By the time this posts, we will be a few hours away from dusk and the advent of trick or treating for this year's Halloween.
This is a bit weird since we haven't done this in three years.
Last year, the pandemic put the kibosh on trick or treat.
The year before that, a big giant storm blew through and rained out trick or treating for that year.
Well, here at the Fortress of Ineptitude, we are ready. We have sufficient candy and I did put up some Halloween decorations. Granted, the house looks like the saddest Mexican restaurant ever but hey, something is out there by the front door that says we are here for Halloween.
Saturday night is usually movie night for Andrea and myself but instead we opted for a couple of Halloween specials over on Disney+.
Muppet Haunted Mansion is basically a 49 promotional film for the popular Disney World theme park attraction. But with Muppets. Look, the focus is on Gonzo and Pepe the Prawn so we're not talking a top tier effort here.
The special does boast some pretty good musical numbers including a cover of "Dancing In the Moonlight".
And there some laugh out chuckles to be had so it's not the worst way to pass 49 minutes.
Andrea who has a soft spot for Muppets and all things Disney was entertained so I'm good.
The other Disney+ thing we watched was a half hour Mickey Mouse Halloween Spooktackular which originally aired in 2017. The premise is Mickey is challenged to tell 5 nephews a genuinely scary story and keeps failing miserably until he tells the tale of 5 obnoxious brats who get baked into pies!
There's a weird, frantic energy that seems more at home with Ren & Stempy than in a Disney show but it works. It's a surprisingly entertaining half hour.
We flipped over to You Tube to catch the Doctor Who Halloween Trick or Treat Challenge where Jodie Whitaker, Mandip Gil and John Bishop attempt to catch candy in treat buckets.
Mandip always takes these challenges way too seriously.
Speaking of Doctor Who, by the time this posts, I will have seen the season premier of Doctor Who and been pleasantly surprised that Chris Chibnall has finally figured out how to make Doctor Who work or has once again broken my heart.
To find out which, Doctor Who Is NEW! will post on Wednesday.
Today is Halloween and this week's Cinema Sunday is coming your way not once but twice (YES! TWICE, I say! BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!) with a double dose of movie madness known as...
THE HORROR!
THE HORROR!!
Earlier today, I posted about Horror #1, a mean green mother from outer space from Little Shop of Horrors!
Now it's time for ....
HORROR #2
A sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvannia.
In today's first Cinema Sunday post, I noted that Andrea and I were familiar with Little Shop of Horrors but our daughter Randie had never seen it.
Now it's time for my wife's cinematic education as we introduce her to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Andrea had never experienced the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Well, in a way, she still hasn't. While home from college, Randie decided it was time to introduce her mother to the wonders of the Time Warp and Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
Watching this movie at home is a surreal experience. I got to see Rocky Horror way back when in college with a crowd of other people a couple of times. At one showing I attended, someone actually shouted out, "Hey! Keep it down! I'm trying to watch this!"
As a rite of collegiate passage, Randie herself got to immerse herself in the full Rocky Horror experience with crowds of oddly dressed people shouting back at the screen.
I suppose I should try to summarize the plot:
Young couple Brad & Janet have car trouble in the middle of nowhere.
They seek assistance at a nearby castle. There they find a strange archaic edifice home to a horde of oddly costumed people and their host, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a full lipped black haired bundle of sexual energy in a corset and stockings.
He develops a nefarious interest in Brad and Janet as he seduces them both.
The big event of the evening is the unveiling of his new creation, a blond Adonis man named Rocky.
Meat Loaf (the singer, not the ground beef concoction) arrives, causes a commotion and is killed.
Later, Meat Loaf is served for dinner (sorry, still the singer).
Brad and Janet as well as a scientist who wandered into the plot are dressed like Dr. Frank-N-Furter for a musical number and...
Well...
You know...
Stuff... happens.
Stuff just happens. Really, what do you want from me?
OK, ostensibly The Rock Horror Picture Show is a homage, a pastiche if you will, of science fiction and horror B movies from the 1930s to the 1960s. So have fun spotting the influences of movies ranging from Frankenstein to It Conquered the World.
Beyond Dr. Victor Frankenstein, the influences for Dr. Frank-N-Furter are less obvious. Tim Curry manifests a unique character, a cross dressing pan sexual unlike anything ever seen in American cinema. He's wicked, naughty but just out to have some fun.
It is rather jarring to see Frank-N-Furter succumb to rage in his killing of Meat Loaf and the total descent into pyschotic behavior of serving up Meat Loaf (the singer, not the ground beef dish) for dinner. It seems a bit out of step with the rest of his strange agenda.
I guess if you're going to call your movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show, there needs to be some horror in it.
I think the true horror of these proceedings is the constant affront to American homogenization, the uniformity that American society imposes on itself, a specific pattern of "acceptable" behavior, of dress and expressing sexuality. The chaste and virginal Janet and Brad don't need to see Meat Loaf murdered in order to feel horror; they were horrified by the mere appearance of a man in make up and lingerie.
Or am I thinking about this too much?
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a weird ass movie where weird ass people do weird ass things for weird ass reasons.
Andrea watched this movie with a bemused interest, not unlike Aunt Harriet watching Batman & Robin fight the Joker on TV, thinking that the Caped Crusaders seem like nice boys but she's glad Bruce and Dick aren't involved in such things. That was Andrea's expression watching this movie.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an interesting experience but it's best watched with a friend.
A lot of friends.
_______________________
Later today is the premiere of a new season of Doctor Who. With that in mind, let's take a look at remarkable video that mashes up Doctor Who with the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Let's do the Time Warp again!
Happy Halloween! Stay safe and remember to be good to one another.
BLOG NOTE: the review of today's Doctor Who premier will appear in Doctor Who Is NEW! on Wednesday.
Since today is Halloween, this week's Cinema Sunday is coming your way with a one-two punch of movie madness known as...
THE HORROR!
THE HORROR!!
Horror #1 - a mean green mother from outer space!
From 1986, Little Shop of Horrors is a film adaptation of the 1982 off-Broadway musical comedy of the same name by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman.
Yep, the same guys who will give us The Little Mermaid three years later.
In the early 1960's, Seymour is a put upon schmuck working at a desolate flower shop in a desolate part of the city. The only things that give his life any meaning is his co-worker Audrey, a sweet young woman under the unfortunate thrall of a sadistic dentist named Orin.
And his plant, a strange botanical oddity Seymour found at a Chinese flower shop during an unexpected solar eclipse. Seymour dubs the plant "Audrey II" and when he puts it in the window of the desolate flower shop, it soon becomes a cause celeb as new customers start flocking into the store to see this strange and unusual plant.
Sales are growing at the newly successful flower shop.
Also growing is Audrey II when Seymour discovers his strange plant has an appetite... for human blood!!!
BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!
And as Audrey II grows and reveals it can TALK, it demands more than a few drop of blood from Seymour's fingers.
AUDREY II is hungry!!!
Seymour has no appetite to commit murder until he catches Orin being very abusive towards Audrey and both Seymour and the plant come to the same conclusion: that dentist looks like PLANT FOOD!!!!!
BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!
Things get worse before they get better. There's more murder and the plant is getting bigger, stronger, more malevolent. It's ravenous appetite threatens the whole planet.
Little Shop of Horrors is more fun than horror with great comedic performance and fantastic songs.
Steve Martin steals the film as Orin, the super sadistic dentist. Causing pain is not a bug in his dentistry, it's a feature. Steve adopts an Elvis Presley swagger complete with a sneer and a slick back pampadour.
But Steve has his challengers for scene stealing. Bill Murray as the endlessly prattling masochistic dental patient is a riot. His character's rambling stream of consciousness was mostly improvised.
John Candy's turn as the radio DJ who interviews Seymour about his famous plant is a delightful take on the morning jock who has to do all the voices and sound effects.
A special shout out to the three-girl "Greek chorus" of Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon who introduce the film and comment on the action in song and pithy remarks through out the movie. They are adorned in a variety of outfits, adapting to the different scenes.
Levi Stubbs is a perfect as the voice of the big green mother from out of space, full of power and brovado.
Ellen Greene is remarkable as Audrey. With a squeaky speaking voice, it's astonishing the full throated voice that Ellen has when she sings.
And Rick Moranis is the perfect embodiment of Seymour, a downtrodden nebbish who finds unexpected strength and courage to declare his love for Audrey and to stand up to the marauding Audrey II.
The big behind the scenes legend of Little Shop of Horrors is the original ending which matched the way the play ended: everyone dead and Audrey II conquering the Earth.
In previews, this ending did not go over well at all. And I think this is a fair call. The movie is building up Seymour's character redemption arc and to just have him die and fail to save the Earth simply betrays all that has come before.
Here's another cool thing: All the scenes were filmed at Pinewood Studios in England which is a humongous facility where director Frank Oz had a "downtown" set constructed, complete with overhead train track, was constructed. It looks like to me that part of that downtown set was re-purposed for Gotham City when Tim Burton filmed the 1989 "Batman" move in Pinewood studios.
The fam sat down to watch Little Shop Of Horrors here at the Fortress of Ineptitude a few weeks ago when Randie was here on a visit from college.
Andrea and I had seen it before but somehow, Randie had never gotten to see this movie. Which is weird since Little Shop is right in her wheelhouse: a musical set around a sci-fi plot set in the 1960's and created by the same musical geniuses behind Disney's animation renaissance, it was tailor made for our daughter.
When Little Shop of Horros ran on TCM a few months ago, I made sure to DVR it for Randie's next visit home. And I think she would agree it was worth the wait.
Let's wrap up this post with a wonderful duet between Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene with "Suddenly Seymour".
OK, Halloween is around the corner in a couple of days so for this week's Flashback Friday, let's hop in the wayback to Wednesday, October 30, 2013 for my first Halloween themed blog post.
It's HALLOWEEN!
Prepared To Be....
Only Moderately Disturbed
Hi there! Dave-El and welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, the blog that puts the "twizz" in your Twizzlers.
Tomorrow is Halloween, my daughter's 2nd favorite holiday. Well, at least it's only one day. Her most favorite holiday is Christmas and she starts celebrating that when a certain local radio station begins playing 24 hours of Christmas music on November 1st. (And THAT will be the topic of a future rant when Dave-El becomes Dave-Ebeneezer.)
But she gets all excited for Halloween, picking out her costume. Oh, she's in it for the candy big time, that's true but that just the bonus that comes with bringing her costume ideas to life. Last year was pretty cool. I actually joined in on the fun as we both dressed in matching black suits, white shirts, black ties and shades and went out as agents for the Men In Black. We had memory zapping flashy things! Every year, she gets more creative with her costume designs. This year she's a Greek goddess which, trust me, really plays into her normal mind set.
My best costume for Halloween was the stupidest. I was in high school and put together a Robot Samurai Monk. Working backward, the Monk part was this long brown robe that I had worn for some thing we did at church. The Samurai part was a old plastic sword I had won at a fair. And the Robot part was a Star Wars C3P0 mask. Thus, Robot Samurai Monk was born! It was stupid but it was probably the most fun I ever had at Halloween.
Mostly, I never got into Halloween. I was a total wuss and hated (HATED!) being scared. I remember losing a whole bag of candy to some jackass who set up some kind of dark cloaked thing with a skull head that loomed up out of the bushes with a speaker amplified "BOO-WHA-HA-HA-HA!!!!" and some nasty threat about taking my soul. I lost dozens of Snicker bars and you know? I'm still pissed off about that!
Ironically, we have a dark cloaked figure with a skull head in our living room. When he's plugged in, he spouts off scary nonsense and his skull head glows. I'm not sure how scary he's supposed to be since his skull head glows in rainbow colors.
I call him "Steve".
It irks my daughter when I call him that. She says his name is "Skeletor". I've tried to explain to her that Skeletor is the name of the villain in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I say "I've tried" because I can't get past saying "He-Man" without her giggling.
But Halloween for me? Meh. I mean, I do try. For example, I own a black cape with a red lining. Sometimes I put that on with my regular clothes. People will comment, "Hey, you're a magician!" or "Are you Dracula?" Nope, I am....Guy With A Cape. OK, one year I decided to go crazy and inverted the cape. That year I was....Guy With a RED Cape. Oh, I do know how to get down!
OK, a few weeks ago, this topic was trending on Twitter: #GentlerHorrorFilms These were ideas for nicer, not quite as scary horror films. So if you want less "bump" in your "night", here are some options.
Instead of Dawn of the Dead, watch the more restful Afternoon of the Dead. Aren't zombies less scary on a pleasant, sunny afternoon? Pour some lemonade and invite a zombie up to the front porch just to sit a spell and talk. And speaking of zombies....
Why watch The Evil Dead? Is there a reason why the Dead has to be Evil? No! So perhaps you might want to watch the less frightening The Kind of Just Annoying Dead. And who knows? Maybe that shambling monstrosity of the undead might be a bit less annoying if you just get to know him better.
What about The Hills Have Eyes? Why, how ludicrous is that! Hills don't have eyes! If they did, it would be very unnerving. So explore the more peaceful alternative of The Hills Have Pine Trees. I think everyone agrees pine trees are very nice and make for a more relaxing experience while exploring the eye-free hills.
In the film A Nightmare on Elm Street, a scary killer demon creature attacks and kills people in their sleep! Yikes! Look, I'm having enough trouble sleeping worrying about my property taxes. I sure don't need worry some weirdo with prune skin and sharp claws shredding me to bits while I slumber. I think a more enticing option would be to watch A Daydream on Elm Street ; the scariest thing that could happen there is the bartender runs out of pina colada on the tropical island you've escaped to in the middle of that mid-afternoon meeting.
In The Shining, a writer goes kill crazy on his family! Look, buddy, we've all thought about going there...really, we all have, right? Just me. Er, then no, no we have not all been there. Anyway, temper that murderous rage with the calming influence of The Glowing. Ah, you feel better already, don't you?
And finally, one of the most gruesome, horrifying, totally disgusting horror films ever made was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Really, I can't believe any one in their right mind would want to watch someone using their chainsaw for evil. Can't a chainsaw be used for good? Can a chainsaw be used for the Lord's work? It can in The Texas Chainsaw Mass, the story of a good priest who helps the sick and the poor armed only with his faith in God. And a chainsaw.
Well, let's call a wrap on that topic.
I hope YOU have a fun Halloween. Just a word of caution: if your friends are encouraging you to go out Halloween night as Invisible Ninja, you might want to re-think your life choices.
Be good to one another.
Art by Ricardo Bessa (Kind of fits the spirit of Halloween, you think?)
Batman has been on my pull list at Acme Comics nearly continuously since July 2006 when Grant Morrison took over as writer.
I followed Batman under the New 52 with Scott Snyder's run and from the beginning of DC Rebirth with Tom King at the helm.
Tom started strong but sorely began to try my patience near the end of his run.
These days, Batman is written by James Tynion IV who is writing a dense, action packed storyline of existential dread ripped from today's headlines.
Gotham City is the target of the machinations of one Simon Saint, a super rich tech billionaire with designs to bring ultimate order to the chaos of Gotham through his Magistrate program and his Peacekeeper enforcers.
The mayor of Gotham City is a feckless politician all too willing to turn the city's police services over to Saint because citizens being killed by murder clowns is bad for his poll numbers.
Meanwhile, Saint's plans to take control of Gotham relies on the services of one of Batman's most fearsome foes, the Scarecrow.
Using his own patented fear toxins as well as stolen tech from the Mad Hatter, Scarecow is ratcheting up the anxiety level of everyone in Gotham City.
Meanwhile, the Scarecrow has totally screwed with Batman's brain.
There is a tangled web of deceit and treachery at work here. Simon Saint thinks he's using the Scarecrow and the Scarecrow thinks he's using Simon Saint.
Someone has usurped Barbara Gordon's Oracle persona, feeding Gothamites a steady stream of fearmongering misinformation.
Meanwhile, the Scarecrow has totally screwed with Batman's brain. Batman has barely managed to escape the Scarecrow's clutches but the trauma of his mental torture is still lingering.
Batman is going to need all the help he can get.
Tynion has introduced over the last year a new partner in Batman's war on crime in the form of Ghostmaker. He trained with the same warriors that Bruce Wayne worked with in his formative years. But unlike Batman who has a personal interest in fighting crime, Ghostmaker fights crime because he can and he's very good at it. And he has few personal rules and his fully prepared to use deadly force to put down a bad guy.
Ghostmaker is Batman without the moral center.
But for the moment, Ghostmaker has resolved to help Batman because it's fun and afford several chances to show up Batman that he's better at this than Bruce?
Tynion is writing a very tense and packed narrative that is beautifully illustrated by Jorge Jimenez whose detailed pencils and dark moody inks presents one of the very best looking versions of Batman in ages.
The downside to Batman right now is the price point at 4.99 an issue. DC justifies the added buck with back ups that are seem slight and inconsequential. The Ghosthunter back up came to nothing, setting up a story that will continue in a Batman Annual coming out this fall. Clownhunter was in the back up slot for 3 issues that definitely felt like filler. I will give the Clownhunter some props for Jason Howard's Will Eisner like layouts.
Still, Batman is a solid read. Sadly, James Tynion's turn as Batman's writer will be coming to an end soon as he turns his focus on his creator owned projects.
Last week, I had this to say after posting about the season finale of Star Trek: Lower Decks:
TO. BE. CONTINUED?!?!?
REALLY?!?!
<deep breath>
Tonight is the season finale for Only Murders In the Building.
They better not hurt me! Do NOT leave me hanging on who killed Tim Kono until next season!
OK, so the season finale for Only Murders In the Building do not hurt me.
AND it did!
So here's the dealio: the murder of Tim Kono is solved!
We know whodunit and howdunit and whydunit and...
quite frankly, the resolution is heartbreaking.
The who was someone we knew and liked.
And turns out to be as crazy. Like maniacal Joker levels of crazy.
The resolution is funny as hell.
Charles (Steve Martin) gets poisoned.
Spoiler alert: he gets better. (Steve's in the opening credits as the star, executive producer and creator of the show. So well duh.)
But before he gets better, the poison paralyzes him. Mostly.
Mostly in that he can't walk but he flops around like a fish.
Mostly in that he can't talk but he can make gurgling sounds.
He gets whacked in the crotch repeatedly by elevator doors.
Residents in the Arconia just assume he's drunk and ignore him. (New Yorkers, man, am I right?)
There's a great scene where Charles heroically shakes off the poison, stands up and makes a stirring speech.
Cut back in time a minute and Charles is still just squirming and making gurgling sounds.
But it all works out. The killer's final plot is foiled when Oliver (Martin Short) takes "the thing out of the other thing to stop the stuff from getting into the thing" to keep the whole damn building from exploding.
Yay! The day is saved!
The murderer of Tim Kono will face justice and Charles, Oliver and Mabel are NOT going to be evicted as they deliver a satisfying end to their pod cast.
Oh good! The season finale for Only Murders In the Building did not hurt me. All's well that end's well.
Except.
Except...
Uh oh!
There is ANOTHER murder in the building.
And the police perp walk Charles, Oliver and Mabel out of the Arconia, arrested as suspects in the murder.
It doesn't help matters that Mabel was found over the victim's body, covered in blood and holding the murder weapon, one of her own knitting needles.
And we fade out.
And WHAT?!?!
Oh NOW you're gonna hurt me! The season finale for Only Murders In the Building really, really hurt me a lot.
I HATE Only Murders In the Building!
I HATE Steve Martin!!
I HATE Hulu!!!
I HATE television!!!!
I HATE Philo Farnsworth who invented television!!!!!
Whose dumb ass idea was it to watch Only Murders In the Building? Oh, it was mine.
I guess (choke) I hate (sob) myself most... most of all...
<sigh>
I guess I should be grateful that Only Murders In the Building was renewed for a 2nd season and there will a resolution to all of this.
But when? Television production moves so slowly these days.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.
Hello and welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses, a packing peanut of a blog in the vast packing crate of the internet.
On Mondays, I like to catch up with what's going on in the world with a post I call "News of the World" (after the great classic Queen album from the 1970's).
So let's get on with this week's "News of the World" without further...
...delay?
OK, as a person who is not a frequent consumer of stuff, this ongoing story has slipped up on me.
Apparently, it's getting hard to get stuff.
And it's not likely to get easier to get stuff any time soon.
And what with Christmas coming up and everything.
Baby Jesus is not going to be happy.
What is the cause of this capitalism catastrophe?
Well, if you listen to Fox News, it's the Democrats fault.
They've always wanted to cancel Christmas, don't you know.
But really...
As with most things that Fox News tries to pin on a single bogeyman, the reasons are fairly complicated.
Here is the list of causes for the problems with getting stuff:
shortages of containers
floods
COVID-19 outbreaks
manufacturing shutdowns
backlogged ports
shortages of truck drivers
understaffed warehouses
Basically there is a long chain of problems, any one of which can cause a hiccup in the supply chain from the factory floor to the Amazon box on your doorstep.
What's happening now is a perfect storm of all of these things happening at once.
In a country enthralled to mass consumerism and instant gratification of desires for stuff, Americans are not likely to take this well.
There is already groundswell of complaints for delayed deliveries against, you guess it, the delivery services.
Let's blame UPS for getting your doo-dad delivered late.
Or Joe Biden. Since, you know, he hates Christmas.
Hello and welcome to I Am So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, a little baguette lost in the French bakery that is the internet.
Today we present a special installment of my weekly feature that looks at movies with not one but two films set in France.
For today's Cinema Sunday, let's turn out attention to An American in Paris.
It is a 1951 American musical comedy film inspired by the 1928 orchestral composition An American in Paris by George Gershwin. Mostly it's an exercise in showcasing Gene Kelly dancing whenever possible loosely tied around a story of a "young" American soldier who decides to stick around Paris after World War II to pursue his passion for painting.
And to fall in love.
Ahhhhhhhhhh!
I put "young" in quotes because Gene Kelly was pushing 40 when he made this movie and the actress who plays the woman he falls in love with? Leslie Caron had just turned 20 when she made her film debut in this movie.
Jerry Mulligan (Gene Kelly) is a boisterous expatriate in Paris trying to make it as a painter.
Adam Cook (Oscar Levant) is Jerry's friend and neighbor, a concert pianist who is struggling because he's too dedicated to his art to sell out.
Jerry is not part of this conversation. That'll be important lately.
File Lise away for a minute. We'll get back to her shortly.
Jerry meets a woman, Milo Roberts, an heiress with more time and money than she knows what to do with and a passion for art. She sees Jerry's paintings and likes what she sees. She sees Jerry with his Gene Kelly dancer's physique and like what she sees. Milo insists her interests are purely in Jerry's art but yeah there's some quid pro quo working around in her head.
Milo takes Jerry to meet some friends of hers at nightclub where Jerry spies a young woman and falls totally head over heels in love on sight.
Yes, it's Lise Bouvier.
Milo isn't happy. She done brung him to this dance and he's drooling over some young girl in front of her?
Lise isn't happy. Some dude she doesn't know is horning in on her evening with friends?
Lise is even less happy when Jerry tracks her down the next day at the shop where she works. Oh this is borderline stalking shit now!
But since Jerry is a character in a movie (not a real person) and being played by Gene Kelly no less, well dammit, she can't help but be swayed by his charms, his smile, his jokes, his graceful dancer's bod.
Jerry and Lise begin a romance with furtive meetings at whatever times of the day or night they can find time.
Milo has Jerry hopping as she's still determined set a fire under his painting career.
Lise has her own secrets. Such as her relationship with French singer Henri Baurel. (Remember that guy?)
Henri and Jerry will have a duet, singing "'S Wonderful" as they both wax rhapsodic over their love for the woman they are in love with, unaware they're singing about the same person.
Henri Baurel has a gig to go on tour in America and decides this will be the perfect time to get married to Lise which... you know... complicates things.
Heartbroken, Jerry spends 17 minutes dreaming of life with Lise in Paris during a ballet sequence set to George Gershwin's composition of An American in Paris which is why this movie exists anyway.
Not much of a spoiler to say Jerry & Lise will end the movie together because... well... they are supposed to.
They literally know nothing about each other.
They've been starry eyed enamored with each other in various romantic Parisian locales but really...
As we have seen in other movies I've covered in Cinema Sunday, our male and female leads will be together because they must be, whether it makes sense or not.
Maybe I'm expecting too much from this experience. An American In Paris is pretty to look at with wonderful music and dance performances. Gene Kelly is funny and charming while Leslie Caron is winsome and ethereally beautiful.
The "It's That Person From That Thing" Dept.
Noel Neill has a small role as an American art student who tries to critique Jerry's paintings. Noel was Lois Lane in two Superman serials and in the TV series The Adventures of Superman.
From Superman to Batman, we get Madge Blake as a customer in the perfume shop where Lise works. Madge would go on to portray Aunt Harriet in the Batman TV series in the 1960's. She is also the Hollywood gossip reporter in Gene Kelly's Singin' In the Rain.
We move from Paris to the Atlantic coast of France and the city of Nantes for Lola, a French film made in 1961.
I watched this one on TCM a few weeks back for reasons that escape me. I think I was intrigued to watch a film made during the tyranny of the Hays Code but not being an American film, undeterred by it.
Somebody actually says the word "shit".
Although the title character, Lola is not the focus of this movie. Most of our time is spent with Roland Cassard, an aimless guy with no real sense of purpose.
Roland gets a bit of a kick start after a chance encounter with Lola, a person he knew as a child before World War II. Now she is a single mother working as a cabaret dancer.
Roland falls in love with her but Lola is still loyal to Michel who got her pregnant 7 years ago then vanished. Lola still thinks that Michel will return one day, all will be forgiven and they will be together in love once more.
Roland isn't the only one pining for Lola. There's Frank, an American sailor from Chicago. Frank is enchanted by Lola but she ain't buying what he's selling.
Meanwhile, Roland falls into a gig as a courier for smugglers. Roland narrowly avoids trouble with the law when the smugglers are arrested before Roland can show up for work.
And son of a bitch if Michel doesn't turn up after all and Lola goes off with him like she always said she would.
It's a bit of a surreal experience, watching a movie in French. Maybe it owes to the translation from French to English sub-titles but there is a certain artifice to the way people talk. Everyone in Lola is in some kind of dream state, Lola blissfully lost in her daydream of Michel's return, Roland aimlessly lost in the nightmare of an existence without purpose.
Even when Lola's dream comes true in the end with Michel's return, it seems almost too good to be true, as if Lola is still in a dream.
It's all heady stuff.
Next weekend, Cinema Sunday will celebrate Halloween with not one but two films as we experience...
Hi there and welcome to this week's Songs For Saturday as we bust out some old school rap.
Starting off the pay list this week is DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince with "Summertime".
Up next we have Run-DMC with Aerosmith jamming on "Walk This Way".
Up next is the granddaddy of old school rap, the one that got the ball rolling way back when. Here is The Sugarhill Gang with "Rapper's Delight".
A few dozen years ago, a local radio station made a format change to Hip Hop. In the 24 hours before the station went live with it's new format, the station played "Rapper's Delight" on a 24 loop.
OK, that is that for today's Songs For Saturday.
Until next time, remember to be good to one another and to always keep the music alive.
Today's Flashback Friday takes us back to Sunday, November 10, 2013 about how I became...
Yours Truly, The Published Humorist
________________________________
Hi there! I am Dave-El and welcome to I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, the blog with your recommended daily allowance of beta carotene.
Even though I should be satisfied that my blog is dominating the internet (and I should NOT be satisfied that my medication is apparently NOT curbing my delusional fantasies), I still have that good old fashion desire to see my work in print.
And this past Friday, I got to experience just that!
My local newspaper, the Greensboro News and Record, has a weekly feature called "The Joke's On You". An area cartoonist (and a very talented cartoonist at that) named Tim Rickard draws up a cartoon each Friday and leaves it to the readers to do the rest of the work for him by coming up with caption suggestions. A week ago, I decided for the first time that I would take a shot at this.
This past Friday, I was greeted with this:
That is so cool! I am now (officially!) a published humorist!*
*I want to say I am "an award-winning published humorist" but...yeah, I won the contest but I don't think I actually won any kind of an award. Other than, you know, the sheer joy of winning.
So this actually got printed in the paper! Really, I didn't think I would see my name in the paper except for an entry in the police blotter or the obituaries.**
**Technically, I guess I'll never see my name in the obituaries.
Actually the name David Long has appeared in the paper before but it wasn't me. (It's usually either quotes from the David Long who is the district attorney or letters from the old guy who really hates gay people.) But this time, that was MY name!
On the website, Tim posted a couple of other suggestions I sent in.
In case you're interested, here is the list of the other suggested captions I came up with a week ago.
“….and that was when my mother was used to make a Thanksgiving pie.”
“It’s hard to be taken seriously as a scary Jack O’Lantern when the my fiery inner glow comes from a Pumpkin Spice Yankee Candle.”
“I feel like I’m going out of my gourd, Doc!”
“Doc, are you listening to me?” “Yes, I am. Please hold still. Let’s see, that’s 3 upside down triangles…”
Very little is known of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis of pumpkins.
“Your dreams of having your seeds scooped out symbolizes your fears of sexual inadequacy.”
“Sometimes, I wish there was ‘Headless Horseman’ on a white horse riding to my rescue.”
“We must bolster your self-esteem. You must be a Pump-CAN, not a Pump-CAN’T.”
“When I was kid, my dad called me ‘his little pumpkin’. Well, he called ALL of us that.”
“I feel like a nobody.” “I don’t understand.” “See, I have NO BODY.” “Nope, not getting it.”
“I feel…less than sincere.”
“So, how long have you had this delusion of being a Jack O’ Lantern?"
So thanks again toTim Rickardand the other judges who made my day.
