But-chya ARE, Blanche! Y'ARRRRRRRRRE!!!
Jun. 6th, 2008 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thehefnerEver since I snagged this pimptastic icon of Frank Gorshin (god, isn't that how Eddie should always look?), I've been rather obsessed with making a Riddler costume for this year's costume contest. I have many elements together, but damn if I'm missing a few elements. Namely, a snazzy purple tie and matching handkerchief. Not just any will do, damn it!
Even though gin is the enemy--the most evil liquor on the planet and does not mix well with me at all, for it puts me in a certain mood and tempts me toward very foolish things--I was intrigued by the discovery of Tanqueray Rangpur, advertised as a lime-based gin at "goes with everything." After reading several glowing reviews online, one even preferring it to my choice gin Bombay Sapphire, I decided to splurge and give it a go.
The reviews and marketing were very wrong when they stated that it had a very light flavor, as taken straight, Tanqueray Rangpur is pretty damn orangey/limey (unsurprising, as the Rangpur lime is apparently like a cross between both fruits), a bit more like drinking straight Cointreau than I'd expected and hoped.
That said, last night I used Rangpur for a classic martini, letting the ice melt enough to both cool and dilute the gin just enough, and I must say the end result was pretty goddamn tasty. Now if only I could think of a good substitute for an olive, as I hate olives. Oh, the irony: I love a good martini, and yet, I hate olives! I can never truly enjoy a martini! Regardless, I wonder what would make a good garnish. A peel or wedge of lime? Hm.
Two losses from the past couple weeks:
I Hear The Robot's Roar No More: Mourning the loss of Universal Studio's King Kong, and by extension, the loss of animatronics everywhere (kinda makes me wish I'd actually seen the old Epcot Center back in the day.)
J'onn J'onzz R.I.P. (for now). I like how Peter Tomasi isn't even trying to hide his disappointment, essentially saying, "Yeah, this blows, I hope he comes back in a couple years!" Poor guy was doomed the moment they tried to revamp his whole look; I know a skimpy harness and pirate boots may not be badass, but anybody who thinks the black Dark-Jedi-or-whatever redesign was an improvement just didn't give a shit about J'onn in the first place. But to die like he did? Shit, J'onn and Aquaman, DC's two most underappreciated characters, both died punk-ass deaths that made both Fetts--Jango and Boba--look dignified by comparison.
The A.V. Club has written up two neat classic film appreciations this past week.
First, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, one of my favorite horror films that isn't really a horror film, a pitch-black fucked-up movie made all the greater by the fact that it starred Bette David and Joan Crawford who haaaaaated each other in real life, just one of the many subversive meta layers of this film. Apparently WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? is largely forgotten, save for the same subculture of drag queens who hold it up as a widely-mocked camp "classic" alongside MOMMIE DEAREST.
As the article's author laments, this is a real shame. "Like PSYCHO, it's paradoxically classy, artful trash, or a trashy art movie. There's something weirdly subversive about watching artists as towering and brilliant as Alfred Hitchcock or Bette Davis sink their fangs into such lurid, pulpy material. To me, Baby Jane isn't a camp classic or a cult classic so much as it's a straight-up classic.
And secondly, they discuss my favorite Johnny Depp film, DEAD MAN, as part of their ongoing series of "The New Cult Canon." As with all cult film, DEAD MAN ain't for everyone, but this essay rather beautifully summed up why I love it. I mean, above and beyond the cast alone! Not everyone can appreciate such things. Stupid fucking white man.
Even though gin is the enemy--the most evil liquor on the planet and does not mix well with me at all, for it puts me in a certain mood and tempts me toward very foolish things--I was intrigued by the discovery of Tanqueray Rangpur, advertised as a lime-based gin at "goes with everything." After reading several glowing reviews online, one even preferring it to my choice gin Bombay Sapphire, I decided to splurge and give it a go.
The reviews and marketing were very wrong when they stated that it had a very light flavor, as taken straight, Tanqueray Rangpur is pretty damn orangey/limey (unsurprising, as the Rangpur lime is apparently like a cross between both fruits), a bit more like drinking straight Cointreau than I'd expected and hoped.
That said, last night I used Rangpur for a classic martini, letting the ice melt enough to both cool and dilute the gin just enough, and I must say the end result was pretty goddamn tasty. Now if only I could think of a good substitute for an olive, as I hate olives. Oh, the irony: I love a good martini, and yet, I hate olives! I can never truly enjoy a martini! Regardless, I wonder what would make a good garnish. A peel or wedge of lime? Hm.
Two losses from the past couple weeks:
I Hear The Robot's Roar No More: Mourning the loss of Universal Studio's King Kong, and by extension, the loss of animatronics everywhere (kinda makes me wish I'd actually seen the old Epcot Center back in the day.)
J'onn J'onzz R.I.P. (for now). I like how Peter Tomasi isn't even trying to hide his disappointment, essentially saying, "Yeah, this blows, I hope he comes back in a couple years!" Poor guy was doomed the moment they tried to revamp his whole look; I know a skimpy harness and pirate boots may not be badass, but anybody who thinks the black Dark-Jedi-or-whatever redesign was an improvement just didn't give a shit about J'onn in the first place. But to die like he did? Shit, J'onn and Aquaman, DC's two most underappreciated characters, both died punk-ass deaths that made both Fetts--Jango and Boba--look dignified by comparison.
The A.V. Club has written up two neat classic film appreciations this past week.
First, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, one of my favorite horror films that isn't really a horror film, a pitch-black fucked-up movie made all the greater by the fact that it starred Bette David and Joan Crawford who haaaaaated each other in real life, just one of the many subversive meta layers of this film. Apparently WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? is largely forgotten, save for the same subculture of drag queens who hold it up as a widely-mocked camp "classic" alongside MOMMIE DEAREST.
As the article's author laments, this is a real shame. "Like PSYCHO, it's paradoxically classy, artful trash, or a trashy art movie. There's something weirdly subversive about watching artists as towering and brilliant as Alfred Hitchcock or Bette Davis sink their fangs into such lurid, pulpy material. To me, Baby Jane isn't a camp classic or a cult classic so much as it's a straight-up classic.
And secondly, they discuss my favorite Johnny Depp film, DEAD MAN, as part of their ongoing series of "The New Cult Canon." As with all cult film, DEAD MAN ain't for everyone, but this essay rather beautifully summed up why I love it. I mean, above and beyond the cast alone! Not everyone can appreciate such things. Stupid fucking white man.
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-07 03:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-07 03:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-07 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-07 03:52 am (UTC)However, that said... a salted lime, perhaps? That... could be interesting! Not *too* salty, of course.
Dead Man, et. al.
Date: 2008-06-07 04:01 am (UTC)The whole Universal Studios thing really bummed me out when I first saw it on the news. I was particularly traumatized when the film vault collapsed and was left a smoking pile of rubble. It was only later, when I learned that everything in there had copies elsewhere, that things got a little better. But the King Kong exhibit is a real loss.
One panel death for one of the classic characters I grew up on? That's just not right. At least he gets that Requiem book for a proper send off. I don't know if I could handle still being a comic book fan in the last 10 years.
And Gorshin will always be the Riddler. Of all the characters in that 60s Batman show, his was the most perfect. Yes, Romero's Joker was fun and Merriweather's Catwoman could curl up on my lap anytime (as could Newmar and, sure, Kitt, too), but that version of the Riddler is the one by which all others have to be judged.
Re: Dead Man, et. al.
Date: 2008-06-07 04:08 am (UTC)Yeah, the Universal thing really bummed me out too. And of course they're just using it as another excuse for "out with the old, in with the new." Still...
It's rarely fun to be a comic fan these days, but there's still enough excellence that keeps me, for one, around.
Indeed, Frank IS the Riddler. That said, I absolutely, thoroughly love John Glover's voice over work on BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES. He captured that voice beautifully; if Jim Carrey was purely Gorshin's spazzy side, then Glover was purely his smug, pompous, I'm-smarter-than-you side. My dream Riddler for today is Matt Frewer, I don't care if he's getting up there.
Also, I have a soft spot for Burgess Meredith as Pengers (a close second to Paul Williams' voice-over work).
Re: Dead Man, et. al.
Date: 2008-06-07 04:23 am (UTC)Oh, wow, totally forgot that Glover did the voice on the cartoon. Love him in everything--his Lionel Luthor on Smallville was always one of the high points on the show. Anyway... yeah, Carry was a bit much on the spazzy side, but I suppose that fit OK with that movie.
Frewer, eh? I can see that. It could definitely work. But only if they do it soon.
J'ONN
Date: 2008-06-09 01:54 am (UTC)I...thanks...thanks for the news....
Dear God, how could they do that, J'onn's my favorite--I mean, I never followed him in the comics that much, I admit, because I felt he was dealt with better in the DCAU shows, where I was first introduced to him.
Re: J'ONN
Date: 2008-06-09 02:40 am (UTC)He dies a punk-ass death in his lamest costume ever. I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-09 12:56 pm (UTC)I never thought of it as anything but a straight-up classic. Yeah, it's disturbing, but that doesn't require it to be categorized as cult or camp.
"Stupid Fucking White Man" Movie Night:
Dead Man
Little Big Man
Apache
Last of the Mohicans
The Vanishing American
The Searchers
and of course... One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
/tongue halfway in cheek
no subject
Date: 2008-06-09 03:55 pm (UTC)Oh hey, your "Stupid Fucking White Man" comes right on the heels of a discussion I'm having with a ladyfriend! We were talking about COP LAND, and I was saying how it was a modern-day western. When she asked for me to explain, I spun off a long meandering attempt, after which she wondered where Native Americans would fit into this half-formed theory of mine. As I have only seen three of these above films, clearly, this is what I need to research! Thankya!