Well, dear readers, this week is already flying by, like a gazelle wearing a cloche hat. Does anyone still wear a cloche hat? What exactly IS a cloche hat anyway and why did it suddenly pop into my head like an unwanted baby bunting? And what exactly IS a baby bunting and why did it suddenly pop into my head like an unwanted cloche hat? Well, just because we cannot bring up such things as cloche hats and baby bunting and leave them without explanation:
A cloche hat is a fitted bell-shaped hat invented in 1908 not by Mortimer Cloche who spent years trying to take credit for it, but by Caroline Reboux in France. The cloche hat became very popular with the populace in the twenties – cloche is, of course, French for bell and, conversely, bell is English for cloche.
Baby bunting is a little more complex – it seems to now refer to little outfits for babies. But it originally was a sleeping bag for babies and also a term of endearment for “plump” babies. And, of course, was used in the famous nursery rhyme “Bye, baby Bunting, daddy’s gone a’hunting, gone to get a rabbit skin, to wrap the baby Bunting in.”
The things you learn here at haineshisway.com. Also, if anyone has a clew as to what the HELL I’m talking about maybe it’s about time you piped the HELL up. As may be evident, I’m quite overtired from having arisen at six in the morning to announce the two new Kritzerland titles. I did get back to bed and fell asleep for a couple more hours, but that didn’t really help all that much. Then the helper came and got invoices and we went to Costco because I was basically out of everything. And so, I got lots of water, lots of Diet-Coke, some biscotti, some Babybel low-fat cheese things, Fruity Snacks, and other such items. I was surprised to see that they carried a high-end brand of sportcoat and other jackets and sweaters called Enzo Mantovani – really nice coats made of fine merino wool, which is right up there with cashmere. Apparently, they do this “road show” once a year and the prices at Costco are up to seventy-five percent less than department stores. I ended up buying a wonderful jacket – I hate the jacket I have – it’s cheesy and beige and ugly. I really only buy a jacket once every five or six years so I just decided to do it. Given the cost at Costco I can only shudder what the thing would go for at a department store – but it’s warm, it’s stylish, and, most importantly, it looked well on me. So, I now have a lovely coat I can wear with anything at anytime. It kind of looks like a really post pea coat, but made of the finest wool and much more stylish, obviously. In honor of the purchase, I played a Mantovani CD.
After the Costco run, we unloaded everything and the helper toddled off to do whatever she does. I was starving so I went and had a small turkey sandwich and a small onion rings, both very good. After that, I picked up one lonely little package and an important envelope. I did some banking, then finally came home. I’d been printing out orders all day and continued to do so when I got back. So far orders have been very healthy on the Les Baxter title, and releasing it in tandem with The Trial was smart because a lot of people just ordered them together and saved on postage. I may try doing that more often – sometimes just releasing two titles together in one month – less work that way. I may give that a go in January and see how it works. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night I watched a motion picture on Blu and Ray entitled Midnight In Paris, un film de Woody Allen. I heard nothing but raves about this film, with critics heralding it as delightful, hilarious, and a real return to form, especially in light of his last few pictures. Of course, these same critics gave his last few pictures the same kind of raves – and then they forget they did and act as if the NEW film is the return to form. For me, Woody Allen’s last return to form were about two scenes in that movie he did about a jewel robbery, the one that Elaine May was in. That had a handful of really good laughs. Otherwise, I’m afraid, for me, Mr. Allen has been a complete bust. I didn’t like any of these supposed returns to form – I thought Match Point was dreary, didn’t really get the love for Vicky Christina Barcelona and, I’m sorry to say, I don’t get the love for Midnight In Paris, which I found repetitive, reminiscent occasionally of better Allen films and, at times, really irritating. As always, a couple of good Allen lines shone through – and when he hits one of those, no one laughs louder or longer than I, but a couple in a ninety-minute movie do not cut the mustard, the ketchup, or even the mayo. Owen Wilson is okay in the lead, spouting the Allen-isms, but poor Rachel McAdams is saddled with one of the most clichéd and badly written roles in the history of the Allen oeuvre, and the caricatures of her parents are even worse – truly embarrassing to watch and how these critics give that stuff high marks I’ll never know (of course, when next year’s Allen films come out they will trumpet that one and forget they trumpeted this one). The conceit of the film wears thin quickly and never really pays off in any meaningful way. I thought Adrien Brody’s Salvador Dali was amusing (not as amusing as Jason Graae’s Salvador Dali), and the actor playing Hemingway was okay, too. The film begins exactly as Manhattan began – with a bunch of love-letter shots of Paris with accompanying music. Only Manhattan’s opening had a real point – which was Allen’s narration over it, plus the Gershwin Rhapsody perfectly accompanying those images. Here it’s just postcards with no real point, other than to show us how “magical” Paris is – nothing surprising there, however. And the music is not magical in the way the Gershwin is, so the whole sequence just sort of sits there. Then there are moments that play like lesser retreads of The Purple Rose Of Cairo, and a lot of the arch dialogue of his later films. Also, Allen has, for the last decade, been in love with what he calls the “warmer” look for his films – and, let me tell you, if you love the color yellow this film is for you. Everything is suffused with yellow and I cannot stand it. I got news for these lovers of yellow (and it’s not just Woody) – the world, in case you haven’t noticed, is not YELLOW. I never walk outside and see everything through a yellow haze unless it’s really smoggy. Not only that, this is the first Allen film I can recall where the digital colorists have taken over and the greens are so phony now they almost bleed. Blechhh. I’ll always give Woody a try, but I really do wish there would be a return to form – not to his films of the last twenty years, however. I know others have loved this film, and I wish I had but I most certainly did not. And that’s what makes horse racing. The transfer is very yellow and frankly not of the highest quality, with what they call moiré happening more than it should – but again, the colors are so digitally pumped up that I don’t know that any transfer could handle that well – I wonder if it looked quite like that in the theater.
After that, I watched a Maigret movie, this one called Maigret Sets A Trap. One of the things I’ve read about the Bruno Cremer series is that one should not expect fidelity to the books, but I think that’s a crock, especially after watching this film. First of all, this was also the source material for the first French Maigret film that starred Jean Gabin, which I talked about a few weeks ago. I liked that one very much, but talk about a film playing fast and loose with its source material. It took me quite a while to get used to this new version with Cremer – it’s very different. The Gabin had multiple suspects and a lot of subplots. This version has one suspect and we know that suspect is guilty all the way through. But as I watched, the film became much more interesting than the Gabin film and I wondered if they’d just changed it all. Fortunately, I have that particular book and having thumbed through it and read a bit of it, I can say that the Cremer version is extremely faithful right down to exact dialogue out of the book. So, whatever idiots are writing these silly things on the various sites should be called to task for it. This film was very strange in certain ways, and very unlike any other that I’ve seen in the fifteen I’ve watched so far. It was grittier with a lot more “direction” than is usual for this show – a lot of camera moves that were, in fact, a bit distracting and over the top and unnecessary and, for the first time since I started watching, a score that was not by Laurent Petitgirard, and I can only say that I really missed his music, although the score wasn’t bad. Still, a very compelling film and I will look forward to the next. Interestingly, this film was the earliest I’ve seen in the ones I’ve watched – from 1996 (the series began in 1992 and I’m really curious to see some of those episodes, but have no idea if any of them are in this box).
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must put on my cloche hat and my baby bunting and get some necessary beauty sleep.
Today, the darling daughter is coming over at eleven to pay her Christmas respects. Her cell phone bit the dust, so we’ll go over to the AT&T store and get her a new one for Christmas. I’m sure we’ll also have an early lunch, and then she’ll be on her way to her mother’s. After that, I’ll do some more banking, pay some bills, hopefully pick up a few packages, and then relax. I really have to check Ye Olde iCalendar every day now because last night I was supposed to see a screening and completely forgot about it.
Tomorrow is a lunch with Alet, and doing some work on the Kritzerland show, including going to storage and pulling charts – we’re very behind on this one. Thursday is up in the air at the moment – trying to get out of something so that dear reader Jeanne and I can lunch, but if I can’t, hopefully we can the following week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, have a visit with the darling daughter (I doubt I’ll get to do the four-mile jog – just too chilly and no time), eat, pay bills, hopefully pick up packages and hopefully get some relaxing in. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Woody Allen films and lines? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland in my baby bunting and cloche hat.