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This may be absolute crap but I’m going to watch it anyhow.
02 Monday Aug 2021
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This may be absolute crap but I’m going to watch it anyhow.
30 Friday Jul 2021
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If you have access to Hulu or Disney+ you need to watch this, if only to see a young Mavis Staples belt it out with Mahalia Jackson (omg my heart). The Harlem Cultural Festival in 1969 took place the same year as Woodstock, and was also filmed, but the footage has never been seen before now. It’s really something. ✌️
19 Wednesday May 2021
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Charles Grodin has died. Cancer. Age 86. And there have been several lovely tributes to him all over the internets, which led to me finding some old YouTube clips of him on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show (omg, so funny) and THEN I discovered that he also had his own talk show for maybe 2-3 years, I think starting around 1992. Which explains why I never heard of it as that’s when I ended up in Spain and didn’t watch any TV for about ten years. And so here I am tonight looking up these old shows on YouTube and they’re just wonderful.
Apparently there was a faux-feud between Grodin and Carson for years, which they both played up for laughs. Below you can watch an example. I will always love his performance as The Duke in Midnight Run with De Niro, which remains one of my favourite movies ever. Also, read this wonderful tribute by his friend Jonathan Alter and find out how amazing and altruistic he was outside his “showbiz” career. Thanks Chuck. xx
07 Tuesday Jul 2020
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More Ennio Morricone from Cinema Paradiso… a montage of all the kisses that were cut out of film scenes by the fervent village priest, later spliced together for an unforgettable cinematic moment (floods of tears every time I watch it).
Life without kisses…
And I’m not talking about romantic kisses, though I do miss those too. The other day someone mentioned on Twitter that one of the BEST THINGS to come out of Covid was that she would no longer have to go through the trauma and social awkwardness of having to greet people with the Spanish “air kiss” on two cheeks. I should point out that she is British living in Spain, so the whole kissing thing has never felt natural to her. Then other Britsh expats chimed in saying much the same thing. Not me though.
I LOVE kissing everyone I meet! For me this is one of the BEST THINGS about living in Spain and very sadly for me it has come to a stop, at least for the foreseeable future. Though I have seen people in the street greeting friends with kisses, and even removing masks to do so. It’s like they can’t help it. For me it’s always been more awkward when someone sticks out their hand for me to shake. Like, eeeeeeewwww… I have no idea where that hand has been. Because let’s face it, a cheek is not going to come into physical contact with as many gross options as a hand does throughout the day.
How are you greeting people these days?
06 Monday Jul 2020
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It was after seeing the opening scene of this film in the summer of 1990, that gorgeous view with THAT music, that I decided I had to move to Spain. And yes, I know that’s Italy, have never quite been able to work out how I ended up choosing Spain. But I’m so glad I did.
Thank you for getting me started on my new life, Ennio. ❤