Potpourri
Just did a podcast, a first for me. If I don't sound like too much of a gasbag and a whacktoon, will post link when it goes live.
Sirens is putting out the call for programming. This excellent, excellent con that focuses on women in fantasy draws its programming from its members. If you've ever wanted to organize a panel, present a roundtable discussion, give a demo for any kind of a skill, present a paper--this con will help you make it happen.
Almost done with my bunkerhunker . . . been taking time out for some watching to rest my hands, as well as reading. Will report on reading later, but watching, old movies mainly. I already talked about "It" with Clara Bow. Another interesting one was James Cagney and a young Joan Blondell in FOOTLIGHT PARADE, which is set when talking pictures were still so new that the silent features felt obliged to present "Prologues" (mainly scantily clad dancing girls, with a smattering of Vaudeville). As a piece of Americana during the Depression, it's fascinating.
Again, a film that was fascinating mostly for its setting and also for its gender play was Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan in I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE. At the end of WW II, many studios had discovered their assets frozen, so they packed up and went overseas to shoot films and use up those funds. As a result, we see war torn Europe as a backdrop, in this film of 1948.
It's set in Germany, Heidelberg to be specific, and when you consider that massive cleanup had been taking place for three years, yet how startling the ruins still are, it gives scope to how terrible it was. The story itself has to do with occupational forces, a light-hearted look at the difficulties of a romance between two officers of different nationalities and the red tape involved. So some interesting stuff about gender, and the German is also interesting. I think they used locals--there's a bit where regional differences in German gets some funny byplay--but it was fun and historically interesting.
Sirens is putting out the call for programming. This excellent, excellent con that focuses on women in fantasy draws its programming from its members. If you've ever wanted to organize a panel, present a roundtable discussion, give a demo for any kind of a skill, present a paper--this con will help you make it happen.
Almost done with my bunkerhunker . . . been taking time out for some watching to rest my hands, as well as reading. Will report on reading later, but watching, old movies mainly. I already talked about "It" with Clara Bow. Another interesting one was James Cagney and a young Joan Blondell in FOOTLIGHT PARADE, which is set when talking pictures were still so new that the silent features felt obliged to present "Prologues" (mainly scantily clad dancing girls, with a smattering of Vaudeville). As a piece of Americana during the Depression, it's fascinating.
Again, a film that was fascinating mostly for its setting and also for its gender play was Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan in I WAS A MALE WAR BRIDE. At the end of WW II, many studios had discovered their assets frozen, so they packed up and went overseas to shoot films and use up those funds. As a result, we see war torn Europe as a backdrop, in this film of 1948.
It's set in Germany, Heidelberg to be specific, and when you consider that massive cleanup had been taking place for three years, yet how startling the ruins still are, it gives scope to how terrible it was. The story itself has to do with occupational forces, a light-hearted look at the difficulties of a romance between two officers of different nationalities and the red tape involved. So some interesting stuff about gender, and the German is also interesting. I think they used locals--there's a bit where regional differences in German gets some funny byplay--but it was fun and historically interesting.