I don’t watch much TV and even though my friends rave about it, I don’t really watch the hugely popular Gossip Girl.  However, yesterday a good pal emailed me to let me know that my favorite filmmaker, one Rainer Werner Fassbinder, had been mentioned on Monday’s episode of the show.  After I got over the queasy feeling in my stomach I found the episode online and decided to watch, scared of where Rainer might pop up.

As it turns out he came up in a conversation about Thanksgiving. One of the characters said she was going to watch Berlin Alexanderplatz and eat an Amy’s Organic Turkey Meal.  The person she was talking to responded with some quip about 16 hour German films.

It was kind of funny watching the two actors have the exchange because it was fairly obvious that neither of them knew what Berlin Alexanderplatz (or Fassbinder for that matter) was. I’m sure a lot of folks watching the show didn’t either.

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Today is the last day I’ll be blogging before the holiday we call Christmas comes around. And while I don’t support the mass consumerism that comes along with the season, I do like the idea of showing folks I care and having the chance to get them something they might not usually get on their own. But since I blog in the categories of “share” and “learn” - I thought I would share with you some of the things I have asked for from my friends and family - in hopes that you might learn about something that you didn’t know about:

1) The Criterion Collection’s release of Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz

The prolific Rainer Werner Fassbinder is hands down my favorite film director (although Truffaut comes in a very close second) and Berlin Alexanderplatz may be the greatest example of his unique method of storytelling and of his insanely productive nature. It is a 15 hour, 14 episode epic story of a man named Franz Biberkof who has just gotten out of jail and re-entered a Weimar-era Germany.

What makes me so excited for this, is that 1) Unless I felt like going to the movie theater for a straight 15 hours, there was no way for me to watch Fassbinder’s masterpiece.. 2) It is a Criterion Collection release. If you don’t know what The Criterion Collection is, it is a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films on DVD that are all restored to look and sound amazing. They don’t just transfer it to DVD, they give you the best viewing experience possible. Visit their website to look at the amazing movies they have : http://www.criterion.com/ and watch the video below for a look at the documentary included in the DVD Box Set of Berlin Alexanderplatz :

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2) A Membership to Film Forum

One of the reasons I wasn’t scared about moving to New York City, despite the fact that I had only been there once, only knew one person and didn’t have a job, was because I knew that New York City has the best movie theaters in the country with the best selection of movies. A great thing about many of the theaters that show a lot of older movies is that you can buy a membership to the theater and get discounted tickets all year long - and when you go to the movies as much as I do, that is a very good thing.

Film Forum is one of the theaters you can get a membership to, They show a great mix of repertory features, along with new releases and amazing retrospective series. Right now for example, they are showing Todd Haynes latest film - I’m Not There, Woody Allen’s classic Hannah and Her Sisters and a new documentary Nanking.

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3) A case for my Panasonic FX-10

I take a lot of video and pictures with my awesome little panasonic digital camera - I need to protect it. In general, while the holidays are a great time to give and receive electronics - we should all make sure we give our amazing technology the care it deserves!

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And speaking of little movies made with little cameras and traveling and holidays : here is a little something I made a year ago on my way to Ohio:

Best holiday wishes Takepart readers! See you after the hub bub is over: