thehefner: (Iron Man & THOR)
Hey film fans, what's your favorite single long shot from a movie?

Mine has to be this:





In other news, it seems I've somehow lost about fifteen pounds. As I have a totally skewed body image, I hadn't noticed. But yeah, I'm back down to 160, which is ten pounds more than what I was in the months after the Tammy Meltdown.* My doctor looked alarmed and a couple friends think I'm starting to verge on looking sickly again (although Mom thinks that they're just shocked to actually see me skinny). I've just been parsing out my meals to smaller increments over every couple hours, making one of those meals a smoothie, things like that. Also, my decreased diet post-nose-surgery helped.

Regardless, my new physique shall likely be shot to shit. For you see, I have discovered that a beer and wine store in Potomac stocks Schneider Aventinus:



[livejournal.com profile] lonebear introduced me to this German wheat doppelbock at the International House of Beer (aka Regional Food and Drink), describing it as a "chewy beer." Ohhhhhh my god, it's magnificent. Perhaps the best beer I've ever had, although it's so different from any of the ales and lagers I usually have that it probably shouldn't qualify. Even the snobs at Beer Advocate adore it, and nine bottles are mine, all mine!

At what's probably 400 calories a bottle, or something ridiculous (he said "chewy" and he means "chewy"), it's probably a matter of time before y'all get your chubby Heffie back. If it happens, I will be sad, but I will have no regrets. Save only that I regret not having any more of this beer.



*the fact that there are those of you who don't know what that means just indicates how far I've come.

By the way, going to Tammy's wedding? As predictably a bad idea as going to Misty's wedding should have been, but wasn't because that one ended up being miserable for whole other reasons.
thehefner: (Applause)
Reading this interesting but flawed list of unusual Shakespeare adaptations, I was reminded that there was a time when I considered L.A. STORY to not just be my favorite Steve Martin film, but also my favorite appropriate date movie.*

And really, as far as films go, it's far from perfect. The biggest flaw is the one that really should sink the film entirely, namely that the leads have absolutely zero chemistry whatsoever. I forget who declared the film law that actors who are dating in real life have terrible chemistry on screen, but L.A. STORY is a prime example with Steve Martin and then-wife Victoria Tennant (and what the hell else has she done since?). Let's face it, Sarah Jessica Parker's SanDeE* is the far more compelling love interest, and that's saying something.

Plus, it has Sarah Jessica Parker.

Plus plus, it's terribly dated, but what do you expect when your story lovingly skewers the superficial shallowness of Los Angeles (which, ironically, is always relevant and timely)?

Plus plus plus, the climactic moment involves Enya.

And yet, I loved the film when I first saw it, mainly due to the wonderful combination of wit, quotability, Shakespeare, and magic realism. Flaws and all, I was still ready to call it Martin's masterpiece when I rejoined the Rude Mechanicals from a semester abroad in London to take a part in their production of AS YOU LIKE IT. This was notable for two reasons: 1.) it was my first ever exposure to the play, and 2.) it was where I met Tammy.

When I revisited L.A. STORY not long after AYLI wrapped up and my affair with Tammy went into full-blown adolescent Chernobyl, I noticed something I had never--could never have--caught the first times around. It was a moment that would pass unnoticed by even most Shakespeare nerds, a quote that is hardly well-known, unless of course you had reason to know AS YOU LIKE IT pretty damn well.

As such, try to imagine how I felt when I saw this scene:



Even watching this out-of-context clip, my eyes still burn.

Time to revisit this film, methinks.


*As opposed to my usual date movie choices, RAVENOUS and THE NINTH CONFIGURATION. Or if I'm feeling mushy, LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL.

September 2012

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
232425 26272829
30      

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Mar. 11th, 2026 08:21 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios