Well, nothing ever comes when you want it to

[sovay]

We are now on our third day of waiting for the plumber to come and fix the water in our bathroom. We have hot water again. We just don't have any kind of water out of all the taps we're supposed to. It's a bit of a problem. I watched three movies yesterday while the plumber stretched out into the long shadow of Godot. [edited 2019-12-30 17:22: The plumber arrived! He fixed the problem! The explanation was gross, but our shower and our bathroom sink both work now!] Today there is freezing rain rattling against the windows and I'm working. Have some links.

1. I have known for years that Powell and Pressburger's Oh . . . Rosalinda!! (1955) is widely considered a hot mess of Technicolor and Strauss, but I am still overjoyed to discover it's finally gotten a restoration and with any luck, region codes being what they are, it will play at some art house where I can actually get to it, since it remains one of the very few of their movies I've never seen. This gifset only confirms my feelings. I hope Anton Walbrook and Michael Redgrave were having an affair.

2. I had never seen the video for Annie Lennox's "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen." As soon as the guisers with their top hats and drum and their masks of the moon showed up, I e-mailed nineweaving so fast.

3. Courtesy of a whole bunch of people: Amanda Marcotte, "Hallmark movies are fascist propaganda." "The very fact that they're presented as harmless fluff makes it all the more insidious, the way they work to enforce very narrow, white, heteronormative, sexist, provincial ideas of what constitutes 'normal.' It's easy to spot fascist propaganda when it's goose-stepping Pepe-the-frog memes. It's a lot harder to notice how it's working when it's tied up in Christmas cheer and suggesting grinchhood of anyone who questions the rigidity of its worldview."

4. I like this photo of Barbara Wright taken by Annemarie Schwarzenbach in 1937. I also like photos of Annemarie Schwarzenbach.

5. Courtesy of handful_ofdust: a gifset of Peter Cushing as Harry Fordyce in Cash on Demand (1961).

For the last night of Hanukkah, my parents gave me my own print copy of Cyril Hare's Tragedy at Law (1942), which is much better than reading it off the internet thanks to Canadian copyright law. spatch just texted me that Norma Tanega and Neil Innes have both died, which is not better at all.

Comments

[moon_custafer]

And Syd Mead. I sometimes feel as though there’s an end-of-year rush on celebrity deaths.

[sovay]

I sometimes feel as though there’s an end-of-year rush on celebrity deaths.

It wasn't cool in 2016 and it's not cool now!

[dewline]

Indeed not.

[nineweaving]

Thank you so much for the Cloudish music video.

So glad you're getting Cyril Hare in proper form, and hope for a nearby screening of Oh...Rosalinda. I just watched the trailer: "Deliciously naughty! Capriciously gay!"

*hugs*

Nine

[sovay]

Thank you so much for the Cloudish music video.

You're welcome! It had the right moon. And the swagger.

So glad you're getting Cyril Hare in proper form, and hope for a nearby screening of Oh...Rosalinda. I just watched the trailer: "Deliciously naughty! Capriciously gay!"

I believe the Brattle got the restoration of The Red Shoes (1948)—the Somerville got The Tales of Hoffmann (1950). I'm hoping!

(Capriciously gay: life goals.)

[rosefox]

Oh no, Neil Innes! No! Oh, what a heartbreak. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform in San Francisco. An unparalleled musical mischief-maker.

[sovay]

I had the pleasure of seeing him perform in San Francisco. An unparalleled musical mischief-maker.

I'm so glad you saw him live. I never did. He is not a reasonable age to be gone.

[rosefox]

The opening act was a stand-up comic so bad that we wondered whether we were at the wrong show. And then Innes was just... gentle, and clever, and so good. It was 15 years ago and my memories have faded, but I know for sure I left that concert hall liking and respecting him even more than I had when I went in, which is really all I ask of people I see perform live.

[thawrecka]

Good luck with the plumber - I'd do an arcane ritual to help, but I wouldn't know where to summon one to.

re 3 - Have not read the article but the quote very neatly articulates something I've thought for a long time.

[sovay]

Good luck with the plumber - I'd do an arcane ritual to help, but I wouldn't know where to summon one to.

The plumber just arrived! And fixed the problem! I partly credit you.

re 3 - Have not read the article but the quote very neatly articulates something I've thought for a long time.

I hadn't made the step of classifying the ideology as fascist as opposed to just aggressively, exclusively hegemonic, but I don't argue.

[choco_frosh]

Oh good!! I was about to suggest threatening to hire your own one and bill the landlord...

[sovay]

I was about to suggest threatening to hire your own one and bill the landlord...

It was getting to the point of wondering about approaches like that. But he came and cleared a lot of crud out of a filter and the water now appears to (a) run (b) clear and that is mostly what I ask of my plumbing. Still drinking out of the Brita, though.

[moon_custafer]

The funny thing is that Hallmark’s version of Frankenstein is probably the most faithful adaptation of the original book.

[sovay]

The funny thing is that Hallmark’s version of Frankenstein is probably the most faithful adaptation of the original book.

I'm willing to believe it! I have very good childhood memories of the 1987 Hallmark The Secret Garden, even taking its non-canonical frame story into account.

[lauradi7dw]

The distinction to be made is "Hallmark Hall of Fame," the book adaptations of our childhoods, vs Hallmark Channel (and there are Hallmark mystery ones, too, which are still mostly romance stories). I thought the adaptation of "Sarah, Plain and Tall" with Glenn Close was one of the outstanding ones. They still make both kinds. A Hall of Fame one this year was slightly controversial because star Kristin Chenoweth claimed it was a "pro-life" movie. (another main character had been put up for adoption as a baby. I guess the pro-life part was that his mother hadn't chosen abortion, but there was no big deal made of it during the show).

[kore]

LOL, now that I would see. Is it this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(miniseries)

[asakiyume]

That's a long time without water in the bathroom. Would be nice if the landlord would offer some kind of rent abatement to make up for it, but I bet that's not happening.

The Annie Lennox video!!! OMG! Yes, perfect for Nineweaving--pretty much perfect, period. I love the way Annie Lennox **moves** in it. I love her particular flavor of androgyny. Yep. 'Tis good.

[sovay]

Would be nice if the landlord would offer some kind of rent abatement to make up for it, but I bet that's not happening.

Yeah, our property manager and landlord have not responded well to that kind of suggestion in the past, including the months we did not have a stove, although had it persisted we might have raised the question no matter what. But we have water now!

I love her particular flavor of androgyny. Yep. 'Tis good.

I feel like my relationship with Christmas has been steadily eroding since the start of this administration, but "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" remains one of my favorite carols and I love this version of it, including the Father Christmas Green Man.

[nineweaving]

Huzzah for running water! Clear crystal fountains for the win! I may write about archaic worlds, but I like my creature comforts, and wish them for my friends.

Nine

[sovay]

I may write about archaic worlds, but I like my creature comforts, and wish them for my friends.

Thank you! I appreciate living in a universe with showers.

[strange_complex]

Loving the Cash on Demand gifs.

Is the Barbara Wright in the photo someone famous? The name caught my attention, because it's also the name of my all-time favourite Doctor Who companion, and it made me wonder if the character was knowingly named after the person in the photo. But Barbara Wright is slightly too common a name for Google to be able to help me without more clues, and she isn't a match for anyone on the Wikipedia disambiguation page.

I'm glad you got your water fixed.

[sovay]

Loving the Cash on Demand gifs.

Such fine cheekbones and emotional vulnerability.

Is the Barbara Wright in the photo someone famous? The name caught my attention, because it's also the name of my all-time favourite Doctor Who companion, and it made me wonder if the character was knowingly named after the person in the photo.

I can see that being jarring! I think it may be a coincidence of common names; I don't know much more about this one except that she was one of Schwarzenbach's partners and a photographer in her own right. Sources also give her name as "Barbara Hamilton-Wright." She seems to have done important photojournalism during the Depression.

I'm glad you got your water fixed.

Thank you!

[strange_complex]

Thank you very much for all the Barbara (Hamilton-)Wright details. Yes, it does seem to be just a coincidence about the names. She sounds interesting and seems to have done some nice work, though, so I'm glad to know about her.

(Also, sorry to have posted this three times now, due to a typo and then realising I hadn't threaded it. It is definitely bed-time here in the UK.)

[sovay]

She sounds interesting and seems to have done some nice work, though, so I'm glad to know about her.

Same. I was hoping further internet-search would turn up a book of her photography à la Dorothea Lange, but at least a bunch of it seems freely available online.

(Also, sorry to have posted this three times now, due to a typo and then realising I hadn't threaded it. It is definitely bed-time here in the UK.)

(It happens! Sleep well.)

#3

[lauradi7dw]

As an occasional viewer, I acknowledge the "narrow, white, heteronormative, sexist, provincial ideas of what constitutes 'normal,'" but think that fascism means something different from what Marcotte is claiming. There are a number of them that are blatantly Christian, including attendance at services, and a few that are fine with people enjoying big cities and/or with women loving their lives as bosses. Exceptions that prove the rule, etc., but I guess I'm just saying I disagree generally with her characterization. Not uncommon with me and A.M.

Re: #3

[sovay]

Exceptions that prove the rule, etc., but I guess I'm just saying I disagree generally with her characterization. Not uncommon with me and A.M.

Understood. It was a persuasive argument to me, taxonomically as well as generally. Who gets to count as a real person is a very non-neutral question.

Re: #3

[dewline]

I'm thinking that Hallmark might yet be brought into the Twenty-First in a proper way that addresses such concerns. That kerfuffle over that one commercial in recent weeks suggests that there's ways and means to do so.

[kore]

The very fact that they're presented as harmless fluff makes it all the more insidious

NICE

I had a whole collection of photos of Annemarie Schwarzenbach, before I had to lock down my Tumblr. IIRC Mucca read a memoir by'about her this year?

[sovay]

I had a whole collection of photos of Annemarie Schwarzenbach, before I had to lock down my Tumblr.

That's a terrible thing to have to lose!

IIRC Mucca read a memoir by'about her this year?

She did! And I still want a copy of its counterpart, Schwarzenbach's All Roads Are Open. None of my local bookstores could order it.

[kore]

YAY my memory actually worked for once, lol

None of my local bookstores could order it.

A friend just sent me a grim account of trying to find a book at two local indie bookstores, which offered to order it but couldn't guarantee a delivery date; two indie used bookstores had never heard of it; and the nearby Borders and B&N had gone out of business. Since they needed it promptly they wound up ordering it used from....Amazon. Fa la la la la la la la la.

[sovay]

Since they needed it promptly they wound up ordering it used from....Amazon. Fa la la la la la la la la.

Down with monopolies.

[dewline]

Agreed. I still have access to local indy bookstores, and I use that access every chance I get. Even if Amazon's got control of a publishing label that handles a particular title or series of titles, I still use those local shops to get the books in question.

But I suppose that's the consequence of living in a city that's a national capital. Privilege obtains as a result. Right?

[gwynnega]

Hooray for eventual plumbing!

I love the Cash on Demand gifset.

[sovay]

Hooray for eventual plumbing!

I appreciate it very much! The wait, not so much!

I love the Cash on Demand gifset.

I am so happy that movie has a fandom.

[selkie]

What the delightfully pagan what!! Did I just watch? Man. I grew two sizes queerer today.

[sovay]

What the delightfully pagan what!! Did I just watch?

I don't think it was intentional fanart for Greer's Cloud, but I can't unsee it and don't really want to.

Man. I grew two sizes queerer today.

Happy New Year!

[nineweaving]

I don't think it was intentional fanart for Greer's Cloud...

I'm kind of hoping it was.

Nine

Tragedy at Law

[legionseagle]

I'm a massive Cyril Hare fan, and would be open to talking about all his works, especially Tragedy at Law (I personally think that the Tragedy in the title isn't the obvious one, but the absolute waste of curdled brilliance caused by attitudes to women practising at the Bar in the 20th century, and will expound this thesis at length to anyone giving me the slightest opening.)

Re: Tragedy at Law

[sovay]

(I personally think that the Tragedy in the title isn't the obvious one, but the absolute waste of curdled brilliance caused by attitudes to women practising at the Bar in the 20th century, and will expound this thesis at length to anyone giving me the slightest opening.)

I can see exactly how you got there, but would still enjoy hearing the expoundation.

Re: Tragedy at Law

[legionseagle]

"Solicitors who had fought shy of the learned Miss Hilda Matthewson, barrisrer-at-law, competed for invitations to the cocktail parties and dinners given by the smart Mrs Barber."

I don't think Hilda is at all a nice person, but then neither is Barber, and there must have been something about her in her youth to attract Pettigrew in what he refers to as "a long and hopeless pursuit." I think the way in which she has to completely subsume herself into her husband's career, gets laughed at for it behind her back and then risks losing everything because of his idiocy and murders him in a last bid to save what she can is a terrible illustration of how she's been warped by having literally no other outlet.

Re: Tragedy at Law

[sovay]

a terrible illustration of how she's been warped by having literally no other outlet.

I agree with this entirely.

"Limitation of actions was always a subject that interested me and I made particular study of it."
"What an inhuman brute you always were, Hilda."
"I don't see that there is anything inhuman about being a lawyer."
"There is—for a woman, at all events. Tell me, was that what you married William for—so as to become a successful lawyer by proxy?"

And that's her brother, to her face. (If it's true, Pettigrew would never have worked as a match; he's always been more about failing on his own terms. I'm not sure it is; the narrative tells us only that after her marriage she went on working brilliantly for her husband as if she were still his pupil, so that his career is effectively a collaboration for which she can never, except in the most backhanded terms, receive credit. She could at least stay close to the thing she loved. It wouldn't be enough.) I read this novel for the first time last December and mostly went on to read all of the other Pettigrew mysteries, of which I liked With a Bare Bodkin (1946) and He Should Have Died Hereafter (1958) next best; this time it made me think of Craig's Wife (1936) which I had seen in the interim. You can't live through a partner any more than you can through a child. I do think the novel knows she shouldn't have had to.

Re: Tragedy at Law

[legionseagle]

Pettigrew might have worked in a world where they were both able to have careers at the Bar, where she could have been QC and done long complex firm frauds, and he'd have done something less well-paid, but been honestly proud of her success.

Re: Tragedy at Law

[sovay]

and he'd have done something less well-paid, but been honestly proud of her success.

I think he would have been, too.

Re: Tragedy at Law

[legionseagle]

There sometimes is something a bit Austenesque about Hare, and I think the idea that people can be marred by bad marriages and put on the right path by good ones is part of it. It's not (in either case) the "reform a rake" trope, but it is about becoming one's worse or better self; take the comment in Mansfield Park about Frances Price (Snr) being just as good material for being a baronet's lady as Maria Bertram (Snr) but that Mrs Norris would have been a far more respectable mother of ten on a narrow income.

[vintagewitch]

Point number three has me fainted to the floor. DAMN that essay is good.

[sovay]

DAMN that essay is good.

It pulled together a lot of things I had gathered one step further than I had gathered them, which I really appreciate.

[brigdh]

Wow, I loved that essay on Hallmark movies. Thank you for linking it!

[sovay]

Wow, I loved that essay on Hallmark movies. Thank you for linking it!

You're very welcome! It was acute.