A very happy 117th birthday to Mr. Duke Ellington, so let’s celebrate by listen to him perform “Sophisticated Lady” with a little bit of help from his orchestra and saxophonist Harry Carney.
The basic idea for this week’s theme was supposed to be something to the effect of entertainers as members of the resistance in world war II, but in the end this became a bit of a stretch with the two films having very little in common , one being a slapstick farce and the other an adaptation of a Kurt Vonnegut novel.
To Be Or Not To Be was the Mel Brooks remake of the film of the same name starring Jack Benny and Carole Lombard directed by Ernst Lubitsch (Which I had intended to get, but couldn’t find it in the comedy section… in hindsight it was probably downstairs under Lubitsch)
It tells the story of a variety show in Warsaw Poland led by the egotistical Frederick Bronski played by Brooks and his wife played by Anne Bancroft. When Poland is invaded by Germany they find themselves pushed into the resistance with hilarity ensuing. This was a fun farcical comedy based on disguises and misunderstanding, though I admit It took me a little while to get into it since for me the farce and the subject matter (the holocaust which in his own way Brooks takes very seriously) it was addressing clashed a little too much. But once it got it’s pace going it’s hilarious with Brooks, Bancroft and their troop try to con their way to freedom and survival , with Charles Durning as the SS commandant nearly stealing the show.
Mother Night, starring Nick Nolte, as wasn’t quite what I expected.Sure I knew it was a Kurt Vonnegut novel and sure I knew Nolte’s character, Howard W. Campbell Jr was a Nazi propagandist who was actually sending coded messages to the Americans but I hadn’t realized that that was just a small part of the film. The majority of the story being about Campbell being labeled a war criminal, while being idolized by White Supremacists.
All in all this film was much better than I expected. It did a good job staying true to the material, which considering Vonnegut’s writing style is easier said than done, I was especially impressed by the framing device of Campbell writing his memoirs in an Israeli prison. And the way it shows what Campbell’s intentions were are almost irrelevant when compared to how history perceives those deeds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rIRIZ8thEE
Foe this week’s Rhapsody is Adrian Younge’s Mourning Melodies in Rhapsody from his Something About April album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSO_04EOeQM
The last time I went to the zoo was also the first time I’d gone in a weekend for a while so I really wasn’t expecting to get into my zone with the crowds nonetheless I think I got a surprisingly good number of thumbnails in.
Wolves, Bears, Eagles & Elk
Birds, Turtles, Snakes and small crocodilians
A Surly Emu… Is there any other kind?
Due to a previous engagement I was unable to participate last month (just saying doing art about the first signs of spring man a lot more sense in February)
Also squirrels are bastards.
It started in a playground where children were playing.
“Bollocks!” A little girl on a swing shouted.
“Bollocks!” Another said waiting for her turn on the slide.
Near them, a dog sneezed.
When scolded by their parents, neither could remember saying anything… they blamed it all on a fairy who had told them it was a funny word… Nobody asked the dog anything.
On the other side of town, a homeless woman started pacing in front of a shop window with stuffed animals on display. “Tis bollocks, Bert! All a me plans t’get his attention an’…” she shook her head and made a face as if she’d eaten something nasty and started cursing incoherently… “I told him! I told him but did he listen!!”
The plush koala bears on display said nothing. The woman paced muttering to herself for a few minutes and paused panting for breath. She stood shaking and stared at the sky. She turned and stared at the toys again. “Look. There ain’t no room in here an’ it be all a fuzzy. Ye can meet me in Bonnie’s room, yeah?” The woman stumbled shook her head and wandered away. Hours later sitting underneath the viaduct, sharing a drink of something nasty with a friend, she barely remembered the strange girl dressed in nothing but black rags with beads, leaves, and flowers, in her messy hair who whispered strange things in her ear.
_____
Bonnie shared her room with her brother Jules in their family’s two-bedroom apartment. It had served its purposes but recently their parents had been talking about getting something bigger so the kids could have their own space. Right now the room was evenly divided between the two with two small beds, dressers, and a table the two children shared. Bonnie’s dresser was covered with dolls which included a very ugly rag doll made of leather, one that looked like the green m & m wearing a strange spiky wig and a koala bear dressed in overalls and a poker visor.
On the table along with several drawings of Pixies, bears and something big that looked vaguely like a cross between an ape and a goat was an old laptop the two children shared that had been left open. The screen winked on, playing a rerun of the Fairies of Flower Glenn. It was the one where Pansy and SilkyWing were arguing about what flavor of cake to make for the queen’s birthday party. When they couldn’t agree Silky Wing stormed out of the house slamming the door.
Pansy rolled her eyes shaking her head. She looked around and turned to look at the computer screen. “It like I said, Bert! He didn’t notice anythin’. I been a followin’ him all day and he didn’t notice me once!”
The Koala bear on the dresser said nothing.
“
No, he ain’t!” Pansy shouted “An yer one to talk, ain’t ye? Yer the one what thought he’d a notice the graffiti.”
The Koala Bear did not respond in any way.
“What am I supposed to do then? Hilda be Blossom for the next two weeks an’ she be in Havana… What d’ye expect me t’do?”
The Koala Bear remained still and silent.
“I’m real enough! I were real for a whole half hour this afternoon. Sure a rat tried to eat me but that ain’t the point. He should be able to see me….”
Silence.
“Yer daft! Ye know what it takes to score a dream, there be paperwork an’ a jumpin’ through hoops, an’ that takes so much time other people might notice!
Silence
“Too right I’m a scared a her a findin’ out, how would I be able to protect him?”
Silence
“Yeah well maybe not, but it the principle,’ yeah? Maybe if I were stronger an’…. I’m brilliant.” The laptop winked off.
——
Hilda and Blossom’s apartment was locked. But that was okay because when Peaseblossom was herself she hardly bothered with things like doors. When she wasn’t Blossom she never saw the point. It had seemed like such a good time in the beginning. Two weeks away from work she could put all of her attention to Kevin.
With Hilda covering for her in Havana, it would be easy, and it was easy for Hilda to get time off from whatever it was she did. But Peaseblossom was a creature of the moment and frequently forgot things that should be obvious and sensible… things like her being the stuff of dream and fancy, and that without any assistance she didn’t actually exist in the real world. She’d thought that he wouldn’t question her presence since he spent most of his time in a dream state anyway… what she’d forgotten was how little he noticed anything.
Peaseblossom sat down and thought. She needed to be real… or more real than usual, and since Hilda was being Blossom on the other side of the country she’d have to be real in a different way. Obviously, she would find the solution if she went rummaging through Hilda’s things!
In the bottom of the trunk, Hilda kept her clothes in was a clay pot with a label that said in German, “I AM HILDA, DO NOT TOUCH”
Peaseblossom grinned as she opened the pot… this would be her best plan yet.
