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.]

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 (of which there are several --- I have a whole list). 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.

And see more of Hepburn running around Paris with List: #41: Audrey Hepburn Runs Around Paris.

[Originally posted 4/6/11.]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #228: The Daughter of Time

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

What: First of all, the title. You know the saying "Truth is the daughter of time" (credit to Sir Francis Bacon)? Well, that's why the title.

So. Josephone Tey's Inspector Alan Grant is recuperating with a broken leg and is feeling restless. (As you do.) He decides to pass the time by solving a historical mystery: Who killed the Princes in the Tower? Grant suspects it was not the notoriously wicked Richard III.

Comparable to: Prolific mystery author Elizabeth Peters took her own stab at defending Richard Plantagenet with The Murders of Richard III.

Opening lines: "Grant lay on his high white cot and stared at the ceiling. Stared at it with loathing."

Representative quote: "It was Grant's belief that if you could not find out about a man, the next best way to arrive at an estimate of him was to find out about his mother."

You might not like it if: Too. Much. British. History.

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

Connections to previous Wreckage: I've already recommended two of Tey's other books --- Miss Pym Disposes (Rec. #75) and Brat Farrar (Rec. #200).

All of them are clever mysteries, but they're very different kinds of mysteries, and very different kinds of clever.

[Originally posted 4/10/12.]

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #25: My Mad Fat Diary

Stream what: After a four-month stay in a psychiatric hospital, teenager Rae throws herself into new friendships pinned firmly in the aesthetic of mid-'90s Cool Brittania.

Stream why: It's soooooo gooooood. My Mad Fat Diary was the best thing I watched in 2013, even though at the time I could only watch it in segments on YouTube.

Stream where: Hulu


Read more:
List #26: Content That Has Actually Made Me Throw Something Across a Room
Rec. #283: My Mad Fat Diary, series 1
List #37: Some of the Best TV I Watched in 2013

Friday Flashback: Rec. #269: 2D Goggles

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

What: Graphic designer Sydney Padua appreciates this and has created a webcomic all about Ada Lovelace --- a genius mathematician and the daughter of Lord Byron --- and fellow mathematician Charles Babbage.

Fighting crime for Queen Victoria. Using a difference engine. As you do.

Comparable to: Very Kate Beaton sense of humor, but with a lotta lotta footnotes about how much Charles Babbage hated street musicians (fact!).

Opening lines: "Ada Lovelace was the only legitimate child of mad, bad, and dangerous to know poet and nutcase Lord Byron. Her mother Anabel fled the exploding planet her husband yet worried that Ada had inherited his wild blood."

Representative panel:

Bonus representative panel:

How to get it: The main page is here. Meet the cast here. See the Pocket Universe Guide here. Access the archived stories here.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Yes, as a matter of fact I did mention Kate Beaton. I also mentioned her in Rec. #95, List #2, List #3, List #8, Rec. #186, Gift Idea #2, List #14, and List #21.

[Originally posted 12/10/12.]

Quote from a Fictional Character #87

"Surely there must be some compensation in the next world for the loneliness in this one. I've lived as long as the century, and I can count on one hand the years I've been loved."

--- Frederick Ashton (fictionalized),

"A Midsummer Night's Dream," White Swan, Black Swan: Stories,

Adrienne Sharp, 2001

(Rec. #53)

Friday (er, Saturday) Flashback: Rec. #293 (abbrev.): Noises Off

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

What: Michael Frayn stage play turned Peter Bogdanovich movie, classic slamming-doors-farce about a classic-slamming-doors farce, Christopher Reeve, director, final rehearsals, Michael Caine, doors, opening night, affairs, Carol Burnett, fading star, missed cues, backstage, on tour, Marilu Henner, contact lenses, John Ritter, sardines, oh god the sardines

Representative dialogue:
"I'm starting to know what God felt like when he sat out there in the darkness, creating the world."
"And what did he feel like, Lloyd my dear?"
"Very pleased he'd taken his Valium."

How to get it: Buy it or borrow it.

[Originally posted 5/28/13.]

Rec. #398: Memento Mori

What: The phone rings. You answer --- a voice tells you, "Remember you must die," and then the caller hangs up.

When this happens to some nubile youths, it's the premise for a splatter fest. When it happens, as it does here, to a group of elderly posh people, you've got something dark, unsettling, delicate, fast, and funny. Yes, funny.

Representative quote: "It is difficult for people of advanced years to start remembering they must die. It is best to form the habit while young."

How to get it: Muriel Spark's short novel is buyable, borrowable, and Kindle-able.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Spark wrote several dark and clever books, and I listed many of them as part of List #58: Happy Birthday, Muriel Spark.

Friday Flashback: Rec. #280: The Outs, season 1

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

Reblogging this one because Season 2 is here!

What: The Outs is a six-part web miniseries about the fallout after the end of a relationship. The series looks and feels like it should be programmed right before Girls on HBO, but instead it's on your computer, streaming for free.

Opening lines:
"Hi, I'm Jack."
"Whatever."

Representative dialogue:
"You said you wanted to kill him."
"No, I didn't. I said I wanted to outlive him."

You might not like it if: You have a low threshold for the number of scenes you can watch wherein the characters get high.

How to get it: You can go through Vimeo or just go to theouts.com. Plus, there's a Chanukah special!

Connections to other Wreckage: Shares definite tonal similarities with Rec. #374: High Maintenance.

Also: I have to mention that one of the main characters is named Oona and I can't seem to stop doing impressions of her.

[Originally posted 3/21/13.]

Rec. #397: Enchanted April

What: The film Enchanted April begins in England. It is drizzly, it is gray, it is cold ...

... and Lottie Wilkins has just seen an advertisement for the month-long rental of a villa in Italy.

A pleasingly mismatched group of women travels out, and a couple of husbands end up trailing along behind.

Representative quote: "In my day husbands and beds were very seldom mentioned in the same breath. Husbands were taken seriously, as the only true obstacle to sin."

How to get it: Currently streaming on Netflix.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Please also consider the source material, Elizabeth von Arnim's glorious novel of almost the same name (why drop the definite article, movie??) --- the novel The Enchanted April is Rec. #113.

See also Quote from a Fictional Character #41, in which I bend the rules a bit.