J. Elliott's Blog: News From the Lotus Lodge, page 6

MIDNIGHT LACE (1960) Doris Day, Rex Harrison, Myrna Loy, Roddy McDowell

[image error]“I’m going to kill you, Mrs. Preston,”   promises an unnatural high-pitched voice that ought to set the goosebumps scampering over your skin.
   An American woman (Doris Day), wed three scant months to an Englishman (Rex Harrison), lives in London and is terrorized by a stalker threatening to kill her. The threats always seem to come when she is alone and has no one to corroborate her experiences which occur with increasing frequency.
   This film may seem tepid amidst today’s offerings of graphic violence and terror, but for Doris Day fans, old movie fans and folks who just don’t want graphic frights, this movie holds up. The story takes off in the first moments; suspects abound, the tension never slacks.
   Doris Day refused to act in any other such film and opted for comedies for the rest of her career. No small wonder as her character, Mrs. Preston is under stress from the first moments of the film. In one climatic scene, her method acting turned to real hysteria and she collapsed.
   Costume designer Irene Lentz was nominated for an Oscar for her outfits in Midnight Lace. She and Doris Day were friends, and Day trusted her for her costumes as well as her own wardrobe. If you enjoy Hollywood fashion, this film is a goodie just for that.
   As a huge Myrna Loy fan, it is a treat that she is Mrs. Preston’s kind aunt. Roddy McDowell has only a few scenes but they are noteworthy and memorable. I’m not much of a Rex Harrison fan and this role did not make appear to push his acting abilities, but no grumbles about his work here.
LINKS:
Related article about Irene Lentz:
 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/irene-lentz-costume-designers-chic-430898
 Midnight Lace Trailer:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozEIitjahuU

 

 

 

 

Sweet Bean (2015) (Japanese)

[image error]The plot :   The manager and cook at a doriyaki shop (doriyaki = two pancakes with a filling between them) seems stuck in a rut, trapped by debt. A kindly old woman shows up with a homemade bean recipe that will surely boost sales. A young student whose closest friend is a canary finds refuge at the shop with the strange woman as a surrogate mother.  The woman will offer them both a new way to look at life. 
This film is like a cherry blossom, small, simple, delicate, gorgeous, uplifting. 
Link to preview on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4298958/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0 

 

 

Free with Kindle Unlimited

All Hedonistic Hound Press titles are now free on Amazon with Kindle Unlimited:

Ghost Lite
Tales from Kensington
Uncanny Stout

Monkey Mind

The Detour

So, there’s this little culvert just down the road. Doesn’t seem like much of anything. Most of the time it’s dry, unless we get a gully washer, then it becomes a true creek. I never dreamed it would be such an undertaking to repair it. Trucks and loads of dirt, rocks and concrete chunks just keep coming. For weeks. We haven’t seen any actual work yet though sometimes we see dudes sitting in the shade with sandwiches. 
The guy just laughs when I ask how long it’ll be before the road opens again. 
Figures. There’s always something, isn’t there? A detour in the road, a kink in the hose? 
Don’t let it stop you from visiting Blue’s Lotus Lodge. We’re open!

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Find your way to Catfish Springs via Amazon–Monkey Mind is available in paperback and as an ebook:   https://tinyurl.com/yagcfmd5

 

Blue’s Lotus Lodge Retreat Map

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Taco Night –A Variation with Sweet Potato and Fish

TACO NIGHT WITH A LITTLE TWIST

[image error]Was in the mood for fish tacos but had some sweet potato leftovers.  Breaded tilapia, lime-cilantro rice, black beans and sweet potato was a pretty nifty combo.  Also had tomato with green chilies and lime juice.  Cooked the tilapia with olive oil and lots of lemon juice. Perhaps the Guinness was a bit strong, but it’s what I had on hand. Mighty tasty dinner.  

HOLIDAY (1938) Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn

Like the classic oldies? Have you seen Holiday (1938) with Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn?  [image error]You might have missed it… it didn’t get as much notoriety as Philadelphia Story or Bringing Up Baby and that’s a shame.  Hard to imagine now, but Katherine Hepburn had built herself a bad reputation earlier in the 30s and was not a box office draw.  This is the perfect vehicle for her– a strong, quirky, well-to-do Main Line woman who doesn’t want to bend to societal demands. 
   The story is straightforward — a self-made man with a middle class background (Grant) falls in love with a woman (Doris Nolan) born into the Seton dynasty –one of the six richest families in the U.S.  He meets the family and soon discovers that getting married will be as complicated as getting marrying into a royal family.  There are rules and expectations.  And respectable society folk do not chuck their positions to find themselves as Grant’s character Johnny Case yearns to do, “…to try to find out who I am and what goes on and what about it.”( Unfortunately, this is perhaps why the film was not as well received as it should have been… post-Depression era folks did not embrace this philosophy.) As plans move forward he realizes he has more in common with his betrothed’s sister Linda (Katherine Hepburn).
Hepburn and Grant did four pictures together, three (including this one) with director George Cukor.  I for one, will be hunting up more Cukor films as this is a gem for many reasons:

acting is sublime–it is obvious that not only Hepburn and Grant had chemistry but they must have enjoyed their supporting cast members as well –Lew Ayres who plays her trapped and alcoholic brother; Edward Everett Horton (love him!!!) [image error]and Jean Dixon who play a sweet couple who are like surrogate parents to Grant. Scenes where they all escape the formal socialite scene to be themselves in the playroom are delightful.
Most of the film takes place in the Seton home –a home so large it has an elevator and a kitchen just a bit smaller than  a private airplane hangar. Opulent and stunning, it is a silent but shimmering character in the picture. 
 Costume designs by Robert Kalloch! Unfortunately, many animals died to make this film as there are quite a few fur wraps and hats to be seen but this was an age when clothing was ELEGANT.

Justin Chang recently wrote a review in the Los Angeles Times commenting that Holiday is the best of the Hepburn/Grant collaborations:

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-01-09/critics-choice-cary-grant-katharine-hepburn-holiday

For more detail, please check out Margaret Perry’s blog (with a fun little meme of Grant and Hepburn doing a dance over a couch:

https://thegreatkh.blogspot.com/2013/07/dynamic-duos-in-classic-film-katharine.html

 

 

Black Rainbow (1989) Jason Robards, Rosanna Arquette, Tom Hulce

[image error]Don’t get me wrong, I really really liked this movie, but oooh! The ending! I’m a big Rosanna Arquette fan and was tickled that Tom Hulce is in this. Remember him from Amadeus? This film wouldn’t have launched him to stardom but it’s not bad.  I wish I was in a movie club like a book club so we could discuss this film.  The plot: a psychic with an exploiting bastard for a father is kept virtual prisoner by him. They travel doing psychic shows and enjoy moderate success but the father squanders the money away.  The psychic begins to get messages from the dead… before they are dead. This unsettles everyone involved, most of all her.  For 3/4 of this film I wondered where the supernatural element was going to come into play as it seemed mostly a psychological drama. And it’s a good one.  But the ending…  Most films with a twist like Sixth Sense do a nice recap at the end where you can see where you were fooled. Not so this one. Now I’ve heard that a more recent version has been released with a commentary track. I need to hunt this down because, dang… the movie ended and I thought… wait. Did I go to the bathroom and miss something? Nope. So either there is a gaping plot hole that I fell into or there was a super subtle moment that I missed… or it ended up on the editing room floor. I don’t know. If you’ve seen this movie, please tell me your explanation of the ending!
See Internet Movie Database:  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099143/

***Spoiler alert…. stop here if you haven’t seen it but intend to***  So the big question: When did she die? She doesn’t get shot in the final scene in the hotel yet she’s in two places at once. So I’m thinking she must have been already dead.  So is she dead the whole time?  If so, why on earth would she remain stuck doing essentially parlor tricks to keep her Dad afloat. And why have the fling with the reporter? Just cause? I’m so confused… 

TSUNDOKU – My New Favorite Word

The Japanese word for accumulating books even though it’s unlikely that you’ll actually read them.

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While there has been a steady decline of readership and the few remaining book stores have to stock trendy gadgets, socks, stuffed animals, candles and who knows what all else to draw attention, there are still folks who love books. 
In her blog entitled Tsundoku: The Practice of Buying More Books Than You Can Read, Melissa Breyer quotes author – A. Edward Newton, author, publisher, and collector of 10,000 books:
“Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity.” 

One could suffer worse things than tsundoku.  [image error]

For Melissa’s blog : https://tinyurl.com/ydb7lwmy

Here’s another cool (and short) article on the subject: http://www.openculture.com/2018/07/tsundoku.html

My Soup Bible Cookbook

[image error]Hey all, I have a confession. I’m  a pantster cook. I don’t really follow recipes, I tend to wing it with ingredients on hand. And I have to say, this Japanese Hot Pot cookbook is one of my favorite cookbooks for ideas. Let’s face it, soup is really forgiving; you don’t need to be fastidious with measuring.  I keep vegetable and chicken broth on hand as well as cooking sake, Mirin, oyster sauce, soy sauce and fish sauce. From there I can make a soup base. Add veggies and a meat, simmer and voila, dinner.
The other day, I pulled some frozen mackerel out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge. I had a bag of baby bokchoy that I got at the Asian market, some frozen corn. Adding some noodles at the last  minute and ta da! I whipped up a fish noodle soup that turned out mighty tasty! And I have to thank this gorgeous cookbook. The pictures are mouthwatering, the recipes are simple and I use it mostly for inspiration. Lots of vegetarian ideas here too, folks.. mushroom hot pot, acorn squash hot pot…
Looking for healthy comfort food on a cold night? If this cookbook doesn’t inspire you, I don’t know what to say!
JAPANESE HOT POTS Comfort One-Pot Meals by Tadashi Ono & Harris Salat[image error]