One of my Favorites.

One of my favorite singers is Eleni Mandell and I only discovered her a month ago, thanks to the television show, Weeds. Here is an adorable music video that you may enjoy.

happy things!

Jean Arthur.

Being in a class where I'm assigned to write plays about whatever I like. Here come people who talk like they walked out of the twenties, as well as ghosts and parrots and old mansions!

This picture is a bit off-topic, but I love vintage valentines.....and there's a parrot.....

Getting assigned a monologue from a Shakespeare COMEDY.

Trader Joe's.

Playing with Photo Booth on my Mac (I have a new one and it has new things and new things are exciting).

je ne comprends pas

I don't understand how anyone can call Shampoo (1975) a comedy. Directed by Hal Ashby, written by Robert Towne and Warren Beatty, it takes place on election night, 1968 and concerns a hairdresser named George (Beatty) who sleeps with every woman he claps eyes on. As far as I can tell it's just a movie for Beatty to be a ladies man (which they say he was in real life). So...um...yeah.

Things to like about this film:

Goldie Hawn being sweet and adorable, wearing mini dresses and having big eyelashes

Feathered hair

Julie Christie's ridiculously posh British accent

Jack Warden (Saul from While You Were Sleeping)

Crazy-silly 60s/70s clothes

Random Carrie Fisher appearance

The entire soundtrack is The Beatles and The Beach Boys...feels like a road trip with my grandpa

The end in which the primary women George chases desert him (thank God)

Things to hate about this film:

Pretty much everything else.

Sorry, Warren Beatty, I don't like you in this movie. At all.

Here are some screen shots of the moment of truth. After this, all the dames head for the hills and George is left to cry alone (mwa ha ha).

Secondhand Rose

Am SUPPOSED to be packing. Kind of decided to play with my hair instead. Have been listening to my Funny Girl record a lot lately and it's just so much fun to sing along. I felt only slightly rude yesterday when my grandparents arrived and didn't quite understand why I had to sing along to "You are Woman, I am Man" instead of conversing with them like a normal human being. I did pin curls again last night (my hair length right now is nice but I feel best when it's somewhat curly) and then today I tried my amateur hand at a mini-faux-bang. I don't have a whole lot of forehead so I didn't go overboard. I look kind of silly, but I like it. I took pictures. You may observe.



I think it's kind of a sloppy job, but I'm not that obsessive about looking exactly perfect.

Technicolor Time!

I recently watched Down Argentine Way (1940) starring Betty Grable and Don Ameche. It's a terribly cheesy technicolor musical about an American gal who randomly sings and tap dances in front of people in Argentina (enter Betty) who falls for a Latin lover (enter Don) who owns lots of prize-winning horses with his father, who has some issue with the dancing gal's family (a very vague, watered down feuding family thing is slipped in to create conflict between prospective lovers and horse-buying and selling). Alas none of this schism will stop the cast from singing and dancing!

My favorite bits of the movie, aside from the sheer schmalzy glamour of a Hollywoodized Argentina and a simplified story, arrive in the performances by Carmen Miranda and The Nicholas Brothers.

“I have never followed what people say it is 'fashionable'. I think that a woman must wear what fits her. That is why I created a style appropriated to my type and my artistical genre." -Carmen Miranda A woman after my heart on so many levels.

Honestly, Fred Astaire was a smooth cat, but there are tricks these guys did that I'm pretty sure he never ever went for (doing the splits in the middle of a routine and rising up like all you did was tie a shoe lace?)

Look how happy everyone is!!!

P.S. I confess I only JUST learned how to do a screen capture on my Mac. So I had to try it out.

Casual Friday

Do you ever feel that the days you don't try hard to look well put together are the days you magically throw on the nicest pairing of pieces? During summer when I have hazy plans and no classes to go to and no set-in-cement idea of who I might see/want to be cute for, I often just throw things on (at least for the beginning part of the day) and go about business. Today for example, I awoke with my hair in pin-curls. Not wanting to undo them just yet, I knew I'd tie a scarf around my head à la Lucy Ricardo on cleaning day. I threw on a skirt and top, put on my flip flops and grabbed my purse and suddenly realized I matched perfectly. Even the old sunglasses I don't wear much that I grabbed from a dusty drawer.

Observe (and forgive the poor quality of the photos).

The Butterfly Couple

I have adored the work of J.C. Leyendecker for about a year or so (as long as I've known of him). He was a prominent artist for the first part of the twentieth century, famous for poster work, and illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post and Arrow shirts. His brother Frank was also an illustrator, but it seems as though J.C. is the most famous.

My favorite illustration at the moment is The Butterfly Couple (1923), pictured above. I floated around the internet searching for these pictures, but apparently there's a book on the market that is going on my wish list. Enjoy!

Bad lighting, good hair.

There are a lot of summer resolutions that I have left unfulfilled this year. One of those resolutions was to perfect finger waves. Definitely failed there, however I've been having fun with my old standard (this being pin curls).

waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting....

...for a telephone call. It was fun at first. It was fun having someone to wait for. Now it's driving me absolutely round the bend-insane. Nervous. Last night was excited-nervous. Last night was sing-along to the Funny Girl soundtrack while shimmying around the house. Now it's getting severe. Am trying to distract myself. It's difficult. I feel like Dorothy Parker, except we don't look alike, I don't smoke and I don't drink as much as she probably did, and I feel she was probably sharper and had more bite to her bark. Not that I'm lacking in bite...I have some stored up for emergency situations. I'm rambling.

If you haven't read Dorothy Parker's short story, A Telephone Call, do yourself a favor and click here.

Okay, I clearly have nothing else to say at this juncture.

my blackbirds are bluebirds now

Love love love love love. Ridiculously happy weekend. To top it all off, my brother and his girlfriend are going to have a baby. It's nothing any of us expected to happen so soon, but we're so excited. I've decided I love the following song and it's incredibly appropriate.

Also, the title of this post is the title of an old song which is equally joyful. The version I know is by Annette Hanshaw.