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pre-Wiscon and miscellanea
May. 19th, 2013 07:54 pmI've been tackling my pre-Wiscon to-do list. I'll have to get up at Stupid O'Clock on Thursday morning--it's almost not worth going to bed Wednesday night. Today I went to my mom's and we celebrated her birthday a bit early (since on the actual day I'll be packing for Wiscon) with pizza and a pear tart.
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Re: last night's Doctor Who: ( spoiler )
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I saw a couple of movies on TCM this weekend--one a somewhat silly but fun one from 1944 (Passport to Destiny) in which Elsa Lanchester decides to go to Germany to kill Hitler. Luckily for her, everyone in Germany speaks fluent English. Even the signs on the doors are in English!
The other film was something of a revelation: Autumn Leaves (1956). The capsule description said something about Joan Crawford marrying a psychopath (Cliff Robertson), and I figured I knew what I'd be getting...sort of a '50s version of one of those Lifetime movies, in which a charming cad woos Joan, then turns into Bluebeard or some such. That's what I kept expecting as I watched charming young Burt (Robertson) pursue cautious, older typist Millie (Crawford). After the wedding, when the ex-wife Burt never mentioned and the father he said was dead show up, I was sure I knew exactly where this was heading--and then the movie flipped the script. By the time Burt spectacularly cracks up, it's pretty clear why he's so broken, and no matter how terrifying he gets, he's no villain. The film's portrayal of mental illness is dated, but Robertson's performance is so nuanced, it transcends those limitations. If I'd known, I would've DVR'd the thing...I ended up buying the DVD the next day. (The film's on YouTube too.)
***
I finally finished (re)reading Scott Miller's Music: What Happened?. I was in no hurry to finish. For a taste of the book, here's Scott reading from it about William Shatner (!) and Ken Stringfellow, followed by his rendition of Stringfellow's gorgeous "Death of a City" (which has been earworming me for days).
***
Re: last night's Doctor Who: ( spoiler )
***
I saw a couple of movies on TCM this weekend--one a somewhat silly but fun one from 1944 (Passport to Destiny) in which Elsa Lanchester decides to go to Germany to kill Hitler. Luckily for her, everyone in Germany speaks fluent English. Even the signs on the doors are in English!
The other film was something of a revelation: Autumn Leaves (1956). The capsule description said something about Joan Crawford marrying a psychopath (Cliff Robertson), and I figured I knew what I'd be getting...sort of a '50s version of one of those Lifetime movies, in which a charming cad woos Joan, then turns into Bluebeard or some such. That's what I kept expecting as I watched charming young Burt (Robertson) pursue cautious, older typist Millie (Crawford). After the wedding, when the ex-wife Burt never mentioned and the father he said was dead show up, I was sure I knew exactly where this was heading--and then the movie flipped the script. By the time Burt spectacularly cracks up, it's pretty clear why he's so broken, and no matter how terrifying he gets, he's no villain. The film's portrayal of mental illness is dated, but Robertson's performance is so nuanced, it transcends those limitations. If I'd known, I would've DVR'd the thing...I ended up buying the DVD the next day. (The film's on YouTube too.)
***
I finally finished (re)reading Scott Miller's Music: What Happened?. I was in no hurry to finish. For a taste of the book, here's Scott reading from it about William Shatner (!) and Ken Stringfellow, followed by his rendition of Stringfellow's gorgeous "Death of a City" (which has been earworming me for days).
