Every Day Is, Sadly, Not Like Sunday

It's going to be a long day. I've got work up the ying-yang to get done. But before I take a deep breath and dive into my books, books, books, I'm indulging in the blog equivalent of Sunday brunch. All my links today are to things of beauty and pure enjoyment. Nothing serious, nothing deeply meaningful. Just things that are nice to read, lovely to behold, and not too taxing on the brain. Which is really how a Sunday ought to be. Enjoy.
Sunday, March 18, 2001 11:00 a.m.

NYT Vows Column Archive
Every Sunday, this is the first thing I read after breakfast. If I'm at home, my Mom & I race to see who gets the Styles section first. It's the aperitif of a frivolous Sunday morning.
Sunday, March 18, 2001 10:57 a.m.

Kay Thompson, Breezy Genius
Swiped from Matt, this 1957 McCalls' profile of Eloise author and uber-personality Kay Thompson is just the kind of breezy thing an otherwise work-filled Sunday needs.
Sunday, March 18, 2001 10:49 a.m.

Edith Head
So A&E's popular Biography program is having an all-fashion week this week, and one of the profile-ees will be the magnificent Edith Head. I'm so going to tape this. Over a 60-year period, Miss Head did the costuming for over 1000 movies, including The Philadelphia Story, Rear Window, and The Sting. She made sure her stars looked gooood. If you want to read what the genius herself had to say about her methods and life on the edges of movies, go here.
Sunday, March 18, 2001 10:42 a.m.

A Passion for Cashin
Mmmm, Bonnie Cashin. How did I manage to be a well-read follower of fashion for all of my 25 years without hearing of her before I started scoping out the goods at Enokiworld? Make sure to check out the slide show that accompanies this article - it features excellent photos of Cashin's apartment. I want a graffiti wall, too!
Sunday, March 18, 2001 10:39 a.m.

Tale of the City

Most of the time I love living here in Tronno. People are nice, I feel safe on the subway, there's culture galore, and the weather is not nearly as bad as I'd been led to believe it would be. Sometimes, though, I remember that it takes all kinds to fill a big, big city. Last Saturday was one of those days.

On the day in question, I was doing research for a paper at my local library. After an hour or so, I decided to go across the street to the Coffee Time to grab a cuppa joe and a donut. When I arrived at the shop, there was a man standing outside, who informed me that the shop was closed for the day. Which is ridiculous, because Coffee Time is a 24-hour operation; they're never closed, and much like at Dunkin' Donuts, it's always time to make the donuts. Plus, I could see a bunch of customers inside, enjoying their baked goods & hot beverages, and I thought he must be mistaken, so I tried the door.

It was indeed locked, so I knocked on the glass and a donut clerk guy came over to let me in. I backed up to let him open the door, and the strange man next to me kept up his chatter all the while, and it was extremely strange, because he wasn't acting like he was crazy - he wasn't rambling incoherently, he was speaking clearly, and he was clean & nicely dressed - in short, he wasn't a homeless crazy person. I'm very familiar with homeless crazy people - Philly's full of them. I think he was just trying to start some shit with the Coffee Time employees.

Anyway, the coffee guy comes over and opens the door, and right off I can see that he's not quite all there, and he gets immediately hostile with the chatting dude, telling him to go away and that he's going to call the police and I get inside, but not before the chatting dude accuses me of pushing him and assaulting him, which I plainly did not do.

While I'm getting my coffee & donut, two more people come to the door, and another guy lets them in. The chatting guy is getting more and more agitated and shouting and the coffee guy starts shouting back at him, using all the baddest of the very bad words and racial slurs in his effort to persuade the chatting guy to leave the premises. Except he's basically shouting this directly into my face, because I'm standing right in front of him, trying to pay for my snack. The chatting dude went to get the streetcar (which, evidently, he was actually waiting for, which contributes to my mini-theory that he was just trying to start some shit with the coffee dude) and one of the two new customers admonishes the coffee guy, saying his language is offensive and that it contributes to a stressful atmosphere. The entire thing was very unnerving. I think I uttered maybe 10 words during the entire episode, apart from my donut & coffee request.

The good thing that came out of my momentary speechlessness(lessnesslessness) is that I took that time to read the Globe and Mail and that's where I first saw the name of my musical beloved of the week, Shuggie Otis.
Wednesday, March 14, 2001 10:05 p.m.

Oscar Bares Red Pen to Stars
Wouldn't it be funny if this were an article about some prudish movie star who felt sexually violated by Oscar's nakedness, as embodied by the wee gold man's euphemistic Red Pen? Ok, maybe not ha-ha funny, but worthy of a brief snort of amusement? Throw me a frickin' bone, here. Anyway, it's not about that. Oscar is going to try to be all badass and hold the winners to a time limit for their acceptance speeches: 45 seconds. If the more verbose stars can't keep to that limit, they can supply Oscar with their full speeches, and he will graciously post them on the internet at www.oscars.com. Now if only they could prevent Jack Nicholson from speaking, or even appearing at any Oscars ceremony, ever again.
Wednesday, March 14, 2001 09:57 p.m.

Good Music News
Well, this just about made my entire day worthwhile: there's a new Saint Etienne Album due out March 20. It's called Interlude. I anticipate having some very happy ears in a week's time.
Wednesday, March 14, 2001 09:54 p.m.

Shuggie Otis Rocks My Socks
I saw the name Shuggie Otis in a teeny tiny review in the Globe & Mail the other day. The reviewer said that he'd recorded his first album at the age of 19, and that it was some of the greatest R&B/Soul he'd ever heard and that Luaka Bop was re-releasing it. That was enough for me. I checked out the brief samples that the Luaka Bop site has up, and promptly downloaded everything I could find on Napster. Ladies & Gentlemen, I think we have a winner in the What New Music Will Sophie Buy Next? Contest. The man sounds like Bill Withers crossed with Sly & The Family Stone, with a dash of Prince's studio wizardry thrown in. My ears are in love!
Tuesday, March 13, 2001 09:07 a.m.

Fashion! Turn to the Left!
Beep beep! This is Lois Long's recap of the 1929-1930 fashion season for The New Yorker. I'd never heard of her before, but apparently she is credited with inventing fashion criticism. After reading this snippet about dress waistlines, I believe it: "Apparently, nobody has the faintest idea where the normal waistline is, so thoroughly has it been misplaced in the past era, when belts were invariably placed around the broadest and wobbliest part of American womanhood." Access to archived New Yorker articles, how do I love thee?
Tuesday, March 13, 2001 09:05 a.m.

Jason Lee Interview
So, Almost Famous is being released on DVD today, and that's an exciting and good thing. Just in time for that bit of cinematic goodness is this interview with Jason Lee, who appears, bearded and shaggy-haired in the film as the vain, preening lead singer of Stillwater, Jeff Bebe. He's got some nice things to say about Cameron Crowe & his work on the in-production Kevin Smith project Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back!, but other than that, there's not much in the way of big revelations.
Tuesday, March 13, 2001 09:01 a.m.

The Brilliance of Margaret Cho
I had a really rotten day last Thursday. A bunch of annoying little things went wrong, all at once, and I wasn't fit to socialize with anyone. And you know what made me feel 110% better? The concert film of I'm The One That I Want. Ms. Cho is funny, brutal, honest, and did I mention funny? Her "Hi, my name is Gwen" routine alone is worth a thousand guffaws, and don't get me started on her impressions of her mom. She's my hero. Go, watch and listen to her. She is brilliant. (Warning: bad words. So if you don't like that kind of thing, don't go there.)
Monday, March 12, 2001 10:14 p.m.

Kirsten Dunst On...
...her costars, obsessive cleaning, and whether she'll ever play a high schooler again. So, ok, Miss Dunst is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Or maybe she cultivates this ditzy persona in interviews on purpose because she is secretly writing treatises on how to improve the breeding rate of the Giant Panda. Or maybe she just gets nervous around interviewers and says the first, silly thing that comes to mind. I don't know. I still love her. She was so much the stone fox in The Virgin Suicides and perfectly perky-charming-goofy-sassy in both Bring it On and Dick that she's got a permanent spot on my personal A-list of kick-ass actors.

Speaking of kick-ass actors, Sarah Polley works in my Starbucks! Well, not really, but a girl who is the absolute spitting image of Sarah Polley works in my Starbucks. (When did I get so possessive about coffee emporia? What I mean is not my Starbucks, but the Starbucks across the street from my building, which I frequent when I'm in need of overpriced, swanky coffee specialty drinks.) This girl has straighter teeth, but that is the only difference. For real, she could be a celebrity double and go to all the premieres that Sarah hates to attend and nobody would know the difference. Unless they inspected her teeth.

And! Speaking of hot coffee, if you haven't seen the latest installment of the adventures of Radiskull and Devil Doll, get thee over to Joe Sparks to partake of the brand-new computer animated boiling hotttt madness!
Monday, March 12, 2001 11:05 a.m.

Imitation of Life
Well, the Boys from Syracuse - er, I mean Athens - have done it again. Click the above to hear the first 1:34 of what's likely to be first single off REM's new album, Reveal. It's luscious, old-skool janglepop. Yum! (Thanks, Marcus!)
Monday, March 12, 2001 11:04 a.m.

The Wonderful World of Bizarre Hole Punches
Now I know where all the train conductors get their uniquely shaped hole punches. I want one, just to have one. Via the wild & wonderful Beer Frame.
Monday, March 12, 2001 11:02 a.m.

Awww.
Graeme & Kate had a lovely visit, and now Graeme's gone back to Glasgow. I know that feeling of "oooh, now I'm all happy, but in just a few hours, I'll be really sad. Wah! Cognitive dissonance sucks!"
Monday, March 12, 2001 11:00 a.m.