Notice of a Moderately Brief Service Interruption

The Daily Wreck is on hiatus for the next week and a half or so!

In the meantime, don't forget to enjoy the made-for-serendipitous-discoveries index and the oh-so-browsable sister site The Daily Wreck Collection.

See you in a bit!

[You can check out more gorgeous Hitchcock screenshots like the one above at "1,000 Frames of Hitchcock"]

Friday Flashback: Rec. #232: The Daytrippers

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

What: Eliza, her parents, her sister, and her sister's fiancé take an impromptu drive into the city to track down Eliza's probably-cheating husband. The cast of dreams includes Hope Davis, Parker Posey, Liev Schreiber, Anne Meara, Stanley Tucci, Marcia Gay Harden, and Campbell Scott.

Comparable to: Ah, the indie movies of the mid-'90s. Remember them? This is one.

Representative quote:
"Maybe she's desperately in love with him."
"Don't be ridiculous. Nobody's desperately in love."

You might not like it if: Carl-the-fiance's description of his novel* flashes you back so hard to your undergrad English lit classmates that you hit your head.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Parker Posey, Queen of '90s Indie, starred in Party Girl (Rec. #141) the year before The Daytrippers came out. Two years later, we got Hope Davis in Next Stop, Wonderland (Rec. #253).

*About a man with a dog's head and no hands --- a Pointer that can't point. Ahem.

[Originally posted 4/30/12.]

R.I.P. Anna Meara. You were swell.

Quote from a Fictional Character #68

"I hope we're still friends after I taser you."

--- Veronica Mars,

Veronica Mars, 2004

(Rec. #168)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #204 (abbrev.): Uncle Dynamite

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

What: P.G. Wodehouse novel, the idle rich, 1948, articulate farce, England, financing a manor house, Earl of Ickenham, delicate domestic situations, Pongo, housemaids, impostors, baby-judging contests, Mugsy, constables, going incognito, Uncle Fred, nocturnal marauders, tea

Representative quote: "Bill, who had been staring dully at the beetle, transferred his gaze to his companion. It was a wide-eyed, gaping gaze, speaking eloquently of a mind imperfectly adjusted to the intellectual pressure of the conversation."

Also: Cocktail Time (Rec. #24), Jill the Reckless (Rec. #136), Much Obliged, Jeeves (Rec. #153)

And/or: List #43: Happy Birthday, P.G. Wodehouse

[Originally posted 10/31/11.]

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #13: The Brothers Bloom

Stream what: Two swindlers, an heiress, and the aptly named Bang Bang.

Stream why: It's a highly stylized caper(!) with dry swaths of humor strategically placed throughout wide fields of drama and plot twists and intense emotion.

Stream where: Hulu


Read more: Rec. #304

And also: List #28

Rec. #376: The Sound of Broken Glass

What: Deborah Crombie continues to follow detective inspectors Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James through their lives.

As is usual with Crombie's novels, the crimes, lurid as they may be (in this case, a barrister is found dead in a bed in a downmarket hotel --- tied up, face-down, and strangled), are somewhat beside the point.

The focus is really on

• Expanding the universe of her characters (in both breadth and depth)
• Doing a neighborhood deep-dive (this time it's the Crystal Palace area of South London)

She accomplishes both with a lot of narrative jumping from character to character, with flashbacks and primary source quotes interspersed throughout. Don't get dizzy.

You might not like it if: The title bothers you. It really should be The Sound of Breaking Glass, right?

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

Connections to previous Wreckage: Other Kincaid/James books include Dreaming of the Bones (Rec. #55) and In a Dark House (Rec. #358, FSoM #9).

Friday Flashback: Rec. #161 (abbrev.): Northern Exposure, season 2

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

What: It's Alaska, it's the '90s, it's a critically-adored dramedy --- indentured NYC doctor, various eccentrics, once-a-year kleptomania, doc dumped by fiancee, visiting Russians, love, unexplained nightmares, lots of parkas, American Indian spirit guide, death by falling satellite.

Representative quote: "It's 'Love Is Pain' day on KBHR. Music to soothe the shattered heart. Dedicated to you, Dr. Joel."

Bonus representative quote: "Well, spring sprang. We've had our state of grace and our little gift of sanctioned madness, courtesy of Mother Nature. Thanks, Gaia. Much obliged."

[both from Chris Stevens, host of "Chris in the Morning" and voice of Cicely, Alaska]

Also: Northern Exposure, season one (Rec. #35)

[Originally posted 7/20/11.]

Quote from a Fictional Character #67

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple."

--- Algernon Moncrieff,

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde, 1895

(See also: Rec. #148 and Rec. #336)

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #12: Beginners

Stream what: Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, and Melanie Laurent are all going through stuff. Well, Christopher and Melanie more so than Ewan, really. He's mainly coping with their stuff and thinking a lot.

Also, there's a dog.

Stream why: The plot involves Big Life Issues, but the story isn't trite. The dialogue includes an old man discovering house music, but the humor isn't goofy. The whole movie is pretty beautiful, actually.

Also, the dog does not die.

Stream where: Netflix


For more info: Rec. #249

For a couple of quotes, see: List #23 and QfFC #58

List #52: Happy Birthday, Alan Bennett

Portrait by Tom Wood

Who: I've recently referred to playwright/screenwriter/actor/author Alan Bennett as a "Modern British Treasure," and a critic once described him as "England's cultural teddy bear." The important takeaway, though, really, is that he is good at writing things.

The Lady in the Van, 1989

(Quote from a Fictional Character #8)

The Clothes They Stood Up In, 2001

(Rec. #169)

The Complete Talking Heads, (2003)

(Rec. #373)

The History Boys [film], 2006

(Rec. #115)

(Quote from a Fictional Character #13)

The Uncommon Reader, 2007

(Rec. #260)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #151: Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes

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

What: Merrill Feitell's collection of stories won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. The slim volume contains eight perfect little glimpses into different lives, including realizations made during a bike-a-thon through New York, an impromptu dumpling party, and a sudden storm in Texas.

Comparable to: Less bitter than Erika Krouse, more melancholy than Elizabeth Crane.

Representative quote: "It is Thanksgiving , the great day of dinner, of Dockers and dress shirts and marshmallow-sweetened squash. This year we are forgoing our standard slow graze on the home front to spend the day with my sister and her boyfriend's family, meeting them for the first time --- on this, a National Holiday."

You might not like it if: The 123 pages go too quickly.

How to get it: It's in print and also Kindle-able.

Connections to previous Wreckage:

More contemporary short fiction ---

Elizabeth Crane's When the Messenger Is Hot (Rec. #73)

Ellen Gilchrist's Nora Jane: A Life in Stories (Rec. #25)

Julie Hecht's Happy Trails to You (Rec. #6)

Daphne Kalotay's Calamity and Other Stories (Rec. #227)

Erika Krouse's Come Up and See Me Sometime (Rec. #122)

Adrienne Sharp's White Swan, Black Swan (Rec. #53)

And see also ---

List #12: Things That Are Good for Wallowing

Personal Wreck Week: List #2

Quote from a Fictional Character #46

[Originally posted 6/26/11.]

Rec. #375: Dead Like Me, season 1

What: George Lass is a dead girl. Her death was kind of embarrassing (a toilet seat falls from space station Mir), and so far she's not so fond of her after-life work as a reaper, either. It doesn't even pay the bills.

Creator Bryan Fuller --- serial purveyor of the jaunty macabre --- adds snark and heartbreak into the mix, and, hey, Jasmine Guy (Whitley!) and Mandy Patinkin are there, too.

Representative quote: "What's the point in keeping your head down if it's already been blown off?"

How to get it: Available to stream on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

Connections to previous Wreckage: More Bryan Fuller!

Rec. #2: Wonderfalls
Rec. #233: Pushing Daisies
List #29: So You Love the Cast of Hannibal, but Wish Watching the Show Itself Weren't So Psychologically Damaging

Quote from a Fictional Character #66

"I'm sick of being a trademark married to a slogan."

--- Gilda Farrell,

Design for Living, 1933

(List #20: (Some of) The Best of Edward Everett Horton)

(List #42: In Praise of the American Screwball Comedy)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #266: All About Emily

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 this fast romp of a novella, Connie Willis demonstrates, once again, her adeptness at taking samples from every depth of pop culture (from All About Eve and Isaac Asimov to the Rockettes), submerging those fragments in thought exercises on free will and identity, and then sprinkling them with snow and sending them on their merry way.

Comparable to: All About Emily fits nicely alongside Willis's other celebrated short(er) fiction, like "The Last of the Winnebagos" and "Inside Job."

Opening lines: "All right, so you're probably wondering how I, Claire Havilland --- three-time Tony winner, Broadway legend, and star of Only Human --- ended up here, standing outside Radio City Music Hall in a freezing rain two days before Christmas, soaked to the skin and on the verge of pneumonia, accosting harmless passersby."

You might not like it if: You are familiar enough with Willis's work to know that she writes both comedies and tragedies and you can't always tell which is which until someone dies, and you can't bring yourself to take that risk right now. 

(Hint of Reassurance: This is a comedy ... mainly.)

How to get it: Your best bets are getting it from your library or downloading it to your Kindle.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Enjoy more Connie Willis with To Say Nothing of the Dog (Rec. #100), Blackout/All Clear (Gift Idea #1, Rec. #355), Bellwether (Rec. #218), and Lincoln's Dreams (Rec. #248). 

Heads up --- not all of them are comedies.




[Originally posted 10/22/12.]

Rec. #374: High Maintenance, season 1

What: This web series follows an unnamed pot dealer "bike messenger" and his clients. Each 5-to-10-minute episode is like a little, perfect short story.

Comparable to: I mean short stories in the vein of Daphne Kalotay. As in, swap out New York for Boston and you've basically got Kalotay's Calamity and Other Stories (Rec. #227).

Representative quote: "I gotta say, originally I was kind of upset that you guys had a kid 'cause he was kind of screwing up my income stream, but he's really cute!"

How to watch it:

First of all, go to Vimeo.

Second, the episode titles are not the client names. The episodes can be a little tricky to track, so here are the key words/phrases that describe each one (while still mainly avoiding spoilers). I've starred my favorites.

"Stevie" --- Personal assistant
"Heidi" --- Moocher
"Jamie" --- Mouse
***"Olivia" --- Assholes
***"Helen" --- Lonely
"Trixie" --- Airbnb couple
"Dinah" --- couple + friend
"Jonathan" --- Hannibal Buress
"Elijah" --- Family dinner
***"Brad Pitts" --- Bird watching
***"Qasim" --- Polyphasic sleep
***"Matilda" --- Niece
***"Rachel" --- Dan Stevens


Third, HBO has picked this up. Because of course it has.

Quote from a Fictional Character #65

"My name is Jennifer. I have been told that most Jennifers are not 'nice,' that if I were more cheerful and bubbly I'd be called Jenny, and that if my presence were warm and comforting I'd be Jen. 

"But I have always been called Jennifer, and while I don't espouse idiotic generalizations --- these in particular were made by a boy I dated for five months in eleventh grade --- I am definitely not someone you'd call nice."

--- Jennifer Rabinowitz,

Day for Night, Frederick Reiken, 2011

(Rec. #128)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #175 (abbrev.): What a Way to Go

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

What: 1964, black comedy, Shirley MacLaine, Paul Newman, Robert Cummings, Gene Kelly, Dick Van Dyke, Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, painting chimp, IRS, wigs, psychiatrist, dead husbands, Edith Head costumes, Paris beatniks, utter joyous ridiculousness

Plus, things like this:

Representative quote:
"Put it down here, baby."
"Gee, I wish I'd said that."

Also: Yes, all those people really are in this movie.

[Originally posted 8/23/11.]

Rec. #373: The Complete Talking Heads

What: Talking Heads is a series of dramatic monologues that Modern British Treasure Alan Bennett wrote for the BBC (first in the late '80s, then more in the late '90s). This book is those monologues in readable form, and they're really, really good.

First lines: "I was all right on the Monday. I was all right on the Tuesday. And I was all right on the Wednesday until lunchtime, at which point all my nice little routine went out the window."

You might not like it if: You were expecting David Byrne.

How to get it: Buyable, borrowable, Kindle-able. You can, of course, also watch the BBC production of the monologues (Maggie Smith sighting!).

Connections to previous Wreckage: Modern British Treasure Alan Bennett also wrote The Clothes They Stood Up In (Rec. #169), The History Boys (Rec. #115, QfFC #13), The Lady in the Van (QfFC #8), and The Uncommon Reader (Rec. #260).

Streaming Suggestion of the Week #11: Next Stop Wonderland

Stream what: In Boston in the late '90s, a sorta grumpy nurse keeps almost crossing paths with a plumber/aquarium diver. It is a very, very Bostonian (and late-'90s) movie, bossa nova soundtrack notwithstanding.

Stream why: The top-notch acting (cast includes Hope Davis, Holland Taylor, Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and quiet, bitter humor.

Stream where: Netflix



Read more: Rec. #253

Friday Flashback: Rec. #233: Pushing Daisies, 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.

What: It's so easy to get sucked into the candy-colored production design, right? 

And Kristin Chenoweth's chirpy voice. And Anna Friel's amazing wardrobe. And Lee Pace's general aura of dreaminess. And Chi McBride's sardonic eye rolls. And the mere presence of Swoosie Kurtz and Ellen Greene in all their glory. And Jim Dooley's bright, fresh, sweeping music.

It's no wonder you sometimes have to squint a bit before you remember that Pushing Daisies is really quite a dark show. The female lead is, after all, routinely referred to as "Dead Girl." The most frequently recurring character is "Coroner." 

People die by stabbing, suffocation, trampling, poison, explosions, hit-and-runs, and drowning. The show floats on a constant threat of death, bobbing along on Bryan Fuller's delicious, chewy, ripe dialogue. And pies.

Comparable to: It is recognizably part of Bryan Fuller's universe, in which the dead stick around (Dead Like Me) and the living snark-talk their way through situations they're trying to ignore (Wonderfalls).

Representative quote: "I hate to be a bad host, but I'm sort of exhausted from chasing your coffin."

Representative use of narrator Jim Dale:
Narrator: At that moment, the Pie Maker felt a mixture of happiness and trepidation.
Ned: Why is it always a mixture?

You might not like it if: You can't get through the candy coating to the bite underneath. Or: maybe you get squeamish about, for example, a sequence in which a frozen body ("corpsicle") gets dropped and breaks into a lot of meat pieces on the sidewalk.

How to get it: Buy it, borrow it, stream it on Amazon. (Buy it. Maybe if you re-watch it enough you'll finally catch every word of the speedy dialogue.)

Connections to previous Wreckage: Wonderfalls was Rec. #2. And check out the bulimic dandelion from episode 2, Riki Lindhome, in her musical act, Garfunkel and Oates (Rec. #155).

If you enjoy Bryan Fuller's creative endeavors, you might also look at List #29: So You Love the Cast of Hannibal, but Wish Watching the Show Itself Weren't So Psychologically Damaging.

[Originally posted 5/6/12.]