And the worst and best of all we knew stayed out to rust in the morning dew

[sovay]

Definitely sick. Sore throat, stuffed nose, disturbing sensation that my brain has gently extracted itself and floated off somewhere I can't do much with it, and I seem to have wiped out my energy reserves for the day by walking to Porter Square to pick up my copy of Emeric Pressburger's The Glass Pearls (1966) from Porter Square Books. On the way down we passed a basketball court full of kids playing cricket—the batsman and the bowler were getting trash-talked by their respective opposing sides. The blackened plywood over the doors of the former MBTA substation on School Street had been removed and an enormous spool-like chunk of what must have been a dynamo dragged out onto the weedy grass behind the chain-link, glittering with mica insulation and copper ends. spatch got pictures which I am hoping came out. We have no idea what is being done with the property, but there were abandoned construction gloves on both sides of the fence. They'll probably demolish the mural. I hope Rob got pictures of that, too.

Courtesy of this impressive timesink, I think this may be the single worst photograph of Leslie Howard I have ever seen:



I am unsurprisingly charmed by it.

Oh, and the ostensible president of this country shared classified information which wasn't ours to share at last week's meeting with Russian officials which American reporters weren't allowed into, all of which may not be technically illegal, but is certainly a great way to endanger sources and jeopardize security and in general look like a complete tool of the Russian government, which I hate that I am even writing because my entire childhood was spent observing the de-escalation of the Cold War and you know, I still don't think it was a bad idea.

Comments

LH

[lauradi7dw]

I am reading the novel "Their Finest," (US edition of the novel matching the film truncation of the Best Title Ever, as previously discussed).
Section in which a main character is getting a new head shot, taken by a Hungarian refugee photographer. Ambrose (aging actor) tries to explain to the photographer the look he wants, hoping to match the current crop of popular actors
>>"Darkly atmospheric." He jabbed a finger at the picture of Leslie Howard (another Hungarian, come to think of it; Christ, they were everywhere).<<

Re: LH

[sovay]

"Darkly atmospheric." He jabbed a finger at the picture of Leslie Howard (another Hungarian, come to think of it; Christ, they were everywhere).

That's in keeping with the attitudes of the time. Per Macdonald:

"Most commentators strongly disagreed with Korda's ideas [that the best films about a country were made by outsiders to it] and felt that British films should be the product of British talent. The ACT (cinema technicians' union) was vociferous in its protest. It seemed to them that all the choicest fruit was being plucked by foreigners, with only the dregs (i.e. the 'quota quickies') left for their members. 'Are so many foreigners really necessary?' asked the Kinematograph Weekly. Korda meanwhile attempted to discourage the notion that he just gave jobs to any old compatriot who found his way into his office, and had a sign pinned above the door: IT'S NOT ENOUGH TO BE HUNGARIAN."

So, well-represented, Their Finest. (How are you finding it as a novel compared to the film?)

Re: LH

[lauradi7dw]

Book better than film, although all the faces and locations are based on the film rather than my imagination. Which is fine. My imagination isn't so great, usually.