This is a photograph of Salvador Dali & Walt Disney taken in the 1940s. I am guessing that it is in California.
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Art Game II
This is a water colour painting by my cousin, Martha Outt Harns, done in 1987. She is now 87 years old & sadly, lives in a residential facility for Alzheimer’s Disease patients. I wanted to post this as part of the Art Game series as a tribute to the body of work that she left us. This painting shows some degree of Thai dance culture, in terms of the hand & finger positions, but the costume design, as I understand it, is her interpretation or composite of similar costumes from South East Asia.
Art Game III
This is a result of my point & click camera. The Art Game series has inspired me to record the art I see around me in San Francisco on a daily basis. Not all art has to be within the walls of a museum or a palace. It can be part of your daily life, if you let it. I call this one Kitty Cat Sidewalk, not knowing who created it, nor what (if any) name was given to it. It was taken not very far from where I work.
CODA: I had a funny, sweet, naughty, smartest-cat-in-the-world. Her name was Marnie, after the Alfred Hitchcock movie. To the best of my ability to know, the only thing she ever shoplifted was my heart. She was in my life for 15 years, before she died. I miss her very much. To Marnie, my little meow-face!
Art Game IV
Atlas Stands Unnoticed Before The Holy Wisdom
I started this painting in 2007. It was rejected. I repainted it, after years of pain, in 2010, understanding it was growth which caused both the pain & the release of the cause of that pain. Now, the painting is free & in so being, it has released me from much sadness.
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Art Game V Jay Defeo/The Rose
This monumental painting by artist Jay Defeo is one of the most astonishing & spiritually moving works of art I have ever experienced in my life. I first became aware of it several years ago by taking a class called Women In Art History, City College, San Francisco. It's history of having to be removed from an apartment here in San Francisco, due to the eviction of the artist & the story of having the bay window that was it's original backdrop setting removed & a crane used to hoist it to the street-level moving van added to my intrigue of the work. I was impressed by the photographs I had seen & by what I had read about the struggles of the artist. But NOTHING, NOTHING at all could have prepared me for the emotional & spiritual experience of seeing it in real life, real time, minus the bay window that was it's original backdrop. Much has been written about this work. The only thing I can add, with a tone of urgency is: Please, take the time to see this for yourself while it is back in San Francisco, at the Museum of Modern Art. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Photography can certainly show you what it looks like, but you need to experience this in person, as an active viewer, in order to be fully overwhelmed. My paltry words do not do it justice, not at all!
Art Game VI
Art Game VI: Andy Warhol-Knockoff
This is a painting of Andy Warhol @ a cafe entrance on Divisadero Street, San Francisco. I liked the idea of it being more or less street art, not in a museum & not costing several millions of dollars. It's not signed. Post Mortem would make that a bit of a challenge, even freaky. Calling it a knockoff is a tip of the hat to Jean-Claude Van Damme & to Warhol, since they both did the same thing over & over & over. One was a genre artist, the other is an genre actor. Duplication must be in the wrist & the timing. Makes the term monetize seem rather quaint. Enjoy!
Art Game VI
No Smoking Sign. This is the international standard glyph for "No Smoking." It is simple & well designed, making it's simple message obvious to all who can see. Why is it still being ignored by people? This is a question for which there is no simple answer. I hope that by posting this work of functional art, the message can be repeated: You deserve to have a full life that does not include destroying your lungs or harming the environment. Think: if every tobacco field were turned into a forest, how good that would be for the planet! That, alone, is a very exciting concept. Help make it a reality!
My only encounter with a singing banana was one I got from Safeway. I just learned that Safeway is going to be purchased by some other bigger-than-Safeway company, probably owned by the Koch Brothers & Comcast. My singing banana, once safely home, told me that it was a hybrid, and that it sang like Vera Lynn. It also told me, that if I knew what was good for me, I’d better not go around making any silly Vera Lynn jokes.
My banana, then broke into a beautiful Sound-a-like Very Lynn song. I can’t say it was lip synching as the banana, hybrid or no, had no lips to synch. So, after the concert, the only sinking left was for my teeth to end the #ParanormalActivity, and to keep my word about not making any Vera Lynn jokes.
I think the Koch Brothers are so depressing, that it was an easy promise to keep to my lovely hybrid singer. So, a fond farewell, to my Vera Lynn singing sensation.
Vera Lynn, Proper & Prior To #ParanormalActivites of a Transformational Nature
With a story line that was simple, easy to follow, accessible, we now can see that MALEFICENT was not always like the Duchess of Windsor. In fact, she started life as a normal little fairly, a little girl fairy. She had fun, played in her natural habitat, and was altogether a charming & sweet creature.
Broken promises & a broken heart took their toll. This story is told from Maleficent’s point of view, showing us what meanness can do to the spirit, even the spirit of a fairy. She was mutilated by the one she loved, her wings taken, clipped. That was when everything changed for her, and she cast a spell on one whom she would come to love quite profoundly.
Angelina Jolie has never looked more enticing. Her performance wisely avoids the maniacal antics of frustrated, mid-level managers who wear power suits. As a fairy, even with her wings cut off, she’s a bit better balanced than what we see parading around in our offices these days. She keeps it together enough to have a believable purpose in life. Unlike her human counterparts, she still knows the difference between right & wrong, and while revenge is in the air (the one thing she does seem to share with bad managers), she manages to see through this, and there is redemption that saves her from drowning in her own hurt.
You Tube Trailer of Angelina Jolie as MALEFICENT
The finding of balance, in terms of mending her life wounds, is what I think we see happen with Maleficent, as the story unfolds. This, is one of the more important themes of the story.
Her Imperial Highness, The Princess Melita Bonaparte, generously gave of her time & advice to Angelina Jolie in preparing for “this role of a life time. I had turned it down, it was too much like my own life, plus I am too young to play the part, so I was so happy to help Angelina Jolie with the part.”
Angelina Jolie poster without the Imperial Princess. We are certain that Princess Melita Bonparte’s influence will make the film a huge success.
The Official Poster/Standee, as inspired by Her Imperial Highness, The Princess Melita Bonaparte.
The title seems sort of James Bondish. Never Say Never Again–but it’s the X-MEN. Hugh Jackman is very much back in the saddle, clawing his way into & out of trouble. I need to call on my Inner Jesse Hawthorne Ficks & find a way to come up with a couple of paragraphs about this genre film without telling the story line.
How’s about this? This the first time I ever followed an X-MEN franchise story line. Don’t be late for this film, the Patrick Stewart character very coherently provides the context, and all that follows, is an extension of that. I was able not to nod out for this one. Did I stop losing grey cells, or did the filmmakers get audience feedback that the last couple of efforts were unfathomable? Can’t say, nor is the production company about to tell.
You will love President Nixon & his response to the mutant problem @ a White House Ceremonial Function. Only problem with this scene–by employing certain very precise camera angles & using just as precise lighting, Christ Christie managed to look very much like Richard Milhous Nixon. For some reason this look got lost & the camera lingered on him too long @ angles where this resemblance which was so very uncanny, faded. Once that happened, he looked like Chris Christie trying to look like Richard Nixon. This should have been caught during the rushes & the editors & camera crew should have stopped while they were ahead of the impressions game. They spoiled a good thing here. The backward glances @ “Nixon” needed to look scary & real, just as the front-on views did.
The film is sprinkled throughout by visual hilarity, none of which is overly intrusive, nor mars the plot/action sequences. It’s like having just the right amount of curry, if you know about cooking with curry, you treat it with respect. Seeing a couple of seconds of the original televised Star Trek, without it being milked to death, was one of many very funny cuts, that got well-deserved chuckles from the audience. They got this one right. As P.D.Q. Bach said, “To curry favour, favour curry.”
The Promotional Standees gave the impression that the film was going to strongly feature Patrick Stewart & Ian McKellen (the nice one). It didn’t. Maybe they just looked better with an “X” superimposed on their faces than did the others.
The morphing of the mutants continues, high-powered & @ a high speed. But the characters are generally more interesting & we care, once more, what Hugh Jackman does with shirt on or off. He is a fine actor. I only hope he finds another Oklahoma, and is able to continue to show his many-layered versatility as an actor/artist.
This X-MEN was a win for all concerned. And if you like vintage Buick Riveras, someone pimped one just for your pleasure. https://www.facebook.com/xmenmovies
YOU TUBE TRAILER-X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST There will be time travel…
YOU TUBE-The Focus is intense relationships, which helped make this more interesting… “You Abandoned Me!”
Her Imperial Highness, The Princess Melita Bonaparte, remains astonished that she did not receive top billing over the title for X-MEN: Days of Future Past. “I day dream all the time,” she declares.
You Tube Buick Rivera Infomercial -1973
“Wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?” X-MEN did.
18 May 2014: We lost Jerry Vale, a man with a beautiful voice, a singer who did what a singer does, without gimmicks, and did it well. Not many from younger generations appreciated or knew of him. I was lucky enough to learn about people like him through the observations of my mother.
Somehow, I find the genre term ‘crooner’ a bit condescending. People would not call Linda Ronstadt a crooner. Nor was this moniker hurled at Rosemary Clooney. Known but to God, let a man with a good voice make a living by singing beautiful songs, and he gets called a crooner. It seems unfair, the first complete sentence many children utter when acquiring language.
Also unfair, and perhaps for vaguely related reasons, was the enforced name change. Born Genaro Louis Vitaliano, his name was changed to Jerry Vale, the only name most of us knew to call him. Hopefully, the culture behind these unfortunate & disrespectful name issues will change. Perhaps some day, a boy named Genaro will have a beautiful voice & be called a singer. In reality, that’s what we lost.
Rest in peace: Jerry Vale/Genaro Louis Vitaliano…
YOU TUBE TRIBUTE TO JERRY VALE
Jerry Vale Mala Femmina, Oh Sole Mio, Come Back to Sorrento LIVE recording
The newest addition to my active vocabulary is ‘standee.’ In the film world standees (pluralform) are the generally oversized, free-standing photographic (and sometimes accessory-laden) promotional items that serve to advertise films @ the multiplex theatres. AMC 1000 Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco is one such venue. I imagine that some film festivals of newly released “A List” motion pictures have them. Some of them may be filtered down to some repertory houses that might have room for them.
By the grace of a horror film–so January 2014 of me-Paranormal Activities: The Marked Ones, I have become enchanted with them. I see these items as having potential for collectors, those with the green stuff & the space, and those of us who have a particular interest in one or two items. Other possibilities for re-use could include schools, kindergartens-even the opposite end of the age spectrum, assisted living facilities, might be good repositories for some items. It would be a valid re-use, and provide a charming, if somewhat temporary second home for some of them. It would be nice to see the studios engage in some planning that would prolong the shelf-life of these items. Tossing them into the dumpster is just another symptom of American waste.
The Original “Standee” for the upcoming Muppets Film MOST WANTED
This is the original version of the Disney Muppets film standee for Most Wanted. Here, you can see the image of the ever-brilliant Tina Fey.
At the very least, the theatre chains could at least keep them up whilst the films are still showing. It seems to brutal of the managers to toss this art-form into the dumpster in such a premature fashion.
After slight editing, there may be two characters you may have seen before?
Alas, Tina Fey was headed out by Her Imperial Highness, The Princess Melita Bonaparte. Also, Captain Spaulding makes an appearance. Beneath him lurks Princess Melita’s Twin Brother, Prince Roland Bonaparte II. They got their heads together @ 1000 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. Keeping your head off my shoulders allowed me to photograph these. Usually, it’s due to the ‘kindness of strangers.’
YOU TUBE TRAILER FOR THE MUPPETS: MOST WANTED
The Muppets have been around for a very long time & have engaged some of the most talented humans of their era.
My Dear Ladyship, Dowager Countess—Downton Abbey, England.
We do hope that the letter intended for the Dowager Countess does not fall into the wrong hands. Here is where it needs to be posted.
Please excuse the intolerably long amount of time it took me to answer your delightfully simple question. I simply don’t have enough weekends in my life to take time to tell you about these things.
You see, Countess, there are usually two days off for working class people, traditionally Saturday & Sunday, that regressive governments & the cultures that support such things, want to take away from those who must earn a living. Later in the history of both our countries, you had Margaret Thatcher & we had Ronald Reagan. Both deplored the concept of being able to enjoy such benefits as time away from work. They were a sordid couple–much worse than George & Martha of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Oh, I am so sorry, that’s well after your time. Let me get back on track here!
As you probably don’t have much to do with staff scheduling, it’s likely that only a calamity would disrupt the day-to-day services that you have come to expect & enjoy.
People do many things for you, and you just are in no position to notice. It’s not your fault. If you had been more properly raised, your parents (if you had any) would have encouraged you to volunteer your time for the benefit of others. Had they done so, they might have seemed revolutionary, or stuck in some other dreary or awkward category. As it seems, you have not been exposed to life lived by the other half, and that’s why the writer of your show is in such a predicament now. He presented you as a one-dimensional character, and that’s all you’ve got to show for it: by asking such dumb questions.
You needed to explore your world a bit more. Princess Marie Bonaparte would be a good example for you, though she’s a bit after your time, she had curiosity, and did break through the Imperial ceiling a bit, saved many Jewish people from death. There were a lot of factors that led her in this direction, but a credible interest in life is a good guess as to what motivated her. Let’s hope your writer grants you that, belatedly, so that the question gets answered to your satisfaction. This may get you a stay of execution. If you want to know what that means, our French history is full of them. Have a nice long chat with your producers, but be nice.
One hint: Those two precious days go by very, very quickly, so don’t squander them!
Yours, Most Sincerely,
Her Imperial Highness, The Princess Melita Bonaparte.
The Dowager Countess Has A Question. Would you like to help answer it?
Princess Melita Bonaparte has tried to answer the Dowager Countess’ question, but fears that there may be other answers out there for her. Please, by all means, add yours!
Virtues of the Dowager Countess of Downton Abbey-From You Tube
In my search for the more traditional operatic singing for which she is known, I happily discovered this You Tube video of St Louis, Missouri-born Opera Star Felicia Weathers paired with Czech performer Karla Gotta, singing popular music in English. Music knows no boundaries, nor does true art. In having this, we gather a bit of all.
Because of her connection with Indiana University, and recitals given throughout the state, Indianapolis has declared 13 February to be Felicia Weathers day for this soprano whose career, like her music, transcends all boundaries. Happy Felicia Weathers Day, to all who enjoy her art, no matter where you may be!
Happy Felicia Weathers Day–Indianapolis & the World!
And here Antonín Dvořák: Árie Rusalky o měsíčkustron
There are some sound/movement synchronisation problems here.
This year a restored film starring Lizabeth Scott was part of the deal-NOIR CITY 2014. The only thing missing was a personal appearance. It was with plenty of misgivings, but Princess Melita Bonaparte was up to being slapped in the face as a tribute to one of the greatest actresses of the Noir genre. To that end, she did her Imperial & personal tableau for the Movie Poster TOO LATE FOR TEARS.
What happens when a bundle of the root of all evil is literally dumped into the backseat of your top-down convertible on your way to a party? Do you take the money to the police, or run with it & have a good time? Lizabeth Scott personifies greed without shame in her ruthless portrayal as Jane Palmer–a name that must have plenty of symbolic significance as things unfold in this tautly told melodrama Noir! It was a huge hit @ the 2014 San Francisco Film Noir Festival.
Film Poster For TOO LATE FOR TEARS–on its own merit. February 2014-Castro Theatre.
Preparing for the Slap for the Film Poster TOO LATE FOR TEARS-Starring Lizabeth Scott.
YOU TUBE VIDEO: TOO LATE FOR TEARS-STARRING LIZABETH SCOTT, DON DEFORE, DAN DURYEA, & ARTHUR KENNEDY-1949
All was well till someone threw a briefcase full of money in her car.
The Slap That Was TOO LATE FOR TEARS–
Slap for Too Late For Tears- Will Viharo’s magic formula to get through pulp writer’s block: Slapping Princess Melita Bonaparte in her finest role ever February 2014-Castro Theatre-San Francisco Film Noir Festival–
EVERY ONE GOT HIS TURN–SLAPPING PRINCESS MELITA BONAPARTE
Posing as Lizabeth Scott In Too Late For Tears.
Perfectionist Princess: “As many takes as it takes till it feels right.” That was the Command!
“Film me in the dark, or by candlelight. I look better that way. You can’t see the blood as easily.”–Princess Melita Bonaparte (recently overheard when she was booked for credit card fraud, when attempting to sell off-shore oil drilling rights that weren’t hers to sell).
WHAT MAKES FILM NOIR LOOK GOOD? THE BLOOD? NO, THE LIGHTING THEY USE TO FILM THE BLOOD & THE REACTIONS THEREOF>>>>
2014 FILM NOIR FOUNDATION MONTAGE–“It’s a bitter, little world.”
Film Noir just makes crime look good & it's no wonder John Waters thought it was beautiful–but that's where the comparison ends. With Noir, the crime is real, real people, real crime–no parody intended—only the occasional dry & flippant humour when the crime in question seems about to devour the person(s) in the act of committing it.
No body got crime better than Lizabeth Scott in TOO LATE FOR TEARS. Why, this woman was way ahead of the game, if a husband was an inconvenience, she just bumped him off. O.J. Simpson must have been one of her early fans, only he played it out for real, instead of for reels.
Her ambition was along the lines of Wallis Simpson, only she just looked better, and a trail of dead husbands or boyfriends were collateral damage. What would you do if you were driving down a road, minding your own business, and some doofus dropped a briefcase containing sixty grand in the back seat of your open convertible? You know that isn't much money these days, but it might pay for the car! So, if the dolt would make it worth your while & add few more zeros, wouldn’t that be a sweet joyride?
The action takes off from there & Lizabeth Scott (as Jane Palmer–and that surname is no accident, clever writers them Noir script developers), along with Dan Duryea (Danny Fuller–yes, I read into the fuller, as in 'fill her up")–get on each other's nerves. She gets the upper hand for a while in this bumpy ride, but you know those moral purists have to spoil the fun. They were a jealous lot, could not stand how good Lizabeth Scott looked in those designer (by Adele Palmer) outfits while making bad. She wore those works of art with total authority. Yes, Lizabeth Scott is a class act, a real star. She played her role to perfection.
YOU TUBE: TOO LATE FOR TEARS-LIZABETH SCOTT, DON DE FORTE, DAN DURYEA-1949
The last of the five films screened on Day Two of Noir was THE HITCH-HIKER. Does anyone remember what their mothers texted them about taking candy from strangers or picking up hitch-hikers? This fun ride was well before texting, you smoked real cigarettes, not those horrible electronic ones! You got real cancer, not virtual cancer, and there was no cure, no 12-Step Programme. Back then, it seemed that multi-tasking, before it was ever given that silly name, was a fact of life. You could drive, smoke, and shoot a gun all at the same time. If you grew up watching Perry Mason on television, then you will remember William Talman was that other attorney who gave Perry Mason a run for his money. William Talman played the hitch-hiker, a serial murderer, based upon the real deal–Two fishing buddies pick up the historic psychopathic killer, Billy Cook: a film version of Clyde without Bonnie, directed by Ida Lupino, one of the few women who worked behind the cameras as well as in front of them.
The two buddies out for a nice weekend, got a whole lot more than they bargained for–and William Talman made for an excellent psychotic on the lam. You need an adult beverage before (during) and after this tail of terror. But the unblinking eye sees all, so don’t try to get over on hitch-hiker who has an eye that won’t close. You will be very sorry if your try it!
The Hitch-Hiker can be viewed in its entirety on You Tube, as it is in public domain! Don’t pick this guy up, go home, and watch it on You Tube!
Remember, “It’s a bitter, little world.”
It may be a a bitter, little world, but you can keep warm in a shirt that will remind you that it could be a lot worse. Yes, they have merchandise tables–and there’s one with your name on it!
In the end, it comes down to the same thing for each & every one of us, a final curtain, a fade-out. If we are lucky, someone will miss us, and there will be a rolling out of credits, either as a memorial or funeral or some type of gathering of family & friends.
While I was not in the company of either Joan Fontaine or her sister, Olivia de Haviland, I do understand the lasting confusion of two sisters who became estranged & would not speak nor visit with each other. They were not glamorous nor famous. But they were sisters, our mother, Betty, and her sister, our Aunt Mary Louise. Sibling rivalry, going back as far as their early childhood never ended, till that sad March day in 1996, when one of my cousins called me to let me know that her mother (the eldest) was no more of this earth. No one wept nor grieved more profoundly than did my mother, who would fade away not too long afterwards, due to the ravages of Alzheimer’s Disease. The day after my Aunt’s funeral, I can still remember my mother, tearfully saying to me, “I can’t stand to think of my sister’s body out there underneath all this awful snow.” The pain of the separation was simply expressed in that statement, but the lost years could not be brought back. They both missed out on so very much.
If I could write a letter to Olivia de Haviland, it would simply be to say, “Let it go. Embrace her children, her grandchildren, her legacy, for the rest of your days. Let the wounds heal. You both got to live out many of your dreams, and left superb legacies in the process. It does not get better than that.”
For me, going back to attempt to visit with my mother & fit it a visit with my Aunt (and I adored them both, in different ways) was like attempting to deal with a divorce. Yes, it does seem that sisters can divorce, but the trade-off is just not something that I would advise, nor wish on anyone.
I always thought it was because they were so much alike…but will never really know.
May this visual tribute to Joan Fontaine inspire those who have estranged family members to come together, celebrate what you have in common, and let the stuff that is not important go.
Thomas Outt 