The Fall Literary Season Will Soon Be Upon Us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But Where Are The Goodies????????????????????????

                               Richard Russo is worth looking forward to, but Tea Obreht is a mixed bag; I know, having read two of her books.

                                But where are the really big writers; the kind who make me want to run to the bookstore immediately, because I just have to have that book???????????????????

                                     Emma Cline is coming out with something called "Switzy," which I want to read, and Kate Atkinson is coming out with a new novel called "Our Noble Selves."  I am especially excited about Kate.

                                         But is that all readers like me can expect?  There used to be such an outpouring of literary wealth come the Fall, but now I am not sure what to expect.  And how about that New York Times list?  They will have to pull spuds from ashcans this year to find some quality fiction.

                                            Unless some authors out there are keeping secrets.  And we get some last-minute surprises.

                                              I would like to be optimistic, but with the cultural quality in this country descending to a lower grade level than one is used to, I can't hold out hope.

                                             I mean, what if Dan Brown's "The Secret Of Secrets?" turns up on book lists????????????

                                             That will be a sure sign that literary fiction is in trouble!

                                              What literary fiction, darlings??????????????

Darlings, If Game Boards Could Come To Life, What Board Would You Choose? And What Sort Of Game Token?????????????

                         I can tell you in a heartbeat.  I would choose the original Candy Land game board I once owned, pictured here.  Not because of the sugar and sweets, because I am a diabetic, but because no other game board I have ever seen emphasizes color so much.

                           Now, as to game token, I may be mixing stories but this is my choice!

                       I want to be Disney's Alice.  I love the hair, that blue dress and white apron, and it would go great with the colors on the Candy Land game board. Not to mention the white stockings and black Mary Janes!!!!!!!!!!

                       Oh, girls, isn't this a wonderful fantasy?  If only it could come true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                      Maybe in my dreams!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                       And that Candy Land game board could be used in so many decorative ways!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baby Gojira Is Stepping Out On This Labor Day In Style!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      While David and I have been occasionally running around NYC, Baby has had his own agenda.  He has been going to Harry Winston and Van Cleef And Arpels, buying elegant jewelry.  And now he is ready to show his purchases to all of us.  Doesn't he look so elegant?

                                        Yes, Baby Gojira is ready for anything--a Met Opera opening, The Met Gala, a Broadway opening, or a night on the town with ANNA.  I hope ANNA gets a look at this; she will be impressed.

                                          But I wanted all my readers to see how lovely Baby Gojira looks, and how proud we are of him, and how he loves to model in front of his public.

                                           What time are you being picked up, Baby????????????

Happy Labor Day, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                         I wanted an especially cheerful and colorful picture to honor this day, because I consider it one of the saddest.

                          Forget we are going into the week commemorating the 25th Anniversary of 9/11, but that is an additional factor.  Without it, Labor Day is still a sad day for me because the magic of the 80 plus days from Memorial Day to here comes to an abrupt halt.  Though there is exactly two weeks to go until the actual end of Summer, this has always been the unofficial end of that season.  School resumes, summer cottages are closed up, everyone exits the Hamptons or Fire Island, and the Fall resumes.  I always felt a bit of sad when a child, and I still do.

                           The idea of honoring our laborers is a good one, but why was a day so near the end of Summer chosen?  I have always wondered about that but have no answer.

                             Nevertheless, I wish everyone a happy Labor Day, and enjoy it any way you please.  The last hurrah, as is said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                Here is Christine Ebersole in the song that says it all-=-"Another Winter In A Summer Town," from "Grey Gardens!"  Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                  

I Want To Go To Cassie Camp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                        After seeing the video with Robyn Hurder, who I saw do Cassie at City Center several years back, I really wanted to step into the studio and go through the number with Baayork.  But first I would have to do her Boot Camp, maybe even a slower one, because I cannot even get the opening, "Step, Kick, Kick, Leap, Kick, Touch" right.  I have no idea what I am doing wrong.

                         Anyone who has seen "A Chorus Line" wants to do Cassie.  On the aforementioned video I mentioned, I heard Baayork talk about the "Cassie Curse," which is that after playing Cassie one dees not get much work for a while.

                           All I want is the stamina to do the scene--the lines I know, the lyrics I know--and to be able to do the back bend, where I touch the floor.  I am not sure about those head rolls though.  Hey, no one does those like Donna McKechnie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             Someone take me and mold me into the best Cassie I can be.

                              What should I wear?  All I know is to dress entirely in red!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What Is It With The Midwest And Grottos?????????????????????????????

 

                            One of the more fascinating moments in "The Straight Story"--so fascinating I had to give it its own post--comes early on when Alvin is driving along and sees a sign that says "Grotto 5 Miles."

                            I questioned what was going on.  This was nowhere near Lourdes or Fatima.  I was fascinated by the grotto used in the film, which is the Shrine Of The Grotto Of The Redemption, located at 208 1st Avenue, NW, West Bend, Iowa, 50597, USA.  I mean, what a sight!  I would love to go see it.  And when I was researching this post, I discovered there are grottos like this all over the Midwest.

                              Someone tell me, what is the reason for the presence of all these things?  Is the Midwest heavily Catholic?  I always thought of it as a enclave of American Protestantism, so if someone out there could explain this phenomenon to me, I would appreciate it.

                               I would certainly love to go and see one of these!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                As stated, I thought his whole journey had a spiritual quality and this visit and shot of the grotto enhanced it.

                                  Then there was the shot of this truck delivering a gigantic replica of a corn on the cob!

                                   One never knows what is out there in America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              

Walt Disney And David Lynch?????????????? Who Would Have Thought????????????????????

 

                                          When "The Straight Story" came out in 1999, I did not pay it much heed.  A film about a man driving across state?  And David Lynch did this?  David Lynch????????  The film kept getting good notices and I was still skeptical, even when Richard Farnsworth, a fine actor, received a Best Actor Oscar nomination.   He was beaten out by Kevin Spacey in "American Beauty," another fine performance that offered for me another skewered view on suburbia.

                                           "The Straight Story" is perhaps David Lynch's most accessible film.  Even if you are not studying the Lynch canon, as I am, the film is worth seeing.

                                               And its basis is truth.  In 1994. an elderly man named Alvin Straight (the film's title has a double meaning with Straight being both the family name and the path he seems to embark on) sets out from Laurens, Iowa to his brother's home in Mt. Zion, Wisconsin.  The brother had a stroke, the two have not spoken in ten years, and Alvin, a recovering alcoholic, wants to set out to make peace.

                                                Farnsworth is perfectly cast as Alvin.  He is elderly, has poor vision, and diabetes.  He is not allowed to drive but wants to make this journey.  His daughter, Rose, who, as discovered from Spacek's radiant performance is a functional special needs woman who lives with him, and loves him fiercely, disapproves, as I would, but he is determined   He sets out with just a riding lawn mower, and a small trailer attached, for storage and sleeping quarters.  Enroute, the mover breaks down, and he has to go back home, where he now buys a tractor, and with this makes the journey.  Along the way he meets friendly people who come to his aid, a pregnant young woman, and a hysterical woman who accidentally hit a deer, which Alvin cooks for dinner; he is that rugged and rustic.

                                                  Now, how does all this fit in with the world of David Lynch?  Well, it is kind of like "Blue Velvet" in slow motion.  Lynch reality is discarded for earth reality, but trademarks of his pop up now and then, like truly artistic shots of the farmlands, cloud formations in the sky suggesting the opening credits of "The Wizard Of Oz," and most importantly, recurring shots of fire, whether it is an abandoned barn burning down or lighting a cigar, or an evening campfire.  That element, a key in all of Lynch's films, is ever present.  So is the idea of a road trip, which harkens back to "Lost Highway," "Wild At Heart," and even the 'joy ride" Frank Booth takes Jeffrrey Beaumont on midway through "Blue Velvet."

                                                   Yet, for all this, "The Straight Story" is inspirational to the point of being almost spiritual.  Though Harry Dean Stanton barely says a word as sibling Lyle, his performance is transporting, and the sight of them sitting on Lyle's porch--his house looks like something out of 'L'il Abner"--is tranquilizing and the film ends on tis note.

                                                      Kudos must also go to Freddie Francis'  excellent cinematography, which perfectly falls in with Lynch's visual concepts and conceits.

                                                      I think Lynch tapped into his Midwestern background to show the beauty that exist6s beside the underbelly he is always going after to expose.  Credit must be given to all the actors, and what Lynch elicits from each; extra credit for Farnsworth, who shot this while battling cancer, which led him to end his life a year later.

                                                          The film is some kind of legacy to both Lynch and Farnsworth.  It is not to be missed, and I want to see more Criterion Closet visitors choose this.

                                                              David Lynch usually blows the viewer away with the underbelly of reality.  Here he achieves the same results with actual reality.

                                                                 The man had more range than one knew!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!