Monday, December 22, 2008

Tagged: Six Pieces of Random Minutiae

The horror, the horror...

Mr. Peenee, in his infinite evil, has passed to me that modern equivalent of sour dough starter kits (remember that craze? It was, for a while, right up there with macramé and chia pets), a blog tag.

The requirements: 1. Link to the person who tagged you; 2. Post the rules on your blog; 3. Write six random things about yourself; 4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them; 5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog; and 6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

So here we go:

1. I've mentioned this in passing before, but here's the real deal: as a child I was – okay, right up 'til today I remain – terrified of only one film I've ever seen: Lili, starring Leslie Caron. Something about the same characters being played by puppets and by real people (and one of them a Gabor!), something about the creepy not-quite-real/not-quite-fantasy setting, something about the smarmimess of leading man Mel Ferrer, something about the implied near-idiocy of the Caron character – and most of all, everything about that madness-inducing theme tune ("Love Makes the World Go 'Round…Hi-Lili, Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo…" – just typing it makes my flesh crawl). My poor patient parents let me stay up one night to watch it on television, thinking I would be enchanted; I rewarded them with banshee screams and about three months of sleepless nights. I still have bad dreams about those damn puppets.

The movie, treacly in its family-friendliness, created in me a horror that even a first viewing of Night of the Living Dead in the middle of the night in an isolated house in the country, while stoned, barely approached.


2. I am bone lazy. I was raised by terrifyingly energetic old ladies who ran charities, bullied church committees, kept spotless houses, made their own jam (hell, made their own clothes), and had plenty of time left over for hobbies like tatting, genealogy, and gossip. One grandmother was the county tax collector and the other the doyenne of the local social scene, a veritable Miss Mapp in our little community. Me? I count a day well spent if I get dressed.


3. I was once a performer, albeit one whose career, such as it was, was marked far more by variety than quality, by ambition than by talent. Over half-a-dozen years I appeared in at least one each of: drama, comedy, musical comedy, opera, operetta, ballet, nightclub act, and independent film, as well as working as a stage manager, house manager, assistant director, and costume designer. In all of the above, except maybe house manager (for which I had an odd flair), I was thoroughly, if enthusiastically, mediocre.

4. I am torn between self-satisfaction at still having a full head of hair and fury that so much of it is turning gray.

5. Otherwise, in terms of looks, the biggest surprise of the last few years is that I don't really mind having irretrievably lost my waist. I'm out, I'm stout, get used to it!

6. I do believe in spooks, I do, I do, I do believe in spooks! But not much else.

So there you have it. Everything you ever wanted to know, but were far too polite to ask. And really, that's enough about me - what do you think of me?

We're still suffering from a nasty case of Slow Internet syndrome here, so right now I'm going to ignore the last bits of the rules, although no one should rest easy, because I will likely pounce once we're restored to the usual local sluggish-but-usable speed...


4 comments:

  1. I've always known you were glam, but never suspected a professional, showbiz glam element. It explains a lot.

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  2. I'm dying to know more about the ladies in your family! I got tagged, too, but I was too lazy to follow up. In your case, however, I'm thrilled that you enlightened us to your tale of terror.

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  3. Thank heaven one is too lazy to fuss, or one might be as tarsome as Georgie Pillson! (Imagine Georgie not getting dressed!)

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