The time...where does it go?

The time...I wish I had more of it. It's been just a horrible horrible past few months. I had a grandmother and great aunt pass away, which is sad but not surprising given their ages. About a month prior to their deaths however a young teen and friend to my daughter was killed in a home fire. My husband and I had babysat and driven to/picked up from school this gal and she had been a special friend to my child while in grade school. This was not our child, and I cannot in a million years imagine what her mother is feeling, going thru, or how she is coping with this. From our years of being in her life however we had profound sadness and grief. Why someone so young and vibrant has to die at such a young age I don't know, and will never know.

So...not a fun house. I really had no desire to blog, and am just getting into the winter season for those critics end of year best movies list. I have a few ideas on what I'd like to see but I will contemplate further upon this before I post. Of course there's many many films I haven't seen but I usually got on gut feeling. I have vacation time coming up the end of this month after X-mas, and I fully intend on seeing at least three new films.

Because of our general lack of enthusiasm for much of anything in Casa De Under A Rock I've really not watched much as of late. Wait...I take that back - a new season of Top Chef has started, there's been lots of college football, wrestling, Svengoolie, Iron Chef, and Three Stooges. I did have one afternoon where I thought to myself 'fuck it, I need to giggle' and watched Slap Shot twice. Then I put in My Man Godfrey and just drank in the Deco and Powell and Lombard. Great way to spend the afternoon, the dishes didn't get done til late but I was happy for awhile.

I'm thinking I need to get into the swing of the season and put in Come To The Stable tomorrow afternoon. Why isn't this out on dvd yet? Another film I was thinking of was Blossoms in the Dust but I found out that the film isn't available as a stand alone, it's only available out of the box set. At least there are two other films in the set that I like, so it's been added to my X-mas list.

I promise...more blogging to come. Really, I'm not kidding!

You were the one that got away

Indeed - they don't make 'em like him anymore.

I just had to watch Slap Shot the next day. No, it's hardly a movie of 'quality' in some eyes, but it features a great performance by Newman as the slightly over the hill slightly tacky hockey player/coach. And of course, the Hanson Brothers. It's terribly funny, and terribly poignant, and when you think of towns dying off, it's still the same now - maybe more so with the current economic situation.

I also picked up a copy of Road To Perdition, which oddly I'd never bought. I'm a big Connie Hall fan...I don't know, maybe I've just had other movies on my want list higher. There's nothing better lit than a scene with rain and Newman saying to Hanks "I'm glad it's you". For all that it's a gangster picture Newman has an elegance and poise in this role...his characters still tough as Cagney but tempered and weathered by his life's work.

If you can't swim, just remember the fall will kill you.

While I'm thinking of it...would it be so much to ask that our currently running for president people shut up? As in...stop being negative, pointing fingers, name calling, character assasination, he said/she said, nasty ass comment making, just shut the hell up? Present your point of view, and be nice about it. Don't label each other. It's the voters that can do the comparison shopping all on their own, thank you very much. Maybe the voters, which politicians seem to think are so stupid, could do a much better job if they didn't have to wade thru so much bullshit.

It may be time to get the hip boots out, it's getting mighty deep around here and we may need shovels before election day gets here.

Stirred, Not Shaken

Gee, I love getting my kid back to school. It's like having a second job. In fact, when a child is in school, you do have a second job...and a third...and a fourth.

Also...since we last met we have obtained (that being the polite way to put it, landed on is more likely) a new kitty - Tarzan Charlie. I will have a picture here for posterity. I'd love to get a picture of he and our other male Ringo together - one where they aren't trying to chew each other's ears up. He's so black he shines, and in the sunshine one can see where his stripes show...obviously there is a tabby in his lineage. He's gained five pounds since we got his scrawny and bowlegged bundle of yoweling fur in the house and that's a great accomplishment. He should have his own blog called Tee Pee the House with Tarzan Charlie, but alas, he cannot type yet. Someday.

Anita Page has passed on...not so much a shame since the lady was 98, but I was sure she would have made it to 100. Let's see if the Academy bothers to put her into their dead people rundown at the 2009 ceremonies. Bets anyone? My favorite role of her's is in the movie Night Court as a woman who gets caught up in the clutches of baaaaaad judge Walter Huston. Huston is a real lowdown and nasty dude in this, Philips Holmes is great as the husband who comes to the rescue. Nice little film. She was a treat in Skyscraper Souls and Our Blushing Brides also. I'm not as familiar with her silents as I should be, seen a couple but not all. I've seen Free and Easy but it's been so many dang years I don't quite remember her role. Just another on the list to see again.

Unfortunately my head is starting to split so that's all for now folks. More mediocrity later, I promise.

PS - In case Cindy Anthony reads this, which I doubt since she doesn't have the IQ of a dead grasshopper, yes your daughter is a murderer. If it was my daughter telling such whoppers and pretending not to know where she disposed of her child's body I'd chain her to the back of my van and do 85 mph down the freeway til she talked. Your daughter is a skank, you've got nobody but yourself to blame for her sociopathic behavior. I hear you like to google her name and sic your lawyers onto sites or message boards or blogs that say naughty naughty things about her. Guess what. We are right, you are wrong, and you need more help than five psychiatrists can give. That monster whore you call your daughter needs to be locked up before she ever breeds again. Now come and get me.

Same ole story, same ole song and dance

Damn it, I think I've got one of those summer colds coming on.

I've had the most interesting experiences with FedEx and a manufacturer from NY. More like heart attack inducing to be honest. I had ordered a microwave stand in early July. The manufacturer even called me to say that the order would be delayed. Not long after I get a tracking number and excitedly track my package with the eagerness of an astronomy student tracking a new planet. However, it was not to be. The Chicago hub of FedEx didn't want to deliver it, since it was heavy, and decided instead to consider it 'refused'. Niiiiiiceeeeee. So then, it went all the way back to NY. Because I'm occasionally a smart gal I had kept the manufacturer updated with all the doings, as well as keeping in constant contact with FedEx.

Finally, to make the long story short, after many delays they couriered the package back to me and I opened a box that looked like it had been thru several world wars and conflicts. Of course with my luck about a third of the pieces were damaged. One piece was broken, the rest are scratched up to all hell. Now, if a couple of pieces were scratched and they wouldn't have been noticed on the inside I'd have no problem. However, not my lucky day.

Today however, was my lucky day. After stressing out about what I was going to do with these pieces of stand adorning my front porch I had a lengthy conversation with the manufacturer who are sending me another stand, and they are filing a claim with FedEx. They are also NOT using FedEx to ship me the new stand. I rather tentatively asked if they wanted me to try and send it back myself and they said nothing doing, that FedEx effed this up so let FedEx be the picker uppers.

In the midst of all this fun I did remember to tape some great Marie Dressler films yesterday. I got a silent in the morning, and taped a couple in the afternoon with her and Polly Moran. Well you know my luck by now - we had a hell of a storm here in the Chicagoland area last night, a real whopper with torrents of rain and lightning and ear splitting thunder. Some areas got hit pretty bad and the Cubs game got called. All this wonderful weather had an adverse effect on our Sat receiver upstairs so when I went to tape the one damn movie I really wanted, Emma, I missed such a chunk of it I called it a night. Damn damn damn! I know it'll show again. At least I didn't forget, it was the weather that held me back this time. Honestly, there isn't a lot going on with TCM's Summer Under The Stars to really attract my attention. I think the only other day is featuring Peter Lorre.

Last episode of Flipping Out tonight for this season - boo hiss. Now if only Project Runway would start sizzling, I'd feel okay.

I am a naughty naughty gal

Okay, I've been really busy! And I'm in a bad 70's music mood - right now I've got Claire playing by Gilbert O'Sullivan. It's a new low everyday people!

Rented and watched In Bruges this weekend...when Colin Farrell puts his mind to it he can act, and act really well. Brendan Gleeson is his usual great self, and it's nice to see Ralph Fiennes be a rather nasty man, but with a small touch of honor. Dunno what I'd rate the film, I'm still thinking about that - I would recommend it but only if you like quirk.

Thank the TCM Gods a thousand times - September has Kay Francis as the featured actor! I've got a whole list of films to tape and watch ready, and I have a pretty good Kay library as it is. There's some really good stuff here for the first time Kay viewer, including Man Wanted, One Way Passage (very under rated film, great love story), and Doctor Monica. Then we have Carole Lombard in October which is a treat, a lot of her pre-codes I don't have yet. The one film I would like to see that isn't on the schedule is Supernatural, the poster for which is all sorts of awesome. Enough of that though, Kay is first and foremost my Pre-Code Queen, and she has the flicks to back that up.

I was watching Westward The Women this afternoon...I love that line where the one cowpoke says to the other after hearing about how the women will shoot the men if they get to close "They must be great!" Hell yeah, they must be - thank you Mr Wellman, and if they re-make that film I'll shoot somebody...it's perfect as it is.

Sheer Genius

If you want to make a man a fan of Sophia Loren, tonight is the night on TCM to achieve this lofty goal. Boy On A Dolphin is on at 7PM CST. Right about the part where Sophia hoists herself outta the water in her orange shirt dress is where Sophia Fandom begins. I swear.

Tonight after Fun with Sophia is the premiere of the Bravo second season of Shear Genius. I loved the first season, it was really neat to see how the different hair stylists interpreted their challenges, plus it is all visual - at least you can see the results and judge them, unlike Top Chef where you can't taste the food.

I'm off a couple of days from work so I will devote myself almost whole heartedly to movie viewing, whether at home or in the theater. I've promised a friend that we'll go see WALL-E this weekend, which isn't a hard promise to keep mind you, and depending on how close The Visitor gets I'll try and see that too.

Carlin is dead but he lives on HBO tonight and all weekend.

You're just not couth!

Cripes, the weather sucks. How wonderful it is to live in the Midwest and get our yearly below freezing wind chill, blizzards, hardly any spring, hot humid summers, tornados, floods, and microbursts. Yay!

Lord love those people in Iowa. Okay God, time to let up, they've had enough. By the time this all actually crests it'll be dumping into southern Illinois. The corn prices are gonna sky rocket, that's fer shure.

Finally I've taken the time to start in on the pile and a half of vhs tapes and play the conversion game again. Yesterday I did a couple of smart Alice Brady flicks, Broadway to Hollywood and Metropolitan. I need to rewatch Metropolitan, it's got the great voice of Lawrence Tibbett in it, and a decent performance by Virginia Bruce. Very irrational, but I don't normally like her, probably because of how badly she treated John Gilbert. Stupid way to be but I can't help it. She is rather decent in Downstairs also.

I've got Ian Richardson in the House of Cards series here for the weekend viewing - so nasty, so delish. And he was in one of my all time faves Dark City. Now there's one I need to pull outta the vaults! There was supposed to be a special edition of that released but I haven't seen squat about it finalized. Another pipe dream.

I got the husband to sit down and watch Born Yesterday with me a couple of weeks ago and he really liked it. I dunno what I'm going to try next, maybe I'll get him going with some good John Wayne. Maybe I'll get him hooked on Stagecoach, or pick something in color like The Sons of Katie Elder. Don't want to put the man in total fear of black and white by showing it too much, a little break of technicolor won't hurt.

Double negative right? Right!

More sense than money...

So I keep telling myself anyway. Though, if I was compensated for IQ points, hopefully I'd have that big mansion with the three hundred thousand movie room. And a ceeeement pond!

I have in my hot little hands (thank you Netflix Gods) the PBS doc on the Jonestown Flood, which I haven't seen in eons, as well as the LBJ bio from American Experience. I know it's popular or seen to be the 'right' thing to do to throw darts at LBJ's image and legacy. The whole Vietnam thing, the woman thing, the good ole southern boy thing...yes, this is all not exactly a recommendation on a job application. However, I can't help myself for liking that good ole boy. I think he came into office under horrible circumstances, had to get his footing together, and just made as many bad decisions as good. When I think about it, it's possible that Bill Clinton is our generation's LBJ - no, no Vietnam, but the covert work adds up to near the same possibilities as body counts. I kinda feel sorry for LBJ...and felt even more sorry for him after I watched that Robert McNamara doc. I know my feeling sorry for the guy doesn't amount to a chili dog and chips but what the hell...not until a hundred years from now will the 60's be judged correctly.

On the bright side of life, the near finals are happening for us Top Chef viewers. Oh Lord, please let Lisa be getting knived tonight. Please?

There's word that A Matter Of Life And Death is definately coming out this year, plus Charlie Chan Box Set Number Son Five. My list of the things I'd do for a dvd release keeps shrinking. Maybe the studios were afraid I'd really show up wearing that bikini.

You got me begging you for mercy...

What with all the fun of figuring out how the new boob tube and dvd recorder works I have yet to set up the vcr to all these new contraptions. Welcome to the age of one cord HDMI hook-ups - no muss or fuss but just as much trial and error. I shall have to attempt being my own Geek Squad shortly, the vhs tapes are piling up. Someone in my home which is only an inch or two taller than myself had promised to hook up the older dvd recorder upstairs but this event has yet to occur. It had better occur before the apocalypse. I'd hate to meet my maker without a complete movie library.

Someone at Nitrateville said that September may well be Kay Francis month. Here's hoping, there's still a bunch of films in which the wavishing actress appeawed that I must commit to memory and a few I missed the last time around. Wonder what made them pick her? A lot of bitching and moaning?

The next Deep Discount dvd sale is set to start in a couple days - the discount code to use is DVDTALK. I plan on getting my hands on Joan Crawford, The Thief of Bagdad, and maybe the latest Three Stooges set. Shame a Shemp gal like myself has to wait a bit longer to start in on those, but there are a few on the latest set with Curly that haven't been released in any form.

This might be a good evening for some Godfrey. The outtakes...oh Lord, if only there were more outtakes from other films from the 30's. Nothing is so charming as hearing Lombard cussing.

Under Construction - Like Illinois Roads

That dang kid of mine has been up to no good...with the cut/copy/paste.

At any rate, this is my first posting here obviously. Until I get into the full swing of blogging again there won't be a hell of a lot to look at. I'm going to try and see if I can move my older posts on my former blog over here for posterity, or I may just screenshot them and keep 'em filed up. You never know when the Smithsonian will come knocking, do you?

Any road, if you want a reason why I'm here and not there I got one reason for you...nosy in-laws. Kinda says it all, don't it?