May 4, 2010

"Every way's a way to die, huh?"

"I'm older.  Every way's a way to live."

--The Big Knife

President Eisenhower: "I mean, of course, no disrespect for our enemies by that remark"--Jules Feiffer

    Dreamed of concealing a tissue box in a car.

    At today's singing lesson I tried "Cruda, Funesta, Smania" from Donizetti's Lucia di Lamermoor for the first time.

    Dinner was roast beef.

    Planted the potatoes.

    Saw the DVD of Robert Aldrich's movie of Clifford Odets' The Big Knife.  An unsubtle inside-Hollywood melodrama, with Pack Palance playing a movie star clearly based on John Garfield.  Of its time.

May 3, 2010

"Why do you think he left New York?"

"That's not a question, that's an insinuation."

--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of googling the song "You're a Builder-Upper" (which I've done before) and only finding foreign-language translations.

    Planted most of the vegetables. (I was hoping Father would help, but he was too tired.) There isn't much space left for the potatoes because I planted along east-west lines instead of north-south, which would have been more space-efficient.

    Dinner was ravioli. (Moira decided she prefers tortellini.)

    Saw Todd Haynes' Superstar:  The Karen Carpenter Story (made with Barbie and Ken dolls) on YouTube.

    At choir practice we spent almost the whole evening on the La Sonnambula chorus.

May 2, 2010

"Then you're 30 wishing you were 20, then you're 40 wishing you were 30..."--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of the John Wayne western The Searchers.

    Went to a Games Meetup at the Foxes Den.  I played Metro and a new game called Stone Age.  The latter was pretty fun, and I did rather well for a beginner.  Jackie came, but I didn't get a chance to play a game with her.

    Dinner was shrimp and rice.

    Saw the DVD of Rene Clair's early sound movie Under the Roofs of Paris.  Quite an unglamorous portrait of the City of Light.

May 1, 2010

"Why can't I be an outsider?  Why can't I be hip?...  What I wouldn't give to be a non-conformist like all those others"--Jules Feiffer

Helen's husband (seeing her sister for the first time): "She's Helen's exact image--but beautiful!"--Her Sister From Paris

"He didn't pick you, Betty.  He married you, but--he didn't pick you"--Peyton Place

    Dreamed of visiting my alma mater Mount Allison campus in September; reading of a dictatorship in ancient Greece that collapsed in one generation; seeing a group of assassins stalking Roman Polanski; arriving home on New Year's Eve just before midnight.

    Started reading Explainers, a reprint of Jules Feiffer's early cartoons in The Village Voice from the late 1950s and early 1960s.  He was very original.

    Went to an Asperger's Meetup at Newtonbrook Bowlerama, where we played two games of five-pin bowling.  Rebecca smoked us, but I managed to come a strong second.

    Dinner was Chinese food.

    Saw the DVD of Her Sister From Paris, another Constance Talmadge-Ronald Colman silent comedy.

April 30, 2010

    Dreamed of the Newfoundland folk song "She's Like the Swallow"; the TV mystery show Columbo.

    We picked up some seed potatoes and onion sets.

    Dinner was steak.

    Finished the Little Orphan Annie reprint.  Brilliant stuff.

April 29, 2010

Young Hispanic: "Politics is bullshit!"

Campaign pro: "I was wondering what it was..."

--The Candidate

Preparing for a TV debate: "I can interlace my own fingers"--ibid.

    Dreamed of Batman.

    Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan.

    Bought some new yeast and baked last night's bread.

    Dinner was spaghetti.

    Saw the DVD of Michael Ritchie's The Candidate (for the second time). One of the sharper satires of American politics, though it's very 1972!

April 28, 2010

    Dreamed of being an undergraduate student again; realizing I had no business being in college and deciding to drop out; an adventure show set in a post-apocalyptic world with a hero who has to flee his enemies on Prince Edward Island.

    Went shopping. (We also got some seeds at Rona.)

    Dinner was salmon.

    Spread some peat moss over the garden.

    At the Games Meetup I played a new game called Trans America, along with Ticket to Ride and Smallworld (where my races were berserk ratmen, underworld sorcerers and alchemist amazons).

    Tried to bake multigrain bread overnight, but we didn't have enough yeast.