Early morning nerdery

I decided that next year, when I'm visiting California, I want to make a point of driving up to Big Sur to see the giant Redwoods.

And I must do so dressed exactly like Kim Novak in Vertigo.


Or else what's the point?

The Pander House

If you have stumbled here randomly or if you are one of my three friends who still reads this, I would like to recommend a podcast. Anyone who knows me knows that I love bad movies. Hello, 'The Abominable Dr. Phibes' is one of my favorite movies of all time.

But what about movies that come out now? Well, yeah, most of them are crap. And none of them can capture the delight you feel when you see Vincent Price conducting a clockwork symphony, or putting on his Vincent Price mask or killing a lady with brussel sprouts and locusts. But I digress.

The Mask Wears The Man?

For a hilarious spin on the crap films of today, I can't recommend The Flop House highly enough. Though honestly, every episode contains minimal talk about movies. A lot of it is the guys digressing into discussions about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Underwater Sex (anyone tried it?), The best way to kill Scrooge McDuck (drown him in his pool of money) and what would happen if Penny from Inspector Gadget met a Dinosaur. Start from the beginning and work your way up, because there are occasionally callbacks to previous episodes, not to mention some very undefined contests with no discernible prizes and a saga of a patchy, peg-legged cat.

I want to marry this video...

Don't you?

All the ladies...

I like to watch a lot of TCM and AMC, it's part of what gave me my inspiration for the story I've been working on. A lot of times when I'm watching these old movies I'll see an actress and think "Oh she would make a great Jane, if I were filming this story in 1948." I know, I need a life. Thank you.

Here are just a few of said inspirations, enjoy!

Lizzy - Hedy Lamarr

She's got a wholesome, sort of good-girl vibe, but looks like she'd have a great sense of humor.

Jane - Carole Landis

This is one of the few actresses I came across that was smiling in most of her photos. It seems that pouting was very popular in the Golden Age of Cinema.

Caroline - Ella Raines

She's gonna get you! 

Claire Connelly - Anna Neagle

She looks sweet, doesn't she? Like the popular girl in school that you wanted to hate but just couldn't.



Anne - Gene Tierney

To me, Anne is sort of perpetually sad.


Georgiana - Janet Blair
It's almost impossible to find photos of young, brunette actresses from the 1940's. Janet definitely has the face though, she looks innocent and good-natured.


Kitty and Lydia - Joan and Constance Bennet

 These two look like trouble, don't they?

Mrs. Bennet - Barbara Stanwyck

She's got the vapors! Quick, grab her smelling salts!


Catherine - Marlene Dietrich

Oh Marlene. I could only find about 2 photos of the woman where she doesn't have a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. I've always thought she looked very forbidding, much like Lady C!

Photo Friday: The Host, Video Edition

I came across the below fan video for Stephenie Meyer's 'The Host' yesterday. I know that it's going to be adapted to a movie, imdb shows the release date as 2011. If you are rolling your eyes and groaning about sparkly vampires, you can cut it out this instant. Meyer's website calls The Host 'science fiction for people who don't like science fiction'. Well, I do like science fiction, and The Host is still pretty damned good.

What makes this story different is that as soon as you open it, you see that we've already lost. Earth has been successfully invaded. Sound familiar? Like...Twelve Colonies familiar? Though the Host invaders are actually aliens and not robots, the premise works for the exact same reason Battlestar Galactica worked. The human race is reduced to almost nothing, hiding and scavenging while trying to keep a Resistance going. And while the invaders (who call themselves 'Souls') don't have a great agenda like the Cylons did, other than bringing 'peace' to our world, we are nevertheless used as pods for their peas.

The story is about Melanie Stryder, a human woman who is part of the resistance gets captured and implanted with Wanderer, who is sort of the Steve Irwin of Souls, but female. Wanderer has access to Melanie's memories, and is tasked with trying to use those memories to root out the human resistance. But instead of turning them over, Wanderer seeks them out. Melanie is still partially at the wheel, and what follows is one of the most unexpected and surprisingly intelligent stories I've ever read. I can't really do it justice here, and besides this isn't 'Windbag Friday', it's 'Photo Friday', so Here is a great review of the book. Read it, it's good, that's all.

I've been looking around, and apparently a lot (a LOT) of people are loving Jensen Ackles as Melanie's lover Jared. I have to confess, he'd never even entered my mind (I'd always thought more along the lines of Charlie Hunam) but as soon as I saw this video, it clicked for me. I can't really picture anyone else as him now. It looks as though Ian Somerhalder is being rumored to play Ian O'Shea, the human man who begins to fall for Wanderer (not Melanie, it's a regular love quadrangle and very well done). I don't have a problem with that, but I do like the idea of Jared Padalecki better. Ian and Kyle (twins) are suppossed to be big guys, and Jared's definitely got the range it would take to play both parts. Here's hoping!

As Promised...

Here the bit of writing I've been working on. I've only posted the first 3 chapters, when I got up from my computer today I had just finished 12.

It is a Pride & Prejudice story (naturally, you didn't think I was reading all of those Darcy books for the hell of it, did you?).

IF you are interested I will give you a little backstory. Just after WWII, Lt. Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam meets a young Elizabeth Bennet while on vacation in Charleston, SC. Three years later, Elizabeth is home from college when a young wealthy bachelor named Mr. Bingley buys the property closest to her family's home, Longbourn Farm.

I've stuck with the basics of the P&P plot, with a few changes. It's relatively easy to transplant the characters into the south, a lot southern people (sorry, but especially older folks) still use a very proper way of speaking so that helps.

In any case, I'm trying to get more chapters ready for upload, if anyone cares. In the meantime, here are a couple of exchanges that I was kind of proud of. The first is between Lizzy and Jane, and the second between Lizzy and Darcy. Feedback is welcome, but be gentle, I'm fragile in the region of my Ego.

::Mr. Bingley Stuffs His Face::
 Elizabeth, smiling at Jane said, “You would think that your Mr. Bingley had never had eaten before the way he inhaled that food.” Jane blushed, thinking she’d barely touched her food for watching Mr. Bingley eat.

“He did tell me that neither of his sisters ever learned to cook. They have a cook but Mr. Bingley gave her a month off to visit her daughter in Raleigh. I think he’s been having to make do with Caroline’s cooking for the past few weeks.”

“Ah, that explains it then. I think Mama took it as a great compliment to you. Though how she figures a man stuffing eight pieces of chicken in his mouth is a compliment to a lady, I’ll never understand.”

“It was hardly eight pieces, but I understand your point.” Jane sighed dreamily, as if stuffing his face with fried chicken was the most romantic thing she’d ever seen. Elizabeth was determined, however, to be diplomatic.


::Mr. Darcy is tricked into helping Elizabeth in her garden::
Bent to her work, she didn’t speak, and he decided to break the silence first.
 
“Can I help you with that, Miss Elizabeth?”
Without looking up she said, “And muss that fine crease? How could I live with myself, Mr. Darcy? No, if you don’t mind your current employment, this’ll be but a moment’s work.” He shook his head, surprised to find himself enjoying her teasing barbs. Something else occurred to him and he broke the silence again.

“May I ask you a question?”

“You may.”

“Your father mentioned you went to college.”

“That, Mr. Darcy, was not a question, as any college-educated lady could tell you.”

“Thank you, Miss Elizabeth. I was going to ask what you studied.”

Photo Friday: Peter Bishop

 Math never looked so good.

Peter is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters on TV. He always seems so calm and collected. Joshua Jackson plays him with such intensity you get the impression that he's not calm, only tightly coiled and ready to spring any second. He's got a brilliant mind, and a charm that only comes with being slightly vague and rather mysterious, but he also seems to have this sweet, sunny innocence too.

It doesn't hurt that Jackson, who was always a decent actor (you know he was the only reason you watched The Creek) has come into his own over the past few years. Not to mention he is certifiably gorgeous. Even if inter-dimensional scientific espionage isn't your thing, isn't this reason enough to watch Fringe?

 I love a good scowl. Seriously, I do.

Peter and Olivia, this picture is smokin' hot!