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Archive for Deborah Lipp
Tuesday Trivia: Starts with “F”
(A, An, The don’t count)
1. Archie and Otto vie for the affections of a character named in the title.
Solved by Melville.
2. “You want me on that wall! You need me on that wall!”
Solved by Christina.
3. Two of the witches are played by someone better known as a pop star, and by the daughter of a pop star.
Solved by Evn.
4. Banned for over 30 years in the U.K.
Solved by Hazel.
5. The 1969 World Series plays a crucial role as a plot device.
Solved by Christina.
6. The two stars of this film reprise their roles from the Broadway show, which won one of them a Tony.
Solved by Melville.
7. “You’re a blackguard, a liar, a hypocrite and a stench in the nostrils of honest men. If it were in my power I’d hang you from the nearest tree, leave your carcass for the buzzards. But, as you are a representative of the United States government, I pledge you the protection and cooperation of my command. Good day, sir.”
HINT: John Ford.
Solved by Melville.
Monday Movie Review: Withnail and I
Withnail & I (1987) 10/10
Withnail (Richard E. Grant) and Marwood (Paul McGann) are unemployed actors in 1969, living in drunken squalor. Overwhelmed by London, Marwood persuades Withnail to convince his wealthy uncle Monty (Richard Griffiths) to loan them the key to his summer cottage so they can take a holiday. Written and directed by Bruce Robinson.
This movie is absolutely deranged. Surreal, appalling, hilarious, extraordinary, and deranged.
For ten years now, I’ve spent time on the IMDb message boards. One of its joys is learning about movies from real experts on the subject. At some point in my participation, I noticed that Withnail & I, a movie I had never heard of, kept showing up on people’s lists of favorites. This is exactly the way to find great movies; I am rarely disappointed.
Almost everyone describes this movie in terms of the holiday that Withnail and Marwood take, but the funniest stuff may well be the long sequence before they leave London; their spin into insane despair that drives them to Monty. Withnail has to be pushed pretty hard to visit relatives, and he is; by no money for food, a filthy home that may well have alien creatures growing in the sink, and a relatively normal flatmate nonetheless driven to “the fear” by cold, drink, hunger, drugs, and city life. None of which sounds even remotely funny (and surely living it would not be), which is why Richard E. Grant’s performance is nothing short of brilliant. The movie is held together by his posed, abrasive mania; at the point where he’s rubbing his body head to toe in Deep Heat because they’re cold and haven’t paid the heating bill, half-naked, green-skinned, shouting for BOOZE!, you know you’re on a wild ride and it’s time to just let go and let it take you away.
The actors are funny, the dialogue is hilarious, but the vision is relentlessly dark. And really, I enjoy this; these are young fools carrying a strange combination of cynicism and idealism that in no way equips them for real life. At the country home, everything appears to be falling apart; they still have no food, the rain is ceaseless, the neighbors are rude. When Monty arrives, suddenly the countryside is green and beautiful; it’s as though these guys have brought their own clouds with them. They’re very funny clouds, but I so admire Robinson’s commitment to his vision; he’s not sweetening these men or this situation to make it more palatable. In fact, what makes this movie so great is how entirely unpalatable it all is.
Quite simply, any movie with the line “Don’t threaten me with a dead fish” is a movie worth watching.
Character trivia solutions
You needed a hint this week, but ultimately got them all.
I added a hint
…you probably already noticed.
Tuesday Trivia: The return of character trivia
Well, I liked it last week, so here it is again.
1. Celia is a receptionist with a boyfriend named Mike.
Solved by Bill.
2. Sheronda is from the country and thinks Compton is Hollywood.
Solved by Evn.
3. Billy’s mother is friends with his nurse.
Solved by Ken.
4. Mary will marry the Colonel after this journey has ended.
HINT: Same movie; Harriet yammers on endlessly and self-importantly.
Solved by Wendy.
5. Guido still grieves the death of his wife; he tries to seduce Roslyn, but she likes his friend better.
Solved by Melville.
6. Yvonne is willing to trade sex for help getting out of the country, but she won’t have to.
Solved by George.
7. Uncle Victor has a mechanical salute.
Solved by Ben.
Monday Movie Review: The Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) 9/10
The movie: Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) is a transvestite pansexual from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania in the classic rock-and-roll cult movie.
The live show: Fans go to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS) live and experience a “shadowcast” (a group of performers mimicking the on-screen action), lines shouted at the screen, props thrown during the film (rice during the wedding, for example), and other direct interactions with the film.
Look, a lot of people think RHPS is a bad movie, enjoy it in a so-bad-it’s-good way, and assume that the whole point is the cult experience. I have always contended that it’s a good movie. It suffers from a low budget in some places, and thrives on the same low budget in others. The music is outstanding, the performers are dynamic and thrilling. Sure, the ending’s a downer and there’s a middle section that drags after you’ve seen it a dozen times, but so what? Setting aside the cult experience, RHPS works as a musical, it works as a celebration of hedonism, and it works as a campy love letter to a life obsessed with the movies.
On Saturday night I went to the Legends of Rocky Horror Reunion, because yes, I was there way back when. From the perspective of returning to the musical after many years, it was both wonderful and disappointing.
Disappointing only because some of the changes are for the worst. RHPS can be a rowdy and even unpleasant experience. In many theaters, the shouting at the screen drowns out the film. At the Eighth Street Playhouse, we prided ourselves on being the original and best, and our lines were carefully timed, in unison, and allowed for you to pay attention at the movie—in an enhanced way. If there’s too much shouting, you can’t hear the movie, and we avoided that. Nowadays, New York is just one more theater, and sometimes your ability to watch the movie is totally drowned out.
On the other hand, the good, enhancing kind of audience participation is superb. It’s amazing that it’s still happening more than thirty years later, and that a lot of it is fresh and new. Sure, people still say “Where’s your fucking neck?” like they did in 1977, but they also do and say things that are completely 21st century. That are fun.
One thing that Rocky Horror did in the ’70s is allow a group of weirdos to find each other. Now people mostly find each other on the Internet, don’t they? How much need is there for face-to-face affiliation with like minded oddballs? At RHPS this week, I discovered that the joys of hanging out and being strange are undiminished.
Pagan chants
Do you have a good repertoire? Recently I participated in some absolutely excellent ritual, but they kept using the same four chants over and over; all old ones from the seventies.
Chants can lift the tempo or mellow it, they can evoke specific energies needed for specific work. They can bring in elements and focus the mind on deities or purpose. They can create reverence, joy, or solemnity. Knowing a good assortment adds greatly to your magical bag o’ tricks.
Here are some of my favorite sources:
Chants: Ritual Music: The ones from this that get the most use in my house are The Beginning of the Earth, Air I Am, Rise With the Fire, We Are the Flow, Air Moves Us, and Water and Stone.
Mothertongue: I don’t own this one, but a lot of the chants are around in the community and are excellent.
Abbi Spinner McBride is a wonderful Pagan singer, and at least two of her chants, Let the Way Be Open, and Oh Ma Ma Ma, are breathtaking. I’ve heard a second CD but I don’t know it well.
Victoria Ganger is an awesome singer. I use Lord and Lady Now in ritual all the time.
Character trivia answers
All done. Good work.
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Tuesday Trivia: Characters
Here’s the character, name the movie.
1. Calvin is a mellow Native American smitten with the main character, though he knows little about her.
Solved by melissa.
2. Spence is pretending to have a Special Forces background, but is found out.
Solved by melissa.
3. Big Dan wears an eyepatch.
Solved by Evn.
4. Marie is too smart for her low-life boyfriend, and has eyes for Roy.
Solved by Melville.
5. Lambert is the fifth to die.
Solved by Hazel.
6. Polexia is a friend of Penny’s.
Solved by Christina.
7. Lydia is a bullfighter who was injured in the ring.
Solved by Christina.
