I can swear there ain't no heaven, but I pray there ain't no hell
I have come down with some sort of miserable cold which so far keyn-ahora does not appear to be plague, but has left me with a headache I can do little with. Last night ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spatch and I finished watching Thanks a Million (1935), a political musical comedy in which Dick Powell agrees to run for governor of a scrupulously unnamed state in hopes of sufficient radio exposure to launch his career as a crooner after he's crashed at the ballots on account of knowing zippety-doo-dah about politics and because it's the 1930's, this works out all right for him while in 2022 we experience a slight trauma reaction. Fred Allen in his screen debut is nearly playing Ned Sparks as the troupe's laconically withering manager, but he had a face for movies, damn it, and I reserve a great deal of affection for his delivery of "Get me a cheap lawyer!" The Yacht Club Boys contribute the best tune of the night with "The Square Deal Party":
Even if we have to raise the taxes which are much too high already
Even if we have to raise the taxes, still we'll keep the budget steady
Even if we have to sell Alaska
If we have to fight with Madagascar
Even though you know we're dumb
There might be someone twice as dumb who'll come
And join the Square Deal Party and if you are a smartie
You'll find out that life begins when we're elected
We'll absorb your last year's losses and get better odds on horses
And we'll push the market up ten points a day
We'll make all the wealthy powers cut the week to fifteen hours
And do other things we probably won't remember
Happy days are here again to stay
If you elect us on Election Day!
Tonight we made clam chowder from scratch, first steamed in butter with shallots and bacon and then simmered in milk with black pepper and thyme, and extrapolated from this tweet that the Battle of Trafalgar was obviously sexier than the Battle of Waterloo, since history has already supplied "Kiss me, Hardy" and "England expects every man to do his duty."
spatch and I finished watching Thanks a Million (1935), a political musical comedy in which Dick Powell agrees to run for governor of a scrupulously unnamed state in hopes of sufficient radio exposure to launch his career as a crooner after he's crashed at the ballots on account of knowing zippety-doo-dah about politics and because it's the 1930's, this works out all right for him while in 2022 we experience a slight trauma reaction. Fred Allen in his screen debut is nearly playing Ned Sparks as the troupe's laconically withering manager, but he had a face for movies, damn it, and I reserve a great deal of affection for his delivery of "Get me a cheap lawyer!" The Yacht Club Boys contribute the best tune of the night with "The Square Deal Party":Even if we have to raise the taxes which are much too high already
Even if we have to raise the taxes, still we'll keep the budget steady
Even if we have to sell Alaska
If we have to fight with Madagascar
Even though you know we're dumb
There might be someone twice as dumb who'll come
And join the Square Deal Party and if you are a smartie
You'll find out that life begins when we're elected
We'll absorb your last year's losses and get better odds on horses
And we'll push the market up ten points a day
We'll make all the wealthy powers cut the week to fifteen hours
And do other things we probably won't remember
Happy days are here again to stay
If you elect us on Election Day!
Tonight we made clam chowder from scratch, first steamed in butter with shallots and bacon and then simmered in milk with black pepper and thyme, and extrapolated from this tweet that the Battle of Trafalgar was obviously sexier than the Battle of Waterloo, since history has already supplied "Kiss me, Hardy" and "England expects every man to do his duty."
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Thank you!
History is not Dick Powell's fault, but the strategy was proposed and
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I hope your cold passes quickly!
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It's completely unfair! Every fictional version I have ever encountered sucked less!
I hope your cold passes quickly!
Thank you!
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Thank you!
I really want to make more chowder.
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Your clam chowder sounds yummy.
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Thank you. It's nerve-racking.
Your clam chowder sounds yummy.
It came out surprisingly well for being thrown together from the overlap between readily accessible recipes for clam chowder and what we had in the house!
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That chowder sounds like a cure for what ails you.
Nine
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It's actually one of Powell's more appealing performances as a juvenile lead, as opposed to the ones where his chief attributes are being young and healthy. The gold standard for this period is his film debut in Blessed Event (1932) where he effectively anticipates his screen persona for the next decade, but in a key of absolute smarm, such that it plays as—he was already established as a singer, so we assumed it just was—self-parody. It's just as well for his later shift into dramatic roles that he was retooled for sincerity, but he's hilarious.
That chowder sounds like a cure for what ails you.
Further experiments must clearly be conducted.
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Thank you.
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Even without entendre, I prefer the popular version!
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The clam chowder sounds amazing. I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to make it from scratch!
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Thank you!
The clam chowder sounds amazing. I don't think I'd ever be brave enough to make it from scratch!
I figured the worst-case failure mode would be "savory milk with clams in," but it worked!
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Thank you!
P.S. My father followed through on following Michael Chapman to Enemy at the Door and reports on the first season: "Riveting, depressing, and well done."
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Aw, that's great! And that sounds like a 100% accurate report to me. XD (Btw, I expect I said before anyway, but it is a show that got cancelled rather than allowed to reach the end of the war, which is helpful to know during s2 rather than after!)
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You did warn me, and I have warned my father! The timeline was intended to run through the entire occupation?
Wildly changing fandoms, someone else on my friendlist linked a clip from 2018 of cast members of B7 talking about special effects failures, which just in case you had not seen it is charming. "I was so embarrassed that I'd broken the prop that I broke into this kind of camp American accent. I have no idea why I did that."
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Ha, sorry! I just didn't know myself and wish I had, so I'm being too keen to ensure other people don't have to suffer. XD
I've come across very little to say what their plans were, really, but I assume that was the intention - they were planning a third series anyway. It was cancelled instead and while some fans seem to have speculated it might be because of the increasingly grim storylines to come (including a period where it seemed the British might allow the Islanders to starve to death rather than allow aid parcels through), but that does just seem to be speculation! Most likely it was just the expense of the Jersey location filming that finished it off, possibly combined with Simon Cadell (Reinicke)'s casting in Hi-de-hi and Simon Lack (Freidel)'s death.
which just in case you had not seen it is charming. "I was so embarrassed that I'd broken the prop that I broke into this kind of camp American accent. I have no idea why I did that."
LOl. Every bts interview or clip or quote I've ever heard from anyone involved is like this. Not even DW can compete. (The only surprising thing there was that it wasn't Paul breaking stuff, because Paul Darrow infamously broke pretty much every bit of set or prop they let near him for the entire four series!)
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I had fun going through the responses to the Waterloo tweet, and absolutely cackled at "Hard pounding this, gentleman, but we shall see who can pound the longest". And then my 10yo asked "why are you laughing?" so I had to explain.
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No, absolutely fair.
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I had a vaguely similar reaction when I finally watched I Married a Witch last year, and Veronica Lake's character (the titular witch) changes the results of some election ballots so that Fredric March wins in a landslide. 😬
Hope you feel better soon!
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I forgot that happened! So many political jokes, so much intervening history.
Hope you feel better soon!
Thank you!
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Your child barely waved the talkie window under your nose before running off with me to the panorama of salt marsh! I don't think there was enough time for the powers of sympathy to engage!
(I am so glad you got to a salt marsh.)
*hugs*
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The chowder sounds amazing. Did you use canned clams? (I hope this is not some kind of cooking insult. I live in the Midwest.) I keep eyeing cans of clams and wondering.
P.
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Thank you!
Did you use canned clams? (I hope this is not some kind of cooking insult. I live in the Midwest.) I keep eyeing cans of clams and wondering.
I don't feel insulted! We had fresh chopped clams to start with, but I have bought clams that came in cans before. Bar Harbor's are nice.
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Also, clam chowder from scratch is just what I'd like right now, but I think I'll have to settle at the moment for an instant cocoa.
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Heee. I am surprisingly fond of the Yacht Club Boys for having seen them in only two movies. They seem to have specialized in topical-political weirdness that just sounded like a college glee club.
Also, clam chowder from scratch is just what I'd like right now, but I think I'll have to settle at the moment for an instant cocoa.
That's nice, too!