll. I'm picky and there's limited room. I particularly avoid blogs that delve into the political, focus on negativity or hate, or are commercial in nature.

I am also picky about what blogs I read. It's nothing personal, I just have limited time in the day. I am also fussy about how blogs appear in my RSS feed, avoid blogs mostly about new/current movies, and other silly things. My point is, if you want to get hold of me, post here or email me. If you say something on your blog I may not see it.

EDITS:

Posts will be edited whenever I see fit, as I consider SBBN more of a webpage than a blog. If I make a mistake, I go back and correct it, whether it's a typo or a larger informational mistake. I may also update a post to include new information.

However, all edits will be as transparent as possible. Summaries of edits made are posted here and updated periodically.

ABOUT THE GIRL:

My name is Stacia and I live in Manhattan, Kansas, with three fuzzy cats, one fuzzy husband, and a woefully small movie collection. I have been on the 'net since 1993 and can be found on Usenet, journal sites, film forums and as commenter on other blogs.

CONTACT:

I can be emailed at she (at) shebloggedbynight.com or glitterninja (at) gmail.com

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Originally posted August 16, 2008, and backdated to September 2007 to put it at the bottom of all the blog entries. Edited January 1, 2009.

Hello, and welcome to She Blogged By Night. I'm your host, Stacia. You may know me from such blogs as LiveJournal and Food & Movies, as well as the darker corners of Usenet. While I enjoyed posting on Food & Movies quite a bit in the last few months, I decided I needed a real, permanent, official, oh-yeah-that's-the-stuff blog... and that's why I'm here.

She Blogged By Night will focus mainly on film. I've got some exciting stuff in store: posts I hope you will like and a fabulous new look, too. Some posts from my previous blog will end up here eventually, but I plan to create new content as much as possible. Stick around!