Darlings, Can You Believe The Delacorte Is Going To Be 50 Years Old This Year??????????

                            Girls, I am telling you, you just cannot keep Meryl Streep away from the Delacorte.
Having made the unfortunate mistake of not casting her as the Witch in "Into The Woods," she nevertheless will be appearing in a special gala at the famed outdoor performance spot, when she and Kevin Kline will be performing--are you ready, girls???--the balcony scene from "Romeo And Juliet"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             Oh, my God!!!!!!!!!  Swoon!!!!!!  Swoon!!!!!!!!!!!  La Divine Meryl as Juliet, and don't tell me she is too old to do it!!!!!!!!!!  Listen, honey, if Buckwheat could do it back in the 30's, this should be a piece of cake for La Meryl!!!!!!!!!!

                                 The Delacorte opened to the public on June 18, 1962, so it is reaching the half century mark??????????  Can you believe it, darlings?????????  I mean, I was in grade school!!!!!!!  Talk about feeling old!!!!!!!!!!

                                    Being that this is a gala benefit, are you ready for this, loves????????? Ticket prices to this event START at $1, 5000 dollars!!!!!!!!!!!!!  For that price, I would expect Barbra Streisand to emerge at some point from backstage, with she and Meryl performing "A Boy Like That" from "West Side Story"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       It is going to be a tough summer for us theater mavens at the Delacorte.  First, trying to get into  "Into The Woods," and now this!!!!!!!!!  They better have cops stationed, because those younger, or with more verve, are going to be scaling those fences, just so they can get in, and see!!!!!!!!!!

                                       Meryl Streep at the Delacorte!  It was inevitable, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        And as the Divine Juliet!!!!!!!!!  Not even I could outdo this one, dolls!!!!!!!!!
                          
                                        Or Buckwheat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



                                  

Whaaaaaaaaaat?????????? NO Pulitizer For Fiction, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Girls, I cannot help it; let's start with the fact that one of the jurors on the Fiction panel was Michael Cunningham, known in his field, but hardly what I would call a world beater as a writer!!!!!!!!!  I would never put him on the same level with Jonathan Franzen, Michael Chabon at his best, or David Foster Wallace.

                                        I mean, who are we kidding?????  "The Hours" made a fabulous movie, girls, but the book reads like a creative writing program student trying to emulate Virginia Woolf.  And, as I said at the time, if you want to read Virginia Woolf, then READ Virginia Woolf.

                                          But for the Pulitzers not to award a Fiction prize--the first time this has been done since 1977--35 years, darlings!!!!!!!--is inexcusable.  Two of the nominees were literary darlings--Denis Johnson and David Foster Wallace.  Sure, one is deceased, and maybe no one wanted to do a  posthumous prize, but Johnson has proved himself time and again.  Added to which there was newcomer Karen Russell, whose first novel, "Swamplandia!" was nominated.  Now, I read "Swamplandia!" and while I may not have put it on my Ten Best book list (like the NY Times did) it certainly merits a place among the 100 Most Notable.  I never saw it as a Pulitzer nominee (I could see Jeffrey Eugenides' "The Marriage Plot", but then he already won for "Middlesex") , but so be it. It is not like any of these works were shclock.  And they could not decide to give it to ONE of these????? After reading, so they said, over 300 books???? Well, with that amount, then why could they not have found more, or at least, different nominees, so they could have an assortment to choose from, in order that they could actually choose something.

                                            By denying a Fiction award, the Pulitzer committee is dissing all fiction writers, and, in effect, writing off, Fiction as a genre.  Are they crazy????????????  If  Fiction vanished altogether from the book industry, there wouldn't be much of an industry at all.  It behooves them to recognize Fiction, and, of the list, I think it should have been given posthumously to Wallace.  Don't forget "A Confederacy Of Dunces," by John Kennedy Toole, which was a posthumous award, interestingly for the same reason--its author committed suicide.  But the Pulitzer would have certified Wallace's stature as a writer, which is something many of us have known for a long time.

                                              Fie on the Pulitzer Committee!  Get me on it next year, and I can guarantee, a Fiction award will be given!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                At least, it wasn't given to "The Hunger Games!"

Poor Hillary Clinton!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   Girls, I am telling you, this poor woman cannot seem to get a break. From the time she emerged conspiculously on the public scene, around 1992, she has been criticized right and left. First, they knocked her, because she wasn't June Cleaver, staying home and baking cookies.  They knocked her hairstyles.  They (the media and her detractors) said she was a lesbian.  They said she wasn't a lesbian.

                                      And, now, look what the NY Post has gone and  done!!!!!  Sure, it is funny in a surface, superficial way, but what it says is sexist and hypocritical.  Why shouldn't Hillary enjoy a night out with the girls????????  Isn't she entitled to some down time????????  After all, darlings, who knows how many nights out with the girls hubby Bill has had, or may continue to have, and look what hot water that landed him in, several weeks back. So I don't think kicking back a few brewskies, or making it seem like she is some kind of low class doxy in a waterfront dive, is any way to treat an intelligent woman like Hillary Clinton.

                                       Of course, even Hillary, I am sure, would say--look at the source!!!!! It is the Post; it's not exactly Vanity Fair!!!!!!!!!!   There are just some figures the media will not leave alone, and she is one of them; a fact I am sure she is well resigned to.

                                          Well, let me tell you media ho's a thing or two.  The Raving Queen will not tolerate media invasion.  Do so at your own peril!  Otherwise, it may be found out here which  gender benders wear panties....and which do not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           You think Jackie Susann was tough??????????  Or Truman Capote?????????
You ain't seen nothin' yet, so watch out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                              Meanwhile, I think I will find a nice hillside meadow and perfect my Julie Andrews 'Sound Of Music' twirl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Attacked By A Creature From Hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which is exactly what happened to the Haines family during those tragic early morning hours of May 12, 2007.  At precisely 2am, EST, Alec Devon Kreider literally murdered the family--father Tom, mother Lisa and his alleged best friend Kevin, in their beds.

If this sounds somewhat familiar, girls, it is because I posted about it a week or so back, due to a program I had seen  on Investigation Discovery, called "Unuusal Suspects."  What I found out subesquently, is there has been a book written about the murder and the case, by Michael W. Cueno.  It is excellent, as it elaborates and expalins topics that the television program could only begin to outline.

Alec Devon Kreider truly is a Creature From Helll!!!!!!!!  On this rathe bizarre and witty webiste, called "Poeple You'll See In Hell," he is clearly mentioned.  Remember the publicity poster for the AIP teen exploitation horror film of the 50s, entitled "I Was A Teenage Frankenstein?"  It went something like this:

Body of a Boy

      Mind of a Monster

Soul of a Thing

Which is as good a description of Alec Kreider, as any I can think of.  I am glad to post on this topic a second time, because I wanted a chance to show Alec Kreider's fourth victim, pictured above.  This is Maggie Haines, the oldest daughter of the Haines family, and now their only survivor. Oh, she has uncles and aunts, with whom she stayed during that horrifying time, but when it comes to immeidte family, at the now age of 25 (still incredibly young) she has no one.  My heart goes out to Maggie, who has to live with this for the remainder of her natural days.  I can only pray for peace for her, and that, when tihe time comes, she and her family will be reunnited.

What is also disturbing is when you find out from Cueno's book, that Kreider had no idea Maggie was home; that he knew she was coming home from college, but he thought she would not be home for a few days more.  Which makes it clear she was not the intended target; Kevin was. However, a journal entry indicates that had he known about Maggie, or had their paths crossed during that night, he would have raped and then killed her.  Nice, huh???? Lucky Maggie!!!!!!!!!  But that luck comes with a price that she has paid every day since the aftermath of those murders.  She even had to bear the indignity of first being thought a suspect. Which, on one level is understandable; on another, it is simply unfathomable.

But many thought Alec, even when he was found out, was unfathomable.  Except, when you dug deeper, what was found was a walking time bomb of rage, narcissism, and arrogance.  Like many teens, Alec felt he was superior to his peers.  But narcissists don't always kill.  To me, Alec Kreider suggested a latter day Richard Leob, the more lethal and pathological of the Leopold-Loeb team, immortalized in the book, play and movie  "Compulsion" (based on the book by Meyer Levin).  And don't forget Loeb was the one who was murdered in prison, and after having been there awhile, so young Mr. Kreider had better watch out.

Alec's sociopathology was pretty much the same as Loeb's--he simply wanted to kill, to see what it was like. He wanted to kill Kevin because of their friendship, and because on a deeper level he seemed to resent all Kevin had, in terms of familial happiness.  And he makes clear in his writings that, had he not been apprehended, he would have killed again.  And that his confession was less a cry of remorse than the anxious teenager's need to "brag to somebody" about what he did.

This is truly a Creature From Hell, who seems to be right at home there.  He is a leading exponent of walking evil, and, on some level, he would prove an excellent source of study for behaviorists. But release from prison???? I cannot see it.  Maggie Haines has said if such a thing took place, she would fear for not only her very life, but the lives of countless others.  I agree with her.

So, I highly recommend Cueno's book.  It gives a very penetrating glimpse into the heart of evil.

Walk away from this sicko, at once!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And read something lighter, afterwards, girls!!!!!  Maybe Candace Bushnell or Lauren Weisberger!!!!!!!!!!!!

Darlings, We Just LOVE Katherine Hepburn As Susan Vance!!!!!!!!!

                        Honestly, girls, I am telling you, every Saturday night when Monsieur and I happen to go to the theater, Channel 13 never fails to pull out a real gem to show.  And, of course, most Saturdays, when we do stay in, they show crap!

                          Well, they ran true to form again, because, while we were at Theater For The New City, seeing "Judith Of Bethulia," Channel 13 was running my favorite comedy, the one film that can always be counted on to make me laugh--Howard Hawks' 1938 "Bringing Up Baby."

                              Which, come to think of it, was our last visit to the Film Forum, during the Hawks festival, when I got to see this gem on the screen.  What a treat!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                Darlings, you have to see it; it is a hoot!  Cary Grant plays David Huxley (no relation to Aldous of "Brave New World") a palaeontologist, who needs just one bone to complete his dinosaur skeleton.  He is engaged to Alice Swallow, (Virginia Walker) who views their partnership as purely scientific, with no chance for amour.  That is also because, from Alice's dress and demeanor, I would not be surprised, if, rather than clutching her purse, she is clutching a leather bound, first edition of "The Well Of Loneliness" by Radclyfffe Hall.  You got it, girls!!!!!!!  Everything about Alice screams REPRESSED LESBIAN!!!!!!!!  No wonder Grant as David seems frustrated.

                                Enter into his life madcap society dame Susan Vance (Hepburn).  No relation to Vivian Vance, darlings!!!!!!!  Things start innocently, with a ball on the golf green, proceed to her riding on the side of his car, and before you know it they are in the Connecticut countryside,   where her wealthy aunt lives, who is expecting a domesticated leopard named Baby!!!!!!!  And that is just the beginning.  The whole thing is like one gigantic comic snowball that keeps getting bigger and bigger, till everyone ends up in jail, with my favorite scene, where Hepburn breaks out of jail, under the moniker, "Swinging Door Susie." 

                                   The whole thing is so irresistible, and Hepburn is at her most engaging, endearing and ingenue-ish.  Who would think that just a mere two decades later she would be playing scolds???? And some of her costumes are priceless.  Like the sort of outer space dress she wears in the New York bar scene, where she is popping olives into her mouth!!!!!!!!!!

                                      See this pic, dolls, and you will be coasting on a sea of bliss, while singing the old song, sung here, "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby."

                                       "Bringing Up Baby" will give you nothing but laughs.  Susan is one of the great Kate's best roles.  You just gotta love her!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                          And, for those girls who need it, take a lesson from her on how to trap a man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here Is The Other One, Girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                         As I promised, darlings, after my post on Spook-A-Rama, I would report on the even
better spook house ride at Coney Island, and here it is--Dante's Inferno!!!!!!!!!  This is my favorite, loves!
I mean, just look at the decorative detail outside.  Is that alluring, or what?  And the titled lettering overhead,with the winged demon,  I have long wanted to have, or to replicate, and hang in my apartment.
Wouldn't that be a conversation starter????  I mean, along with my framed "Song Of Bernadette" poster, home invaders wandering in might avoid my place like the plague--thinking this guy must be schizo!!!!!!!!!

                          I never fail to go on this ride, and have done so for at least 20 years, if not more.  You get into these cute, individual, roller coaster-like seats, and heaven help you if you are middle aged, because if two of you get in there, it is admittedly a tight fit.  But, then, with amusement parks no longer having Tunnels Of  Love, maybe the spook house rides are the last bastion of clandestinely making out at an amusement park!!!!!!!!!  In any case, you go through the flaming portal, into a world of darkness and sudden lights, with flashing images that may frighten children, but to us girls who know, are simply campy.  Though I would cool it with the making out, darlings, because, as one cannot see the track the seats are going on, there are some sudden turns that could result in whiplash, if one is not too careful.

                           My favorite part of the ride is when you go outside for a bit, and do that small roller coaster-like dip.  Hardly the Cyclone, darlings, but for those of us who don't have the tolerance for that, but want a small thrill, this is just perfect.  And don't forget to scream with delight as you coast down that incline!!!!!!!

                            But the ride itself is an architectural marvel.  Years ago, my friend Rory and I went on it, and he took a series of shots of me, standing in front.  Wish I had those photos now!!!!!!!

                             So don't miss the Dante's Inferno ride at Coney Island.  Easily my favorite ride there!

                              Hope to see all my girls there this season!!!!!!!!!  Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soon, It Will Be Time To Ride This, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!

                          This, as all my girls know, is the "Spook-A-Rama" ride at Coney Island.  Actually, I think you can ride it now, especially on the weekends, because sometime in April, Coney opens for weekend business, until Memorial Day Weekend, when it opens full time.

                          It is billed as "the longest spook house ride," though, as many times as I have been on it, I have never timed it.  But I just love the design of it, from the outside.  The extended track, the portal you pass through, the banquette-like seats, take me back to past rides of my childhood.  And once inside, it is just as cheesy and fun, as you would expect.  Don't worry; there is no deformed creature or nymphomaniacal Sylvia Miles hiding inside.  Though, you never can be too sure, with Sylvia!!!!!

                          I always ride this when I go to Coney.  As well as what I consider the better spook house ride, "Dante's Inferno," which I will show you another time.  The outside of THAT inspires home decorating ideas for my apartment!!!!

                          But let me be, honest, girls!!!!!  I LOVE these rides, but, along with the Carousel, they are the only ones, at my age, and with my stomach, that I CAN ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                           The Tilt-A-Whirl, and the Scrambler???????????  Forget it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!