All Purls. No Swine.
She died in 2003, 22 years ago today, at the age of 96. A good age. One that many close members of my own family have made it to, and beyond. I guess I have another almost two-and-a-half decades to live through, if I intend to keep the side up. Which--absent adverse entanglements--I am determined… Continue reading In Memoriam: Katharine Hepburn
409 years ago this month, we observe the anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes, on April 22, 1616. Cervantes' greatest creation, Don Quixote, a lower-class (dare I say deplorable?) fellow who was driven to fantasies of heroism due to his mid-life immersion in, and obsession with, works of knightly valor, remains the most… Continue reading A Missed Opportunity: W.H. Auden and the Lyrics of Man of La Mancha
Crimenutely. The date is almost upon us. Come tomorrow, March 21, 2025, Disney's latest iteration of Snow White hits US theaters. I've done my best, during what must be one of the most drawn-out, screwed-up, infelicitous run ups to a premiere in movie history, to keep my dear readers up to speed with developments over… Continue reading Sometimes It’s Not Real, and It’s Not Even True: Disney’s Latest Snow White Staggers To the Finish Line
My daily dose of history, specifically for November 21, informs me that I should be aware that, 44 years ago today, on November 21, 1980, "Millions tune[d] in to find out who shot J.R." Aside from the fact that I'm not sure that "millions" tune in anymore to find out what's going on anywhere on… Continue reading Who, or What, Shot J.R.? (Whoever He Was)
Mitzi Gaynor, star of stage and screen for over seventy years, died today at the age of 93. She's an inextricable part of my childhood, and the female lead in the first movie I ever saw. Here's a reflection from a couple of years ago: I saw my first movie, ever, in the UK, when… Continue reading “Get a Load of Honeybun Tonight!” Rest in Peace, Mitzi Gaynor.
A bit of a repost from almost exactly a year ago. Like Angela herself, I think it's aged pretty well. The same can't be said for Strictly Come Dancing, once a hugely popular BBC program. ("Dancing with the Stars" is the US copycat edition.) Ever since the Fall of 2023, "Strictly" has been mired in… Continue reading Happy 80th Birthday, Angela Rippon!
But--of course--it always does. This has been a hell of a week. First there was all the fallout from Hurricane Helene, some of which has gravely affected those I love. Followed by the death of Maggie Smith. And now, that of Kris Kristofferson. https://youtu.be/mtQOY-0sViQ https://youtu.be/vHReBUA8cH4 https://youtu.be/HCgnbRWVvU8 The last is one of the very few great… Continue reading “Dreaming was as easy as believing in was never going to end”
Apologies to A.A. Milne: But now I’m six, I'm as clever as clever. So I think I'll be six now, forever and ever! I guess this was really just the sixty-fourth anniversary of my turning six. (For God's sake, check the math; it was never my strong point). And I'm deliriously happy with the result. … Continue reading Now I Am Seventy
210 years ago today, when the flag of the still relatively-young republic had only fifteen stars, on September 14, 1814, an American lawyer by the name of Francis Scott Key published a poem he'd written upon witnessing the bombardment of Baltimore's Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy during the War of 1812. The poem… Continue reading The Defense of Fort McHenry: For the World
Answer: People mostly concerned about money and/or (increasingly) politics is my guess. Case in point, the casting of Tom Cruise as Lee Child's anti-hero in the two "Jack Reacher" movies released a few years ago. I was a fan of the books, and read them as fast as Child churned them out (pretty fast; the… Continue reading Who Makes Those Casting Decisions, Anyway?