BRONXGIRL'S MOTHER, HENRY FONDA'S HIRSUTENESS, ETC.

[Bronxgirl48]

Happy Valentine's Day!

[lavenderblue19]

8 minutes ago, Bronxgirl48 said:

Happy Valentine's Day!

One of my all time favorite films, Everything about this film is wonderful. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir is so beautiful. Beautiful music throughout ( Bernard Hermann, and I've read it's his favorite out of all his film scores) the story, the acting, the photography and so romantic. Perfect for Valentine's Day

[Bronxgirl48]

Mine, too, lavender.    Thank you so much.

[SansFin]

I vaguely recall that several denizens here liked: The Far Side comics. I do not know if all are aware that Gary Larsen has returned to creating them. It can be seen at: https://www.thefarside.com/

[Bronxgirl48]

Thanks, Sans!

[Bronxgirl48]

STAY SAFE, EVERYONE!

We'll get through this.

[laffite]

THANK YOU, Barb!

23 hours ago, Bronxgirl48 said:

STAY SAFE, EVERYONE!

We'll get through this.

 

[Bronxgirl48]

[Bronxgirl48]

Hopefully things will get luckier for all of us sooner rather than later.....

[Bronxgirl48]

 

[SansFin]

[SansFin]

[DougieB]

B-Girl, I think of you every time I hear the news from Florida. I'm so hoping all is well and that you're finding enough alternatives to Hallmark to keep you busy and happy... or maybe get in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans? I'm picturing you in one of those Auntie Mame-type pant/ half skirt combinations, flicking the ashes from your cigarette holder onto the Chinese carpet. But seriously, stay well and stay strong and that goes for all your loyal troops on this thread. 

[Bronxgirl48]

Oh, Dougie, you are a sweetheart.  Thanks so much for your kind regard.  I'm hoping you and everyone here are feeling okay and managing to stay optimistic and busy during this tough, nightmarish time that feels like we're all living in some sci-fi scenario.

I only wish I looked like Auntie Mame, lol.   Instead, I'm lounging around in cotton tee shirts and sweatpants, subsisting on salami sandwiches, potato salad, fried chicken, pickles, Haagen-Daz and Pepperidge Farm cake, among other delicacies.  Tonight I think I'll make some exotic macaroni and cheese.

The daily press conferences are my Hallmark these days but I think if I hear another sound out of Dr. Birx I'll go mad.  What she has to say is important but that voice.....like nails on a chalkboard.   I take a sip of Yoo-Hoo (one of my favorite chocolate drinks) every time Debbie utters the word "granular". 

Take care, dear friends!

[DougieB]

Yes, this is definitely a situation which calls for sweatpants, as well as the sensible menu you've outlined above. And I love your drinking game with Yoo-Hoo. Lol. (Dare I say it's so you?) I can see that really catching on in the home-bound community, which seems to be most of us.  

I would like to be productive and I would have gotten to some yard work by now if it weren't for the fact that the cable company is (generously?) throwing all sorts of freebies at us. One is Acorn, so I'm greedily gobbling up all the Miss Marples I can before they take them away. I nominate Geraldine McEwan to give the daily press briefings. (Did you ever see Mapp and Lucia with Geraldine and Prunella Scales as rival social arbiters in a small English town? Classic tempest-in-a-teapot nonsense.)

So happy to hear you're thriving. (Such a relative term!) You brighten my world and I know I speak for many. Be safe, all.

[Bronxgirl48]

Dougie, you are too kind.  Yes, I am a Yoo Hoo kinda girl, lol.  These crazy days it's the drink du jour pour moi.   

And in a crisis, I always say salami will get you through most anything.

Haven't seen those Marples, which is odd because I'm an Anglophile -- love those picturesque, sleepy British villages where all the mayhem takes place.   And now I'll have to check out Mapp and Lucia!

I'm in a bittersweet, nostalgic frame of mind today....might just make some mac and cheese tonight and see if THE THREE LIVES OF THOMASINA is on YouTube.

Love ya,

Barb 

[DougieB]

Situations like this bring priorities into focus and I love that you've landed on salami. That's some impressive clarity of vision on your part!

I guess we'd all just better accept bittersweet nostalgia as the "new normal". (That could be another drinking game, every time the TV pundits float that phrase.) At least here in TCM-Land we've already got the nostalgia part nailed down. Bittersweet's a little tougher to master, but you're on the right track by opting to go with mac and cheese.

I've never seen The Three Lives Of Thomasina, but now it seems to be calling my name. So many treasures on YouTube. When I was a kid I had a 45 of Bad Motorcylce by the Storey Sisters and when I decided to check YouTube the other day there it was! Can't tell you what stupid fun it was to hear it after all these years. I've never done karaoke in my life but if the opportunity to do Bad Motorcycle ever presented itself I probably would, self-respect be damned. I'd need a sister though, so I hope I could count on you to croak it out with me. 

P.S. Just checked and great prints of the Mapp and Lucia episodes are on YouTube.  In most ways I'm so not modern, but I love this new kind of availability.

 

[Bronxgirl48]

Thank you, Dougie, lol.  And let me just say that a salami omelet (a la Bronx deli-style) for breakfast, especially on a week-end, is one of life's great pleasures.   Accompanied by judicious splashes of Heinz ketchup.

I'm thinking you would really appreciate THE THREE LIVES OF THOMASINA -- atmospheric, charming Scotland, curses, kitties, Patrick McGoohan, Susan Hampshire, the children from MARY POPPINS.   Wholesome but not treacly.

I am definitely your Bad Motorcycle sister!

Thanks for letting me know about Mapp and Lucia on YouTube.   I'm like you -- old-fashioned in many respects but I do love the way social media literally opens up the world to us.  (the past too)

You know that I always enjoy crummy horror/sci-fi/mystery movies but these days I'm getting more enjoyment than ever out of things like ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES.   Balances out my more "genteel" viewing habits.

[DougieB]

Lol. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all.

Genteel only gets you so far in life, so sometimes the crummier the movie the better. I grew up yelling at the screen with my brothers in kiddie matinees of rotten movies and that pleasure never really leaves you. Now I do my yelling at home, sometimes at Hallmark heroines, sometimes at news anchors. Funny thing is I never yell at the stupid monsters made out of shag rugs any more; now I respect them as cultural ambassadors from another time when the crudeness wasn't CGI'd out of everything. They're always tracking our "viewing habits" these days, but it's better not to have any. That way Scottish kitties and Giant Leeches can co-exist comfortably and we have no apologies to make.

 

 

[Bronxgirl48]

I do a LOT of yelling at news anchors -- won't tell you which ones, though.   But they're from both sides of the aisle.   Everyone is obnoxious these days.

I actually do recall a monster that looked exactly like a shag rug...it scurried along Bronson Canyon I think looking to attack unsuspecting teenagers.   Given the budget it probably WAS a shag rug.

[SansFin]

I hope that all here are well and are taking good care of themselves and their loved ones.

The difference for us is minimal. Most of our work is done remotely at all times. 

Our daily routine included taking turns going to get the mail and to the grocery store for what we wanted to eat that day. This has changed to one trip a week for each of us. It is saving on gas and saving tremendously by not buying snacks every day. We compensate for snacks by breaking meals down to individual courses eaten an hour or two apart. It is nice because we take more care and do special little things with each item which we would skip if doing more than one thing at a time. 

I have stated this elsewhere but I believe that it bears repeating: We recently had a tele-conference with a person with whom we both occasionally contract work. He noted that we were both in kimonos. He asked: "Which of you wears the pants in the family?" My esso stated: "We prefer it when neither of us are wearing pants." Those rare moments of brilliance are why I keep him around.

Movies which I have watched recently:

The Shadow Strikes (1937) 8/10
One Body Too Many (1944) 8/10
The Ghost Walks (1934) 8/10
Murder at Midnight (1931) 8/10
The Riverside Murder (1935) 8/10
Calling Paul Temple (1948) 8/10
The Shadow Returns (1946) 8/10
The Living Ghost (1942) 8/10
Clouds Over Europe (1939) 8/10
The Panther's Claw (1942) 8/10
Bulldog Drummond's Bride (1939) 8/10
Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police (1939) 8/10

The Body Vanished (1939) 7/10
The Gelignite Gang (1956) 7/10
Midnight Limited (1940) 7/10
The Dark Hour (1936) 7/10
The Wayne Murder Case (1932) 7/10
Night of Terror (1933) 7/10
Death from a Distance (1935) 7/10
The Mandarin Mystery (1936) 7/10
The Last Appointment (1954) 7/10
The Scarlet Clue (1945) 7/10
Charlie Chan's Secret (1936) 7/10
The Chinese Ring (1947) 7/10
The Trap (1946) 7/10
Mr. Wong, Detective (1938) 7/10
Mystery Of Mr. Wong (1939) 7/10
The Fatal Hour (1940) 7/10
The Suspicions Of Mr. Whicher: The Murder At Road Hill House (2011) 7/10
The Fake (1953) 7/10
Shadow of Suspicion (1944) 7/10
Shadows on the Stairs (1941) 7/10
The Fiction Makers (1968) 7/10
Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937) 7/10
Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1938) 7/10

The Mystic Hour (1933) 6/10
International Crime (1938) 6/10
Charlie Chan in the Secret Service (1944) 6/10
Dark Alibi (1946) 6/10
The Golden Eye (1948) 6/10
Mr. Wong In Chinatown (1939) 6/10
Doomed To Die (1940) 6/10
The Suspicions Of Mr. Whicher: The Murder on Angel Lane (2013) 6/10
The Suspicions Of Mr. Whicher: Beyond The Pale (2014) 6/10
The Suspicions Of Mr. Whicher: The Ties That Bind (2014) 6/10
Flight to Nowhere (1946) 6/10
Time Table (1956) 6/10

Green Eyes (1934) 4/10
Castle Sinister (1948) 2/10

Movies of which I watched the first twenty minutes or less:

The Cat Burglar (1961)
The Eleventh Commandment (1933)
Murder by the Book (1987)
Account Rendered (1957)

 

I have found a channel on Roku which is named: "TV Time Feature Films". It has an eclectic mix of movies from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. I must wonder if it is strictly legitimate as I noted on one movie that it carried the: TCM logo in one corner. It is also that all movies are 'free with ads' while many of those same movies on all other channels are available for rent only. The downside of the channel is that there are as many as six commercials for every eight minutes of movie.

I do hope that all here keep themself safe.

[SansFin]

I did not bake these but I feel they would be a festive little touch at present:

[DougieB]

I always admire people who can make perfect little things. Having said that, I could gobble them all up in no time.

[SansFin]

This is the very first year that I will not be spending the last two weeks of June in Paris because of COVID-19.

I usually do not spend them there because I am poor. 

[DougieB]

Maybe Miss B could find you accommodations on the French Riviera (of her dreams). At least you'd be somewhat Paris-adjacent and since you'd be dreaming poverty wouldn't be an issue and you could do all the upgrading you want. Then why not fly us all over? My dreams have been pretty shabby lately. We could all meet up at that off-shore float Cary Grant and Grace Kelly were at in To Catch A Thief.