Weekly Wreck of the Web #2

Ten links of interest:

1. Kate Beaton is home for the holidays, which means she's making comics about her family 

2. 99 Ways to Fight Trump

3. Blood and beehives: Phyllis Posnick's styling for Vogue

4. A new interactive timeline visualization of U.S. television news coverage

5. This panda battling a snowman is all of us grappling with the year 2016

6. Snow falls in the Sahara Desert for the First Time in 37 Years

7. London gentrification: cliches and conundrums (and hipsters)

8. To those fleeing President Trump: Welcome to Canada! (published a year ago) 

9. Starting in 2019, if Your Film Isn't Diverse, It Won't Be Eligible for a BAFTA Award

10. Susan Blackwell Gives Back with Hamilton Star Javier Munoz for the Holidays

Weekly Wreck of the Web #1

Ten links of interest:

1. “How to Protect Yourself from Government Surveillance and Criminal Hackers” 

2. Looking at popular Christmas-set films through a 2016 lens

3. Sunday in the Park with George, Annaleigh Ashford, Broadway. YES

4. Kate Beaton is working on a graphic novel!

5. “Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda”

6. Fascinating photos of posh parties in 1980s U.K.

7. Baby wombat and his favorite human

8. BBC and ITV are launching a service that streams British shows on demand 

9. Said the Gramophone released their annual “Best Songs” list (with downloads)

10. Sarah Kendzior on the false binary of “fake news”

Quote from a Fictional Character #93

"That's what's so tough --- just having to put up with it. It's a bloody awful shame, I know. But you'll feel a bit better by and by, I promise. Yes, you really will. There'll be tea, and sand castles, and your birthday, and Christmas. It's just as bad as can be now, I know; that's why things have got to get a bit better."

--- Lucy Culpepper,

The Embroidered Sunset, Joan Aiken, 1970

Friday Flashback: Rec. #237: Dorothy Parker --- What Fresh Hell Is This?

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

Also, What Fresh Hell Is This? just seems like such an appropriate title right now.

What: Some people go through a Sylvia Plath phase or a Jack Kerouac phase. I went through a Dorothy Parker phase and, frankly, it's ongoing. 

Parker was the brittle soul of the Algonquin Round Table in 1920s New York, and this biography by Marion Meade fully explores every damaged relationship, every jaded poem, every stripped-bare story, every failed suicide attempt, and every biting quip.

Some of Parker's famous biting quips:

"Wasn't the Yale prom wonderful? If all the girls in attendance were laid end to end, I wouldn't be at all surprised."

"This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force."

"That woman speaks eighteen languages, and can't say No in any of them."

"Heterosexuality is not normal, it's just common."

"I don't care what is written about me so long as it isn't true."


You might not like it if: You get weighed down by the tales of depression and alcoholism, and the bright flashes of dry genius aren't enough to lift you back up.

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

Connections to previous Wreckage: I recommended The Portable Dorothy Parker for Personal Wreck #3. Also, Fran Lebowitz, with such works as Metropolitan Life (Rec. #188), is often compared to Dorothy Parker.

[Originally posted 5/21/12.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #231: Gentlemen and Players

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

What: Who doesn't love a good cat-and-mouse suspense novel set at a British boys grammar school? With an allegorical chess framework, no less.

Comparable to: Impossible not to imagine the cast of The History Boys running around St. Oswald's, with Richard Griffiths fitting into the role of Roy Straitley, the eccentric and hunted Classics teacher, quite nicely. Or is that just me?

Opening lines: "If there's one thing I've learned in the past fifteen years, it's this: that murder is really no big deal. It's just a boundary, meaningless and arbitrary as all others --- a line drawn in the dirt."

You might not like it if: Author Joanne Harris clearly had so much fun coming up with the character names. (Using the Dickens method of nomenclature, we've got Bob Strange, Dianne Dare, John Snyde, Chris Keane, Mr. Meek, Dr. Tidy, etc.) 

But the overt chess references (I'm looking at you, Pat Bishop and Colin Knight) might make you feel a bit bludgeoned.

How to get it: In print, Kindle-able, and surely available from your library system.

Connection to previous Wreckage: I first mentioned Gentlemen and Players during Personal Wreck Week (List #1). The History Boys was Rec. #115.

[Originally posted 4/29/12.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #241: The Name of the Rose

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

What: Umberto Eco's first novel is a medieval whodunnit set in an Italian monastery. With this bestselling doorstopper, you get a monk-murderer, accusations of heresy, casks of pig blood, secret symbols, and some unexpectedly baroque descriptions of illuminated manuscripts.

Comparable to: Like If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, this novel is set up as a postmodernist puzzler. Also like If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, the original language of the book is Italian.

Closing lines [no spoilers; don't worry]: "It is cold in the scriptorium, my thumb aches. I leave this manuscript, I do not know for whom; I no longer know what it is about: stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda tenemus."

You might not like it if: Well, it's a 600+-page novel in which a lost work by Aristotle plays a pivotal role and Latin is strewn about with reckless abandon. 

It's rather difficult to pinpoint why exactly this was such a popular success that it inspired a movie adaptation, a board game, a radio drama, and a video game ... but it was and it did.

How to get it: The Name of the Rose is widely available. Easy to buy, borrow, or download to your Kindle.

Connections to other Wreckage: If on a Winter's Night a Traveler was Rec. #261.

[Originally posted 6/3/12.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #361 and Rec. #362: The High Concept of Concept Albums --- Two Case Studies

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

Case #1 (Rec. #361): God Help the Girl

The album after the concept album:
God Help the Girl, 2014 film soundtrack

Lifecycle:
Single --- Come Monday Night --- May 2009
Main concept album --- God Help the Girl --- June 2009
Single --- Funny Little Frog --- July 2009
EP --- Stills --- November 2009
Single --- Baby, You're Blind --- May 2010
Film (God Help the Girl) January 2014

What the concept album did: Under the leadership of Stuart Murdoch, indie pop group Belle and Sebastian acts as the backing band to fictional character Eve.

What the concept album couldn't do: Adding a mannered two-step dance by Emily Browning and Olly Alexander takes the last minute of the song "The Psychiatrist Is In" to the next level of sublime. The film also features assorted snarky visual gags and some inspired hair/wardrobe combos.

Case #2 (Rec. #362): Here Lies Love

See also Rec. #187

The album after the concept album:
Here Lies Love, 2014 cast recording

Lifecycle:
Song cycle performances --- Adelaide Festival of Arts --- March 2006
Live performance --- Carnegie Hall --- February 2007
Concept album --- April 2010
Off-Broadway musical --- 2013-2014

What the concept album did: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim tell the story of Imelda Marcos in 22 songs, featuring a wide range of vocalists, including Santigold, Martha Wainwright, Florence Welch, Cyndi Lauper, Nellie McKay, Sia, and Steve Earle.

(I know that's a lot to take in. See Rec. #187 for further information.)

What the concept album couldn't do: The off-Broadway disco musical is an immersive theatrical experience. There are rolling platform stages and a DJ and screens everywhere and audience dance breaks and a news camera on walkabout and some very helpful people in bright pink jumpsuits. It's nonstop, but not overwhelming.

[Originally posted 11/12/14.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #235: I Have a Bed Made of Buttermilk Pancakes

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

What: Author Jaclyn Moriarty wryly and thoughtfully follows members of the Zing family into illicit swimming pool visits, through fake letters to the editor, past aeronautical engineers, over a beach umbrella, and --- most of all --- beyond a family secret that necessitates clandestine weekly meetings. In a garden shed. As you do.

Comparable to: Imagine William Goldman (author of The Princess Bride) writing about Lisa Lutz's Spellman family, but cunningly threading out a channel of story for each character.

Opening lines: "Once upon a time there was a watercolour painter who thought he could invent a parachute. This was in the early days of parachutes."

Representative quote: "A year ago she didn't even know the Zings. Today, she gets a spasm in her right eye when she sees one. (The letter V has the same effect.) Also, she has lost her personality. She lost the personality a few weeks back. To be specific, it was burned to cinders in the Zing Garden Shed."

You might not like it if: All the story threads get tangled in your brain before you get to the wow at the end.

Connections to other Wreckage: Jaclyn Moriarty is also the author of Feeling Sorry for Celia (Rec. #48) and The Year of Secret Assignments (Rec. #330).

See also List #51: Great Books, Terrible Titles (Bonus Round!).

[Originally posted 5/14/12.]

List #61: Unpretty Women and Their Cities

I had some complicated reactions to this article from The Telegraph and this article from The Guardian, but they did make me think about a few recent(ish) documentaries that, to different extents, foregrounded their profiles with the framing of the subject as "not beautiful/pretty."

Here's to them. And their cities.

Finding Vivian Maier:
The thoughtful, skilled work of a street photographer daylighting as a nanny is discovered after her death. Represent, Chicago! (streaming on Netflix)

Iris:

Iris Apfel, fashion icon, putters through New York City. Not unlike Bill Cunningham, Apfel has been graced in her old age with an unbreakable aura of adorable eccentricity. (streaming on Netflix)

Public Speaking:
Fran Lebowitz talks and thinks and talks some more. As her friend Toni Morrison says, Lebowitz is "almost always right, but never fair." (For more Lebowitz, see Rec. #188 and Rec. #347.)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #133: Sweet Danger

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

What: Albert Campion, the very intelligent and highly skilled amateur detective, is so good at slipping into other roles that most of the world is convinced he's every bit as vacuous as he appears. This appearance of affable stupidity comes in very handy when he's being his cleverest. 

Sweet Danger opens with Campion knee-deep in an investigation that requires him to masquerade at different times as minor royalty, a woman, and an author. As you do. And, of course, his real name is not actually Albert Campion ...

Comparable to: Margery Allingham's Albert Campion and Edmund Crispin's Gervase Fen both are in it for the fun and thrills, and their creators' novels reflect that playfulness.

Representative quote: "The man really was amazingly like a duck."

You might not like it if: Your mind reels when you learn that our hero's butler/valet/bodyguard is named Magersfontein Lugg.

How to get it: First of all, you have several different title options. At different times, this novel has been published as Sweet Danger, Kingdom of Death, and The Fear Sign.

Connection to previous Wreckage: If you wish to try out Gervase Fen, you can start with The Moving Toyshop (Rec. #60).

Bonus fun fact for Whovians: Several of the Campion stories were adapted for a BBC television series starring Peter Davison. This is the Peter Davison who also played the Doctor in the early '80s. He is also the father-in-law of David Tennant.

[Originally posted 5/24/11.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #66: The Passion

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'll be honest; this book is pretty trippy. On the surface, it focuses on two people: Henri, who is Napoleon's chef, and Villanelle, who is (among other things) a Venetian gondolier's daughter. Through them, the reader is introduced to the worlds of croupiers, pickpockets, Napoleon's army, and an island of madmen. 

It is a story about the often selfish nature of love, but it is not a love story. I don't know how she does it, but Jeanette Winterson manages to make this short, sometimes harsh, novel feel positively lush.

Comparable to: It's a somewhat dizzying blend of magical realism, history, fairy tale, and modernism. It's a bit Thomas Pynchon, a bit Woolf's Orlando, a bit Angela Carter.

Representative quote: "In spite of what the monks say, you can meet God without getting up early."

You might not like it if: You want your historical fiction to be more historical and less fictional.

How to get it: Kindle download, brick-and-mortar store, online store, library.

Connections to previous Wreckage: If you long for lush surrealism in a moving picture format, I'd like to direct your attention to Rec. #49: The Fall. (Note that The Passion and The Fall have similar, deceptively simple, titles. For balance.)

Also see some of Winterson's other work: Art & Lies (Rec. #349), The PowerBook (Rec. #302), and Weight (Rec. #272)

[Originally posted 3/6/11.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #274: The Forsyte Saga

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

What: Adapted from the novels by John Galsworthy, The Forsyte Saga follows a British family over the course of five adulterous, scheming, artistic, wrenching, scandalous, tragic, well-funded decades.

Comparable to: Before Downton Abbey chomped its way through early twentieth century domestic drama, The Forsyte Saga made its own mark, with people running off with governesses, getting engaged to penniless architects, supporting spendthrift husbands, being killed while running around in the fog, and disinheriting people (and then reinheriting them).

A few key phrases from the Wikipedia plot summary:
"ends up vulgarly kissing her arm in public"
"June returns from a holiday in Switzerland and discovers the lawsuit"
"when he pulls the trigger he finds it was not loaded"

Representative quote: "There is something ironic, isn't there, that all the people I love, really love, all gravitate to her in the end. And they always love Irene more."

[Originally posted 2/6/13.]

List #60: Happy Birthday, Kate Beaton

Who: Cartoonist, children's book author, web comic artist, proud Canadian

Hark! A Vagrant, website

(Rec. #95)

(List #21)

Never Learn Anything from History, comic collection, 2009

Hark! A Vagrant, comic collection, 2011

(Rec. #186)

(Gift Idea #2)

Step Aside, Pops, comic collection, 2015

The Princess and the Pony, children's book, 2015

(List #57)

And! She has a new book coming out! King Baby is on its way, and Beaton is doing a tour for it.

HELLO. I am back. Again.

Another move and, with it, another unexpected hiatus. It wasn't Comcast's fault this time.

But! Back again! (Although now coming from a new and very different location.)

New content tomorrow!






[Image taken from the "1,000 Frames of Hitchcock" section of the Alfred Hitchcock Wiki. It is fantastic; do check it out.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #279: So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

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

What: Arthur Dent makes his way back to Earth, which is quite an accomplishment since the planet was destroyed three books previously to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

Opening lines: "Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-eight million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue-green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea."

Representative quote: "His name was simply John Watson, though he preferred to be called --- and some of his friends had now reluctantly agreed to do this --- Wonko the Sane."

Bonus representative quote: "She was most immensely relieved to think that virtually everything that anybody had ever told her was wrong."

You might not like it if: This was the first story in The Hitchhiker's Guide series that Douglas Adams wrote specifically as a book instead of adapting it from something else. You might object to a result that's slightly more straightforward than usual.

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

Connections to previous Wreckage: Celebrate Douglas Adams with List #25

[Originally posted 3/5/13.]

Rec. #400: Go

What: You know the '90s are back, right? Welcome back to 1999, with the musical accompaniment of Fatboy Slim.

One night takes Sarah Polley, Katie Holmes, Scott Wolf, Jay Mohr, Timothy Olyphant, and Taye Diggs through various misadventures (drug deals gone wrong, car theft, raves, an accidental shooting, vehicular manslaughter) in L.A. and Las Vegas.

Two things I had forgotten or not realized about this movie:

• It has a crazy cast, including early appearances from Jane Krakowski and Melissa McCarthy.
• It takes place at Christmas time. What a way to celebrate.

Comparable to: Pulp Fiction, Swingers, Playing by Heart, Run Lola Run

Representative dialogue:
"It really didn't go as bad as it could have."
"A girl is dead, Zack."
"I didn't say it went perfectly."

How to get it: Buy, rent, or borrow

Quote from a Fictional Character #92

"Genius is an infinite capacity for causing pain."

--- Boyce,

The Robber Bride, Margaret Atwood, 1993

(Rec. #105)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #229: Libeled Lady

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

What: Jean Harlow. William Powell. Myrna Loy. Spencer Tracy. What else can you possibly need to know?

Comparable to: You've got the Myrna Loy/William Powell pairing made famous in The Thin Man, the crisp dialogue of sparring couples as in The Awful Truth, the frantic edge of the newsroom as in His Girl Friday, and some wackadoo matrimonial plotting worthy of The Palm Beach Story.

Representative quote:
"I thought that was rather clever of me."
"Yes, I thought you thought so."

You might not like it if: Wait, so she's suing the paper ... and she's engaged to the paper's editor ... and then he gets him to trap her ... while pretending to be married to her ... and then she changes her mind ... and ... what?

How to get it: Buy it or borrow it.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Gosh, I love old screwball comedies. See also: The Palm Beach Story (Rec. #17), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Rec. #65), Midnight (Rec. #194), The Awful Truth (Rec. #219)

Also, of course List #42: In Praise of the American Screwball Comedy

[Originally posted 4/12/12.]

Friday (whoops, Saturday) Flashback: Rec. #171 (abbrev.): Fraud

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

What: David Rakoff (not David Sedaris), debut essay collection, This American Life, New York City, hiking trip, Aspen, Loch Ness monster, New Age retreat, Steven Seagal, wilderness survival camp, elves in Iceland, editorial assistants, daytime soap opera, department store Freud

Representative quote: "I know I sound like the Central Casting New Yorker I've turned myself into with single-minded determination when I say this, but the main problem with working in the fields is that the sun is just always shining."

Connection to previous Wreckage: Rakoff followed this up with Don't Get too Comfortable (Rec. #76).

[Originally posted 8/17/11.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #97: Charade

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

What: Charade is one of my favorite "Audrey Hepburn runs around Paris" films (there are several). In this one, she's being pursued by some sinister men who are after a mysterious fortune that was supposedly stolen by her recently murdered husband. 

Cary Grant runs around Paris with her, and the two Movie Stars are so charming you can almost forget the 25-year age gap that makes their on-screen romance kind of ooky. The mystery/suspense portions hold up remarkably well, thanks in no small part to the deliciously written bad guys.

Representative quote: "Of course, you won't be able to lie on your back for a while, but then you can lie from any position, can't you?"

Bonus representative quote: "She batted them pretty little eyes at you, and you fell for it like an egg from a tall chicken!" 

[that's from Tex, one of the baddies]

You might not like it if: When it first came out in 1963, some critics hated the movie because of its drastic tonal shifts, from suspense to comedy to romance and back again.

How to get it: Due to a copyright omission in the released print, this film is actually in the public domain, so it's not hard to find. The fabulous score by Henry Mancini is under copyright, though.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Audrey Hepburn is also menaced in Wait Until Dark (Rec. #26). Poor Audrey.

See Audrey run around Paris some more in the aptly named List #41: Audrey Hepburn Runs Around Paris.

[Originally posted 4/6/11.]

Quote from a Fictional Character #91

"I had to wait 4 hours at emergency 'cause of someone queue hopping! Who cares if he was shot? He shot HIMSELF. Some people are so selfish."

--- Frank Gallagher,

Shameless (UK), 2004

(Rec. #14)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #324: Victory Over Japan

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

What: Ellen Gilchrist's collection of stories was the winner of the 1984 U.S. National Book Award. 

The 14 stories are grouped into 4 sections: "Rhoda"; "Crazy, Crazy, Now Showing Everywhere"; "Nora Jane"; and "Crystal." All very different characters and situations, but recognizably the same sardonic universe.

Representative quote from the "Rhoda" section:"Rhoda woke up dreaming. In the dream she was crushing the skulls of Jody's sheepdogs. Or else she was crushing the skulls of Jody's sisters. Or else she was crushing Jody's skull. Jody was the husband she was leaving."

Representative quote from the "Crazy, Crazy, Now Showing Everywhere" section:
"Lenny Weiss had been sweeping sand for an hour. Was that any way to treat asthma?"

Representative quote from the "Nora Jane" section:
"Freddy Harwood was the founder and owner of the biggest and least profitable bookstore in northern California."

Representative quote from the "Crystal" section:
"Now King's run off to a hippie commune because Mr. Alter shot himself and Miss Crystal's going crazy looking for him. It's the second time he's run off since the funeral."

Connections to previous Wreckage: Gilchrist also wrote The Cabal and Other Stories (Rec. #216), Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle (Rec. #159), and Nora Jane: A Life in Stories (Rec. #25).

[Originally posted 1/22/14.]

Friday Flashback #296: Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle

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

What: Sometimes it still feels like it could have been a dream. But no --- in the mid-'90s, we really did get a biopic about the wonderful, brittle, sharp-edged Dorothy Parker and her clever, clever friends of the Algonquin Round Table. Not only did the movie exist, it also seemed to include nearly every actor balancing at the mainstream / indie film fringe then.

A special note on the cast: I mean, really.

Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dorothy Parker
Campbell Scott as Robert Benchley

Plus
Martha Plimpton as Jane Grant
Matthew Broderick as Charles MacArthur
Lili Taylor as Edna Ferber
Chip Zien as Franklin Pierce Adams
Jane Adams as Ruth Hale
Keith Carradine as Will Rogers
Rebecca Miller as Neysa McMein
Jon Favreau as Elmer Rice
Jennifer Beals as Gertrude Benchley
Peter Gallagher as Alan Campbell
Heather Graham as Mary Kennedy Taylor
Andrew McCarthy as Edwin Pond Parker II
Gwyneth Paltrow as Paula Hunt
Wallace Shawn as Horatio Byrd

... to name a few

Representative quote: "You don't want to turn into the town drunk, Eddie. Not in Manhattan."

Bonus representative quote: "Tragedies don't kill us, Woodrow. Messes kill us."

Connections to previous Wreckage: Read about Parker in the biography What Fresh Hell Is This? (Rec. #237). Read Parker's own writings in The Portable Dorothy Parker (Personal Wreck #3).


Also, did you notice Rebecca Miller listed up there? That's the same Rebecca Miller who wrote Personal Velocity (Rec. #278).

[Originally posted 6/13/13.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #276: The Heir

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

What: Peregrine Chase manages an insurance company, and he really, really seems like someone who would manage an insurance company. Then he inherits a Tudor house with a moat and some peacocks, and everything changes. (Except his name, which was already pretty great.)

Comparable to: Cold Comfort Farm without the acerbic bite.

Opening lines: "Miss Chase lay on her immense red silk four-poster that reached as high as the ceiling. Her face was covered over by a sheet, but as she had a high, aristocratic nose, it raised the sheet into a ridge, ending in a point. Her hands also could be distinguished beneath the sheet, folded across her chest like the hands of an effigy; and her feet, tight together like the feet of an effigy, raised the sheet into two further points at the bottom of the bed. She was eighty-four years old, and she had been dead for twenty-four hours."

Representative quote: "What on earth were panage hogs, to which apparently he was entitled?"

How to get it: Buy it or borrow it.

Connections to previous Wreckage: I previously mentioned Vita Sackville-West's The Heir during Personal Wreck Week (List #5). And all the smirking bite of Cold Comfort Farm was Rec. #34.

[Originally posted 2/19/13.]

Quote from a Fictional Character #90

"Smells fishy to me."

"Well, even fish smells good when you're starving to death."

--- George Lumley and Blanche Tyler,

Family Plot, 1976

(Rec. #120)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #10: Territory

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

What: With Territory, Emma Bull retells the story of Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers. In doing so, she also introduces a subtle thread of magic into the action. I know combining fantasy with Western/historical fiction sounds iffy, but believe me --- it works. (No horses actually emerge from trees.)

Comparable to: Mercedes Lackey's Elemental Masters series follows similar logic.

Representative quote: "Do you know why one can't take the law into one's own hands? Because the law is too big to fit in one pair of hands. So if you feel you've got a comfortable grip on whatever you're holding, you can be pretty sure it's not the law."

You might not like it if: Sorry, folks. No Jeff Bridges here. (Or John Wayne. Or Kirk Douglas or Burt Lancaster or Kurt Russell or Val Kilmer, for that matter.)

How to get it: It's downloadable, buyable, and borrowable.



[Originally posted 1/9/11.]

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #27: The Buccaneers

Stream what: In this Edith Wharton adaptation, new-money Americans head to England to buy themselves some aristocrats.

Stream why: It's soapy in the best way possible. [Don't take the puppy, Nan! It will not end well for you!]

Stream where: Netflix

Friday Flashback: Rec. #169: The Clothes They Stood Up In

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

What: One evening, Mr. and Mrs. Ransome return home from the opera to discover that all of their belongings are gone. More than just electronics and jewelry have disappeared --- gone too are the toilet paper holder, the carpeting, the curtain rings, the light bulbs, and the casserole warming in the oven (not to mention the oven itself). 

The Ransomes suddenly find themselves in the uncomfortable position of discovering who they are without their possessions. One adjusts better than the other.

Comparable to: The Clothes They Stood Up In was written by Alan Bennett. Like many of his plays, the story of this couple's struggle is witty, cutting, subversive, charming, and satirical.

Representative quote: "Once they had asked some newcomers on their floor around to sherry, but he had turned out to be what he called 'a big band freak' and she had been a dental receptionist with a time-share in Portugal, so one way and another it had been an awkward evening and they had never repeated the experience."

You might not like it if: You are not a fan of Bennett's style of humor.

How to get it: It's Kindle-able, and the print version is conveniently pocket-sized, which means this is an excellent book for a commute on public transit.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Watch The History Boys (Rec. #115) to see one of Bennett's plays in action. See also List #52: Happy Birthday, Alan Bennett.

[Originally posted 8/14/11.]

Quote from a Fictional Character #89

"Sharon Driscoll, my best friend and mentor at the travel agency, had been influential in making me believe that telling the truth and lying convincingly are more or less the same thing."

--- Patrick O'Neil,

The Easy Way Out, Stephen McCauley, 1992

Bonus quote from the aforementioned Sharon Driscoll:

"The fifth bite is the real test of food. Remember that. The fifth bite, the third date, the fourth fuck, and the sixth year of marriage. Everything else is inconsequential."

[Also from author Stephen McCauley - Rec. #360: The Object of My Affection.]

Rec. #399: The Last Five Years

What: Making a film adaptation of the musical The Last Five Years is a weird choice.

• It's a musical
• It has a very, very, very limited number of characters (2)
• In the stage version, the characters have a total of one (1) scene together
• The story is told from two viewpoints
• One viewpoint is a linear timeline
• The other viewpoint's timeline is in reverse
• ... at the same time
• It is not big or flashy, and no one dies
• It does not have a happy ending

But! They somehow pull this off.

• Anna Kendrick is wildly miscast as a blonde "Shiksa Goddess," but also she is excellent
• The music is really beautiful and translates surprisingly well to the big screen
• Jeremy Jordan is not at all bad to look at
• The characters seem like real people who do and say things that actual people really do (... and also they sing)
• Seriously, Anna Kendrick is so good
• Seriously, the music is so good

How to get it: Currently streaming on Netflix

Friday Flashback: Rec. #289: Psmith, Journalist

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

What: The perennially unruffled Rupert Psmith (the "P" is silent) decides to take over a syrupy hearth-side magazine and shift its focus to exposing slumlords and supporting underdog boxers. (As you do.) 

Psmith is enjoying himself so thoroughly that becoming the target of some New York mobsters barely fazes him.

Comparable to: This novel has the typical P.G. Wodehouse flavor, but don't assume Rupert Psmith is another Bertie Wooster. Psmiths probably eat Woosters for dinner, after talking them to death first.

Opening lines: "The conditions of life in New York are so different from those of London that a story of this kind calls for a little explanation. Not all of them eke out a precarious livelihood by murdering one another, but there is a definite section of the population which murders --- not casually, on the spur of the moment, but on definitely commercial lines at so many dollars per murder."

Representative quote: "Meanwhile, however, kindly knock that chauffeur down and sit on his head. He's a bad person."

You might not like it if: You keep waiting for Jeeves to make an appearance.

How to get it: Looooook at that pretty edition from Overlook Press (above).

Connection to previous Wreckage: Loooook at some of the other pretty Wodehouse editions from Overlook Press in Gift Idea. #7. Also see the "W" index for more Wodehouse wrecks.

[Originally posted 5/13/13.]

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #26: Best in Show

Stream what: Writer/director Christopher Guest does not particularly enjoy that his movies are referred to as "mockumentaries." But that's what everyone calls them, so ... this is a mockumentary about dog shows.

Stream why: The humor holds up pretty well 16 (!) years later. Plus, dogs!

Stream where: Netflix
(if you're in Chicago, it will also be one of the movies in the parks this summer)

Quote from a Fictional Character #88

"American millionaires must all be quite mad. Perhaps it's something they put in the ink when they print the money."

--- Charles Bonnet,

How to Steal a Million, 1966

(Rec. #205)

(List #28)

(List #41)

(SSoW #19)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #200 and Rec. #201: Brat Farrar and The Ivy Tree

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

What: Josephine Tey's Brat Farrar and Mary Stewart's The Ivy Tree are two glorious examples of mid-century suspense. Each novel centers on a fiendishly clever scheme to impersonate a missing heir. 

But as Brat Farrar becomes Patrick Ashby and Mary Grey becomes Annabel Winslow, the plans start to twist themselves inside out.

Representative quote, Brat Farrar: "But then he had never been interested in other people's concerns: their sins, their griefs, or their happiness. And anyhow, you couldn't be righteous with a man whose food you were eating."

Representative quote, The Ivy Tree: "There has to be luck, certainly, and there has to be careful planning. But it's like murder, isn't it? You only know about the ones that are found out. Nobody ever hears about the ones that get away with it."

You might not like them if: You're not willing to be won over by some charming, gutsy impostors.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Tey also delved into psychological suspense in Miss Pym Disposes (Rec. #75). Stewart also did neo-Gothic in My Brother Michael (Rec. #387). I previously mentioned The Ivy Tree during Personal Wreck Week (List #1).

[Originally posted 10/26/11.]

List #59: Great TV Shows, Terrible Titles

A.K.A., the spiritual successor to List #51: Great Books, Terrible Titles.

Better Off Ted (Rec. #147, QfFC #5, SSoW #18)

Streaming on Amazon and Netflix

Why the show is great: It is very possibly the wittiest workplace comedy ever. Endlessly quotable, with well-judged touches of the absurd.

Why the title is terrible: The main character's name is Ted.

Given the verbal dexterity of the episode scripts, I can only imagine that the title itself represents some kind of comedic double bluff.

Schitt's Creek

Streaming on Amazon

Why the show is great: Despite being about a wealthy family forced to move to a small town, the show is only partially about fish-out-of-water gags. The rest is actually kind of Northern Exposure-ish character study (but broader).

Why the title is terrible: Well, at least this terrible title is built in to the plot -- the family bought a town named Schitt's Creek for laughs, and now it's all they have left.

Scrotal Recall (List #57)

Streaming on Netflix

Why the show is great: Flouting all reasonable expectations, this show is sincere and wistful and British-charming-funny.

Why the title is terrible: This? This is what we've come to? Really?

HELLO. I am back.

The unexpected hiatus was due to moving and being without internet for a very long time because Comcast is terrible.

But! We are back! New content tomorrow!!







[Image taken from the "1,000 Frames of Hitchcock" section of the Alfred Hitchcock Wiki. It is fantastic; do check it out.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #78: Shadow of a Doubt

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

What: Once you realize that Shadow of a Doubt is a collaboration between Alfred Hitchcock and Thornton Wilder, the whole film clicks into place.

It's the story of two Charlies: Uncle Charlie Oakley, who's a vague sort of success out in the world, and Charlotte "Young Charlie" Newton, his niece and namesake. Young Charlie is frustrated with the confines of her family's small-town life --- then her adored Uncle Charlie comes to town.

As she slowly discovers another side of her uncle, the film slyly highlights the hundreds of small darknesses that creep into even the most idyllic settings.

Comparable to: As if a Hitchcock killer wandered onstage during a production of Our Town.

Representative quote: "We're not talking about killing people. Herb's talking about killing me, and I'm talking about killing him."

You might not like it if: You like your Hitchcock heroines blonde. You might be interested to know, however, that Hitchcock often said this was his favorite film. (It's my favorite of his, too.)

Connections to previous Wreckage: See List #30 for more Hitchcock films starring non-blondes.

Also, it's worth noting that, like The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (Rec. #65), Shadow of a Doubt features a witheringly clever younger sister.

[Originally posted 3/21/11.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #248: Lincoln's Dreams

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

What: A historical researcher meets a woman who seems to be having (despite the title) Robert E. Lee's nightmares. This early novel from multiple-award-winner Connie Willis shows that the author came right out of the gate ready to wrestle with big life/death questions while armed with fiercely detailed historical research.

Comparable to: Lincoln's Dreams pivots around the Civil War and dreams, while the two-volume Blackout/All Clear centers on World War II and time travel. Both, however, demonstrate Willis's skill at turning our history into a shared, visceral, adventurous experience.

Opening lines: "Traveller died of lockjaw two years after Robert E. Lee died. I looked that up one day in February, the day I went out to see where Abraham Lincoln's son Willie had been buried. I had been looking for the grave for over a year, and when I finally found it in a biography of Mary Todd Lincoln, I ran out of the library still carrying the book. It set off an alarm, and one of the librarians came out on the steps and shouted after me, 'Jeff, are you all right? Jeff!'"

You might not like it if: It is very likely that this book will break your heart. Sorry.

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

Connections to previous Wreckage: Connie Willis can break your heart, yes, but she can also do satirical social comedy (Bellwether, Rec. #218) and mindbogglingly intricate sci-fi realism (Blackout/All Clear, Gift Idea #1, Rec. #355).

Or she can do all three at once (To Say Nothing of the Dog, Rec. #100).

Connie Willis can do whatever the heck she wants to, basically.

[Originally posted 6/24/12.]