Quote of the Day/Week-Kevin Smith

Last week on NPR, film director Kevin Smith, who is also known for writing comic books, his eccentric tweets and blogs, writing memoirs, acting in his own films and having a row with Southwest Airlines (they apparently kicked him off a flight for being too overweight), announced that after his next film "Hit Somebody," he will retire from filmmaking.

Smith is among the people born in 1970, the year of my birth, that we are quoting this month. Smith turns 42 on Aug. 2. He will apparently not go the way of the legendary Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman who directed film right until his death at age 89 in 2007.

Of course, while Smith has directed some nifty films like "Clerks" and "Chasing Amy," no serious cinephile could ever compare him to Bergman, who directed such classics as "The Seventh Seal," "Wild Strawberries" and "Fanny and Alexander."

Smith, who made "Clerks," a comedy about lazy convenient store employees who discuss "Star Wars" while selling Camels and Marlboros (those brands were never named in the film for legal concerns) for a mere $27.575 in 1994, also runs a comic book store called Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash in Smith's native Red Bank, NJ.

Smith played Silent Bob in "Clerks" and its sequel "Clerks 2," as well as in the film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."

Here is his quote which refers to his controversial film "Dogma," with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, which poked fun at the Catholic faith that Smith was raised in:

"I'm going to hell. But I knew that back on Dogma. It's not news to me. I'm just going to enjoy the ride there."

Things We Learned on Twitter This PM- Armageddon Still Sucks!

We have no idea if the programmers at F/X decided to rerun the epic mess "Armageddon" (you know the movie with Bruce Willis and Ben Afflect that came out in the late '90s) with the commemoration of the Hiroshima tragedy this week in Japan, but the timing does seem a bit surreal.

On a personal note, I have endured a zany last couple of days which involved two days in which I virtually slept away the whole day, one day in which I was up for 24 hours and then some and an unfortunate accident with scissors (still $%&*# hurts!).

So, while I was not watching "Armageddon" or anything else for matter this afternoon, my good pal Chris Knight of Reidsville, NC, was indulging in the film which he himself says 'makes The Black Hole look like 2001.' (He is referencing a Disney science-fiction film with Tony Perkins that came out in 1979 when I was nine years old!).

Knight said he has great admiration for actor Steve Buscemi who is in "Armageddon" since the indie film icon is a volunteer fire-fighter in his spare time.

But, Knight had no use for the rest of the film which he also called 'a dumb popcorn movie.' He added that "Armageddon" was 'not an Oscar-worthy magnum opus.' Whatever that means!

Celebrity Tweets- Cheryl Hines

Since I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. to watch the entire sixth season of the HBO comedy "Curb Your Enthuiasm" a few nights ago, we thought we'd go with some actual tweets from the 'real Cheryl Hines.'

The Ben Affleck cameo was mentioned on an entry from my friend Moviezzz on his blog.

Anyway, we need to make this quick so I can have lunch at the Green Bean Coffee House in Greensboro, NC, well actually that's an hour and a half from where I am at the moment!:

"Did anyone notice Ben Affleck in the background on "Curb Your Enthusiasm?" He happened to be in Banana Republic that day." (posted Nov. 12)

"'Serious Moonlight' won Best Film in the Orlando Film Fest! YAY!!!! My family partied like rock stars."

"I'm on Letterman tonight. love him. his blue eyes were sparkling," posted Oct. 26.