A dime novel hidden in the corn crib?

[sovay]

1. I did in fact cheer up from watching Alex Cox's Revengers Tragedy (2002) on Saturday night, and on Sunday afternoon I took my mother to see The Avengers (2012) for a very belated Mother's Day. (Previous attempt thwarted by norovirus or something.) I should make some kind of post about the latter film, but it is the kind of week where I don't want to make any promises. We leave early on Friday and I still have all sorts of errands I need to get out of the way, like making myself shop for clothes suitable to a summer wedding. (The degree to which I hate clothes shopping cannot be overstated.) Yesterday morning I put on my broad-brimmed hat and hiked out in the rain to visit the dentist. Further bulletins as events warrant.

2. My reading for the past couple of days has been terrific: Christopher Frayling's Mad, Bad and Dangerous? The Scientist and the Cinema (2005), Valeria Belletti's Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary: Her Private Letters from Inside the Studios of the 1920s (ed. Cari Beauchamp, 2006), and the first volume of Larry Marder's collected Beanworld (2009). Now I have a pair of plays by David Mercer, Cousin Vladimir (1978) and Shooting the Chandelier (1977). I should probably save them for the train, but I suspect they won't survive unread that long.

3. From the man who brought you the Prune of Tomorrow: further commercials of Stan Freberg. ("Another terribly adult cereal from General Mills . . .") I am also very fond of this one for Zagnut.

4. This is a timesink. The most recent post is atypically timely and not so much with the vintage pin-ups—I've just finished reading a burlesque magazine from 1956, a flapper magazine from 1922, and a sort of stage-door gentleman's magazine from 1900. Courtesy of derspatchel, who is currently memorizing jokes out of Captain Billy's Whiz Bang.

5. This is as good as the Onion.

Errands. Or at least laundry.

Comments

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Are certain words creeping into his vocabulary?

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

Wait, what time are you arriving Friday? Convey this to me in an email if applicable, because Fridays I am at home and Nicole gets off work at 4 and really, we could do something that does not involve exposing derspatchel to natural sunlight.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

Whoo! Looking forward to the Avengers post, if it turns out you can manage it.

[gwynnega]

Mad, Bad and Dangerous? The Scientist and the Cinema sounds awesome.

I think I am now officially the last person on the planet who hasn't managed to see The Avengers.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Courtesy of [info]derspatchel, who is currently memorizing jokes out of Captain Billy's Whiz Bang.

Gee whiz! That's swell.

*ducks*

[marlowe1.livejournal.com]

I was very happy with Revenger's Tragedy - I think partially because I very much enjoyed Repo Man and Sid & Nancy and I always wanted to see Alex Cox make movies even if he never gets a career-boosting movie that causes a resurgence in his career like Robert Altman.

I was not terribly enamored with Highway Patrolman, but Revenger's Tragedy had the right combination of humor and pathos that I expect out of my jacobean plays set in post-apocalyptic London.

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

I'm glad for the cheering, and that you were able to take your mother out to see The Avengers at last.

I hate clothes shopping as well. I hope all goes well.

Thanks for sharing the commercials, and the timesink!

5. This is as good as the Onion.

Indeed it is.

[ashlyme.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the errands, particularly the clothes shopping (not fond of it either).

I'm glad Revenger's Tragedy cheered you.