In my heart of mine I talk to you about my actual favorite matter

[sovay]

Happy Halloween. I wish I were not awake at this hour. I hope to have something more seasonal later on.

1. My poem "The Firebird's Revenge," published in January in The Cascadia Subduction Zone, is now free to read online with the rest of its issue. It was written last spring for Rose Lemberg and is basically what it says on the tin. Other cool stuff in this issue includes poetry by Mark Rich and Bogi Takács.

2. Autolycus just leapt onto the desk at a particularly inconvenient angle, nearly knocking over several stacks of books before he was returned to the floor. The books stacked currently on my desk appear to be:

Richard Barrios, Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood from Edison to Stonewall (2003)
Peter Conrad, The Hitchcock Murders (2000)
Derek Jarman, Kicking the Pricks (1987)
Derek Jarman, Smiling in Slow Motion (2000)
Caitlín R. Kiernan, Silk (1998/2008)
David Kruh, Always Something Doing: Boston's Infamous Scollay Square (1999)
John le Carré, A Legacy of Spies (2017)
Marina J. Lostetter, Noumenon (2017)
Jean Potts, Home Is the Prisoner (1960)
Steven J. Ross, Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots Against Hollywood and America (2017)
Valerie Taylor, The Girls in 3-B (1959)
William Wellman, Jr., Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel (2015)
Stanley Wiater (ed.), Richard Matheson's The Twilight Zone Scripts: Volume One (2001)

I may have interests.

3. I hate loving a movie so much that I don't know how to write about it.

Comments

[lauradi7dw]

I initially read that as "The Girls in 3-G," and wondered whether the comic strip was based on a book. (Yes, as it turns out, but a different book) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apartment_3-G

[sovay]

I initially read that as "The Girls in 3-G," and wondered whether the comic strip was based on a book. (Yes, as it turns out, but a different book)

The foreword to this edition thinks The Girls in 3-B may have been an influence on Apartment 3-G, but does not go into details. I think of three girls sharing an apartment as one of the twentieth-century American stock situations—I've seen it in musicals, romantic comedies, film noir—but since I'm really not familiar with the comic, I can't say whether I think the foreword's assertion is reasonable or a reach.

[thisbluespirit]

I hate loving a movie so much that I don't know how to write about it.

That's very frustrating. Although, really, incoherent love, keysmashes & pictures etc. usually work. Most of us understand the feeling. (Not, of course, if you're required to write a coherent review for someone or somebody, of course.)

[sovay]

(Not, of course, if you're required to write a coherent review for someone or somebody, of course.)

Unfortunately, keysmashes and pictures don't tend to be a good way for me to process my own feelings toward narrative, in addition to which it does have to be prose for formal reasons, but I appreciate the support!

[thisbluespirit]

Ha, I can't do keysmashes either (how DO people do them??), but sometimes I can capslock and one of the joys of fannish spaces is that we all know how it feels when you need to do it, or flail or write 5000 words on the subject, or picspam it to death.

But, yeah, if it has to be formal... good luck with it!

[thisbluespirit]

... and I have no brain sometimes. I meant to say that, btw, I have finally reached Denholm Elliott's Thriller episode! I promise to let you know when I have taken pics, because you will need the evidence of his terrible 70s outfit if nothing else. (I've seen worse, but it's not good. Which you could say of a lot of Thriller...)

And also btw, I stumbled over Dracula (1931) in a charity shop last week and have watched it! I am, though, mostly amused at the 1968's riffs on it, which is not much use to say as you haven't seen that, but I did, unsurprisingly, enjoy it. :-D (I was hoping when I saw it there that it was the Hammer one, but it was not much of a disappointment.)

[sovay]

I promise to let you know when I have taken pics, because you will need the evidence of his terrible 70s outfit if nothing else. (I've seen worse, but it's not good. Which you could say of a lot of Thriller...)

Thank you! I look apprehensively forward. How was the episode around his outfit?

I am, though, mostly amused at the 1968's riffs on it, which is not much use to say as you haven't seen that, but I did, unsurprisingly, enjoy it.

I'm glad! I loved Dwight Frye's Renfield to the point of writing a poem about him.

(I was hoping when I saw it there that it was the Hammer one, but it was not much of a disappointment.)

Hammer had the better Van Helsing, hands down.

[thisbluespirit]

I look apprehensively forward. How was the episode around his outfit?

Not bad for a Thriller episode, actually! It also had Anthony Valentine in it, which was fun. (TV Raffles, but always very good, if you don't have the A-Z of 70s British Character Actors memorised like me.)

I'm glad! I loved Dwight Frye's Renfield to the point of writing a poem about him.

He was great! As is the poem. I was confused by him to start with, because the one person I knew already was David Manners and I thought I was going mad because Jonathan didn't look like him, until it turned out it was Renfield.

Hammer had the better Van Helsing, hands down.

Really? ;-p

I will get it eventually, but I keep hoping I'll just find it somewhere or one of our TV channels will show it - they keep showing Hammer Frankenstein films! I've seen three Frankensteins & no Draculas, and I would much prefer vampires to people getting body parts chopped off, even when it's Peter Cushing doing the chopping.

(Does your not watching much TV mean you have not seen The Avengers? THere is an episode where Peter Cushing is the villain, and he flirts with Mrs Peel and the combination is so pretty it's illegal. Even Steed gets jealous for a bit. Until of course, Peter Cushing does unspeakable things to her.)

[sovay]

Not bad for a Thriller episode, actually! It also had Anthony Valentine in it, which was fun.

Excellent! I appear to have seen Anthony Valentine to recognize him in To the Devil a Daughter (1976)—also with Elliott—and then a random handful of small TV roles, none of which are his famous ones. This happens.

As is the poem.

Thank you!

I was confused by him to start with, because the one person I knew already was David Manners and I thought I was going mad because Jonathan didn't look like him, until it turned out it was Renfield.

I love the bait-and-switch of the smart young solicitor arriving guilelessly at Dracula's castle who isn't Jonathan but Jonathan's predecessor, like a cautionary tale.

I've seen three Frankensteins & no Draculas, and I would much prefer vampires to people getting body parts chopped off, even when it's Peter Cushing doing the chopping.

That's a perfectly valid philosophical position!

Does your not watching much TV mean you have not seen The Avengers?

I have actually seen substantial chunks of The Avengers, primarily with Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg, but I have not seen the Peter Cushing episode—if it's from one of the series that was filmed in color, I have never seen any of those. [edit] Looking at an episode list, it appears I have seen only episodes from the second through fourth series. Cushing guest-starred in the fifth series. You didn't tell me he was playing Michael Gough's brother!

Peter Cushing is the villain, and he flirts with Mrs Peel and the combination is so pretty it's illegal.

I will check it out.

[thisbluespirit]

I appear to have seen Anthony Valentine to recognize him in To the Devil a Daughter (1976)—also with Elliott

LOL, British TV is so incestuous!

I love the bait-and-switch of the smart young solicitor arriving guilelessly at Dracula's castle who isn't Jonathan but Jonathan's predecessor, like a cautionary tale.

Clearly, Dracula has a taste for them. I enjoyed it once I got the hang of that, although it was a bit sad that David Manners didn't have to suffer in the castle.

And, yeah, one day I will get the Hammer Dracula too, but I've managed two more Dracula this year, the book last year, so I'm not doing too badly on making up for all these Count-free years.

Cushing guest-starred in the fifth series. You didn't tell me he was playing Michael Gough's brother!

I watched The Avengers a couple of years ago when all the film series were rerun on Freeview here (so barring two episodes, I haven't seen any of the surviving S1-3, sadly. But my friend Liadt send me James Maxwell and Alfred Burke's S2 episodes, so I have seen at least some Cathy, which is important. The boxsets are just rather steep). But, anyway, that means I'm very unclear on which series is which and who was in which episode, or what any of them were called, but I have watched all the eps from 4 to the end with Tara. And you can't expect me to remember Michael Gough being in a thing when Diana Rigg and Peter Cushing are flirting! The Avengers is always very starry. (I was sure he was in a different episode - the one where the Russians write compliments about Emma, but probably he was in both. Most people were! It's always a bit of shock when you find actors who weren't in The Avengers. David Collings somehow managed it, which seems like a terrible oversight on somebody's part.)

[selkie]

Happy Halloween. Remember to feed the ghosts, the cats, and any partners in arms' reach. Also, this is just life advice, avoid telling children you will fashion their costume from Fun Fur.

[sovay]

Happy Halloween. Remember to feed the ghosts, the cats, and any partners in arms' reach.

Happy Halloween. Cats and trick-or-treaters taken care of, ghosts and partners whenever they arrive.

Also, this is just life advice, avoid telling children you will fashion their costume from Fun Fur.

Is your house covered in fluff?

[selkie]

Is your house covered in fluff?

House. Textiles. Eyeballs.