"... her career ended in a single burst of glorious criminality. You can't keep a lady waiting forever, and there came an afternoon when she decided that she'd waited long enough."
- Orson Welles
Not the first but certainly the most notorious of matadoras, renowned bullfighter Conchita Cintron passed away a few weeks ago.
Women were forbidden to fight on foot in Spain (lest they be gored and exposed in some unseemly and immodest fashion) and in Europe Cintron fought primarily as a rejoneadora from horseback.
In one of her final fights on Spanish soil, Cintron ignored the order to leave the arena and let a male fighter dispatch the bull. She dismounted, drew her sword and muleta cape, and faced the bull.
The bull charged. Cintron swept her cape aside, let her sword fall to the ground, and reached out with her bare fingers to caress the shoulder of the charging bull.
She left the arena amidst a shower of thunderous applause and red carnations and was promptly arrested.
In Italy, Spain, and Turkey (and presumably other countries), wearing red underwear on New Year's Eve is a way to bring good luck for the upcoming year; yellow undies bring money.
I have not made a sincere post on the Molly in quite a while and in doing so I wish I could take the time to do so by not producing some minutiae on some awesome book I read, or my trite review of the new Batman movie. Instead I would like to introduce you to a band I had somehow downloaded onto my itunes months ago but have yet to really give them a listen. Papercuts is Jason Robert Quever among other special guests. Quever hails from San Francisco and his 2007 album Can't Go Back delivers pop perfection. Can't Go Back, much like Quever's moniker creates tiny fragments of emotional scars into the listener. There is a certain formulaic matter of song writing going on here, three and a half minute pop/country songs with melodies that tend to stick with you hours after you're finished with the album.
Papercuts records for Gnomosong along with Jana Hunter, Feathers and Vetiver all sort of artists with a similar aesthetic. I'm only hyping this record a year after it came out because I was amazed that I hadn't paid attention to it despite Papercuts name. If you are interested or bored with your current music selection I suggest this beautiful yet simple pop record for what I deem intoxicating summertime listening.
Recommended tracks: Dear Employee Free download John Brown Unavailable
Being both a finicky and a reluctant eater, most of my diet choices are based on either convenience or caprice. My recent relocation has taken me out of walking distance from my preferred burrito and pizza establishments and I've had to adjust accordingly. A winter infatuation with fruit cups paved the way for the reintroduction of fresh and frozen fruit into my life and combined with sudden access to a blender and the urge to eat as many bananas as I can before the bananapocalypse I now take at least one meal a day in smoothie form.
Semi-logical jump: I just wrapped up the fourth season of Lost, which is set on a tropical fruit filled island and guest stars oft gaunt actor Jeremy Davies as physicist Daniel Faraday (left, in Rescue Dawn). I have mixed feelings about Lost after the stellar first two seasons were followed by a flaccid third but Davies was a welcome addition to the cast and brought some much needed energy to season four.
Does Davies have the magic touch? A quick glance at his recent filmography - littered with choice roles in films such as Rescue Dawn, Dogville, and Secretary - seems to suggest that he does. Upon closer scrutiny, even Davies' roles in clunkers like Saving Private Ryan and Million Dollar Hotel provided watchable moments in otherwise iffy films.
"This Davies kid is money. I'm telling you. The numbers don't lie!"
Davies never garners any awards attention or makes any publications' lists of best/sexiest/banged most B-list starlets but is it possible that his presence on screen elevates whatever project he's currently involved with? I wish someone would come up with a way to gauge actor efficiency in much the same way that Hollinger's PER system offers statistical insight into a basketball player's actual value to their team.
Casting directors seem to be a subjective bunch who rely heavily on chance and instinct but I like to imagine them sitting around like GMs in the war room, pounding coffee by the gallon, scrawling on marker boards and pointing to the irrefutable statistical evidence that Jeremy Davies' arsenal of brooding glances and physical tics guarantees big time results no matter the size of the screen.
The complete headlines from the "Ballads" section of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music. Outside links to the recordings provided beneath the headline when available; all songs 1927-1932.
Out of curiosity and a love (obsession perhaps?) for HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm I decided to watch Jeff Garlin's film I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With. Garlin writes, directs, stars and produces the 80 minute Weinstein Company release and he truly does a nice job. Jeff Garlin plays James Aaron a 39 year old, overweight, struggling actor who lives at home with his mother. The film takes place in Chicago and it lets you know this on many levels, Aaron parks his car near Wrigley Field so he can compulsively eat when something depresses him or sets him back, he's also a seasoned performer at the famed Second City Improv and alas there is no absence of Chicago taxi cabs.
The film is an homage to Paddy Chayefsky's 1955 film Marty (starring Ernest Borgnine). There are multiple references to the Oscar winning picture as there are many clear parallels between the character of Marty and that of Garlin's character. Also, James Aaron learns about halfway through the film that a local production company is producing a remake of Marty. To Aaron's demise he's not even allowed to audition for it and instead the casting people want to market the remake to a younger audience and to add insult to injury a boyish Aaron Carter is cast as the lead instead. As James Aaron's life is slowly going down the toilet he meets a semi-psychotic ice-cream parlor employee named Beth (Sarah Silverman) and is smitten by her charming yet quasi-frightening demeanor. The titular line arises as the two are strolling through a park watching a young couple and they both decide "they each want someone to eat cheese with". The cast is besieged with cameos by an array of actors (many recognizable from Curb Your Enthusiasm) like Dan Castalleneta, Bonnie Hunt, Richard Kind and Amy Sedaris. What Jeff Garlin did here was basically make a simple, sleek, intriguing art film that just makes you feel at ease. There are no big underlying themes to ponder, no real moral message, just an endearing film about a guy trying to better himself. If you have an hour and a half, give it a shot.
