The Collector of Bedford Street is a fantastic, touching and remarkable documentary by Alice Elliott which centers on Larry, a disadvantaged man, who lives across the street from her. The film has won numerous awards and was nominated for an Academy Award. Plus, Alice and the folks that live in Larry's neighborhood have rallied together to help him. This is not only a remarkable film, but a reminder that there really is still good in the world.
I was fortunate to see the film and meet Alice and Larry when my film
The Bronx Boys screened along with theirs at HBO's Frame by Frame Festival in New York. I can still remember sitting in the theater, settling in to see the films and see how the audience would react to my film, when...
In came Alice, a kind, motherly woman, and Larry, a developmentally disabled man wearing his trademark suspenders. I had no idea who they were at that point. I heard Larry tell Alice in a voice much louder than one usually hears in a movie theater, "I want to sit up front," and she said that was OK, but that she was going to sit a little further back. Several quiet minutes went by and then Larry broke the silence by shouting in his distinctive New York twang, "Aaaalice?"
Quietly and calmly Alice replied, "Yes Larry?"
"I'm excited Alice. I hope the movie starts soon....Are you sure you don't want to sit down here?"
"I'm OK up here Larry," Alice said kindly.
"Ohh-Kaay Aaalice."
The exchange was so cute. After the film I had to introduce myself to Alice and Larry and tell them how amazing I thought the film was. It was a real pleasure meeting them, and then I bought one of Larry's buttons (pictured above).
A couple days later, my friends Rik and Nini joined me for part of that week of screenings, and I made sure they saw Alice and Larry's film. Afterward I introduced them to Alice (Larry wasn't with her that day) and we all bought more buttons to help Larry. A few months later Rik spent some time with Alice when his film,
The Least of These, and hers were being awarded at the prestigious Heartland Film Festival -- small world.
Later that year,
The Bronx Boys was programmed for several weeks in Laemmle Theatre Chain's "Bagels & Docs" Jewish Film Series in Los Angeles. They said that since my film was just 45 minutes, they were looking for another film to pair it with. Immediately I suggested
The Collector of Bedford Street, and even though they had previously screened the film as part of their series of Academy Award nominated films, they brought it back. I was very pleased.
Consequently, I have seen this film over a dozen or more times, and every time it touches me. I can't recommend it enough. Please get yourself a copy. Not only will you enjoy and be touched by the film, but you'll also be helping Larry.
Watch the trailer here.Visit the web site here.Information on purchasing the film is here.
Are you a fan of the British version of The Office, or of the HBO/BBC series Extras like I am? If you answered Yes, then you're a fan of Ricky Gervais too. When you get him together with his writing and directing partner Stephen Merchant, and their friend Karl Pilkington, you get a lot of silly banter . . . that's sure to make you laugh. Oh, and there's monkey news! What more can you ask for? You can download the audio from the web site or you can get it from iTunes as a free podcast. As of this post, only episodes 7 through 10 are available, with two more to come. I tuned-in late and missed episodes 1 through 6. Catch it before they're all gone!
It's only a few more weeks until The Sopranos is back on HBO. If you're like me (and fortunate to have digital cable with HBO On Demand) you've been watching all of the previous seasons, getting back up to speed with the characters and plotlines. But maybe you don't have HBO On Demand, or you want more, or you want a taste of the real thing, then you'll enjoy the site put together by the folks behind TheSmokingGun.com. At the Frank & Fritzy Show site you can listen to real mobsters just shootin' the shit. As the sites says, "It's Seinfeld meets The Sopranos: a series about nuttin'." I find it strangely entertaining.
Waiter Rant is interesting Blog I happened upon. It was nominated for this year's Bloggies, and offers good writing and interesting insights. Particularly good is his February 6th, 2006 entry, "Heaven & Hell." I look forward to checking out both past and future entries.
A couple sites I learned about some time ago on NPR are PostSecret and Found Magazine. These are two 
eclectic sites that offer different types of looks at what it is to be a human being. Sometimes funny; sometimes sad; always interesting.
