Jason Reitman is staging a reading of the greatest movie ever.  Yes, you guessed it - The Big Lebowski!

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/03/22/jason-reitman-lebowski/

Of course there's no way I'd make it to L.A. by March 29th, but I'm hoping someone I know is able to get in.

Remember a long time ago when I was constantly talking about the Coen Koans?  Jeff Bridges, The Dude, and Bernie Glassman, the real-life Zen Master,had a blog where they laid out Buddhist/Zen teachings and backed them up with a "real life" example from The Big Lebowski.  I'm so glad to hear they're writing a book.  I'm sure it'll be worthwhile reading.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/12/books/words-of-wisdom-from-jeff-bridges.html?_r=1

The book appears to be scheduled for a Fall 2012 release.  You can read a little more about it and its authors on pages 90 and 91 of the linked PDF.  If you're having trouble scrolling, just keep on scrolling...it takes a minute.

http://booksellers.penguin.com/static/pdf/duttongotham-fall12.pdf

So the Chalupa's life got quite complicated and he forgot to post some episodes, fortunately Walter hasn't been waving his gun around.  The royal we just posted #59 for your enjoyment.  More episodes on the way soon.

I kind of always expected this - the mayor of Fargo, ND doesn't really like the Coen Brothers' first Oscar win of the same name Fargo.  I think most of us already know the film wasn't actually filmed in North Dakota.  It was mostly shot in Minnesota.  Interestingly enough, Fargo is the sister city of Moorhead, MN - the famed hometown of Fawn "Bunny Lebowski" Knutsen.  If you paid any attention to the picture DaFino pulls out of the family farm, it's obviously an image of a homestead in the Central Plains during the Dust Bowl.

Today Fargo, ND is the largest city in North Dakota and a center for business and education in the area.  Personally I'd like to visit sometime just to say I've been there.

http://www.complex.com/city-guide/2012/02/the-mayor-of-fargo-hated-fargo

In honor of President's Day here in the US, here are some great photos from the White House Museum of the presidential bowling alley.  The lanes were first created under Harry Truman, but weren't really popular until Presidnet Nixon came into office.  I sincerely hope President Obama has been practicing.

http://www.whitehousemuseum.org/floor0/bowling-alley.htm

Dudes!  I just got off the email with Phil Wells, author of Dudesong.  You might remember him from Episode 41 - Dudesong.  Turns out his creation is now available on Amazon.  I just ordered two copies and suggest you at least consider getting one copy for your personal Lebowski library.  The book is modestly priced at $18 and will be sure to keep you entertained for an entire unplanned layover in a crappy section of LaGuardia airport.

The Big Data Lebowski?  I can only imagine what Donny would say after learning about this...

Big data apparently has similar identity issues to what The Dude experienced; are we talking about the millionaire or the deadbeat?  The word data has been grossly overused in the technology industry and it's apparently coming back to haunt a few of us nerd types.  I said "us" because I'm one of them. 

The Data Abides.

http://www.information-management.com/blogs/big-data-social-unstructured-Lebowski-hoarding-10021848-1.html

If you hadn't noticed yet, our beloved Walter, John Goodman, is in two films up for the Academy Award's 2011 Best Picture statue.  The first is a black and white silent film titled The Artist.  In it he plays a studio boss involved in the film industry back before movies looked and especially sounded like they do today.  The second is a film based off a book dealing with the September 11th tragedy in the US titled Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close.  I think it's great to see Goodman being recognized for his work.  So many people remember him for Rosanne, which isn't the worst thing in the world - I just think he's done better things.  Here's an article linked below.  At this moment I haven't seen either film and am hoping to before The Oscars.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/01/john-goodman-the-artist-extremely-loud-incredibly-cllose.html

Filming will be taking place in the East Village next week Feb 16th.  This makes me think of the 'vette bashing scene John Goodman did for The Big Lebowski.  Oh how I wish the Coens would film in my neighborhood.

http://animalnewyork.com/2012/02/the-coen-brothers-want-you-to-make-east-village-look-1960-ish/

Last night I realized I've had United States of Tara in my Netflix queue for a while and should probably start watching.  I only watched the first episode, and it was pretty amazing.  Tara is played by the amazing actress Toni Collette.  You might recognize her from films like Little Miss Sunshine, Shaft (the re-make), About a Boy, and Dirty Deeds where she co-starred with our favorite Walter - John Goodman.  Tara suffers from multiple personality disorder and the show is setup to show you the life of Tara, her family, and her alternate selfs. 

One of her "others" is named Buck.  Buck wears dogtags, large glasses, smokes, likes to bowl, and is generally rude to everyone but has a heart of gold.  Does this sound like anyone we know?

Walter Sobchek perhaps?  I don't know about you, but I'm going to keep watching.  Watching Walter Buck beat the crap out of his/her daughter's boyfriend was pretty hilarious.