* Sponsor, as in to pledge support, not as in to play my guide and mentor in a 12-step program...

Which is not to say that I wouldn't benefit from such help, but let's just put that on the back burner for now, okay? =)
You can see the latest update on my Watch-A-Thon progress at wuzzon.
In October of 2005, the Brattle Film Foundation, the non-profit organization that programs and operates the Brattle Theatre (I might have mentioned the Brattle to you, maybe once or twice...?), announced the most important fundraising effort in its 52-year history. Last winter many of you contributed to it by sponsoring my Movie Madness, helping raise thousands of dollars that have gone to keep the theater running for another year and planning for many more. Alas, the wheels, they turn, turn, and a year later, while things *are* looking up at the Brattle, the fundraising for this wonderful independent theater, one of the last independently owned businesses in Harvard Square, continues.

Beginning this January 12, and running thru February 18, I am once again participating in their Movie Watch-A-Thon and ask that you sponsor me as part of this fundraising event. I hope you'll help me in this effort to preserve the legacy of repertory film programming at the Brattle.

It's a modest little theater located in Harvard Square. No teeth-shattering THX, no stadium seats, but behind the counter there's freshly popped popcorn, real melted butter, and Toscanini's ice cream, and, up on the screen, the coolest, smartest, classiest, funniest, and scariest rectangles of light in Boston. Good crack.

What would I do without the Brattle? Why, to maintain my current movie habit, I'd have to knock down some walls at home and set up a theater of my own! Build a balcony (I almost always sit upstairs), get a popcorn machine and soda fountain, wallpaper my bathroom in movie posters, and then program a different film almost every night!

That, or go back to my other hobby--searching for a way to tap into the hidden strengths that all humans have. Yeah, that didn't go so well, what with the accidental overdose of gamma radiation and all. So, really, the only sensible thing to do is keep the Brattle running!

Cuz if it were to close its doors, well, that would make me angry... You wouldn't like me when I'm angry...

=)

Email me if you'd like to sponsor my Watch-A-Thon, and let me know how much you wish to pledge per movie. Or if you like, make a one-time (not per-movie) flat donation now through this webpage by credit card. And of course, going to see a movie at the theater itself wouldn't hurt any. =)

The Brattle is where the world tilted on its axis just a little bit when I watched Chow Yun Fat step-and-slide his way down that tea-house stairway railing, two guns a-blazin', partnered with Tony Leung in John Woo's HARD-BOILED -damn!- over a dozen years ago! The darkened theater where I first experienced movies like CITIZEN KANE, DONNIE DARKO, FALLEN ANGELS, and CASABLANCA... Where I can go to see "What's Opera, Doc?" ("Kill the wab-bit!") on the big screen, the Boston Fantastic Film Festival, and EVIL DEAD 2 and FREAKS on Halloween... and where I consistently go to see the best of film's past (RULES OF THE GAME), present (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE), and future (THE HOST).

Thank you for any little something you can give to keep the Brattle's screen lit up, either as a donation or a pledge for my Watch-A-Thon. Help the Brattle keep on keepin on~ =)