Derelict Goes to Hollywood

Basically, the TCM Classic Film Festival was everything I hoped it would be and more. To read my rambling musings on the whole shebang, go to Libertas Film Magazine HERE.

I stuck to my schedule for the most part, but I did make some interesting changes and ended up seeing movies I wasn't planning to see, both out of choice and necessity. Final verdict on the festival: I will definitely be going again next year.

And it turns out Twitter -- which I resisted for so long -- is pretty darn cool. I ended up meeting fellow festival-goers @tpjost, @salesonfilm, and @oldfilmsflicker through Twitter and they turned out to be very groovy people indeed. Meeting other old movie fanatics who are also young?! WIN!

What I'm Planning to See at the TCM Film Fest

This is always subject to change, because I'm just one of those wild and crazy spontaneous kinda gals and who the heck knows what I'll feel like doing once I get there, but here's what I'm hoping to see at the Festival as of today, Wednesday, April 27th:

Thursday
6:30 PM -- AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (red carpet walkin', yo!)
10:15 PM -- THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN (As a newly-made disciple of Sternberg, how could I not?)

Friday
10:00 AM -- THE CONSTANT NYMPH (How can I go against The Siren?)
1:00 PM -- ROYAL WEDDING (Astaire. On a ceiling. Dancing. 'Nuff said.)
4:00 PM -- BRITISH AGENT (Leslie Howard takes on the Bolsheviks)
6:15 PM -- DESIGN FOR LIVING (I've never seen this essential classic, so what better way to see it than on the big screen?)
9:15 PM -- DODSWORTH (Again, this is One of the Greats, and I've never seen it. My plan for this festival is to have as many "first time" viewings as possible.)
12:00 AM -- THE TINGLER (How could I resist?)

Saturday
12:30 PM -- HOOP-LA (MOMA restoration of Clara Bow's last film)
3:45 PM -- WENT THE DAY WELL? (It was a tough call: Do I go to the rarely-seen movie I've never heard of before OR do I see one of my all-time favorites in a new 70th anniversary restoration? While I'm not normally one to pass up the opportunity to see CITIZEN KANE on the big screen, I don't think I can miss the chance to see a rarity like WENT THE DAY WELL?)
7:00 PM -- THE CAMERAMAN (with Vince Giordano and His Nighthawks Orchestra!)
9:30 PM -- GASLIGHT (Angela Lansbury will be there. Can't. Wait.)

Sunday
7:30 AM -- Mass! (The most important event of the festival)
9:15 AM -- THE SID SAGA (I honestly have no idea what this will be like, but it sounds too crazy to miss!)
3:45 PM -- A TRIBUTE TO THE NICHOLAS BROTHERS (Between Fred Astaire in ROYAL WEDDING and this Nicholas Brothers tribute, I'll be in movie dancing heaven)
5:45 PM -- LAUGH O'GRAMS (I'll probably leave the Nicholas Brothers tribute early to get a good seat for these cartoon shorts. Widely known fact: I wanted to be a Disney cartoonist when I was seven years old.)
7:15 PM -- FANTASIA (One of my movie obsessions.)

It's almost here...

The Greatest Four Days of My Life are almost here. On Thursday, I'm off to Hollywood for the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival.

If you want to know just how much TCM and this festival means to me, go read my tribute to TCM at Libertas and then (God help me) follow me on Twitter if you want to get up-to-the-minute updates on what I'm doing at the festival.

I'll also be covering the festival for Libertas, so keep checking back there for my articles and reviews.

This is my mood today

Because today is the start of the first annual TCM Film Festival and I'm not there.

Just knowing all the cool stuff that's going to be happening in Hollywood for the next few days and knowing that I'm not there (and that I couldn't afford to be there) is very sad making.

DARN YOU, MONEY!!!!

derelict dereliction

It's been awhile, eh? I guess I've been derelict in my duty to the blog, nyuck nyuck!!! Where have I been all these weeks? Well, writing a novel for one thing. It's gloriously bad -- all about a 1930s movie star actress who leads a secret life as an Indiana Jones-type treasure hunter and how she must find a magical ancient treasure before the Nazis do and save the world, blah blah adventurecakes -- it's all completely cliche and horribly written and it's truly terrible. But I love it. It was all part of National Novel Writing Month. So, I wrote my novel, and I spent a lot of time watching old movies as "research" (heh) and now I'm back and ready to go blogging.

My only problem is: I've got too many things I want to blog about. I've got so many ideas bumping around in the brain that I can't decide which to write about first. I want to write about Big Hollywood, the conservative website devoted to movies and culture that I have a love/hate relationship with (backstory: I am a conservative. And a movie lover. And I thought Big Hollywood would be sorta like Dirty Harry's Place only awesomer but instead it turned out to be kinda okay on one hand and a total snoozeville on the other). So, I thought I'd give my critiques on why Big Hollywood needs improvement and how it can go about improving itself (not that they even care what some lame-o blogger like me thinks, but I am their target audience, so maybe for business' sake they might consider my thoughts).

But then, I thought, I've been meaning to write about Turner Classic Movies and how on the one hand it's the most amazing channel to ever grace the small screen, but on the other hand they need to seriously reconsider some of the bumpers and intros they've been using lately (i.e.: the new opening for the primetime movies, where a bunch of creepy cgi-like people stare up into the sky at a giant movie screen while annoying tinkly music plays). TCM, for the love of Bogart, these new intros have got to go!

But then, I thought I'd be a little more positive and write about all the good movies I've watched lately (like "Lured" with Lucille Ball, and "The Big Clock," and "Primrose Path," and "My Name is Julia Ross") and all the amazing stars I've been grooving too lately (like Peter Lorre and Ginger Rogers and Priscilla Lane and Joel McCrea and Marie Dressler and John Garfield.... *swoon!*).

Then there's the fact that I want to continue my "How to Watch Old Movies" series but I'm not sure which direction to take it in next (should I do a piece on credit sequences in old movies, or old movie film scores, or the importance of character actors in the old movie world? -- or is the whole thing all too ambitious and too much work and I'm just a lazy bum derelict after all....)

Actually, I've also been thinking about how I came to be such a retro fanatic in the first place and I might even write something that explains my grand theory for everything retro and how to make your family and friends into retro heads (first tip: start 'em young).

So anyway, this is where I'm at: Too many ideas and I don't know where to start. Since this post has been basically information free and was just me venting, here's something of substance:

Duke Mantee

Video Madness!

A TCM Promo from a couple of years ago.

Summer Under the Stars!

I'm pretty much of the mind that Turner Classic Movies cannot get any cooler. Exhibit A of Coolness: This website for TCM's Summer Under the Stars 2009. It's this month, August, starting today, all month long. The posters for each star's month are almost as good as the movies themselves!



Personally, I can't wait for Gloria Grahame Day, Marion Davies Day, and Gene Hackman Day. And also, today: Henry Fonda Day. Grapes of Wrath is on tonight at 8 pm and I've got the DVR set!

Odds and Sods

Old school cool: Retro Candy Boxes! Mmmmmmmmmm! I really want to try the C. Howard Violet Gum because, well, it's violet gum! What the hell is that?!

Question of the Day: Candy cigarettes -- yea or nay?
(answer will be at the bottom)

Stone cold fox: Betty Draper! Mad Men season 3 starts August 16th!!!!!!!

I think I'm going to blog the third season -- recaps/reviews, that sort of thing.

I might never leave the house again: Beatles Rock Band comes out 09-09-09!!!!!

Speaking of candy..... : A friend you can eat! Mmmmmmm..... Ja.

Thing that annoys me: Salute Your Shorts is still not out on dvd

Other Thing that annoys me: The new TCM prime time opening
For some reason they changed the old intro to this new lame-o version. The twinkly music is annoying, the cgi is poorly done, and it's just basically stupid. Why is there a movie being projected onto a huge billboard in a dense urban metropolis??? Won't the huge skyscrapers make it hard to see??? Who wants to watch a movie on a roof??? What does any of this have to do with old movies??? What was so wrong with the old opening???

My new favorite books: Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin! "Winter is coming..." (I'm on the second book of the series, but the first one -- Game of Thrones -- blew my mind)

And now, finally, the answer to the Question of the Day:

Yea.

(With candy cigarettes you get all the benefits of cigarettes (i.e.: you get to look cool with a white stick dangling out of your mouth; you get to have something to occupy your hands and mouth that looks sophisticated and suitably retro; you can roll the pack up in the sleeve of your white t-shirt greaser-style; etc.) but with none of the cancerous side effects. The only drawback is that you can't blow cool smoke rings with candy cigs. Smoke rings are cool. But, on the plus side, they taste like candy and not like an ash tray.)

Faygo pop flavor of the week: 60/40