Rec. #461: If Literature's "Complicated Men" Were on Tinder

What: It's a funny thing from McSweeney's Internet Tendency earlier this month. "If Literature's 'Complicated Men' Were on Tinder" is by Sarah Chevallier, who also wrote "Now Hiring: Human Woman."

Representative quote: "About Jay: I’m weirdly similar to your ex, but like a fabulously rich and mysterious version of him that you would never have dumped for NO GODDAMN REASON in the first place, Daisy."

Rec. #460: Quote from a Fictional Character #95

"Oh my god. I'm your next of kin. I'm responsible for you in case of emergency ... That's not very encouraging for you now, is it?"

--- Josh,

Please Like Me (2013)

(Rec. #307), (QfFC #54), (SSoW #23)

Rec. #459: Revisiting List #42 (In Praise of the American Screwball Comedy, Part 3 - Actors)

[Originally posted August 20, 2014]


7 Actors of Note

[see also Part 1: 5 Tropes of Note and Part 2: 6 Directors of Note]


1. Jean Arthur

Such as: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Easy Living (1937), You Can't Take It With You (1938) [Rec. #327], The More the Merrier (1943) [Rec. #339]

Easy Living

2. Claudette Colbert

Such as: It Happened One Night (1934), Midnight (1939) [Rec. #194], It's a Wonderful World (1939), The Palm Beach Story (1942) [Rec. #17]

The Palm Beach Story

3. Cary Grant

Such as: Topper (1937), The Awful Truth (1937) [Rec. #219], Bringing Up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938) [Rec. #288], His Girl Friday (1940) [QfFC #34], My Favorite Wife (1940), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)

Arsenic and Old Lace

4. Katharine Hepburn

Such as: Bringing Up Baby (1938), Holiday (1938) [Rec. #288], The Philadelphia Story (1940)

Holiday

5. Carole Lombard

Such as: Twentieth Century (1932), Hands Across the Table (1935), My Man Godfrey (1936) [QfFC #26], Nothing Sacred (1937), Mr. and Mrs. Smith (1941), To Be or Not to Be (1942)

My Man Godfrey

6. William Powell

Such as: My Man Godfrey (1936) [QfFC #26], Libeled Lady (19360 [Rec. #229], I Love You Again (1940), Love Crazy (1941)

Love Crazy

7. Jimmy Stewart

Such as: You Can't Take It With You (1938) [Rec. #327], Vivacious Lady (1938), It's a Wonderful World (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940)

It's a Wonderful World

Rec. #458: Revisiting List #42 (In Praise of the American Screwball Comedy, Part 2 - Directors)

[Originally posted August 1, 2014]




6 Directors of Note

[see also Part 1: 5 Tropes of Note]


1. Frank Capra

Such as: It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It With You (1938) [Rec. #327], Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

You Can't Take It with You

2. George Cukor

Such as: Holiday (1938) [Rec. #288], The Philadelphia Story (1940)

The Philadelphia Story

3. Howard Hawks

Such as: Bringing Up Baby (1938), His Girl Friday (1940) [QfFC #34], Ball of Fire (1941)

Ball of Fire

4. Ernst Lubitsch

Such as: Trouble in Paradise (1932) [List #20], Design for Living (1933) [List #20], Ninotchka (1939), To Be or Not to Be (1942)

Design for Living

5. Preston Sturges

Such as: The Lady Eve (1941) [Rec. #129], Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942) [Rec. #17], The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944) [Rec. #65]

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

6. George Stevens

Such as: Vivacious Lady (1938), The More the Merrier (1943) [Rec. #339]

The More the Merrier

Rec. #457: Revisiting List #42 (In Praise of the American Screwball Comedy, Part 1 - Tropes)

[Originally posted July 23, 2014.]



5 Tropes of Note


1. Animals running amok

Such as: the leopard in Bringing Up Baby

Bringing Up Baby

2. Falling into/over/under tables and other furniture

Such as: The dinner party scene in The Lady Eve (Rec. #129)

The Lady Eve

3. This thing looks like that thing

Such as: the plaid suitcases in What's Up, Doc? (Rec. #38)

What's Up, Doc?

4. Fast, fast, fast patter

Such as: Walter (Cary Grant) and Hildy (Rosalind Russell) in His Girl Friday (QfFC #34)

His Girl Friday

5. Fake relationship

Such as: Gladys (Jean Harlow) and Bill (William Powell) in Libeled Lady (Rec. #229)

Libeled Lady

Rec. #456: Don't You Know How Busy & Important I Am?

What: A very satisfying two-and-a-half minutes of your life -- and the video is a good match for the song.

Representative lyrics:
Don't you know how busy and important I am?
I got so much to do
Ask me to the disco on a Friday night
I can't go, I've got too much to do

How to get it: I pulled this particular video off YouTube, but Tom Rosenthal also has newer work on Vimeo.

Rec. #455: No Context The Good Place

What: It's screen shots of The Good Place with the captions on! It's basically perfect for everything you could possibly want in life.

How to get it: On Twitter - @nocontexttgp

Rec. #454: Susan Blackwell Makes Daniel Radcliffe Clean Her Toilet

What: Susan Blackwell has done her excellent web series, Side by Side by Susan Blackwell, for years, and this particular segment is a real highlight. (See more about the show at Rec. #328.)

Many people have advocated for Susan Blackwell hosting the Tonys, but I think she can jump right into the Oscars. (We don't need any more Jimmy/James hosts.)

Key quote: "I'll make you a deal ... if you can explain the rules of cricket to me before I get bored, you don't have to scrub my toilet. Go!"

How to get it: YouTube and Broadway.com

Rec. #453: A New Google Doc of Media Men

What: The alternative title for this article is "The Mild-Mannered Men in Media List" and it's nice to pretend for a bit that we live in a world where these are our biggest worries. (I mean, I definitely know these dudes and they are absolutely annoying. But.)

Representative quote: "Alleged misconduct: says touché a lot, reads Harper’s next to water cooler rocking back and forth on heels w/one hand on his back, said Lemonade was 'OK.'"

How to get it: It was published last month in The Cut (under the New York Magazine umbrella).

Rec. #452: Quote for These Times #9

"If you look back through the decades, people have to be reminded of what they've learned to live with."

--- Ian Christie, discussing When the Wind Blows 

on the Front Row podcast for Jan. 22, 2018

Also: Front Row was Rec. #425

Rec. #451: Revisiting List #20 (Some of the Best of Edward Everett Horton)

[Originally posted August 23, 2012.]

Edward Everett Horton spent most of the 1930s and '40s playing second fiddle in some of the best screwball comedies ever made.

He appeared in eleven films in 1934 alone, but here is a small sampling of his work:

1. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944): Horton is the head of an insane asylum, which is quite full up with Teddy Roosevelts at the moment, thank you very much.

2. The Gay Divorcee (1934), Top Hat (1935), and Shall We Dance (1937): Horton is a non-dancing element of these classic Fred & Ginger romps.

3. Design for Living (1933): Horton is thwarted in love by both Gary Cooper and Frederic March.

4. Holiday (both 1930 and the --- superior --- remake in 1938): In both versions, Horton plays Professor Nick Potter, longstanding friend of the leading man. In the second version, Cary Grant is that leading man. (Rec. #288)

5. Trouble in Paradise (1932): Like Design for Living, above, this was a Pre-Code film. Translation: sex is a realistic option for these characters.

Fun Fact: It might also interest you to know the Horton was the narrator of the Fractured Fairy Tales segment on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.

Rec. #450: Revisiting Quote from a Fictional Character #86

[Originally posted April 4, 2016.]
 

"I think I dislike what I don't like more than I like what I like."

--- Gwendolen Harleth,

Daniel Deronda, George Eliot, 1876

[Fun fact: Gwendolen was played by Romola Garai in the BBC miniseries adaptation, which starred Hugh Dancy and therefore shows up in List #29: So You Love the Cast of Hannibal, but Wish Watching the Show Itself Weren't So Psychologically Damaging.]

Rec. #449: Tilted

What: Christine and the Queens is one person --- Héloïse Letissier --- but it seems fair enough that her stage name implies more. She brings a whole suite of talents to her music, including performance art and distinctive choreography. Plus, she manages a sort of dorky French coolness that we can only hope to emulate.

Representative lyrics: "But I'm actually good / Can't help it if we're tilted"

How to get it: Time for a YouTube rabbit hole! The music video is here, a performance for the BRIT awards is here, and you can see Christine and the Queens cover Beyoncé here. Also, I haven't yet watched Better Things, but they did this cool recreation of the music video on that show.

Rec. #448: Colossal

 

What: A woman bottoms out, moves home, and discovers that under very specific circumstances she manifests as a Godzilla-type creature in Seoul. Then the real monsters come out.

It's a genre-bender that makes room for mumblecore, sci-fi, Tim Blake Nelson, small-scale redemption, large-scale disaster, Dan Stevens, suspense, renovated bars, and an excellent performance from Anne Hathaway.

Rec. #447: Noel Fielding Interprets Kate Bush

What: Noel Fielding recreates Kate Bush's iconic music video for "Wuthering Heights" and it's amazing.

I fully believe that this is the most seriously Noel Fielding has ever taken anything in his LIFE.

Connections to previous Wreckage: This was part of a Let's Dance for Comic Relief series in 2011, further convincing me that 2011 was the golden age for Red Nose Day/Comic Relief --- I previously featured "MasterChef at No10" as Rec. #434 from the same year.

How to get it: There are a few different versions on YouTube. I slightly prefer the performance he gave in episode 2 (embedded above) over what he did during the finale. You can also see his cute intro for the finale and the judges' remarks.

Rec. #446: Quote from a Fictional Character #94

"Look, there's a you-shaped print on the couch. Any other mother would have made you change out of those wet clothes before we talked. 

You need to have a bath or you'll end up with pneumonia and die, which would be an unexpected plot twist in our lives. Or the couch might get pneumonia. Even more unexpected."

--- Holly Tully,
A Corner of White, Jaclyn Moriarty, 2012

See also: Rec. #48, Rec. #235, Rec. #330

Rec. #445: Math -- An Illustrated Guide

What: In fewer than 50 illustrated equations, Megan Amram and Liana Finck explain math --- and the world --- to you.

Connections to previous Wreckage: See further Megan Amram cleverness in Rec. #401 and Rec. #427

Rec. #444: Revisiting Quote from a Fictional Character #5

[QfFC #5 was originally posted on October 8, 2013.]
 

"Oh, god, Lem. You're using science for no good. We took an oath we would try to do that less."

--- Phil Myman,

Better Off Ted, 2009

[on the DVD cover image, Phil is on the far left and Lem is on the far right]

(Rec. #147)

 [I love this show. So. Much.]

Rec. #443: Revisiting List #11 (4 Books That Are Ostensibly For People Under 18, but Are Actually for YOU)

[List #11 was originally posted October 11, 2011.]

 


1. Moominvalley in November, by Tove Jansson (Rec. #109)

"Meant" for: Late-elementary-age kids who love funny names like Mymble, Toft, Fillyjonk, and Snufkin.

Actually for: Thoughtful types who are vaguely and wistfully considering a move to Sweden, Finland, Norway, or Denmark.

2. Confessions of Georgia Nicholson, by Louise Rennison (Rec. #130)

"Meant" for: Young teens who relate all too well to Georgia's hilarious misadventures.

Actually for: Grown-ups who are looking for honest-to-goodness funny writing, and are not above laughing at a 14-year-old.


3. The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, by George Saunders (Rec. #18)

"Meant" for: Late-elementary-age kids who totally dig the way those gappers look. Plus, a goat on a table!

Actually for: Design nerds who want an excuse to read George Saunders out loud.

4. The Undertaker's Gone Bananas, by Paul Zindel (Rec. #16)

"Meant" for: Middle and high school students who feel like misfits.

Actually for: Everyone who never stopped feeling like a high school misfit. (So, everyone.)





[Yup. I would still recommend all of these.]

 

Rec. #442: Posh Dancing

What: I just love this sketch from That Mitchell and Webb Look. Fans of the 1995 adaptation of Pride & Prejudice (the right one) will particularly appreciate some of the details, but there's something here for everyone: a conga line, yelling at Caroline Bingley, and wild freestyle disco.

Representative quote: "Perhaps, Mr. Darcy, you would be good enough to favor us with an exhibition of your freestyle disco prowess."

Rec. #441: #MeToo Has Debunked the "Lean In" Philosophy

What: In this article, Sarah Seltzer offers the mild silver-lining thought that, hey, maybe it's not up to women to just push more/speak up/ask for raises in order to solve workplace inequality.

Maybe workplace sexism is, in fact, a virulent systemic problem, and not an individual hurdle that each woman is responsible for bootstrapping her own way over through endless self-improvement.

Representative quote: "So no matter how much self-help women ingest, how many inspiring speakers we listen to at company events for women employees, how many circles of supportive colleagues we form, it won’t be enough."

How to get it: The article "#MeToo Has Debunked the 'Lean In' Philosophy" was published in The Nation on Dec. 19, 2017.

Rec. #440: Paintings by Andrea Kowch

What: Andrea Kowch's work is often full of a teetering frontier near-apocalypse (pre or post) that seems absolutely appropriate right now.

[Oh, hey, and she's from Michigan! *waves to Michigan*]

How to get it: Kowch's main website is a bit out of date, but it has loads of her work. She's also on Twitter.

Rec. #439: Perfection as a Hipster

What: God Help the Girl is a musical project from Stuart Murdoch with Belle and Sebastian. It's full of indie pop gorgeousness like this (and also led to a film with the same name).

Representative lyrics:
I always wonder how things could've been
(I wouldn't waste time dreaming about me)
Spend every second day just
dreaming how the first one ought to be

Connections to previous Wreckage: For more about the movie, see Rec. #361, List #47, SSoW #15

Rec. #438: Helen Rosner's "Blacklight" Tweet

 

[Text reads: The detoxification of a massive culture is like running a blacklight over an hourly motel near the airport. It's filthy. It's not fun. It also turns out we're ALL covered in stains, maybe that we didn't even realize were on us, and it's repulsive to realize how stained we are. 

--- Helen Rosner (@hels) on 25 Jan 2018]

What: Helen Rosner writes about food and food culture, previously for Eater and now for The New Yorker. This tweet came in the middle of a longer thread about the debated responsibilities of restaurant criticism, but it can clearly be applied across the wide variety of massive cultures and industries falling under recent scrutiny.

How to get it: I strongly recommended following Helen Rosner on Twitter. She writes well and interestingly, she's prolific, and she has a cute dog.

Rec. #437: Revisiting List #26 (Content That Has Actually Caused Me to Throw Something Across a Room)

[List #26 was originally posted March 12, 2013]
 

Some of these I love and some of them I loathe. Feel free to guess which is which!

1. Angels and Ages [book], Adam Gopnik (see also Rec. #39)

Trigger: The prologue.

What I yelled: * "'He' is a not a gender-neutral pronoun! Using the word 'man' to mean 'people' makes you sound like a dick!"

Who's to blame: Adam Gopnik. He should know better.

2. Berkeley Square [miniseries] (see also Rec. #348)

Trigger: The final scene.

What I yelled: * "That's it?! You put us through all that for this?!"

Who's to blame: The living conditions in the early 1900s; they weren't great.

3. All Jane Eyre adaptations before the 2006 version with Ruth Wilson [movies, miniseries] (see also List #16)

Trigger: Usually the first time Jane speaks as an adult.

What I yelled: * "You're ruining it!!!"

Who's to blame: William Christy Cabanne, Robert Stevenson, Delbert Mann, Franco Zeffirelli, among others.

4. Light in August [book], William Faulkner

Trigger: The cumulative effect.

What I yelled: * "The dust, the dust! Dear gods, the dust!"

Who's to blame: The dust.

5. My Mad Fat Diary [television series] (see also Rec. #283)

Trigger: The party at Rae's house.

What I yelled: * "How can I be expected to deal with this?! I can't, I can't."

Who's to blame: Me. I should be emotionally stable enough to handle watching events in the life of a 16-year-old in the mid-'90s.

  

6. Started Early, Took My Dog [book], Kate Atkinson (see also Rec. #270)

Trigger: Reaching the last page.

What I yelled: * "And?!?!?!"

Who's to blame: Me, for being greedy.

7. State of Play [miniseries] (see also Rec. #104)

Trigger: Twist number . . . I lost count.

What I yelled: * "Damn you, Paul Abbott!"

Who's to blame: Paul Abbott, for being so clever.




* While throwing; minus the expletives






[I really should make this a series. I have. So. Much. To. Add.]

Rec. #436: Revisiting Quote from a Fictional Character #75

[QfFC #75 was originally posted Aug. 17, 2015]

"We maintained a brief but meaningful standoff. I can win any such standoff. I can win any contest involving silence or stillness or maintaining a straight face."

---Finley,

Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles, Kira Henehan, 2010

(Rec. #195)
(List #51)

[I love this book very much. I don't know exactly what Kira Henehan is doing right now, but I hope she's working on a new novel.]

Rec. #435: Who Is Your "Good Place" Moral Soulmate?

What: Season 2 of The Good Place ended last night, and I am bereft. Thanks, Entertainment Weekly, for giving me nonsense content like this to lessen the pain.

Connection to previous Wreckage: Season 1 of The Good Place was Rec. #401.


P.S. I got Janet.

Rec. #434: MasterChef at No10

What: As part of Red Nose Day in 2011, three non-cooking celebrities (Claudia Winkleman, Miranda Hart, Ruby Wax) make a meal for Prime-Minister-at-the-time David Cameron.

The 20-minute video contains two bits in particular that make me laugh every. single. time.

At 4:01, Miranda Hart: "[startled gasp!] I've got an egg in my hand ... for the first time in my life."

At 5:32, Claudia Winkleman almost kills multiple people.

How to get it: The BBC posted Part One here and Part Two here.