It’s been a long week at Adrastos World HQ. I’ve had a mild case of writer’s block. I can still crank content out but everything’s taking longer than it should. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by the flood of news. Thanks to the Insult Comedian’s need for attention the 24/7 news cycle feels more like a 365/12 news cycle, which makes dismounting difficult. It’s the bucking bronco of news cycles or some such shit.
I’m alarmed by the number of people I know who are sharing AI generated fakes on social media. As tempting as it is to believe that a picture of the Insult Comedian and some chick on an elevator is real, it’s a fake. That’s likely to be the case with things that confirm one’s deepest fears. Wishful thinking is no replacement for the facts. Please be careful out there.
Another week, another Max Ernst featured image. This one features an unusual technique:
Max Ernst created Day and Night, 1941–42, using decalcomania, an automatic technique he innovated with the aim of removing conscious control from his artistic practice. In this process, paint is pressed between two surfaces and the top layer is removed, leaving mottled and blotchy pigment on the support.”
What’s more surreal than mottled and blotchy pigment? Sounds like the name of a hair metal band.
Johnny Mercer and Rube Bloom wrote this week’s theme song in 1939. There’s some controversy over title punctuation; I ended up using a comma. That concludes this comma commentary.
We have 4 versions of Day In, Day Out for your listening pleasure: a Sinatra doubleheader, Nat King Cole, and the Divine Diana Krall.
Titles can’t be copyrighted, so David Bowie wrote and recorded his own Day In Day Out in 1987.
That’s a bit too synth and drum machine heavy for my taste but what can ya do?
Our second act consists of two segments inspired by my latest Irksome Things post of all things. I’m not irked about that.
The Movie List: I used a picture of two-time Oscar winner Fredric March as Dr. Jekyll as the featured image for Irked In March. After that cameo, I decided to feature a dozen of his finest films in today’s second act.
The Fredric March Dozen
- The Best Years Of Our Lives
- Seven Days In May
- Inherit The Wind
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
- Les Misérables
- Executive Suite
- Anna Karenina
- The Desperate Hours
- Death Of A Salesman
- Nothing Sacred
- Design For Living
- Death Takes A Holiday
Sense Of Scents: I’m still on about Irked In March. I closed with a bit about my raging oak pollen allergy. In the Texas hill country, cedar pollen is the big allergen. Wonkette founder Ana Marie Cox wrote a swell piece about her allergy and how it makes her feel at home after living for many years in Minnesota. I am not making this up. Neither is Ana Marie.
The last word of our second act goes to BNL:
We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.
Separated At Birth Casting Edition: Fredric March played his share of real people including Sam Clemens DBA Mark Twain:
I also dig this ethereal picture of the great actor as the great writer:
It’s been eons since I saw that movie, but I think that Sam was speaking from the grave. Now that’s ethereal:
Your Basic Basie: One of the odder entries in Count Basie’s discography is Basie Meets Bond featuring music from the first 4 James Bond movies.
Have I told you lately how much I love Count Basie?
The Best Of TCM: Let’s get studious with a session of Film 101.
Class dismissed.
Classic Movie Trailer: What’s not to love about a movie directed by William Wyler and starring Bogie and the March man? It was remade in 1990 with Mickey Rourke and Anthony Hopkins, but that version is from hunger. Have I ever told you how much I hate Mickey Rourke?
Grading Time: I give The Desperate Hours 3 1/2 stars and an Adrastos grade of B+.
Saturday GIF Horse: A reminder that this clown is now Secretary of Defense:
The MAGA incompetence, it burns.
Toon Time: The MAGA coverup, it burns.
Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.
Saturday Closer: Tiny Desk Concert theatre continues with a 2011 set from Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys:
That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Fredric March and Humphrey Bogart in The Desperate Hours:
