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Happy Birthday, owlfish! Have a wonderful day and a year to come filled with all things tasty.

Seen Reading

Seen Reading is a simple, elegant idea that I wish I had thought of, except that I have no idea where the author finds the time. She spots someone reading on the subway or bus, or in the park, or in a restaurant, or whereever, notes the author, title and approximate page of the book, goes to the nearest bookstore and finds the passage, copies it, then writes a short paragraph in which she imagines the reader's own life and thoughts. It's fascinating, and somehow magical.


Her Harry Potter post captures the magic of THAT phenomenon very well. Don't worry - no spoilers.

The Stuff that Dreams are Made Of: Black Tuesday

And it was The Maltese Falcon which was great - over-the-top in ways that only movies made at that time could be, but quite wonderful in other ways. Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre made a delightful homoerotic pairing. Humphrey Bogart is always terrific, though I don't think I had noticed the twitchy thing he does with his teeth quite so much before. If he didn't have so many rather large teeth and such a big head I think I'd find him quite attractive. He has beautiful eyes and hidden depths of character. And isn't the falcon itself the MacGuffin par example? All that fuss getting hold of it and then... oh well, off they go. Kelly and I agreed that Sam Spade's secretary was one of the most interesting characters and plan to write a kind of "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" of the story only from her point of view. We'll call it "you're a great guy, sister" or whatever that line was. She seems to be able to keep her head while all around them are losing theirs, although she did misjudge the Mary Astor character rather badly.

And of course the company was delightful - all the group from last time, plus Simon and marri, who were welcome additions. And there was pizza and fresh fruit and great conversation and music. I stayed out way past my bedtime (I'm sorry, I really am middle-aged) and could hardly think all day today, but never mind.