Oliver Twist [2005]
1. Violence. The blood splattering on the table, just in front of the dog’s nose. Quick cutaway.
2. Jamie Foreman, as Bill Sykes, kept reminding me of Jack Black. Hmm.
3. The boy with the hoop is played by Elvis Polanski, the director’s son. Yup: Roman named his son Elvis. Awesome.
The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes [1970]
1. The screamingly stereotypical gay Russian ballet dancers. And easily the most fey S. Holmes I’ve ever seen.
2. Christopher Lee: bald (!)
3. Wheelchair tracks in the thick layer of dust.
O gosh, I’m stuffed. Two days of lots and lots of eating. I usually gain about 5 pounds every time I head out here, and I’ve no doubt that this time will be any different. It’s so good to have a homecooked meal that you haven’t cooked yourself. There are endless numbers of cookies to be had and, why yes, I think I will have a fourth cup of tea if I feel like it.
It snowed for awhile up here in Estes Park today and it was so lovely. It really was like some kind of a gingerbread mountain out there.
Today I’ve watched The Private LIfe of Sherlock Holmes and after my mom straightens up the kitchen we’re going to watch Oliver Twist (the Polanski version).
Finally, after weeks of being too busy and having scheduling issues, tonight I will get to look at the special features of the new “Twin Peaks” box set with Andy and Joey. Ordering out. Cocktails.
Tomorrow I brave mass-airport-travel hell. Flying to Colorado. I will be at ease when Thanksgiving Day rolls around and I’m sitting at my aunt and uncle’s house in Arvada. No cooking for me this year! A bit of time with my grandmother, and up in Estes Park, and with a few old friends (Alf and Scot) and then Sunday I fly back.
And then I will allow myself to play Christmas music.
The Castle [1997]
1. The driving blades of snow caught in the beam of a flashlight.
2. The inside of the sleigh, warm, toasty, fur laprugs, a bottle of cognac. K. spilling the cognac as he jumps out of the sleigh.
3. The film ending in midsentence, mirroring the exact way that Kafka’s manuscript ends.
Just in time for T-Day! I perfected this over the last week. Let me know what you think.
THE BEULAH
1 1/2 oz. dark rum
1 oz. apple cider
3/4 oz. falernum
1/2 oz. cranberry juice
Stir with ice until very cold, strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a Granny Smith apple slice perched on the rim of the glass.
Falernum is a sugar cane-based liqueur with accents of clove, almond and ginger.
The Beulah is named in honor of Beulah Bondi, who played Jimmy Stewart’s mom in It’s A Wonderful Life.
O Lucky Man! [1973]
1. Rachel Roberts plays a woman who commits suicide and in real life she committed suicide.
2. Ralph Richardson: “We will now observe 15 seconds of silence in his memory.”
3. The man wearing the sandwich board at the end is wearing the lucky suit.
This Film Is Not Yet Rated [2006]
1. The MPAA violaed copyright laws by making an unauthorized copy of the film!
2. Of the eight members on the board, only one or two actually had children that were under 17!
3. John Waters on the Neuter Version of A Dirty Shame, saying that essentially it’s for stupid consumers at Wal-Mart or the obsessive collector who wants everything.
Quearborn & Perversion: An Early History of Lesbian & Gay Chicago [2007]
1. Mayor Daley in drag.
2. The bar with the dirt floor.
3. First gay rally in modern Chicago took place at Bughouse square, right in front of the Newberry Library.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I sold out all the inventory of 100SP that I brought to the DIY show yesterday; the 30 copies were gone in 4.5 hours. There are now exactly 55 copies left. I’m sure that by the end of the Rengade Craft fair in three weeks, copy number 500 will make its way into the arms of a shopper. So get one now while they’re hot.
