Here find a few li'l tidbits which I found interesting but which were too brief to stand alone.

1. Even the best of sword fights on screen (DUNE 2, TROY for two recently watched) always features one wild blade swing about a foot above the opponent’s head.

2. I recently watched a guy on YouTube discussing a book. He thought the story had good possibilities as “a movie or streaming service adaptation.”  Movie or streaming service adaptation?  As if they are two different things? Or are they in fact, two separate things now?

3. Those of us who were there in ‘77 (or really anytime before the end of the millennium) know Darth Vader when we see him. He’s a super-villain and his name is Darth Vader. 

But I just noticed from watching some YouTube “reactors” that those who, sadly, grew up on the prequels call him “Anakin.”

I guess it’s the same thing regarding the title of the first movie. To me and many others, it’s always just STAR WARS. That “NEW HOPE” thing is merely rumor. 

4. Art Garfunkel's first solo album, ANGEL CLARE, is one of my favorite albums ever. Back in the early ‘70s I played it constantly. Only now though do I learn where the album’s title comes from.  I’m currently reading Thomas Hardy’s TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES and I’m tickled to find that one of the novel’s major characters is named “Angel Clare.”  Maybe even more surprising is that it’s a male character.     

5. There’s a big laugh in the movie HOT FUZZ when, at the conclusion of a terrible performance of ROMEO AND JULIET, the entire cast of the play starts singing and dancing to close out the evening, as the audience reacts in shock. It is a very funny moment.

But… the stage business is not historically inaccurate. In the Elizabethan theater, a play, however serious, did end with the cast performing a jolly jig onstage. The famous “clown” in Shakespeare’s troupe, Will Kempe, was famous for his jigs and it would have been expected, even after a tragedy.

Apparently, this tradition died out about the same time Queen Elizabeth did. Will Kempe left the company and Shakespeare --we believe--managed to get his new play (something called HAMLET) performed jig-free.

5. The first two films in which Dustin Hoffman worked were THE TIGER MAKES OUT (a tiny one-scene role) and MADIGAN’S MILLIONS (a terrible cheapjack thing). Essentially no one saw either of them. 

His first two BIG movies, successful and famous, were very big indeed. And, here’s the oddity. They both end with a scene on a bus.