Mothers and hospitals go together like Queen and bombast

Black Cherry Lupner in Profile

No offense, Flip . . . .

Thanks To Charlie for Getting Me In Touch with my Inner Alice

Charlie Parker reminded me of the glory that was Alice Cooper.

They were the greatest American band of the Seventies.

With all due respect to the Ramones, Television, and (the) Razz . . . .

Lupner In Profile

Oh, wait -- no line at the Chipotle

Benefits of 26" of Snow

Uh . . .

And barangus owned a restaurant, and my lecture occurred in the box-
office area o' the establishment, shortly after a parking dispute

Woke up from a horrible nightmare where young people thought you could
enjoin publication of the amount of peas eaten by soldiers

Yes, that really is a dream o' mine

And guess which "character" ruthlessly and cruelly corrected the
offending (self-righteous) girl-woman . . .

And worried that he might be wrong

belated happies to L'il Jimmy

I grabbed this photo of him and his lady friend on his birthday.

actually, he was still forty-nine; the celebration was premature









but she did all she could to remind him he's old:

Boo Hiss

I greatly dislike Gwen Ifill.

Red

Twelve in a Row

it's harder than ever to buy bullets in new york city

when I heard it was Hump Day,

I got the wrong idea.

Now I have a black eye and scraped cheek to show for it.

damn her. . . .

I approve of Randall and Hopkirk (deceased)

When I was eleven, I sat in my little room in Southeast Asia watching Randall and Hopkirk (deceased) on the tiny TV I had going.

I liked it a lot.

I soon graduated to masturbation, which cut into my Randall and Hopkirk time considerably.

Now that I think about it, I haven't quite caught up on their doings. . . .

you know, I'm not sorry I gave up drinking

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Explained

This is perhaps the most insightful and understandable political statement on the implications of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy I've yet seen. Narrated by Jonah Hill.

Please watch, for the sake of our children and our neighbours. . . .

The Criterion Collection is Losing Some Rights!

Criterion, the makers and distributors of arguably the finest DVD collections of noteworthy films [usually chock-a-block with extras, and always with the best transfer of the print you'll find on DVD] has informed its fanatics that

it will soon be losing the rights to a number of titles.

They're discounting the titles to encourage folks to snap them up. I don't know if the titles will be lost to us for a while, or re-emerge better than ever, but here's the letter issued by Criterion:

Our three least favorite initials: OOP. Since we launched the Criterion Collection more than twenty-five years ago, we’ve endeavored to keep everything we’ve published in print. But despite our efforts to renew rights, we are losing a large group of titles from StudioCanal at the end of March, and we wanted to give you advance notice that our editions will be going out of print. Until we’re out of stock, we will be offering these titles at an additional $5 off on our website.The titles are going to Lionsgate, and we don’t know when they may be rereleased.As ever, we will continue to try to relicense the films so that they can rejoin the collection sometime in the future.

Here are the titles that will soon be out of print:

Alphaville
Carlos Saura’s Flamenco Trilogy(Eclipse Series 6)
Le corbeau
Coup de torchon
Diary of a Country Priest
The Fallen Idol
Forbidden Games(Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Gervaise(Essential Art House edition)
Grand Illusion(Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Le jour se lève(Essential Art House edition)
Last Holiday(Essential Art House edition)
Mayerling(Essential Art House edition)
The Orphic Trilogy
Peeping Tom
Pierrot le fou (DVD and Blu-ray editions)
Port of Shadows
Quai des Orfèvres
The Small Back Room
The Tales of Hoffmann (Criterion and Essential Art House editions)
Trafic
Le trou
Variety Lights(Essential Art House edition)
The White Sheik

Take note: this may be your last chance to pick up spine number 1from the collection.

Happy viewing!
The Criterion Collection

In case you wanna skip the fine print, I'll note that they offer Fellini's first flick, Variety Lights, as well as Michael Powell's Peeping Tom and Coup de Torchon, starring Philippe Noiret and a young Isabelle Huppert.


For those unfamiliar with Coup de Torchon: imagine a paperback. A smart potboiler, kind of a creepy potboiler, about a good-old-boy, kinda lame, kinda antisocial Texas sheriff who ignores what's going on under his feet -- and then brings the hammer down for his own evil, vengeful design.

Then put the book in the hands of French filmmaker, let him move the setting to French-Colonial Africa, and make it a French noir comedy with the creepiness occasionally intact.

It's a winner. . . . !


PS If Torchon sounds confusing, it ain't -- it sums up the colonial experience damned well, at least from my limited experience in the political and cultural climes of Southeast Asia and South America

Being a Grown Up Can Be Tiring. No. 1

What an odd weekend.

I now no longer feel old, or am old,

I choose old.

A little combo of opera and ballet at the DC Atlas Arts Center, where the birthday o' that bad boy, Wolfgang A. Mozart was celebrated, with a young ballet company adding some splash to Mozart's finest.

That was Saturday, with late night coffee in hipsville USA [the Atlas District], followed by more coffee at Bob and Edith's.

Sunday was lounge jazz at the Kennedy Center, with the inimitable Marilyn Older

and her imitable colleagues in Chaise Lounge doing the duties o' entertaining me and my lady friend. If you tap on this screen capture [courtesy o' the Mythical Monkey],

you can watch the show. Great sound there at the Millenium Stage. . . .

The evening continued with a flight o' raw ersters --Oyster on the HalfShell -- at the Old Ebbit Grill.

Also known as the Olde Ebbittee Grille. . . .

I heartily recommend the Wellfleets -- but keep that secret, as I don't want the stock to dwindle.

A Night In The Atlas District

eff the snow

macho

The Critics Are In . . .

. . . on the latest Husky Navarro record.