Jason's Blog, page 186

The Curse of Jippi Kafé

Jippi Kafé Motherfucker

Jippi Kafé Motherfucker!

You Can't Take It With You

James Stewart, the son of a rich man, falls for Jean Athur who comes from a family of eccentrics. Directed by Frank Capra.

Well, they can't all be classics... The film won the Oscar for best film of 1938, but has dated pretty badly. It has some of the same ideas as It's A Wonderful Life, that friends are more important than money, but while it worked in that film it leaves a bad taste in this one. Apparently, all rich people are stuffy and unhappy, the working man is the only sensible one and the sollution for everybody is to become a child again. It can be seen as either terribly naive or phoney and condescending, a movie made for the common people by a rich film director. Having seen the film you risk ending up as a strong believer in capitalism, and I'm not sure if that was the intention.

Son of Jippi Kafé

James Stewart, part 2

Some more James Stewart films. First: The Shop Around The Corner. Stewart and Margaret Sullavan work in the same shop, in Budapest, and have trouble getting along. Directed by Ernst Lubitsch.

It's a classic that still holds up well - it's old Hollywood at it's best, and an example of the famous Lubitch touch. The film is more appealing than actually funny, especially in the sympathetic tone it has towards all of it's characters, none of them simply clichés, including the owner of the shop, Mr Matuschek, played by Frank Morgan. There's actually a certain darkness in the film, a suicide attempt that goes wrong. Happiness wins out in the end, though, but it feels well earned, and not simply tacked on.

Some books I've read 3

Lowside of The Road - A Life of Tom Waits by Barney Hoskyns

I guess the trouble with a Tom Waits biography is - do you really want to know the truth? If Waits says he was born in the back of a cab, do you want to read and find out that he wasn't? But it's a well written book. When I've put on some Tom Waits I've mostly been listening to Swordfishtrombones / Rain Dogs / Frank's Wild Years. The book made me re-listen to the older material, the Asylum records. I had forgotten how good they are, especially Small Change and Heartattack And Wine.

A Freewheelin' Time by Suze Rotolo

It's an interesting memoir about Greenwich Village in the sixties and her time with Bob Dylan, even more so since it's written without any bitterness.

Positively Fourth Street by David Hadju.

Another book about Bob Dylan and also about Joan Baez, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina. The writer brings that whole period to life, from Dylan arriving in New York to his motorcycle accident in Woodstock and the death of Farina. It's a great book. I tried to read Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me once, many years ago. Maybe I should give it a second try. And Dylan sure was an asshole towards Joan Baez...

The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

I've started re-reading my Chandler books. This one is a bit slow, but well worth reading a second time. It's maybe his most literary novel. He seems less interested in the plot. Currently reading The Little Sister and still enjoying Chandler's use of language and vernacular.

Still waiting on my bedside table: The Selected Letters of Jack Kerouac. I'll get to them eventually, okay?! I promise! Don't rush me! It's over 1000 pages for chrissake!

An old strip

More bubblegum cards...

...done as promotion, late 90s.

And another