Remember Kids, Users Are Losers
Remember this 1987 anti-drug PSA with crazy-haired pop singer Regina and McGruff the Crime Dog? Staying on the straight and narrow never looked so totally awesome.
Related: Download Regina’s 1986 LP Curiosity featuring the wonderfully Madonnaesque hit “Baby Love.”
LitKids Is Now Open!
Today is the day – LitKids on Etsy is finally open! There are two 12″x9″ prints available — Anne of Green Gables and Jo of Little Women — listed at $12 each.
Weekly Mishmash: April 18-24
Caprice (1967). I can definitely see why Doris Day and Richard Harris’ mod ’60s spy spoof was a flop in ’67; it’s unfocused — swerving violently from comedy hijinks to romantic drama — frustrating to follow, badly edited, and suffering from serious lack of chemistry between the leads. As broadly directed by Frank Tashlin, the comedy pushes beyond pointlessness. Doris is game, but she’s miscast as an international spy investigating a cosmetics empire. In a way, this film played like a less bloated, lower wattage Casino Royale. There are a couple of elements that make this worth a peek for those into high ’60s visuals. Day is outfitted in a dated yet stunning wardrobe of Op Art minis and checkerboard sunglasses thanks to designer Ray Aghayan, and Leon Shamroy’s widescreen photography has a breathtaking lushness, even when the set designs are not (I’d describe the interiors as Rococo Puke). The climactic scene, filmed in L.A.’s classic Bradbury Building, gave us a little thrill — as it did when the historic site showed up in a recent FlashForward episode. That elevator, those tiles — we were there!
Marshall Crenshaw – The Best Of Marshall Crenshaw: This Is Easy. Could “Someday Someway” be the coolest pop hit from the ’80s? My first eMusic download of the month was a byproduct of the site’s recent acquisition of the huge Rhino/Warner Bros. catalog. The official download edition of this 2000 CD, unfortunately, is missing a few songs — a fact that Rhino conveniently neglects to mention on the site (gee, and they wonder why illegal downloading is so popular?). That quibble aside, this was an excellent power pop compilation which drives much of its affable energy from a good dosage of Crenshaw’s first two albums (1982′s Marshall Crenshaw and 1983′s Field Day). With ’85′s Downtown, Crenshaw went for a more rootsy sound and kicked off a less accessible but equally worthwhile period. What strikes me about his later stuff is that it sounds nearly identical to mainstream Country music as it became more pop-oriented in the ’00s. “Someplace Where Love Can’t Find Me” would be perfectly at home between Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney on any current C&W radio station.
Divorce, Italian Style (1961). Shrill but entertaining Italian sex comedy with mustachioed Marcello Mastroianni as a beleaguered man given to fantasizing about ways to off his pinhead wife so he can take up with his flirty cousin. Briskly paced, creatively made, and Mastroianni is an excellent heel, but did I mention it’s shrill? Everybody talks loudly, the soundtrack is annoying, and after a while it gets to be too much. The first half contains some great comedy, however.
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009). This one took me by surprise — mostly because it came from Wes Anderson, whose films I absolutely loathe (okay, I’ve only seen The Royal Tennenbaums — but that was such a turd of a movie that I’m too scared to see any of his other efforts). This is an adaptation of a Roald Dahl story about a cunning fox (voiced by a somewhat too recognizable George Clooney) who has to give up his foxy ways to raise a family. When the brood moves back to his old stomping grounds, he can’t resist going back to performing elaborate heists on the three food factories nearby. This was such a sweet, adorable movie with a stunning visual design heavy on the gold tones. I loved the variety used in the character designs, from the elongated foxes to the corpulent factory owner. The animation, which I originally thought looked too jerky in the previews, flows beautifully throughout. I even loved the film’s snarky but not too contemporary sense of humor. Actually, everything about this movie was pitch-perfect; I even enjoyed it more than 2009′s other animated critical darling Up. Wes Anderson outdoing Pixar, who’da thunk it.
It’s a Wonderful World (1939). A movie that I’ve always been curious about; I finally got to catch it on TCM one recent morning. A big budget MGM production starring Claudette Colbert and James Stewart, it’s surprising that this “on the lam” comedy rarely registers with fans of either star. Having seen it, however, I can see why. This is your basic It Happened One Night rehash, only the sparks Colbert had with Clark Gable settles into a mere flicker with Stewart. Both actors give it a valiant try, and they certainly are charming here individually with a script that plays up their respective strengths (befuddlement for Jimmy, determination for Claudette). The plot, about police investigator Stewart trying to nab a criminal while being unlawfully pursued with daffy poetess Colbert in tow, is too lightweight — and the characters spend too much time pointlessly arguing — for me to care.
Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir by Kathy Griffin. An anniversary gift, Christopher enjoyed this one so much he lent it to me with his endorsement — sure enough, it is a dishy and surprisingly candid treat. We’re huge Kathy fans going back before her My Life on the D-List success, and seeing her live (sitting in front of her then-hubby Matt!) was such a blast. This book is pretty much what I expected, with Kathy breezing through her boisterous childhood, her early, lean years in Hollywood, her short-lived marriage, the struggle of being imperfect in a business that only accepts perfect bodies and faces, and finally success on her own fabulous terms. What I like best about her is that she’s a straight talker and totally self-deprecating in an endearing way. This book reads exactly as if Kathy were right there dishing with you, and in that respect she (and/or her ghost-writer?) deserves the celeb memoir A-list award.
Three Husbands (1951). This was a nice gem hidden in our “50 cheap old comedies” DVD set — a sex-inversed Letter to Three Wives tribute with a bit of All About Eve sophistication thrown in. Though it doesn’t approach the artistry of either, it’s still an intriguing look at the mores of 1950s marriage with a decent cast including the marvelous Eve Arden, Howard da Silva, Emlyn Williams and Ruth Warrick. Like Letter, this is told mostly in flashback with Williams posthumously informing his three best friends that he cheated with all of their wives. Interesting film, mostly for the way it treats male/female roles in the context of the early ’50s, but entertaining as well.
Ladies and Gents, Miss March
My first run of Jo March Lit Kids screen prints was completed this week. The pages come from an lovely old edition of Little Women. I did a lot of preliminary drawings for Jo, and I’m still not sure if this one captures her spunky spirit, but they came out pretty nice all the same. And the color palette of mauve, purple and gold on yellowing paper looks absolutely gorgeous.
I was so busy with printing that I forgot about our Wednesday video. How about a scene from the historically inaccurate 1978 TV movie version of Little Women? I mean how “1978 TV movie” is the casting of Susan Dey as Jo and Meredith Baxter Birney as Jo’s sister Meg? Eve Plumb was in this as well (being a Brady Bunch fan, that was the only thing about this production I remember).
Heidi Heidi Heidi Ho
Just finished doing another round of Lit Kids prints featuring a different character. These came out even better than the Anne of Green Gables one. Slowly, I’m learning this screen printing stuff.
One of the characters I have coming up is Heidi from Johanna Spyri’s novel of the same name. I designed the character first, then read the book. Interesting … more religious than I anticipated, but Spryri nicely conveys the atmosphere of a quaint, rustic Swiss village and its humble inhabitants (mostly kids and old people, oddly enough). I do think I aptly captured the impish, nature loving quality of Heidi herself in my design.
The copy of Heidi I just read is a nice “Rainbow Edition” from the 1940s with illustrations by Leonard Weisgard, much admired in artist circles for his modern approach to kid’s books. This edition also has some great binding with a pine and acorn pattern. Yeah, I can’t wait to rip this thing up for printing! That’ll have to wait for a later print run, however, since the first book I’m using is a different vintage edition published by Grossett & Dunlap. Its binding looks like it’s from about 1950, but the inside pages appear to be designed 20-30 years earlier with beautiful typography and ornaments of flowers, butterflies and the like (see the bottom three photos). Those pages laid underneath my modern-looking illustration should be a neat combination.
Weekly Mishmash: April 11-17
Cradle Will Rock (1999). Tim Robbins’ chaotic yet timely film chronicles the staging of the most notorious play produced by the WPA in the 1930s, Marc Blitzstein’s union-friendly musical Cradle Will Rock. We saw this in the theater when it was originally released and it still holds up. It’s interesting to revisit it during this quasi-Depression time and note how familiar the anti-socialist hysteria portrayed here is. I don’t think this is a perfect film; it’s too wide-ranging in scope and Robbins succumbs all too often to the “keep the camera moving” bug that also afflicted Stephen Fry when he did Bright Young Things. Some scenes are excellently staged and acted, while others are done in an offhand, parodic manner which makes me wonder how historically accurate everything is. Among the huge cast, the only true villains are Bill Murray’s cracked vaudevillian and the uppity case worker played by Joan Cusack. Generally I liked the cast, except perhaps Susan Sarandon hamming it up as a flamboyant Italian diplomat. My favorite was Cherry Jones as Hallie Flanagan, the headstrong manager of the WPA’s theatre division. She completely rocks, and has a beautiful speaking voice to boot (I kept thinking she’d be so much better than Oprah at narrating the nature documentary series Life).
Hollywood and Vine (1945). Another offering in our “cheapie public domain comedies of yore” series! Hollywood and Vine was another cruddy yet genial and fast-paced production from P.R.C. In it, aspiring actress Wanda McKay meets screenwriter James Ellison on her way to Hollywood. She brushes the amorous gent off, but eventually relents when the two end up rooming in the same apartment complex. The pair also become parents to a talented mutt (Daisy, best known as the family pup from the Blondie movies) who becomes a canine movie star. Yep, this movie doesn’t make a lick of sense, and the best celebrity cameo they could come up with was the fake Russian prince who ran Hollywood eatery Romanoff’s. McKay and Ellison are both unbelievably bland actors with zero screen presence, but at least we have the reliable Franklin Pangborn on hand as a soda jerk. Typical of this film’s flights of fancy is the scene where Ellison persuades McKay’s character from dismissive to “I’m giving it all up to marry you and have lotsa babies” in thirty seconds flat.
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977). I know I must have seen this movie when it originally came out, but even so this compilation of the first three Disney Winnie the Pooh shorts is so awash in lyrical, pastel-colored charm that one can’t help but feel a nostalgic pang with it. These films date from 1966-74, the last gasp of classic old guard Disney animation. The stories are silly, leisurely paced and Disneyfied to a fault, but I love the way they incorporated the A. A. Milne book itself into the action, such as when a rush of water washes the words off the page. This DVD included a bonus Pooh short from 1983, which was as plodding and charmless as the trio in this film were magical. It just goes to prove that when they had it, they really had it.
Michael Clayton (2007). I had to chuckle when I read the Netflix reviews on this complaining that it was too talky and boring. Fact is, this was an excellent legal thriller with an absorbing story played by a cast at the top of their game (including Tilda Swinton, somewhat Jodie Fosterish as a dangerously ambitious careerist). The hard to please Christopher actually ranks this and Departures as the two best movies we’ve seen this year.
Word Jong Party. We’re not huge gamers around here, unless you count the pre-Facebook edition of Scrabble. We do, however, enjoy some of the less threatening stuff on the Wii — such as the farming sim Harvest Moon: Tree Of Tranquility. In that game, the most harmful thing you can do is piss somebody off by gifting them with a stinky hunk of algae fished out of the ocean. Lately we’ve been enjoying Word Jong Party, which is basically maj-jongg played with lettered tiles. You advance through the game by making words, the longer the better. Completely harmless and fun, and a bit easy for us Scrabble vets, but the graphics are cute and each day brings a brand new puzzle to enjoy.
Ingénue Times Two
Last night I got reacquainted with a compilation from 1980s Europop princess Lío and thought I’d share a few of her vintage videos here. I’d say her music is like a French version of Madonna’s stuff from that period, very strident and “of its time” but completely irresistible. The gorgeous “Mona Lisa” comes from her 1982 album Suite Sixtine. The song’s lush and romantic production came courtesy of Ron and Russell Mael, better known as New Wave duo Sparks.
And here is Lío looking her jailbaitiest while singing 1980′s “Amoureux Solitaire” from a hammock. This synth-driven gem must have been one of her biggest hits in Europe, since there are five or six different performances of this song on YouTube. Lío’s hit streak continued all the way through 1991, after which she turned to acting. Apparently she now earns her Euros as one of the judges on the French edition of American Idol. C’est la vie, as they’d say over there.
Good Humor Man
On the occasion of his dad’s 80th birthday, illustrator Drew Friedman shares a batch of vintage book covers from the man in question, Bruce Jay Friedman. I remember enjoying the elder Friedman’s The Lonely Guy’s Book Of Life in college, and I’ve always been a fan of Drew’s stippled portraits of borscht belt comedians and b-movie actors of yore (and now we’re Facebook friends!). It wasn’t until recently that I discovered the two were related. Happy birthday.
Weekly Mishmash: April 4-10
Breakin’ (1984). This breakdance opus, a product of the über-’80s cheese factory Cannon Films, was the other netting of our free Showtime weekend. Strangely enough, this and Superhero Movie both star Christopher McDonald, seen here twenty-plus years younger and several pounds thinner as a Hollywood agent with a special interest in a comely dancer (Lucinda Dickey) and her two streetwise, popping and locking buddies (Adolfo “Shabba-Doo” Quinones and Michael “Boogaloo Shrimp” Chambers). OK, this is one crappily made movie bubbling over with scenes that stretch the credibility of even the showbiz la-la land it’s presenting, but as a period piece it’s fascinating stuff. The great soundtrack of high ’80s electro-funk almost made me forget how stilted the acting was. Almost. Seeing this sorta makes me wish that Turner Classic Movies would do a Cannon/Golan & Globus retrospective. Yeah, dream on.
An Education (2009). The first of what turned out to be two films centering around foolish women blinded by love. In An Education, Carey Mulligan’s preternaturally smart London teenager falls for an older man (Peter Sarsgaard) who introduces her to a world of sophistication she’d previously only dreamed of. More than anything else, this film triumphs in recreating the society and atmosphere of 1961 London. Nick Hornby’s sharp screenplay really underscores that the only options for young women back then were to either marry young or study laboriously for a career and spinsterhood. Mulligan was very good, Sarsgaard couldn’t quite get a Brit accent right, and the gorgeous duo of Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike couldn’t be more perfectly cast as (respectively) the business partner of the Sarsgaard character and his dim but glamorous girlfriend.
Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948). Here it is, one of those lost classics I’ve been wanting to see for twenty years. I was so excited to see it on the TCM schedule this month, and I must have not been alone since Robert Osborn noted in his intro that it was the most requested film from TCM viewers. Despite having a plotline that looks annoyingly quaint and un-p.c. on paper, this is one of the great romantic films of all time. In her best performance, Joan Fontaine plays a meek woman who falls for a composer (Louis Jordan) in circa 1900 Vienna. As the years go by, what was a forgotten fling for him becomes a consuming passion for her. Fontaine’s weird passivity and stalkerish behavior might be worthy of a good slap if the film didn’t treat the character with utmost nobility. Indeed, the woman has courage in her convictions and she winds up more admirable than the shallow Jordan. Mostly what I loved about this movie was the dreamy and gorgeously photographed atmosphere conjured up by director Max Ophuls (whose acclaimed European films La Ronde and Lola Montes I found insufferably twee) working on one of his few U.S. studio projects. Some scenes, such as when Fontaine and Jordan discuss their most cherished memories on a fake train, are so impeccably staged that one could get lost in them.
Laura Nyro & LaBelle — Gonna Take A Miracle. My last eMusic album of the month was this 1971 collaboration that’s like an organic melding of soul and singer-songwriting. Laura Nyro’s voice is a bit of an acquired taste, but this set of covers with funky girl trio LaBelle and Philly soul producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff is an ingratiating listen. Hearing the album is like sitting in on a casual afternoon jam session with lots of finger popping and harmonizing voices. Nyro approaches the material nostalgically, even if the songs aren’t that old (one, “The Bells” by the Originals, hadn’t even been out a year by the time Nyro got to it). With the exception of a shrill and repetitive “Nowhere To Run,” this is an excellent listen.
The Savages (2007). Laura Linney and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as pseudo-intellectual siblings attempting to cope with their ailing father. This film takes on a weird, cartoony tone in its first few scenes, portraying Sun City, Arizona as an oblivious suburb straight out of Edward Scissorhands (it isn’t really that way, although the streets full of pebbled lawns are really something to see). When the scenery shifts to a wintery upstate New York, however, the film takes off with quality performances by the two leads. Elder care isn’t addressed very often in movies, and here it’s addressed with realism and biting humor. Good film.
Little Bit ‘O Soul
Today’s video is a snippet of gold from the classic era of Motown records. This clip of the Temptations performing their funky b-side “Sorry Is A Sorry Word” in the Hitsville U.S.A. studios came from a 1967 CBS news report on Motown. Considering how little footage there is of the artists actually recording in the studio from back then, it’s pretty amazing. I like the lady sitting in on the conga drums. I know about the Funk Brothers, but could there have also been a Funk Sister?
This scene comes from the 2006 DVD Get Ready: The Definitive Performances 1965-72.
Weekly Mishmash: March 28-April 3
Forgive me, I’m still feeling a bit woozy from the mild earthquake in Baja California this afternoon. The mishmash is bursting with movies this week, but I’ll have to be brief.
Big Night (1996). Another one of those critically acclaimed ’90s indies that I haven’t seen ’til now. On a vague promise that Louis Prima would visit his failing restaurant, Stanley Tucci arranges with his chef brother Tony Shalhoub to prepare a feast to end all feasts. A sweet, slice-of-life movie that is specifically tuned to actors and wresting good performances from its diverse cast (unsurprising, since Tucci directed along with Campell Scott, who also appears onscreen as a smarmy auto salesman). This film didn’t exactly bowl me over, with several talky and seemingly improvised scenes that didn’t add much to the proceedings, but it does have a fabulous sense of time and place. An actor who definitely doesn’t get enough leading roles, Tucci delivers in a role that speaks more of following one’s own standards of excellence than anything else.
Escape to Paradise (1939). Last night, we had a party with our “50 cheesy old comedies on 12 DVDs” set. On the menu was this cruddy little musical, a south-of-the-border vehicle for an unappealing Wayne Newton-esque juvenille singer named Bobby Breen. Set in a South American tourist town, Breen plays a perky kid who helps out an American guy wanting to — do you really need to know this, now? We only watched it for Joyce Compton, somewhat wasted in a supporting role that sets her character up as little more than a dumb stooge. Should you have an hour to kill, the film is viewable online at Archive.org.
Perfect Strangers (1950). Catch any Ginger Rogers flicks in Turner Classic Movies‘ month-long salute last month? This Warner Bros. courtroom melodrama was one of the few on the schedule that I’d never heard of, so I gave it a curious look. In it, Ginger plays a Los Angeles woman who is too busy with personal business separating from her husband to accept jury duty. She is recruited anyhow, and ends up falling for fellow jurist Dennis Morgan during deliberations on a complex murder trial. Although I was expecting this to be either a predictable romance or a predictable courtroom drama, it actually ended up being quite the absorbing film with a sharply written and observant script. The film mostly centers on the interpersonal squabblings among the film’s diverse jurors (which includes Thelma Ritter at her snarky early best — and the voice of Fred Flintstone, Alan Reed!). The Rogers/Morgan romantic subplot slightly detracts from a film that is essentially 12 Angry Men Lite. If only for the priceless scene of Rogers exiting a trolley car and strolling in front of the gorgeous 1950 vista of L.A. City hall, this is one underrated goodie worth seeking out.
Red Cliff (2008). An epic Chinese battle, 220 a.d. style, with armadas of CGI ships and one very talented white dove. This Foreign Language Oscar nominee was directed by John Woo and stars one of our favorites, Tony Leung. Although the film had several absorbing scenes, overall it came across as too ponderous (we watched the nearly three hour cut), confusing and so intent on showing how big everything is that it lost sight of its main mission. China is a culture that venerates its own history, and it probably resonates better with them. Americans, however, must beware.
Superhero Movie (2008). Here’s irony: we recently had a free weekend of several Showtime channels, but the only films that piqued our interest were Superhero Movie and that poppin’ and lockin’ masterpiece, Breakin’ (look out for that on the 11th). This movie was stupid and at times painful with its desperate-to-please ambiance, but it was fun enough and even had several laugh out loud moments. Best casting award goes to Leslie Nielsen and Marion Ross as the main teen-turned super hero’s elderly uncle and aunt (is the fact that both actors are old enough to be his great-grandparents part of the comedy?).
Up in the Air (2009). You already know about this one by now. Good, intelligent and wryly observant, pretty much what I expected. I thought Clooney was good, Anna Kendrick was a pleasant surprise and I have no idea why Vera Farmiga got an Oscar nom. Interesting to note that Clooney’s character and motivations mirror Anthony Hopkins in The Remains of the Day.
Upperworld (1933). My other Ginger Rogers on TCM gleaning, this is a tasty and surprisingly cynical pre-Code potboiler starring Warren William as a smooth-talking industrialist (did he play anything else?). William is a successful mogul stuck in a rut with a shallow socialite of a wife (Mary Astor) and a bratty kid (Dickie Moore) whose life is turned around when he meets comely showgirl Rogers. The two have a chaste, flirtatious relationship at first, but things turn ugly when blackmail and eventually murder enter the picture. This is a smoothly made, beautifully photographed film with an excellent cast. Rogers is at her cherubic best here playing an unpretentious girl who is oddly the only likable character in the entire film. It comes as a shock when (spoiler alert) she gets shot and dies, then the film quickly wraps up in a hasty, happy ending. Bizarre, and worth a look.
Turning Over a New Leaf
After a year, I think it’s time to give a sneak peek of my new venture — one that grew out of my frustrated inability to find work as an illustrator. I’m not going to dwell too much on the negative here, but lately it has been very difficult to find any freelance work at all. Last year, I put a lot of time and effort into sending out dozens of self-promotional postcards, only to find a chorus of crickets chirping in response. It was depressing as hell, but instead of throwing myself off a cliff I decided to channel that creative energy into something that’s on my terms. I’m making my own art and will try selling it on Etsy.
The photo below is the first fruit of my efforts. It’s a drawing of Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables screen printed atop facing pages from the book that bears her name. This was an, how we say, interesting experience. Many of the prints came out off-register and with blobby looking lines, but I might be deluded enough to believe those elements add to their funky handmade charm. They’ll get more professional looking in time. Anne is the first, but I have great designs ready for five more characters. The process has been an expensive learning experience, but I’m having a lot of fun with it. Each print is completely unique, and I think there are a lot of factors involved (nostalgia for printed books, new mommies wanting something special for their kids) that might possibly resonate with the Etsy crowd. Most of all, it’s a lovingly handcrafted project that totally reflects my style, not something someone else imposed on me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s already a success.
The Etsy store is not officially open yet. I want to get another character printed up so it’s not just Anne sitting there by herself. The shop ought to be going live in a few weeks.
