She Blogged By Night

There's a lot to talk about today, my friends, so let's get to it.

First of all, Tony Dayoub at the essential Cinema Viewfinder has announced this year's Labor Day blogathon event: The Nicholas Ray Blogathon.


In Tony's words:

I'd like to invite anyone and everyone to participate in my third annual Labor Day blogathon, running September 5 - 8. In years past many contributors have made this annual tradition a resounding success, first in 2009 when we celebrated the work of Brian De Palma and last year when we praised David Cronenberg. This year's featured director, Nicholas Ray, would have celebrated his centennial today. First recognized by the auteurists who launched the French New Wave, Ray's body of work is one of the most influential in all of cinema.


In previous Blogathons, I've asked for permission to publish new articles here. But after being overwhelmed with submissions last year, I've decided to do things a little differently. In the interest of running things a little more smoothly, I'll post any links to new or previously published posts on Ray. Send your contributions here, please. I am happy to accept entries from anyone.

I hope you all consider joining in. Unfortunately, last year I did not have time to contribute to Tony's blogathon, so I hope to make up for it in a big big way this year. That may even be a pun! Stay tuned to find out!



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And now for a little segment I like to call Stacia's Bragging Corner.

First, I want to thank the blog ithankyou for awarding SBBN the Stylish Blogger Award!

Astonishingly, I have also been awarded the Liebster Blog Award by three separate bloggers: Ivan, my BBFF (pronounced "buh-biff"), Scott at the hilarious World O' Crap (hilarity not guaranteed for conservatives), and the fabulous Dawn at Noir and Chick Flicks. Thank you all, you are far too kind.

The internets tell me that the Liebster was intended originally for smaller blogs of "under 300 followers," although I wonder how accurate that is since only one specific blog platform has "followers." The internets also tell me I'm supposed to pay it forward and nominate other blogs for the award but, as is my long-standing policy, I generally do not pass award-memes on due to time constraints.

Scott C. mentioned that I suck at vacations and he's absolutely right; while I seem to be blogging just as much as always, I do have a reduced presence in blog comments and emails. It's too bad that the hiatus cannot be used as a valid excuse for only now getting around to responding to a lovely note I received... seven months ago on January 2nd. Still, I have a semi-valid excuse, in that I was so messed up by a virus in January that I apparently filed away emails unread and did not uncover them until I did backups earlier this week; yes, you read that right, I hadn't done an email backup in over nine months. Responsibility is hard.

Long story short, a gentleman by the name of Scott Moon, designer of the terrific Bob Wilkins official webpage, let me know that the photo I posted of Bob in October shows him with a "Star Trek" picture from "Whom Gods Destroy." Finally, a definitive identification! Thank you, Scott.

When I compose posts I use a pre-saved template, and Bob Wilkins is my default centered photo in that template. I see him every time I write a post, and he always makes me smile.



And finally, over at Nathanael's digs, he has compiled the votes for the winners of the '50s Monster Mash Blogathon and yours truly came in at second place. That's 10 smackers in Monopoly money! Thank you to everyone who voted and said such kind things about my entry. Plan 9 is a crowd-pleaser, there is no denying that.



Congratulations to all the other winners. As of this posting, first place has not yet been announced, so check back in over at Forgotten Classics of Yesteryear to discover the exciting grand prize winner!

Stay glued to this channel, kids, because more guest posts are on their way in the next few days.