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Xoe and Rita discuss film, literature, historical figures, interests, and obsessions.
Episodes
Saturday Jul 11, 2020
Saturday Jul 11, 2020
Graphic Novels
Definition according to Merriam-Webster.com: a story that is presented in comic-strip format and
published as a book.
The Pantheon of Graphic Novels:
Maus by Art Spiegelman, serialized from 1980 to 1991. A memoir of the child of Holocaust survivors that artfully combines historical events and Spiegelman's relationship with his difficult father.
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel (eponym of the Bechdel Test), 2006. Another memoir about a difficult paternal relationship. A wry exploration of sexual identity, depression, etc. and very engaging.
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, 2000. It depicts youth in Iran and Paris during and after the Islamic Revolution.
Xoe’s List:
Capacity- Theo Ellsworth
Solanin- Inio Asano
Beautiful Darkness- Fabien Velhman
Uzumaki- Junji Ito
Tekkonkinkreet- Taiyou Matsumoto
A Child’s Life- Phoebe Gloeckner
Rita's List:
Transmetropolitan series by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson (1997-2002) - raw and rauchy. An R-rated political screed. Great graphics. Read the issues in order.
Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel: A Graphic Novel by Anya Ulinich, 2014. Life in New York City for a woman after her 15-year marriage breaks up. Full of weird dates, poignant characters, and wry humor.
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer by Sydney Padua, 2015. A David Foster Wallace-esque story about Lord Byron's daughter, a mathematical genius, and her collaborator and rival.
The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln by Scott McCloud, 1998. A Lincoln doppelganger attempts to wreak havoc.
Locke & Key by Joe Hill, art by Gabriel Rodriguez, 2008. Stephen King's son and horror novelist creates a stylish nightmare in a gothic mansion.
The Private Eye by Brian K Vaughan, 2015. Futuristic detective story full of the wit and violence you expect in a good noir.
Blacksad by Juan Díaz Canales
Other Titles Mentioned:
Garfield- Jim Davis
TinTin- Hergé
Asterix- Alberto Uderzo
Shonen Jump- A monthly Japanese comics anthology that is also released in the U.S.
Dear Creature- Jonathan Case
Sandman- Neil Gaiman
Saga and Y The Last Man- Brian K Vaughn
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art- Scott McCloud
Chicken With Plums (film)- dir. By Marjane Satrapi
Sailor Moon (TV Series)
Pokemon (TV series)
The Difference Engine (novel)- William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Saturday Jun 13, 2020
Saturday Jun 13, 2020
Jean Harlow
Born Harlean Carpenter McGrew Bern Rossen (1911-1937)
Bibliography: Platinum Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jean Harlow by Eve Golden, 1991.
Recommended Harlow films:
The Public Enemy (1931)
Red-Headed Woman (1932) - Her breakout role and her 1st of 4 films with her BFF Clark Gable.
Red Dust (1932) - Also with Gable. Fine vehicle for Harlow, if you can handle the colonialistic lens of the
film.
Dinner at Eight (1933) - star-studded cast including John and Lionel Barrymore. Harlow steals the show.
Libeled Lady (1936) - She acted with her real-life fiance William Powell (famously of the The Thin Man
series), though in the movie she conceded him to Myrna Loy.
False rumors about Harlow:
1) Jean's 2nd husband committed suicide because he was impotent/Jean's husband was murdered:
Neither Jean or the studio had anything to do with the death of her 2nd husband, Paul Bern. And there is
no evidence that her husband was impotent. On the other hand, Bern had just been visited by his 1st
wife, whom he had never divorced and about whom he had not told Jean.
2) Jean died because her mother refused to allow her to have medical treatment due to Christian
Science beliefs: Neither Jean nor her mother were Christian Scientist. Medical help was sought as soon
as it was evident that Harlow needed treatment. Her mother did not prevent Jean from receiving care, in
fact, she urged Jean to see a doctor. Jean died of kidney failure before dialysis existed.
Saturday May 16, 2020
Saturday May 16, 2020
Jean Harlow
Born Harlean Carpenter McGrew Bern Rossen (1911-1937)
Bibliography: Platinum Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jean Harlow by Eve Golden, 1991.
Recommended Harlow films:
The Public Enemy (1931)
Red-Headed Woman (1932) - Her breakout role and her 1st of 4 films with her BFF Clark Gable.
Red Dust (1932) - Also with Gable. Fine vehicle for Harlow, if you can handle the colonialistic lens of the
film.
Dinner at Eight (1933) - star-studded cast including John and Lionel Barrymore. Harlow steals the show.
Libeled Lady (1936) - She acted with her real-life fiance William Powell (famously of the The Thin Man
series), though in the movie she conceded him to Myrna Loy.
False rumors about Harlow:
1) Jean's 2nd husband committed suicide because he was impotent/Jean's husband was murdered:
Neither Jean or the studio had anything to do with the death of her 2nd husband, Paul Bern. And there is
no evidence that her husband was impotent. On the other hand, Bern had just been visited by his 1st
wife, whom he had never divorced and about whom he had not told Jean.
2) Jean died because her mother refused to allow her to have medical treatment due to Christian
Science beliefs: Neither Jean nor her mother were Christian Scientist. Medical help was sought as soon
as it was evident that Harlow needed treatment. Her mother did not prevent Jean from receiving care, in
fact, she urged Jean to see a doctor. Jean died of kidney failure before dialysis existed.
Saturday Apr 18, 2020
Saturday Apr 18, 2020
The final episode on Marilyn Monroe!
*note* Please excuse the increasingly poor sound quality of this episode. We may have gotten a little tipsy and careless, we'll keep it under control in the future :P
Bibiliography:
My Story by Marilyn Monroe, 1974.
Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote, 1980. (Chapter 6 A Beautiful Child is Capote's novelized non-fiction story about MM.)
Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming, 1998.
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto, 1993.
Links:
Calendar photos of Marilyn: https://www.widewalls.ch/marilyn-monroe-rare-nude-photos/
Scudda Hoo Scudda Hay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gD8YZu8uLs&t=3110s
Thursday Apr 16, 2020
Sunday Mar 22, 2020
Sunday Mar 22, 2020
Subversive Blondes
Bibiliography:
My Story by Marilyn Monroe, 1974.
Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote, 1980. (Chapter 6 A Beautiful Child is Capote's novelized non-fiction story about MM.)
Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming, 1998.
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto, 1993.
Links:
Calendar photos of Marilyn: https://www.widewalls.ch/marilyn-monroe-rare-nude-photos/
Scudda Hoo Scudda Hay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gD8YZu8uLs&t=3110s
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Sunday Feb 16, 2020
Bibiliography:
My Story by Marilyn Monroe, 1974.
Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote, 1980. (Chapter 6 A Beautiful Child is Capote's novelized non-fiction story about MM.)
Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming, 1998.
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto, 1993.
Links:
Calendar photos of Marilyn: https://www.widewalls.ch/marilyn-monroe-rare-nude-photos/
Scudda Hoo Scudda Hay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gD8YZu8uLs&t=3110s
Marilyn Miller (Marilyn's namesake): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Miller
From My Story
At 13, first time walking down the beach in a bathing suit:
"I was full of a strange feeling, as if I were two people. One of them was Norma Jean from the orphanage who belonged to nobody. The other was someone whose name I didn't kow. But I knew where she belonged. She belonged to the ocean and the sky and the whole world."
Acting teacher Michael Chekhov, "You are a young woman who gives off sex vibrations-no matter what you are doing or thinking...You can make the studio a fortune by merely vibrating in front of the camera. You more valuable to them as a sex stimulant."
MM: "I want that. Because I want to be an artist, not an erotic freak. I don't want to be sold to the public as a celluoid aphrodisical. Look at me and start shaking.It was all right for the first few years. but now it's different."
Background: Maternal great-grandfather has syphilis and got dementia as a result; maternal grandmother died in a straitjacket (violent and ran around naked); maternal grandfather was an alcoholic; mother was commited to mental hospital; was not sure who her father was.
When she was 7 a neighbor chopped her dog in 2 in front of her.
From Music for Chameleons:
Constance Collier's description:
She is a beautiful child. I don’t mean that in the obvious way—the perhaps too obvious way. I don’t think she’s an actress at all, not in any traditional sense. What she has—this presence, this luminosity, this flickering intelligence—could never surface on the stage. It’s so fragile and subtle, it can only be caught by the camera. It’s like a hummingbird in flight: only a camera can freeze the poetry of it. But anyone who thinks this girl is simply another Harlow or harlot or whatever is mad. ..This beautiful child is without any concept of discipline or sacrifice. Somehow I don’t think she’ll make old bones. Absurd of me to say, but somehow I feel she’ll go young. I hope, I really pray, that she survives long enough to free the strange lovely talent that’s wandering through her like a jailed spirit.”
Saturday Jan 18, 2020
Saturday Jan 18, 2020
Bibiliography:
My Story by Marilyn Monroe, 1974.
Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote, 1980. (Chapter 6 A Beautiful Child is Capote's novelized non-fiction story about MM.)
Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming, 1998.
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto, 1993.
Links:
Calendar photos of Marilyn: https://www.widewalls.ch/marilyn-monroe-rare-nude-photos/
Scudda Hoo Scudda Hay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gD8YZu8uLs&t=3110s
Marilyn Miller (Marilyn's namesake): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Miller
From My Story
At 13, first time walking down the beach in a bathing suit:
"I was full of a strange feeling, as if I were two people. One of them was Norma Jean from the orphanage who belonged to nobody. The other was someone whose name I didn't kow. But I knew where she belonged. She belonged to the ocean and the sky and the whole world."
Acting teacher Michael Chekhov, "You are a young woman who gives off sex vibrations-no matter what you are doing or thinking...You can make the studio a fortune by merely vibrating in front of the camera. You more valuable to them as a sex stimulant."
MM: "I want that. Because I want to be an artist, not an erotic freak. I don't want to be sold to the public as a celluoid aphrodisical. Look at me and start shaking.It was all right for the first few years. but now it's different."
Background: Maternal great-grandfather has syphilis and got dementia as a result; maternal grandmother died in a straitjacket (violent and ran around naked); maternal grandfather was an alcoholic; mother was commited to mental hospital; was not sure who her father was.
When she was 7 a neighbor chopped her dog in 2 in front of her.
From Music for Chameleons:
Constance Collier's description:
She is a beautiful child. I don’t mean that in the obvious way—the perhaps too obvious way. I don’t think she’s an actress at all, not in any traditional sense. What she has—this presence, this luminosity, this flickering intelligence—could never surface on the stage. It’s so fragile and subtle, it can only be caught by the camera. It’s like a hummingbird in flight: only a camera can freeze the poetry of it. But anyone who thinks this girl is simply another Harlow or harlot or whatever is mad. ..This beautiful child is without any concept of discipline or sacrifice. Somehow I don’t think she’ll make old bones. Absurd of me to say, but somehow I feel she’ll go young. I hope, I really pray, that she survives long enough to free the strange lovely talent that’s wandering through her like a jailed spirit.”
Saturday Dec 21, 2019
Saturday Dec 21, 2019
Bibiliography:
My Story by Marilyn Monroe, 1974.
Music for Chameleons by Truman Capote, 1980. (Chapter 6 A Beautiful Child is Capote's novelized non-fiction story about MM.)
Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming, 1998.
Marilyn Monroe: The Biography by Donald Spoto, 1993.
Links:
Calendar photos of Marilyn: https://www.widewalls.ch/marilyn-monroe-rare-nude-photos/
Scudda Hoo Scudda Hay: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gD8YZu8uLs&t=3110s
Marilyn Miller (Marilyn's namesake): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Miller
From My Story
At 13, first time walking down the beach in a bathing suit:
"I was full of a strange feeling, as if I were two people. One of them was Norma Jean from the orphanage who belonged to nobody. The other was someone whose name I didn't kow. But I knew where she belonged. She belonged to the ocean and the sky and the whole world."
Acting teacher Michael Chekhov, "You are a young woman who gives off sex vibrations-no matter what you are doing or thinking...You can make the studio a fortune by merely vibrating in front of the camera. You more valuable to them as a sex stimulant."
MM: "I want that. Because I want to be an artist, not an erotic freak. I don't want to be sold to the public as a celluoid aphrodisical. Look at me and start shaking.It was all right for the first few years. but now it's different."
Background: Maternal great-grandfather has syphilis and got dementia as a result; maternal grandmother died in a straitjacket (violent and ran around naked); maternal grandfather was an alcoholic; mother was commited to mental hospital; was not sure who her father was.
When she was 7 a neighbor chopped her dog in 2 in front of her.
From Music for Chameleons:
Constance Collier's description:
She is a beautiful child. I don’t mean that in the obvious way—the perhaps too obvious way. I don’t think she’s an actress at all, not in any traditional sense. What she has—this presence, this luminosity, this flickering intelligence—could never surface on the stage. It’s so fragile and subtle, it can only be caught by the camera. It’s like a hummingbird in flight: only a camera can freeze the poetry of it. But anyone who thinks this girl is simply another Harlow or harlot or whatever is mad. ..This beautiful child is without any concept of discipline or sacrifice. Somehow I don’t think she’ll make old bones. Absurd of me to say, but somehow I feel she’ll go young. I hope, I really pray, that she survives long enough to free the strange lovely talent that’s wandering through her like a jailed spirit.”
Saturday Nov 23, 2019
Saturday Nov 23, 2019
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Bibiliography:
In Search of Anne Bronte by Nick Holland, (2016). - As the title indicates, this book focuses on Anne but it gives a rounded view of the family and their circumstances.
Wuthering Bites by Sarah Gray (2010) - In which Heathcliff is a vampire. Didn't bother to read it, but had to include it here to show the range of fan fiction.
Film and televion adaptations of WH. Please forgive omissions. There are so many! Ratings out of 5 stars.
1920 - Wuthering Heights, starring Colette Brettel and Warwick Ward - silent screen adaptation - I have not seen it.
1939 - Wuthering Heights, starring Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier - 3 stars: Worth-seeing, though the content is sanitized for the Hollywood censors and the actors' looks are beautified for the tastes of the day.
1948 - Wuthering Heights (British TV adaption) - starring Katherine Blake and Kieron Moore - have not seen it.
1962 - Wuthering Heights, starring Keith Mitchell and Claire Bloom - have not seen it.
1967 - Wuthering Heights (British TV series), starring Angela Scoular and Ian McShane - 1 1/2 stars: McShane has the Heathcliff glower down to the tee. But little else about this slow-paced drama is engaging.
1970 - Wuthering Heights, starring Anna Calder-Marshall and Timothy Dalton - 4 stars: I saw this for my 13th birthday. It was my first taste of WH. My friends and I were so in love with Timothy Dalton. Nice dark perspective that maintains a lush emotional and physical violence along with the feral sexiness.
1978 - Wuthering Heights (TV series one season), starring John Duttine and Amanda Root - have not seen it
1992 - Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes - 2 stars: Fiennes is more mean and brittle than dark and brooding, while Binoche is too refined for Kathy.
1998 - Wuthering Heights, starring Robert Cavanah and Orla Brady - have not seen it.
2003 Wuthering Heights, starring Erika Christensen and Mike Vogel - modern day loose adaptation, I haven't seen it.
2009 - Wuthering Heights (limited TV series), starring Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy - 4 1/2 stars: These 2 actors are the among the best to assay these roles. They both have the acting heft and temperment to manage the layers these characters embody. Though note to ITV, for God's and all our sakes please get some better wigs. Only someone as massively talented as Tom Hardy could overcome that mop on his head.
2011 - Wuthering Heights, starring Kaya Scodelario and James Howson - 1 1/2 stars: Director Andrea Arnold's films, while interesting, are low in energy and understated. This style does not serve a wild Gothic ghost story. The film is a faded husk. (On the other hand, many critics lauded it.)