#17, an Early Hitchcock movie

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Scary HouseMade in 1932, Number 17 sometimes shows it’s age. Netflix instant has an OK print. And its sound isn’t too bad.

Five minutes into it, you’ll be hearing past the hiss and seeing past any scratches without any effort on your part. It’s a fun movie that’ll pull you right in.

It starts with a man walking by a house at night. The house is empty with a For Sale sign on it. A light is moving around inside. The man goes in to investigate.

Before long, there’s a corpse! And a jewel thief! And a runaway train!!! And lots of shadows on the walls. There’s spooky houseness. There’s paranoia! It’s nice.

Stuff just keeps happening. I never knew what could possibly be next. For a pre-MTV movie, it’s pretty spry.

I really enjoyed the miniatures. They matched them with the full scale pretty well. I didn’t expect that either.

Although this is early Hitchcock, it’s still like nearly his 20th. His style isn’t as mature as in North by Northwest or Psycho, or maybe it is and only the acting styles changed over the years. Sometimes when the camera moves, it calls attention to itself. I think the technology just wasn’t there yet. There’s a bunch of small touches that really pay off.

A lot of people seem to dislike this film. Even Sir Alfred called it melodrama.  But if you consider it was 1932 (!!!) , it’s so fresh.

And it’s just over an hour long, so you can’t say that you’d be wasting your time.

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Don’t Grow Old Along with Me

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Magic SpringThe premise of Tuck Everlasting may not be as old as Methuselah, but has been around at least as long as the Wondering Jew or the Flying Dutchman. Only the Tuck family members aren’t being punished. It just happened because something was wrong with the water. Now they’ll never die.

William Hurt makes it clear that if you can’t die, then you aren’t alive. So his family is kind of like the living dead. Like zombies. But they don’t eat brains. The teenage romance also reminded me of some recent vampire books/movies. Only there’s no drinking of blood. Or werewolf rivals.

It also reminds me of Highlander. The elder Tucks evan sport semi-Gaelic accents. But these folks don’t have reproduction issues like MacLeod did. On the other hand, they cannot pretend to be dead either. So that’s an interesting handicap.

There was some other movie it reminded me of, but reversely. That is, it was backwards, or opposite, or inside-out from this one. But I don’t recall the name or in which way it was different. Any ideas?

Anyway, it’s a pretty movie, with a nice soundtrack.  Give it a try on some rainy day. And don’t drink the water.

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What About Ira & Abby

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Sometimes a cave is just a cave.“Every good thing in life comes all of a sudden. Hits you like a ton of bricks.” What if you got married to somebody that you just met, like today?

So there’s this swell movie called Ira & Abby. It’s funny. There’s one wacky character. There’s a bunch of other quirky ones. It’s a romance comedy, but it asks the question: why do people still get married? If you’re not part of the 50% that breaks up, the best you can hope for is mutual resignation.

It also asks the question, what’s the difference between a therapist and an analyst.

There are a lot of  therapists and analysts in this movie. Usually, I don’t find psychology to be all that funny. But these shrinks aren’t just stick figures held up for ridicule. There is warmth and humanness there that you don’t usually see in movie shrinks. Or TV, since Bob Newhart gave up his shingle all those years ago.

The gal who plays Abby also wrote the script. Her character is ‘way out there, and I can’t imagine anyone else being able to pull it off so well.

Ever since Fernwood 2Night, I’ve really not been a big fan of Fred Willard. I always feel so embarrassed for him. (This is also why I could never watch Seinfeld: I felt so embarrassed for the characters that I just couldn’t stand to watch them.) That’s just the characters he plays. But this time, it really works for me. I saw a non-inept side to him that I’ve never seen before. Even in WALL-E.

Robert Klein can be really funny, but he’s been living that down for years. Often he can be sanctimonious (see Reign Over Me). In this movie, he has every chance to be sanctimonious but he’s not, and he comes off pretty warmly. So I’m really happy about his performance. If only he could stop his leg…

So I’m thinking about double-features, and I’m coming up with: The President’s Analyst. All it really has in common with Ira & Abby is an analyst. But it’s a great movie. Let me re-watch that one, and I’ll give you my review. If you have a chance to see it before then, go for it.

Another choice might be The Movie Hero. It’s got a wacky character, and a creepy character, and a couple others who verge on quirky, but not so much in a good way.

Once again, the connection is a shrink. According to the main character, everyone has an audience, because your life is somebody else’s movie. Yup, that’s why he visits a shrink. It does sound a little paranoid if you ask me. But it’s a romantic comedy, so you don’t have to worry about that part.  Although it does seem to be contagious. It’s a cute movie, with a haunting (maybe not in a good way) theme song.

Meet you on the couch!

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How You Do That Thing You Do So Well

Posted on January 29, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Look, ma, I'm on the radio!For me, Tom Hanks is kinda like Jeff Bridges. I feel like I know him personally, and I think that I like him. Or at least I trust him with my DVD rental money.

There’s a trick to figuring out how long to wait before you go to a website and start trying to talk rationally about a movie. Too soon, and you really haven’t digested and assimilated it yet. Wait too long, and you start forgetting everything that actually happened. It’s different for each  movie. And it doesn’t seem to depend on the movie’s heft. They all just take their own time.

Way back in ’96 Tom Hanks wrote and directed a film called That Thing You Do! It’s about a band from Erie, Indiana Pennsylvania that has a hit pop song. It’s a catchy song. You hear it a dozen times in the film, and it doesn’t get old.

The dad from Donnie Darko is here, playing the dad. In The Dreamer (Based on a True Story) he played the vet. He’s trapped playing three letter characters I guess. Peter Scolari, from Tom’s Bossom Buddies days, plays a TV show host. There seemed to be other blasts from Tom’s past appearing in other places, but I’ve waited too long to talk about it and I’m forgetting all the details. Clint Howard plays a jazz DJ.

I watched the Extended Cut which is like 2-1/2 hours long. That’s pretty long for a 90 minute comedy. But it was worth it. The movie didn’t feel like a cookie cutter comedy. It had it’s own rhythm, and best of all some quiet spots. I’m afraid to watch the released-to-theaters version now. It must have been heart-breaking for Tom to edit it down. On the other hand, Spartacus (from 1960) is about three hours long. So I guess every movie has its length.

Tom did a great job of giving each character a character. Whether it’s the rhythm guitar player or the doorman, you know each of them about as well as they’re able to be known.

The most inscrutable character is the one that Tom plays,  the corporate manager for the group. He reminds me of Agent Smith in the Matrix. I see this as Tom’s take on show business. First of all, it’s a business. Second, it’s all for show. You can try to argue with that, but you won’t win. “And you are the smart one. That’s what I think, anyway.”

This would be a great movie to watch before watching anything by the Beatles. (Or even Robert Zemeckis’ first movie, I Wanna Hold Your Hand.)   It would help put things in perspective. It does a good job of showing teenage hysteria of the early ’60s.

Over on Amazon’s review page, Jim Emerson’s review suggests a double-feature with Grace of My Heart. What a great idea! The woman in that movie is actually successful in the music industry! I need to re-watch it so I can post a cross-linked review. While That Thing You Do! is totally fictional (as far as I can tell), Grace of My Heart is (Based on a True Story) about the Brill building folks. You end up with cream of condensed Phil Spectre and Don Kirshner, never quite sure where one ends and the next begins. But it’s still pretty educational. And the music is really awesome.

So what are you waiting for? Go do That Thing You Do!

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Mom’s Empty House Dream

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

big lizardIn the dream, my mom had been reported missing.

I was in her garage. My ’69 VW Beetle was parked there, standing in a puddle of stagnant water. Her car wasn’t there.

The house was a meandering single floor building, built a little cheaply. Not all the dry wall fitted well. There were holes in the corners of rooms where the walls didn’t meet up right.

It wasn’t that it felt like she hadn’t been there in a while. It felt like she had never actually moved in.

Walking down the furthermost hallway, there was a door on the left. It was a cheap hollow core door, like mobile homes use for closets. Behind it there were feral cats growling. I tried to make sure the door was locked, so they couldn’t get in, but only realized how flimsy the door was, and how wobbly it fit in the frame. I left it hoping that the cats wouldn’t’ break in and tear everything up.

Somewhere there was a great white lizard about four feet long, with bright pink ruffles down its back. At first I thought it was a stuffed animal. Then it moved. I didn’t’ want it to touch me, maybe bite me. I moved away.

I couldn’t find any sign of mom. It was troubling.

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Julie & Julia & me

Posted on January 25, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

RatatouilleLike so many others, after watching Julie & Julia I want to make some braised cucumbers. I’m sure that you will too. Those of you with some gumption will go for the Boeuf Bourguignon. Dont’ forget to dry it off before you brown it. So I learned something too!

First of all it’s a time travel story. I’m not sure whether Julie is going back in time to become Julia, or if Julia is coming forward in time to warn Julie. The paradox is broken when Julia tells Julie that she doesn’t like her blog. So it’s kind of a sequel to Donny Darko.

It’s based on two books. It’s amazing how two different stories could have so much in common, or at least parallel. Maybe there was some poetic license involved.

Why are bloggists so darn wordy? And egocentric? And megalomaniacal? And have such bad breath! It’s the onions and the garlic, I think. If they used more cardamom would it be better?

I had no idea that Julia had a sister and was on the verge of blacklisting.

I had no idea that Julie would try to cook so many recipes in only a year. It works out to like 1-1/2 a day! After first shopping for all the ingredients. And then she had to post it to a blog. Oy vey. It almost sounds like Two Guys and a Girl and a Pizza Place, except there’s only one guy.

It’s nice to see a new film by Nora Efram. I’ve been missing her.

And where’s Penny Marshall been lately, anyway? Riding in Cars with Boys was a decade ago! Shouldn’t there be a sequel to Big by now? Just keep Robin Williams out of it, please.

Anyway, life is better now that I’ve seen Julie & Julia, and we should keep it that way.

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My Dog is Smarter Than Me.

Posted on January 22, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

My Dog Is Smarter Than Me.He told me to tell you that.

As usual, you can get the t-shirt at zazzle.

It doesn’t look too much like a mouse does it?

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Cranberry Muffins of Love

Posted on January 20, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Don't Feed the BearsI don’t cook banana bread.

I cook cranberry bread. The tartness better fits my personality. I use twice as much cranberries as the recipe calls for. It adds zest.

Interestingly, you can take a bag of fresh cranberries, put them in a plastic grocery bag, and store them in the freezer for years.  All those anti-oxidants keep them from going bad or getting freezer burn flavor. I recently pulled out a four year old bag and made waffles. So you can stock up in November & December and make cranberry goodies all year.

My cranberry bread recipe I got from Diet for a Small Planet by Ellen Buchman Ewald. The whole wheat adds a lot of flavor. And the milk powder makes it richer. The recipe comes from back in the days when they thought vegetarians would die from lack of protein. Turns out that if you eat something other than fruit or junk food, you can’t help but get more than enough protein in your diet.

Around here we also experiment with adding carob chips or shredded coconut. My favorite addition to the muffins was a small lump of cream cheese buried in the center. But mainly I just like them plain.

I usually make a double batch.  If you need more than that, it’s better to make more batches than to try to handle it all at once.

Thanksgiving Cranberry Bread
a 5″ by 9″ loaf of 12 slices (or a bunch of muffins)
1 slice = approx 5 grams of usable protein
11% to 13% of average daily protein need

1/4 cup butter
2/3 cup honey
2 eggs
1 cup orange juice

2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup milk powder (1/3 cup instant)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts work great, or a mixture of walnuts and pecans and almonds)
2 cups fresh whole cranberries (I use a whole bag, about 4 cups.)

1) cream the butter and honey.
beat in the eggs and orange juice
2) in a separate bowl stir together all the dry ingredients (not the cranberries, unless you want to)
add this gradually into the liquid mixture
fold in the cranberries
3) turn batter into an oiled and floured loaf pan
bake at 325′ F for 1 to 1-1/4 hours
===OR===
spoon into paper cup lined muffin tins
bake at 350′ F for about 25 minutes maybe

Try not to eat them all at once.

So what’s your favorite recipe?

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Banana Bread Memories

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Heavy Machinery in the JunkyardThe other day at work, somebody brought some banana bread.  I only took one slice. I swear.

It was smooth and yummy, like only banana bread can be. Older bananas that have gone mushy are supposed to be the best to use. I don’t know, though, because I don’t bake banana bread.

Once upon a long time ago, my mom made fresh loves of banana bread every weekend or so. During the week,  that’s what I had for breakfast before school, with a glass of milk. Sometimes I’d warm it in the microwave. Mmmmm.

There was fruit, nuts, and whole grains. It was even healthful!

One time in high school my mom picked me up from school to take me to the dentist for a cleaning and inspection. Since I was a teenager, she knew that I’d be hungry. She brought a grilled cheese sandwich with her, still warm from the pan. The cheese gushed around my teeth and gums, and solidified. The hygienist felt her stomach start to turn as she peeled a layer of stiff, white buildup off my molars.

Another one of my mom’s tricks was to split an English muffin in half, spread a little bit of butter across the faces, divide a slice of cellophane wrapped cheese into 4 strips and place two on each side, then dust with some Parmesan cheese from the green can, and broil in the oven till the Parmesan cheese sort of puffed up and the Kraft stuff got melty, maybe even bubbly.

And then there was the Braunschweiger sandwich with just a little bit of mayo, lettuce, another slice of the Kraft cheese, and a big slice of purple onion. Good thing I didn’t know what Braunschweiger was made out of when I was a kid. About the only way to improve upon this is to toast the bread.

Thanks, ma! Bon appetit!

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Sleepwalkers Never Tire

Posted on January 15, 2011 by Lyle Verbilion

Sleepwalkers Never TireNeither do they reap. But either way, they make great t-shirts!

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