And our care lies in the telegraph poles and the taxi to the station

[sovay]

Today I had blocked out for work interspersed with lying on a couch, but then shortly after dinner I discovered that the Brattle was showing Ida Lupino's Not Wanted (1949) which I had not been able to see in New York in November, and so I raced out into the black-ice night to view an incisive and compassionate drama about what may still be called unwed motherhood and it was great; I hope to write about it and I may go back for The Bigamist (1953) tomorrow. Then I got on the bus to come home and despite my loudly broadcast signals of reading this book, not making eye contact, not interacting a man talked to me about his medications, his roommates, what a beautiful girl I was, who were my parents, was I going home to my boyfriend, he has a good memory for faces, he hopes to see me around soon. I kept hoping he would get off the bus before I did so that he would not see even in which neighborhood I lived. He did not. He tried to call my stop for me. So I got home in a rather more elevated state of adrenaline than I had left the theater. But I'm three for three so far on Lupino's filmography and that's nice, Mrs. Lincoln. I am trying to decide if I would call this one, too, a noir.

Comments

[gwynnega]

That's great you got to see another Lupino film! (I haven't seen that one.) I'm sorry about the creep on the bus.

[sovay]

That's great you got to see another Lupino film! (I haven't seen that one.)

It's not commercially available so far as I know, which is why I bolted for it on a night which I had planned to spend more or less prone. The restoration came courtesy of Kino Lorber and looked very nice. They really need to release a box set at least of her written and directed films.

I'm sorry about the creep on the bus.

He managed to sound totally normal and affable while ignoring every single unsubtle cue I threw his way. Oscar Shapeley lives and I wish he wouldn't.

[lokifan]

Ewww creep. I hate that.

The film sounds interesting! I hope you can/do write about it.

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, I'm glad you got to catch the film you missed! I'm sorry the trip had to include that awful guy, though. :-/

[kathmandu]

Oh, ick, how alarming. He will have been taking lessons on affably overbearing creepiness, and practicing in front of a mirror. Sympathies to you.

[selkie]

Ooof. Well, there was a film. They're a pain in the ass, in general, in that they cost you one free hand, but have you considered a stick?

[kenjari]

The MFA is also doing an Ida Lupino retrospective this month. It looks like mostly the same stuff the Brattle is showing, though.

Creeps on buses suck.

[moon_custafer]

He managed to sound totally normal and affable while ignoring every single unsubtle cue I threw his way. Oscar Shapeley lives and I wish he wouldn't.

Creeps who are smart enough to maintain plausible deniability are the worst kind.

[sovay]

Ewww creep. I hate that.

It was just not the way I wanted to round out the night.

The film sounds interesting! I hope you can/do write about it.

I'm going to try! I may need to be a lot more rested. (I want not to worry that I have taken a sinus infection from the hell-cold.)

[sovay]

Aw, I'm glad you got to catch the film you missed! I'm sorry the trip had to include that awful guy, though.

Thank you! It was like, I'd just watched a noir on women's issues—I didn't need to have one start talking to me!

[sovay]

Sympathies to you.

Thank you. It just felt unnecessary.

[sovay]

Ooof. Well, there was a film.

There was. And it was really good.

They're a pain in the ass, in general, in that they cost you one free hand, but have you considered a stick?

Are you allowed to hit dudes on public transit with them?

[sovay]

It looks like mostly the same stuff the Brattle is showing, though.

It's the Kino restorations. They premiered in New York and then came to Boston. I wish I'd known they were going to do that. I wouldn't even have found out about Not Wanted if spatch hadn't been checking the Brattle's calendar.

Creeps on buses suck.

They do.

[selkie]

Al....lowed?

I mean, I do it, all the time, as situationally demanded? Usually after I've given fair verbal warning?

But my temper is real and I'm not afraid to get into a slight thrashfight on the bus.

[asakiyume]

Oh my effing God, PEOPLE.

We were driving home from a visit to my dad, and we stopped for some food, and a guy halfway across the bagel shop from where we were sitting was staring at us fixedly and then called out to us and asked why Wakanomori was clearing his throat all the time, and was it because he was nervous and did it have to do with the guy himself because he'd noticed that people would do that around him sometimes. We were all nonplusssed and very Do Not Want.

It's a thousand times worse to be trapped on a bus with someone who is trying to browbeat you into, what, a date or something I guess. Jerk.

[strange_complex]

Urgh, I'm really sorry about the bus guy. :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(

[a_reasonable_man]

I'm glad you got to see the movie, but very sorry you had that experience. Until the revolution comes, while you're still have to deal with guys who will not take hints (or who even pretend, like this guy apparently did, not to notice that you're wearing a ring), there's always the fake a phone call option:

https://www.wikihow.com/Fake-a-Cell-Phone-Call

[jesse_the_k]

Oh, sticky bus conversation sympathies.

(I have, once or twice, pointed to my ears and shaken my head to mime "I can't hear you" (with the subtext, "I'm deaf") but I must admit I feel bad when I do it.)

[sovay]

and a guy halfway across the bagel shop from where we were sitting was staring at us fixedly and then called out to us and asked why Wakanomori was clearing his throat all the time, and was it because he was nervous and did it have to do with the guy himself because he'd noticed that people would do that around him sometimes.

Wow, that's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It's a thousand times worse to be trapped on a bus with someone who is trying to browbeat you into, what, a date or something I guess.

I guess? Has anyone in the history of ever gotten a date with someone from harassing them on a bus? Because if he thought he was charmingly chatting up a receptive audience, he was wrong.

Jerk.

Yeah.

*hugs*

[sovay]

Urgh, I'm really sorry about the bus guy.

Thanks. He was not how I like to wind up a night.

[sovay]

I'm glad you got to see the movie, but very sorry you had that experience.

Thanks. At least I didn't meet him after seeing Outrage. That would have been way too on the nose.

(or who even pretend, like this guy apparently did, not to notice that you're wearing a ring)

You know, that didn't even cross my mind. I think of it as jewelry I wear for its importance to me, not as a piece of social signaling. But it totally does work that way! So what was with asking me about my boyfriend?

[sovay]

Oh, sticky bus conversation sympathies.

Thank you. I just don't understand how it's difficult not to talk to someone who doesn't want to talk to you.