During my web travels today I uncovered a nugget of news that surely must be the seventh sign of an impending apocalyspe. Apparently my hero, former Velvet Underground frontman, Lou Reed has recently not only appeared in but SCORED an instructional martial arts dvd! Now if you’ve been over to my house more than once chances are i’ve made you sit through one or several of the films in my collection of amusing instructional videos. From MC Hammer instructing us to drive safely in residential areas in a long forgotten Drivers Ed film (in a segment in which he delivers the immortal line “You gotta be safe when you’re drivin’ in your hood. Don’t drop the Hammer!”) to the crown jewel of my collection Michael Bolton’s instructional softball video (simply mindblowing, no other way to put it). I must admit I was shocked to see the trailer for the upcoming DVD. This is easily the oddest thing that can be attributed to Mr. Reed since that whole “Metal Machine Music” debacle (for the record I think that album is neat). I suppose the jury is still out, but if you are in Nashville and a friend of mine you should prepare yourself to bask in the multi-faceted glories of this dvd at my house sometime in the near future. Lou found a reason alright and apparently it turned out to be Tai Chi. Who woulda thunk it?

As I write this it’s about quarter to six Nashville time, and save for myself and our fearless leader Mr. Tom Neff the DOC Offices are deserted. Everyone having headed home, presumable to prepare their bodies and spirits for the insane amount of consumption that tomorrow will surely bring. And maybe it’s giddiness I feel due to all the carbohydrates in my near future but I have to say i’m feeling pretty thankful right now and I just thought I would take the opportunity to share some of the more recent additions to my list of thanks. Spirit of the season and what not. So here are a few in no particular order.

1. Thanks to Jeff Feuerzeig for the cool “Devil and Daniel Johnston” poster which currently resides on the wall of my office providing a conversation piece and a great deal of inspiration to all who gaze upon it.

2. Thanks to Christa Fuller for making me aware of Falkenau: Vision of The Impossible a brilliant film that i’m sure to spill a fair amount of ink on in the very near future.

3. Thanks to everyone Myspace and otherwise who took the time to send me a rememberance of the Late Great Robert Altman. And while i’m at it thanks to Mr. Altman for “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” a film that has in some way defined me as a person.

4. Thanks to our Media Manager Matthew Watson’s gal Kimberly who prepared each and every member of the DOC SQUAD a Thanksgiving caramel apple so drenched in goodness that it demands to be consumed with a fork.

5. Thanks to my pal Drew for the bootleg of “Godzilla Vs. The Smog Monster” (the Discotheque scenes are a particular highlight)

6. Thanks to each and every viewer that’s taken time to write us. The other day I even got a Myspace comment from a fella that wanted to know what I thought of the films I caught at Horrorfest (it means a lot to me that some of you guys actually care about my viewing habits)

7. Thanks to the folks at Subversive Cinema for FINALLY putting out Richard Stanley’s cut of the highly underrated Aussie horor film “Dust Devil” and thanks also for all the great documentaries they included you’ll be hearing more about Stanley’s great docs in my From The Vault column before you know it.

And as that takes us to lucky number seven I think now that I too shall take my leave of the DOC offices and head off into the night. I believe that I speak for all of us here at The Doc Channel when I say that we sincerely hope that where ever you may be that you and yours have as safe and as happy a Thanksgiving as is altogether permitted by law (laws may vary, of course, from state to state). And in the name of all that is holy if you are one of those brave souls attempting to deep fry their own turkey and a blaze should occur remember that you?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢re never too old to stop, drop and roll.

We love you guys.

Remember last week when I blogged about the death of Jack Palance and ruminated on the validity of the old adage that celebrity deaths come in threes? Well i’ve got some very tragic news that actually disproves that maxim and saddens me deeply. Robert Altman has passed away. If you are remotely film savvy then no doubt like me you are enamored of Altman’s work. To use another old saying if I had a nickel everytime i’ve turned to one Mr. Altman’s enumerable masterworks for inspiration, both personal and professional I’d be sitting on a sizable chunk of change. From my obvious bias to the film Nashville to my unnatural obsession with McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Brewster McCloud (with their Leonard Cohen score and brilliant turn by Bud Cort respectively) I can’t express enough how deeply saddened by this news i am. Altman was a genius in every since of the word and I hope that each and every film fan out there will join me in remembering the man and each and every brilliant film he made. Altman was 81. Not nearly old enough.

It’s got male frontal nudity, plenty of hairy back, an ice cream truck … and it makes Americans look like bible-thumping morons. Still Borat the movie has sucked $90 million from wallets across the nation?Ǭ†in three weeks.

To further complicate things, Twentieth Century Fox, a company owned by Rupert Murdoch,?Ǭ†a flag-flying conservative?Ǭ†who runs a global media empire, released this red-bashing film.

Add?Ǭ†to the mix the fact that Borat is much more of a?Ǭ†documentary than a studio-made film, and you’ve got homemade entertainment on a scale never seen before. When the credits rolled, I heard a woman?Ǭ†in her 50s sitting near me at the theater announce, “That is the weirdest movie I’ve ever seen.”

How did she end up in that seat? That’s my question.?Ǭ†Typically a movie as challenging as Borat?Ǭ†would make no money and get kicked out of theaters in about three weeks. Definitely not draw in some of the same crowd it slices and dices for the sake of humor.?Ǭ†

I guess the secret to success in this case?Ǭ†is the fact that Borat was released by a major studio and promoted by a major studio. I remember seeing trailers in theaters for months before its release. So I guess somebody decided to let?Ǭ†the American audience in mass know about?Ǭ†Borat …?Ǭ†a?Ǭ†movie that matters, is entertaining and means something. The pipeline?Ǭ†this time?Ǭ†delivered some good oil, some how some way.

Well, New Yorkers, say hello to the Documentary Channel. We have teamed up with native station NYC TV to bring even more of that Doc Channel programming that you know and love to New York City. Starting in November, NYC TV will be broadcasting some of the best and brightest New York centric documentaries from our film library during a two-hour “Doc Bloc”, from 8pm to 10pm EST. In turn, NYC TV’s quality programming will be available to you, DOC viewers, whilst viewers in the New York City region enjoy documentaries from DOC’s ever-growing vault of all that is engaging and enlightening in documentary. So New York, allow us to introduce ourselves. We’re looking forward to making your acquaintance.