Friday Flashback: Rec. #247 (abbrev.): The Witch of Exmoor

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Gothic soap opera/novel of ideas by Margaret Drabble, missing eccentric matriarch, rundown seaside retreat, three middle-aged children, an enviable estate, at work on memoirs, social justice, dinner-party game, political ideology, satire, privilege, thriller, high comedy, low tragedy

Opening lines: "Begin on a midsummer evening. Let them have everything that is pleasant."

Representative quote: "He bites his nails between grapes, and avoids eye contact. A mother --- but perhaps not his --- would note that he is too thin."

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able

Connection to previous Wreckage: Part of Personal Wreck #4

[Originally posted 6/20/12]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #123: Reefer Madness - The Movie Musical

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: I had been expecting this musical satire of the cult classic 1936 propaganda film to be full of cheesy, campy goodness. What a nice surprise to find that it is also genuinely clever! The actors --- including Kristen Bell, Christian Campbell, Ana Gasteyer, Alan Cumming, and Steven Weber --- are clearly having fun. You probably will, too.

Comparable to: Kind of Little Shop of Horrors-ish. Except with marijuana instead of carnivorous plants.

Representative quote: "There's blood on my hands, and mud on my name. My id threw a party and everyone came. My innocence ravished, my virtue devoured, I can't count the strangers with whom I have showered!"

Bonus representative quote: [in church] "The wafers now don’t taste so great. They won’t transubstantiate."

You might not like it if: You're afraid that this is a gateway musical and that after you try it you'll soon be hitting harder stuff, like Kander and Ebb. Maybe even a spot of Sondheim.

How to get it: Rent it or buy it. Singing along is encouraged.

[Originally posted 5/10/11.]

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #24: The Lady Vanishes

Stream what: In this early Hitchcock film, there's a lady, and then she vanishes. A lot of it takes place on a train.

Stream why: It's classic suspenseful, witty early Hitchcock. Also, star Margaret Lockwood is a dead ringer for a brunette Kristen Bell, which is enjoyable.

Stream where: Hulu


Read more: Rec. #225, List #30

Friday Flashback: Rec. #89: Sontag & Kael --- Opposites Attract Me

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: In Sontag & Kael, Craig Seligman, who is himself a successful critic, examines the lives and work of two (in)famous critics, Susan Sontag and Pauline Kael. 

The dichotomy of their critical approaches (Sontag is intellectually rigorous and austere; Kael is passionate and argumentative) effectively serves to highlight why both women were pioneers in modern criticism. In different ways, they each changed the way we think --- and talk --- about the world.

Comparable to: Read some Pauline Kael. Read some Susan Sontag. Mash them together and tie it up with a third articulate, perceptive voice. That's basically this book.

Representative quote: "Ours is indeed an age of extremity. For we live under threat of two equally fearful, but seemingly opposed, destinies: unremitting banality and inconceivable terror." [Susan Sontag, post-9/11]

You might not like it if: You're just looking for some movie recommendations.

How to get it: It's in print, but not (yet) Kindle-able. A very good, short book for commuting via public transit! You will be able to sit and nod sagely on the train.

[Originally posted 3/29/11.]

Rec. #396: Travel Man

What: In the docu series Travel Man, British actor/director Richard Ayoade travels with other vaguely recognizable semi-celebrities to Barcelona, Istanbul, Iceland, Marrakech, Vienna, Paris, Copenhagen, and Moscow.

Like other dry Brits before him, Ayoade is reluctant to enjoy most things, which makes this whole series absolutely delightful.

Tag line: "We're here, but should we have come?"

Representative quote bonanza:

"Mini-breaks are a swelling nebula of nonsense."

"I feel pretty good about this, actually. I feel less bad than I normally do, which for me is a ringing endorsement." [on riding a camel]

"To ensure solitude for our final foray, I have of course chartered a battery-powered self-driven island."

"As ever, day two starts with staring at cakes through glass."

How to get it: Pay attention here. If you're in the U.S., some kindly soul has uploaded high-quality video of all eight episodes here. Hurry now, before they get taken down.

Quote from a Fictional Character #85

"The Guide says there is an art to flying, or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."

--- Ford Prefect,

Life, the Universe and Everything, Douglas Adams, 1982

(Rec. #230)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #265: Dead Again

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Goodness gracious, there is an awful lot going on in this early-'90s wannabe-neo-noir flick. Amnesia! Hypnosis! Flashbacks! Reincarnation! Double dual roles! Accents! Fakeouts! Hitchcock nods! Twists! Brief appearance by Robin Williams!

A Los Angeles private detective stumbles across a mysterious mute amnesiac who keeps having nightmares about a murder that took place in the 1940s. Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson each play two roles: We get the modern-day story in color and the flashbacks to the doomed '40s couple in black and white.

Representative quote: "This is fate we're talking about, and if fate works at all, it works because people think that THIS TIME, it isn't going to happen!"

You might not like it if: You can't get over how Kenneth Branagh can't get over himself. (Who gives themselves two starring roles for their sophomore directing effort?) But you can have a good giggle at the various accents he tries out.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Emma Thompson is excellent, as always, even in the unlikely dual roles of "mute amnesiac" and "soon-to-be-murdered pianist." Also see her in Wit (Rec. #132).

[Originally posted 10/4/12.]

Rec. #395: Beauty

What: Oh, you know, just another time travel, fairy tale revisionist, eco-morality, sci-fi dystopian saga.

If there was any justice in this world, Beauty would be a recognized sci-fi classic.

Representative quote: "It is easy to get on a board of directors. All one has to do is give money. Of course, getting the money out of a warrant over six hundred years old is another matter."

You might not like it if: Fair warning that while the novel certainly has its light moments, it also gets grimmer than Grimm.

How to get it: In-print and Kindle-able

Connection previous Wreckage: This novel was part of List #51: Great Books, Terrible Titles.