Happy June (Allyson)!
It didn't feel very much like spring during my favorite month, May. Frigid cold melted into scorching heat and back again. It's always been the pinnacle of the season to me, and it's the month of Mary. My favorite day is also in May: Audrey Hepburn’s birthday on the 4th.
Bugs are making their grand re-entrance into society and I wholly support them! (With the obvious exceptions of flies, mosquitoes and roaches). All are welcome, from the dreaded spider to the unidentifiable insects with bold colors and markings. Even the ones who crawl onto my glasses…
Not only bugs, but flowers. You can learn a lot of things from the flowers, especially in the month of June (Allyson).
Among the books I read recently was Judy Garland on Judy Garland by Randy Schmidt. Her centenary was on June 10th, which I wrote about on The Classic Film Collective. The non-pay walled version is here. The book is a collection of interviews she gave and fan magazine articles she wrote spanning the late 1930s to her death in 1969. A lot of the stuff in fan magazines was fabricated, but it's still great to read Judy's own words.
In the later interviews she was so candid and funny. I also learned that she was the youngest of three nicknamed Baby, just like me. One of the things she repeatedly mentioned as a teen was a charm bracelet that Clark Gable gave her. The charms were a piano, harp, drums, violin and a tiny book with Gable’s picture and the inscription, ‘To my best girl Judy.’ Too sweet!
This next story isn't about Judy and it isn't sweet, but it's hilarious and I needed to share. The most famous figure in Cape Verdean folklore is Nho Lobo (literally Mr. Wolf). He's like the Big Bad from Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs. I've only heard one Nho Lobo story that was a staple in my childhood, but my mom introduced me to a new one, where he gets a ride from a mermaid across the sea. And he says he's going to eat her breasts but it sounds like he's telling her she's a good swimmer. The mermaid gets her revenge by stuffing fish and sand up his butt, which reduced me and my nephew to hysterics. Mermaids have big breasts according to my mom. I never knew that from mermaid canon, but sure, I’ll integrate that into my belief system!
Jazztime Tale (1991) - dir. Michael Sporn
Watercolor seeps through this animated short about the beginning of friendship between a black girl named Lucinda and a white girl, Rose, in 1919 Harlem. Pre-fame Fats Waller as a teen plays the piano. The short is narrated by Ruby Dee, now an elderly Lucinda. I love that she played a much older woman in the short because she wasn't even alive in 1919! Her centenary is also this year.
The Red Shoes (2005) - dir. Kim Yong Gyun
Inspired by the fairy tale, but the shoes are a pair of pink heels. There's just one scene where a dancer is unable to stop dancing in them which is the strongest connection to the original story. And you know, the blood and violence, feet getting chopped off. These shoes have an evil history. There's a scene that reminded me of The Bad Seed (1955), also about a mom and her young daughter, where a pair of shoes had to be destroyed. (“You killed that little boy with your shoes!!!”) I did like this movie but so much of it felt uneven and there's horrific visuals that made me question my own threshold for this stuff. But Kim Hye Soo! is great! Another thing I did like was how an old curse and this dark fairytale could be repurposed in a modern day setting. A subway car in an empty station, doors eerily opening to reveal darkness. Very good stuff!
Please Vote for Me (2007) - dir. Weijun Chen
This short doc chronicles a student election for class monitor in an elementary school in Wuhan, China. The central question “what is democracy?” takes on greater meaning since China doesn't hold democratic elections. All the scheming we associate with politics in the grown up world is depicted here. The three kids running for class monitor are solid candidates; my bleeding heart wanted them all to win. Well, maybe not Luo Lei because he was accused of hitting his classmates and abusing his power as class monitor previously! Cheng Cheng was way too charismatic for his eight years and Xu Xaiofei was the lone girl, actually the ideal candidate because she was just so much nicer than the boys.
Swan Song (2021) - dir. Todd Stephens
Retired hairdresser Pat Pitsenbarger (Udo Kier of startling blue eyes) escapes from the drab confines of a nursing home to a vibrant world that's moved on without him. And he puts on a show at a gay bar for the final time. He's coaxed out of retirement to style the hair of his longtime client/estranged best friend for her funeral. It's a touching and surprising film filled with ghosts, hints of grief. There should be more movies with elderly people.
The Tragedy of MacBeth (2021) - dir. Joel Coen
Denzel can do anything, it’s sick. Not his first Shakespeare and hopefully not his last (I’m desperate for him to play Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream), but it’s such an arresting performance. He manages to make the material so much more alive. I wanted to see this in theaters but without subtitles I would’ve been struggling. And the photography: sharp black and white, glaring light, shadows looming like cathedrals.
music notes
Lay - Shepherd Boy + JIU
I doubt I’ll ever see all nine members of EXO in concert…but the chances of Lay doing a solo world tour are very likely! I’ve long admired his blend of traditional Chinese with pop and hip-hop. Shepherd Boy is my favorite from this EP — the kids in the chorus are so cute. There’s something so nostalgic about it. JIU is his love letter to EXO. He included their voices on it just to make me cry. The L in EXO-L actually stands for Lay. He is their most devoted fan 💘
Andrew Bird - Inside Problems
Another masterful album from Dr. Strings.
Chen - An Unfamiliar Day
My second favorite boy on the planet returned from the military in April and returned to his youtube fairly quickly. And to singing on an OST. I can’t tell you how encouraging a thing like this is. He had to endure so much abuse after his marriage + baby announcement. But despite the sound and fury, he isn’t going anywhere and he’s singing again. Like the sun breaking through clouds hearing his angelic voice.
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From the ‘80s vault: Atomic Dog by George Clinton
Hope the remainder of June (Allyson) is lovely for you 🦢