Thelma

I woke up this morning thinking of Pat Nixon.  I have no idea why.

Farewell the Troubador

If one measure of the quality of a work of art, or at least the kinds of art meant for performance, is its flexibility, its openness to adaptation, then Pete Seeger was a great artist indeed.

No Cure Like Travel

The surprising joy of a cruise ship is that you can so easily find places to be on your own.  Get up early and it's just you and the ocean.

Home are the Sailors...

...Home from making fun of Chinese restaurant names.

Chilly Scenes of Winter

When I was a child, my grandparents used to laugh about seeing crazy ladies down in Miami wearing fur jackets over their Catalina bathing suits...

Time for Some Fun in the Sun

Enough with the cold.  Enough with the rain.  Enough...

Consider My Mind Blown

Sometimes I'm startled by my own ignorance...

An Auspicious Introduction

Bridget was at first surprised when Lady Fogminster insisted on holding the interview for the position of under-housekeeper in her boudoir.

Rooms Worth a View

Now that's a drawing room.

From the prologue to Bride of Frankenstein, it's a cozy retreat for Mary Shelley and her circle (including the divine Una O'Connor in her brief turn as a glorified dog-walker - the lesser-known of the film's two dual roles), and it probably has as much to do with any place the Shelleys actually lived in as it does to a Chinese tea house.

Otherwise Engaged

Sorry, kids - no time to write tonight.  Grand Hotel is on TCM...

There's No Denying Who She Is

And today the Girl from Tiger Bay is an ageless 77.

Wedding Bell Blues

Sad news out of Bollywood, kids...

A Date That Will Live in Infamy

To paraphrase dear Mr. Yeats - "And what rough beast, its hour come round at last/Slouches towards Brentwood to be born"?

In Case You Were Wondering...

...the recycling room down in the depths of our apartment building will confirm it:  Christmas is over.

Shameless Saturday Camp Explosion: Folly of the Blonde

One of the facts to be reckoned with is that taste tends to develop very unevenly. It's rare that the same person has good visual taste and good taste in people and taste in ideas.

- Susan Sontag, "Notes on Camp"

Marion Davies turned 116 earlier this week, so I thought it would be nice to showcase one of her later efforts today...

No. No, I Do Not Know the Way Thereto...

In which we learn the importance of a really good dialect coach...

Hail the New...

...ye lads and/or lasses...