Girls, I Have Been Meaning To Tell You About This Crazy Dream I Had!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                              Any reader on here long enough knows how much I hated the film "La La Land." It had potential, and a great visual style, but the potential was ruined by miscasting, and the visuals were simply eye candy to make those of us more knowledgeable about the film musical genre sit through this dreck.

                                Several weeks ago, I had a dream in black- and- white.  I was somewhere in downtown Manhattan, searching for a revival movie theatre, that was showing a black-and-white film I wanted to see; something like Bergman's "Persona."  The dream ended with me getting a ticket at the box-office, but to get to the theater I had to cross a non-existent street called "La Law Land."  Am I going to law school?  Are you kidding?  At my age?

                                  And the Manhattan of this dream was nothing I had ever known. It was more like the William Cameron Mennzies designed sets in the 1936 film of "Things To Come."

                                   My God, could I have been foreseeing the future of Manhattan?

This is something like what I saw!  Beware the future, girls!  We will have gone from fashion glamour to Flash Gordon, super-hero minis!

Quelle catastrophe!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, This Is The Book "Lovecraft Country" SHOULD Have Been!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            I know, I know, girls.  The cover of Edgar Cantero's fun novel, "Meddling Kids," looks like it is a YA (Young Adult) book.  I actually found it in the adult fiction section at Shakespeare And Books, on the Upper West Side, and it intrigued me.

                                             The reviews say the book abounds with many cultural references.  While there are certainly some, I found not as many as I expected, though, unlike the earlier book, it is fast paced.

                                                The plot owes something to Stephen King's "IT."  Thirteen years ago, a group of children--Peter, Kerri, Andrea, Nate, and a dog, Tim, solved the Sleeping Lake Monster mystery--a burglar dressed up in a lizard costume.  Thirteen years later, mysterious things are happening in the Oregon town, and they return to solve a mystery incorporating a haunted house laced with witchcraft and necromancy.  The kids are now adults, but Peter has since died.  Nate, who has been housed in Arkham, Massachusetts Asylum (nod to Lovecraft) breaks out, accompanied by hallucinatory advice from beyond by Peter.  My hero of the story was Tim, the dog.

                                                  It is learned the lake was the product of an exploding volcano, that real monstrous creatures exist beneath in an underground city, that calls to mind Lovecraft and Cthulu.

                                                   Unlike "Lovecraft Country," this better honors that author, and is fast paced and fun!

                                                    I have a feeling this could become a series.  I am not saying I am willing to commit, but as a single read, "Meddling Kids" is as fun and thrilling as a Winter read can be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                      Grab it while you can, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doesn't She Look Like A Bitch, Dolls??????????????????????????

                                    This is Arieta Gouvakis, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!  She is thirty eight years old, and lives on Manorville, Long Island.  Last Friday, she was arrested from stealing jewelry, on January 31, and February 1, from patients of Dr. Elliot Korchitzki, while they were under anesthesia.  Hence, she is this week's winner of The Raving Queen Bitch Of The Week Award!

                                      You have to hand it to Long Island, girls.  It has long been known as Serial Killer Central.  Now, it is suddenly becoming, as well, Bitch Headquarters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       Stealing jewelry from patients, while under?  How low can you go?  This bitch must have needed drug money, because look at that face; that is the face of addiction, if I ever saw it!

                                         Not to mention--a Long Island dental assistant?  What the hell would she know about quality jewelry.

                                          If you thought Joan Crawford as Crystal Allen, in "The Women," was trash, Arieta goes her one better!  And she is not the least bit sexy!

                                          Not only a bitch, but a loser!

                                           Congrats, Arieta!  Jail time, and this honor are the only plaudits you will ever receive.

Lunch At Sarabeth's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            David and I started our Valentine's Day celebration a day early.  You see, he had to go to a doctor on the Upper East Side, near one of my favorite book stores, The Corner Bookstore, on East 93rd Street, where I finally found the novels "Big Bang," by David Bowman, and "Lost Children Archive," by Valeria Luiselli.  I simply cannot WAIT to read them.

                                            Nevertheless, we decided to make a day of it, by dining for lunch, at Sarabeth's.  Just like girlfriends...with hats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                               Yes, I was one of the ladies who lunch!  I had a classic New England Club sandwich, with the best potato chips; they seemed homemade.  David had a bowl of butternut squash soup, which was different from what both of us expected, but his hamburger and fries made up for it.  Capped off by scrumptious cheesecake desert, with decaf coffee for me, and regular for David.

                                                  I have not had much fun in a long time.  The decision was so sudden and impulsive, there was no time to notify the staff that I, The Raving Queen, would be coming. Which was why the service was just a tad shoddy.

                                                   Nevertheless, a wonderful pre-Valentine's Day celebration.  Do yours today, girls!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    Today is Valentine's Day, when we remember our beloved, so this is as much a blog to my husband, David, as to all of you.

                                     Make sure you do something romantic on this day.  That Prosecco I wrote about the other night would certainly come in handy, tonight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      But mostly, cherish those, or THE one, in your lives, whom you love the most.

                                        That's what it is all about, darlings!

                                         And here is a special ode to this day, thanks to "The Little Rascals!"

Let's Start The Day On A Light Note!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, darlings, I do not own this coffee mug,

 though I wish I did, because, every six months, I could drink from it.  Yes, I went to the dentist on Tuesday, and I am free for the next six months.

It is not my dentist is bad; in fact, he and the staff are wonderful.  It's just I suffer from dental anxiety disorder, so the very idea makes me nervous the week before.

But now I can block it out for six months.  Just like a colonoscopy for the next five years.

One of the perks about going to, and surviving the dentist, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!

What A Pleasure, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       I fell in love with Anthony Horowitz, last year, when I read "Magpie Murders."  I decided I would follow him and his work, and when this book appeared, I knew I had to read it.

                                         It is marvelous, and ventures into all the worlds that interest me--Shakespeare, British Theater, and high society.

                                          Think of 1950's "All About Eve," with Bette Davis, and 1973's "Theater Of Blood," with Vincent Price and Diana Rigg.  Should Horowitz' book ever be filmed, it would go great on a double bill, with these aforementioned films!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                             Everything begins with Diana Cowper, mother of famed actor Damian Cowper, going to a funeral home to arrange for her funeral.  She is murdered six years later, and suspicion falls upon a traffic accident she was involved with, ten years ago.  Then things start happening rapidly, Horowitz (who injects himself as a character into this novel, much as Angela Lansbury did, as Jessica Fletcher, on the TV show "Murder, She Wrote.") teams up with a washed up detective named Hawthorne, and, suddenly, things go in a very different direction.

                                                The author stumped me again, just as he did with his last book.  Here, I was sure Grace Lovell was the killer, but I was way, way off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                  I won't tell you who, or where, because all the fun is getting there!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    Ghoulish, ghastly fun, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!