gnomeshill

Let’s leave the Jews out of this just for a moment. Let’s think of another minority. One that… One that can go unnoticed if it needs to. There are all sorts of minorities, blondes for example… Or people with freckles. But a minority is only thought of as one when it constitutes some kind of threat to the majority. A real threat or an imagined one. And therein lies the fear. If the minority is somehow invisible, then the fear is much greater. That fear is why the minority is persecuted. So, you see there always is a cause. The cause is fear. Minorities are just people. People like us.

Mountain Goats Live at Saturn on 2015-10-04

The tarantula that bit JRR Tolkien as a child.

He swore he didn’t have a spider phobia and the experience had nothing to do with the man-eating giant spiders in The Hobbit, the even more giant and even more man-eating spider in Lord of the Rings, or the unholy eldritch spider from outside creation that plunged the world into darkness and made literal Satan scream like a little kid in the Silmarillion. Very few people believe him.

"This is the first song on The Sunset Tree, our best-known album and the first one that will be mentioned in my obituary. Here in the month of June we'll be devoting ourselves almost exclusively to it, and to some songs ancillary to it—written during the same period, or connected otherwise to it. This song is written from the point of view of a guy who, just three years before, lived in the house where most of the rest of the album takes place. That guy is me, for better and worse."

YEAH

movies we should all talk about more but don't for some reason

the devil and miss jones (jean arthur, robert cummings, charles coburn)—Charles Coburn is a fat cat boss who owns a department store and decides to go incognito as one of his employees. he very quickly finds out that none of his employees are paid enough, his middle management all suck, and actually the best people to hang out with are his two union-organizer buddies Jean Arthur and Robert Cummings. sometimes a 40s movie comes right out and says Don't We Hate Rich People? and Aren't Unions Great? and it's a good time to be had by all.

pot o'gold (paulette goddard, james stewart)—James Stewart thought this was the worst movie he ever made and I'm really sorry but James Stewart had no taste. This thing is dumb and fun. It also happens to be about hating rich people and it has a dance number where Paulette Goddard is in drag for no reason. nobody ever talks about this, probably because it's about as much cinema as I'm Sophia Loren, but who gives a damn. It's super cute.

the duke is tops (dorothy dandridge, ralph cooper)—ok I know I talk about this one all the time but I do it for for a good reason. Old Hollywood was hugely racist, and that makes it difficult to find films with casts of color I can honestly recommend—because they are so often drenched and burdened by racist tropes clearly conjured up by white producers and directors who couldn't conceive of stories beyond stereotype. when film historians talk about Black contributions to film, the mainstream touchpoints are Stormy Weather and Cabin in the Sky—films that are freighted with racist assumptions and story beats meant to comfort racist white audiences. The Duke Is Tops avoids this problem because it skips the major studio system (instead produced by Million Dollar Pictures, co-founded by Black actor-singer-multi-hyphenate Ralph Cooper) and targets itself directly to Black audiences, with a Black production team guiding the way. (this is why it's SO important to fight for diverse talent behind the camera, not only in front of it.) Also, it's really fun and I think Laurence Criner, as the bizarro wasted conman, is hugely overlooked. you can read more about Ralph Cooper's contributions to Black cinema here.

foreign correspondent (joel mccrea, laraine day, herbert marshall)—this one is a hitchcock so it's not that unknown but it's really stuck with me since i watched it. something about the windmills, and purring george sanders, and the danger, and the way the movie is looking at the politics of late 1930s europe going ohhhh we're really fucked aren't we.

one touch of venus (ava gardner, robert walker)—ava gardner is the goddess of love, brought to life by a scrungly little window dresser played by robert walker. this is not a classic but it's a silly good time. olga san juan and eve arden are here too.

hi! i've been meaning to make a full recs post for ages, but right now my recs are scattered through this tag.

Here are some of my favorite romantic movies.

Charade (Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn)—Audrey's husband has been murdered and she's being pursued by his killers in very chic 1960s Paris. Fizzy heist vibes, Givenchy, cigarettes in the dark. On YouTube or Tubi.

The Philadelphia Story (Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart)—Katharine Hepburn is an heiress having three different situationships the night before she gets married, and I support her. Lots of sexy performances and biting little witticisms. cw for one racist slur (not directed at anybody but still there.) On Tubi.

History Is Made at Night (Charles Boyer, Jean Arthur)—this movie has no right to be good as it careens through three different genres. This one is like, do you want to watch a comedy, or a drama, or a mystery, or a disaster movie? Why not all of them? Why not Parisian waiters and spousal abuse and a fabricated crime and a chef who gets mad about lobster and also the premeditated murder of maybe hundreds of people. it's fun! I think this one is on YouTube.

His Girl Friday (Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell)—hot reporters yelling into the telephone a lot, lovers to enemies to lovers. cw for a subplot involving the murder of a Black cop and one racist slur. On Tubi.

Spellbound (Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman)—the sexiest movie about a mental breakdown, serving an insane dream sequence and Gregory Peck at maybe his hottest as a wet, brainwashed man. cw for onscreen suicide and some freaky dream imagery.

The Big Sleep (Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart)—Humphrey Bogart is trying to solve a shady mystery and Lauren Bacall is the mysterious rich girl haunting the case. this one does not count as a romance at all but I think Bogart and Bacall are very hot in it.

Holiday (Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant)—Cary Grant is marrying Katharine Hepburn's sister, and she's trying to be noble about it. sweet and sad and good for New Year's and people who never have really felt seen.

Paris Blues (Sidney Poitier, Diahann Carroll, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward)—these four hotties are in Paris hanging out in jazz clubs and honestly the movie is not that good, but I will watch anything with Diahann Carroll in it so here we are.

Wings (Charles Rogers, Richard Arlen, Clara Bow)—World War I doomed gay romance. It's phenomenally good and if you haven't watched a silent movie before, this is a great place to start. On Tubi.

The Winning of Barbara Worth (Vilma Bànky, Ronald Colman, Gary Cooper)—another silent movie. Admittedly I have issues with the premise of this one (a bunch of cowboys trying to build a giant dam in the old west without thinking about the ecological implications), but if you can ignore that Vilma, Ronald, and Gary are very hot.

The Lady Vanishes (Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood)—this is my personal favorite. Margaret is a haughty heiress on a train across Europe who gets tangled in international intrigue. For people who like bisexual linguists, Michael Redgrave is very hot. On YouTube.

The Sting (Robert Redford, Paul Newman)—Okay fine maybe not a romantic film! But Newman and Redford are here and that's hot.

The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland)—this one is a campy swashbuckler but I love a campy swashbuckler. Very medieval, many hot men. On Tubi.

YIPPEE YAY

here are some hot old movies that I think newbies will enjoy

the rage of paris (danielle darrieux, douglas fairbanks jr.)—this is a cute, deeply underrated romcom about an accidental conwoman, her judgmental best friend, a silly little waiter at a hotel and a bunch of rich guys. mood is cute and sweet

the talk of the town (ronald colman, jean arthur, cary grant)—longtime followers of the blog are rolling their eyes but THIS ONE IS GOOD. the less you know about it going in the better tbh, but uhh it's about what if you sublet your house to a hot judge and there was also a hot criminal hiding in the attic. and you yourself are hot. and there's borchst. trust me on this one please

key largo or the big sleep (lauren bacall, humphrey bogart)—I think the big sleep is the better of these two, but key largo is also a good example of a bogey & bacall noir (plus you get edward g. robinson!). the tension keeps ratcheting up, the two leads are so hot together, and the big sleep in particular is one of the best ensemble casts i've ever seen—a fully built seedy world of tricksters, femme fatales, gangsters, and fog.

flower drum song (nancy kwan, james shigeta, miyoshi umeki)—ok this one is bad! i'm just going to say it off the bat. i have so many complex emotions about it because the cast is killer, the production design is gorgeous, this is a classic 50s-60s big studio musical. writing is racist garbage written by white people and there is one egregious example of yellowface. but if you want to see a nearly all-asian cast absolutely knock it out of the park, I love suggesting this.

his girl friday (cary grant, rosalind russell)—rosalind wants to quit both her ex and the newspaper business; unfortunately she's maybe not over either as much as she thought. mood is snappy reporters yelling into telephones, lovers to enemies to lovers, arguments that read as foreplay. cw for an offscreen subplot that mentions the murder of a Black cop, and one racist slur.

sherlock jr. (buster keaton)—if you're new to silent films, I think Buster is a great way to start. this is maybe his best, but the general and the navigator are also technically good, though require heavy content warnings for being about the idealized confederacy (the general) and having a racist "island savages" section near the end (the navigator).

to be or not to be (carole lombard, jack benny)—a little story about resistance that makes me cry and laugh and cry. this takes place in poland during wwii so big tw for nazi imagery and mentions. (don’t worry. this movie fucking hates nazis.)

the mortal storm (james stewart, margaret sullavan, frank morgan)—this also made me cry. this movie will not be escapism at the present moment which also makes me cry. fuck nazis.