Thursday, June 14, 2007

A Young Couple with Vision

Ya gotta love it. I wish them well.

The Austin Chronicle: Screens: No Strangers to Drama: Austin couple rescues Vernon Plaza Theatre: "In Albert Brooks' zany Eighties zeitgeist film Lost in America, thirtysomethings David and Linda Howard, as portrayed by the neurotic Brooks and the fey Julie Hagerty, leave their jobs, sell all of their possessions, and set out in a Winnebago in search of their dreams. Maybe author Mark Finn and his wife Cathy Day will someday show it in the old movie house they recently bought after leaving their successful jobs in Austin.

Finn, author of the acclaimed Robert E. Howard biography Blood & Thunder, walked away from his day job as a manager at BookPeople, the largest independent bookstore in Texas. After 12 years, Day gave up her career as an elementary special-education teacher. They agreed that it was time. 'We've always wanted to do something like this, and the opportunity presented itself,' Finn says."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lost in America is one of the great neglected American comedies and one of the definitive statements on Yuppie excesses. Though it lacks a third act (more or less), it remains one of the funniest, wisest movies I've ever seen. You can tell that Brooks spent some time working in ad agencies. The scenes set in the agency are so angry they come close to being violent, something just about unknown in Brooks' films. I know I'm in a minority here but I've always thought that even though Brooks doesn't have Woody Allens' large body of work, I think he's a better writer and much shrewder judge of human nature, especially his own. Maybe it's because I could never identify with Allen. Brooks on the other hand could be my twin brother. As many many of our friends have pointed out over the years. Ed Gorman .

Unknown said...

Maybe you should be in pictures!

Banjo Jones said...

have you ever been to Vernon?

well, i have, and if that couple makes a go of it there, they deserve an Oscar, or something.

Unknown said...

I spent a night of my honeymoon in Vernon, but that was 42 years ago.