Today Is A Day For Celebrating, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                       Seventeen years ago today, girls, this blog was created.  Originally, it was going to have creative writing and short stories, but it evolved into a series of think or puff pieces on just about anything that came into my mind.

                         Covid affected some changes.  I stopped writing "Bitch Of The Week," and though I have returned to book reviews, I am ambivalent about them.  But maybe, the more I write...........

                             And true crime seems to have vanished in the wake of fashion and ANNA.  I think this is due to Covid, because, in the wake of it, I want to offer humor and hope, rather than morbid depictions of parents murdering their child.  There already is too much of that in the world.

                            It is my pleasure and privilege to have been doing this for seventeen years, bringing some humor and hope to you.  My wish for all of us is another seventeen years.

                               Because I will be right there recording it, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                 Happy Anniversary, everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Ibsen's Ghost" Is Hilariously Entertaining, But Leaves One Wanting More!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                When David or I see the name Charles Busch listed as presenting one of his plays, we run to it.  "Ibsen's Ghost" was no exception.  The play, which we saw last Sunday--Easter, can you imagine it, darlings??????????--turned out to be both more and less than what I expected.

                                   The cleverness of the title led me to expect a literal spoof of the Ibsen play, "Ghosts."  What one gets is the tale of Ibsen's widow who wants to cling to and benefit from her husband's fame.

                                       The set is so period, I was expecting an Ibsen play.  And when Busch comes on, like Tallulah Bankhead on crack, I kept thinking how interesting it would be for Busch to play Regina Giddens as written in a literal production of "The Little Foxes."

                                         Though the play ran two hours, with a 15-minute intermission, it seemed longer. Good as Busch was, he was helped enormously by Judy Kaye as a kind of Vera Charles type, and a scene stealing turn by Jen Cody, as handicapped maid, Gerta.  Carl Andress directed with his usual competent sure hand.

                                            Which is the problem.  The production is simply competent, not exceptional.  Is Busch losing his touch?  Because the idea has potential.  Or has he lost touch with what his audiences really want?????????????  Perhaps he should take a look at Cole Escola and "Oh, Mary!"  Now, there is some originality.

                                                 "Ibsen's Ghost" not only is not one of Busch's best., but it does also not reach the potential to which it seems to be aspiring.

                                                    Busch needs to return to the campiness of something like "The Divine Sister."

                                                      Theater Queens should see it, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"The Coworker" Was Absorbing Enough To Make Me Want To Read More Frieda McFadden! But The Ending Was Unsatisfying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             After polishing off a Mammoth like "Shantaram," I like to ease my palate with a quick read thriller.  The title intrigued me; after all, we all have had coworker experiences, haven't we, darlings?????????????

                                               The first part of the book starts out with intrigue.  A spinster outsider named Dawn comes to work for a drug company.  Her coworker, Natalie, is the top salesperson--Dawn is the accountant--and Miss Popularity.  

                                                   But then Dawn goes missing, and Natalie finds she is being gaslit.  Why?  And by whom?

                                                   Darlings, in the second part, we learn it turns out to be a high school revenge story.  The revenge is rather justified, considering the reason for it, but when the book ends, neither Dawn nor Natalie gets justice.  In fact, there is no heroine at all, as both women, in their unique ways, turn out to be utterly despicable.

                                                       Will Natalie and Dawn return in another book?  I would love to see what each comes up with next!

                                                           McFadden does fuel the reader to go on, which is the best thing one can say about an author in this genre.

                                                               I just bought her newest book, "The Teacher."

                                                               I cannot wait to see how she skewers the American educational system!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Girls, You Simply Have To Read "Shantaram!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                                     This was the book I used to participate in the March Of The Mammoths, where, during the year's third month, one is supposed to read a book with a length of eight hundred or more pages.  "Shantaram" clocks in at 933, and I would not sacrifice any of them.

                                       The novel first came out in 2003, and for years I have been telling myself I must read it.  Thanks to the owner of the Bay Ridge Bookstore, who picked this for my Mammoth book, I finally had the chance to read it.

                                          I did it in eighteen days, which is not bad, but since I began it on March 15, I did not finish till April 2.  Had I begun it on March first, I might have finished around the 19th.

                                          "Shantaram" starts out as a "Count Of Monte Cristo" type story, with a Britisher named Lin, a convict and heroin addict, escaping from an Australian prison.  He winds up in Bombay and has a series of thrilling adventures with a mysterious woman named Karla, my favorite character, Madame Zhou, (I pictured Gale Sondergaard right away!) and a brilliant depiction of the social upheaval after the murder of Indira Ghandi.  And this is just for starters.

                                                 It is epic historical fiction at its best, the kind not written any more, but sadly missed by me.   I was absorbed with "Shantaram," and readers on here will be, too.  Much of the book is fictionalized autobiography, so the author has lived quite a life.

                                                  Twelve years later, in 2015, Gregory David Roberts wrote a sequel to this novel, entitled "The Mountain Shadow."  It clocks in at nine hundred thirty- six pages.

                                                   Maybe that will be my March Mammoth for next year!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, Hons, "American Horror Story, Delicate, Part 2" Refutes Everything I Said About "Feud--Capote Vs. The Swans!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                         From the sublime to crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                        I really feel sorry for Emma Robets.  It is bad enough she has to work with Kim Kardashian, and cope with those child star dolls--is Summer Day, the name of her juvenile character, or the TV show? --but I wish she would return to her inner bitch.  I get the sense from her performance that she would like to, as well.

                            But there is hope, because, girls, I know Siobhan is the head of whatever is going on to sabotage Anna, (Emma) and when this comes to the fore, as it inevitably will, I think Emma will return for the moment to the bitch we all know and love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                            Kim is simply her transparent self.  But the one who steals the show is Chrissy Metz, as the Italian fat lady, who looks as if she has been zombified, and transferred to the AHS universe, from the set of Fellini's "8 1/2."  Saraghina, perhaps???????????

                             Really, it was all a waste of time.  I would love to see Anna's child past explored, and how she came to be, like Rosemary in a better story, selected for the role she is playing in this devil baby story.

                               If things do not improve, and I have no reason to expect they will, the AHS universe will come crashing down on Ryan Murphy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                 Good Riddance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              

Hey, What About That Final Episode Of "Feud--Capote Vs. The Swans?????????????"

                          With a title like "Phantasm Forgiveness," I knew it was not going to be realistic.

                            Eventually, it turned out to be very moving.

                             When it came to the part where Capote is standing by a pond, looking at the swans, I realized this was where the series began, and we have returned to it.  And when he rested his head on Babe Paley's grave, what I realized was this was his meditation on death, which sort of jives with mine.

                              At the moment of the end, all is forgiven, and one is reunited with those loved best.  In Capote's case, it was The Swans, so when they came from the white light to escort him, in the final shot, taking him to the other side, I felt it fitting.

                                Because I believe this, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                One thing for sure, darlings--he won't be going anywhere near that despicable Mama, Lillie Mae Faulk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  She cooked her goose on Earth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                   It was a sad but fond farewell to a series loved by so many.  Who knew Ryan Murphy could pull it together so superbly?????????????

                                     He does not always, as shall soon be discovered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're On Your Own, With This One, Girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                             To be sure, David and I, with Baby Gojira, Kerwyn, and Cucumbo, will watch it, but this is one film I never heard of before.

                               For his first April film, "Svengoolie" is showing 1964's "The Time Travelers."  It has a cast of unknowns who went nowhere, and from the poster, it seems to involve time travel--of course! --but the presence of a monster in the poster suggests a redo of "It!  The Terror From Beyond Space" (1958), which foreshadowed Ridley Scott's "Alien," 22 years later, in 1980..

                                  Truthfully, dolls, I don't know what we are in for.  If you watch, we will all be experiencing the unknown in real time.

                                    Which fits this week perfectly, after experiencing an earthquake!!!!!!!!!!!!