Feeling depressed? Watch this

Winter has set in, there's been little to no heat in my Upper East Side tenement apartment for two days, the economy is a mess, the holiday frenzy is fast upon us, so what should you do? Watch these gentlemen:



That feels better.

One of the names I have constantly been searching on YouTube is "Peter Cook" (no, not that present-day lout). I need at some point to do a survey-post giving you the rounds of the amazing Cook finds on YT, but for the present I think the above should suffice. Well, since it's Xmas-time (which now begins at Halloween), I will throw in this one here, part of a series that is the only possible reason I'd revisit the worst of all Christmas tunes.

Alan Rudolph in the Funhouse (where he belongs)

I've done several interviews at press junkets, and I can honestly say that, while I was positively thrilled to do some of them, the individuals being interviewed are usually ready with a canned answer or two (that's why I like to ask open-ended things, like querying Werner Herzog on the purposes of the documentary — harder to get a canned answer that way). One of the most pleasant experiences I had at a junket was talking to Alan Rudolph, who seemed totally at ease, and seemed to actually listen to my questions and provide original answers. Anyway, I offer these two clips from our interview, which was done in 1997 to promote the opening of his brilliantly off-kilter comedy-drama Afterglow. Rudolph has made about seven films that I absolutely love. He's a challenging director who deserves better recognition.

On his visual style, especially his trademark zooms:


On "small movies" and his mentor, the late, great Robert Altman: