Before Haruki Murakami was a novelist (I would argue one of the greatest novelists of our time) he owned a jazz club in Tokyo called “Peter-Cat” or “Peter-Cat Jazz“. It was named after his cat. Although the club is no longer there, Keith and I thought it would be fun to make a t-shirt for it. Here is our design:
Working on getting some shirts printed up.
On the first day of Christmas, my human gave to me…
A fat squirrel in a small tree.
On the second day of Christmas, my human gave to me…
Two hunks of cheese
And a fat squirrel in a small tree.
On the third day of Christmas, my human gave to me…
Three cat turds
Two hunks of cheese
And a fat squirrel in a small tree.
On the fourth day of Christmas, my human gave to me…
Four falling pizzas
Three cat turds
Two hunks of cheese
And a fat squirrel in a small tree.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my human gave to me…
FIVE GOL-DEN FRIES!!!
Four falling pizzas
Three cat turds
Two hunks of cheese
And a fat squirrel in a small tree.
On the sixth day of Christmas, my human gave to me…
Six scrambled eggs
FIVE GOL-DEN fries
Four falling pizzas
Three cat turds
Two hunks of cheese
And a fat squirrel in a small tree…
Oh, the agony of trying to draw Hitchcock. You can’t see it here, but there were practically holes in the paper from erasing.
Hitchcock, our third biopic this week about someone famous + dead, tells the story of “the influential filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and wife Alma Reville during the filming of Psycho in 1959.”
While the study of the relationship between Hitchcock and his wife is probably highly entertaining, I think the real reason for the entire movie was so that they could cast Scarlett Johansson as Janet Leigh in Psycho and get her in that shower scene. That’s got Maxim Magazine cover written all over it.
Also, I’ve read that the Hitchcock and Alma relationship is surface at best – no dark demons here. There is another Hitchcock biopic out on HBO called The Girl (didn’t something like this happen with two Truman Capote biopics at the same time a number of years ago – both of them regrettably forgettable?), which movie critic Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune says is about the harassing relationship between Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren during the two films following Psycho: The Birds and Marnie. It’s a lot darker than Hitchcock, so if you’re looking for dirt, plan on watching The Girl.
Or wait for my scathing, no-hold-barred biopic about the making of Vertigo and Hitchcock’s inappropriate, Svengali-like relationship with Jimmy Stewart.
Number 2 on my list of biopics to see this fall: Lincoln!
This one speaks for itself – or has already been spoken of enough by others that, if you are at all inclined to see a 2 hour and 20 minute film about Lincoln, you would at least be aware that it was released. If it needed a harder sell in the first place, Spielberg wouldn’t have called his movie just Lincoln. He would had to have found another title to enthrall us. Guess What Happened in 1865? or Back When Things Were Less Cool Than They Are Now or Patriotism Unveiled.
Really, I just wanted to draw a picture of Lincoln. But I did see this movie over Thanksgiving weekend and I gave it a “B.” Daniel Day Lewis will of course take home an Oscar but I wanted him to turn that folksy dial down just a few notches. I haven’t seen that much walking around with a blanket wrapped around one’s shoulders since the days of Newlyweds with Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey.
But still… Lincoln!
P.S. If you’re a Mary Todd Lincoln fan, I invite you to read my post about her from back when I was examining the First Ladies and their cookery.
This fall there are plenty of docs and biopics to see if you want to learn more about famous, beloved, dead people. This week I’ll highlight five, kicking off with my personal fave, Diana Vreeland.
The documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel is about the iconic editor-in-chief of Vogue who was actually so much more. Made by a filmmaker who married one of Vreeland’s grandsons, the film is billed as an “intimate portrait” and celebration of her life and legacy.
Official Synopsis: During Diana Vreeland’s fifty year reign as the “Empress of Fashion,†she launched Twiggy, advised Jackie Onassis, and established countless trends that have withstood the test of time. She was the fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar where she worked for twenty-five years before becoming editor-in-chief ofVogue, followed by a remarkable stint at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, where she helped popularize its historical collections.
Awesome Stuff: She worked hard and established herself in an era when it was more common for a woman not to work and not to be able to rise to such a position of power.
She started the trend of wearing bright red nail polish, which I believe she called “laquer”
She said many cool things, one of which I have posted over my desk: “I’m looking for the suggestion of a thing I’ve never seen before.”
In photos, her clothing and jewelry look as fresh as they did 50 years ago. She had a living room that was all red. She was no great beauty and it didn’t matter – as it shouldn’t for any of us – what mattered was her style and her eye.
She had a gift for giving the people what they didn’t even know they wanted – before the rest of the world had even imagined it, Vreeland was capturing it and putting it in her magazines. For many years, she was the zeitgeist.
If you want to read more about D.V., here’s a post I wrote about her in 2011.
Who should go: Anyone who loves history, fashion and who welcomes an opportunity to learn more about an influential woman in American history. If you don’t think clothes matter, or that style matters, maybe this will open up some doors that have been closed for you. As we all know, the eye takes in the true story – what message are you sending out?
To see photos of Vreeland, go to dianavreeland.com.
for keith
* To the tune of “Skyfall” by Adele.
Oh, Monday, she’s such a bitch. She comes around and ruins everything once a week.
I hate her.
But, well… without her there would be no real beginning to the week. I do like a little bit of structure.
And it’s good to have a nemesis. It gives you something to rise up against. To push back on. To say, “You’ll never destroy me!” to.
How to get through a Monday? Sit down and collect your thoughts. Then proceed very slowly. Pace yourself – there is an entire week sprawling out before you. No need to be hasty or get too much done at one time. Check e-mail. Check your favorite websites. Do little tasks – pay a bill, dust off a shelf, return that pair of shoes you don’t really like.
Oh, look, it’s lunchtime.
In the afternoon, do one thing that you’ve been avoiding in your life or in your work. One task that you put off for all of the previous week, even on Friday when you actually had time but didn’t do it because it was Friday, practically the weekend, and why should you do something icky when it’s practically the weekend?
Then you’re done for the day. Coast on through. Go home. Don’t watch too much TV, or any at all.
Without you even realizing it, (because if you’re lucky you are fast asleep), the best part of Monday will arrive: 11:59 pm.
Hello, Tuesday.