Blackmoor Vituperative

We watched a movie called “The Colony” (2021) last night. It was kind of like “Escape From New York” (1981), but without the bright colour palette and upbeat tone.

Today we watched a very interesting movie on Netflix DVD, “The Current War” (2017), about Thomas Edison, George Westinghouse, and (to a much lesser extent) Nikola Tesla. We enjoyed it.

If you get a chance to see “Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase” (2019), do. It’s cute and fun.

No spoilers.

If you’ll take my suggestion, do not read anything about it or watch any trailers. I didn’t, and I’m glad. This is a much better film than I expected it to be. Susan called it “a lovely surprise”. Maybe you will enjoy it, too.

Have you seen “The Swimmer” (1968), with Burt Lancaster? I love that movie. At the risk of a possible spoiler, I consider it one of the creepiest ghost stories I have ever seen. (*Is* it a ghost story? It might not be. That’s one of the things that makes it so creepy. But *I* consider it a ghost story.)

It’s based on a short story that I had never read until recently: “The Swimmer”, by John Cheever, originally published in “The New Yorker” in 1964.

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https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/dont-accept-webp/

In honor of the 20th Anniversary of Cinema Insomnia, I present to you a papercraft Miss Mittens. Miss Mittens is the co-host of the cult TV show Cinema Insomnia (as seen on OSI74!). Now her paper doppelgänger can be your co-host!

Click the image below to download the PDF. For help in assembly, review the photos after that.

And now for the step by step visual instructions. Careful with those scissors!

All done! Wasn’t that easy?

P.S. As a special Canada Day treat, here’s a Special Canada Day Edition of the papercraft Mr. Lobo!

Fun fact! It turns out that I can, in fact, read in my dreams, despite what TV and movies have been telling me for years.

Last night I dreamed I went on a trip to China with a group of people, one of whom was [the actor who played “Thirteen” on House and “Quorra ” in Tron 2]. For some reason, Susan didn’t go.

When we got back, I brought several members of the group, including [the actor who played “Thirteen” on House and “Quorra” in Tron 2], back to our house (which was completely unlike any house we have ever lived in) to meet Susan, and vice versa. In that house, we had a huge living room with lots of art — not classical art, but poster art and “pop” art, including a huge impressionist painting of [the actor who played “Thirteen” on House and “Quorra” in Tron 2]. Susan, perhaps wanting to prevent any awkwardness, had covered that painting and another (also of that actor) with other framed pieces of art.

Looking closely at one of them, I saw it was a certificate or award of some kind. An inscription on the frame read “Hochschule Bruderschaft” (roughly translates as “college fraternity”). So not only could I read in my dream, I could read German.

P.S. Why am I referring to Olivia Wilde as [the actor who played “Thirteen” on House and “Quorra” in Tron 2]? Because in the dream, I was going to introduce her to Susan, but then couldn’t remember her name. That’s why I went over to look at the new art to begin with: to buy time while I tried to recall her name. When I woke up, I *still* couldn’t remember her name. I had to Google it to write this paragraph.

If Firefox has updated and now your tabs are huge and you can’ t tell which tab is open by looking at them, you can switch it back. Type “about:config” in the address bar, search for “proton“, and change the “true” values to “false“.

Tonight’s movie was “Cruella” (2021). We both really enjoyed this. It’s a heist movie, it’s a revenge movie, it’s an antihero movie, and the costumes and makeup are FABULOUS. I had low expectations, so maybe that is why I am so enamoured of it, but still when you get the chance, watch this. Also, the soundtrack is freaking brilliant.

Fun fact! I have never seen the “One Hundred And One Dalmatians” (1961) cartoon. But I intend to see it soon. Tomorrow, if it’s on Disney+.

Taking a brief break from my parking pergola project, so I am watching “Magnetic Monster” (1953). I estimate that one-third of the movie is stock footage accompanied by a monotone voiceover. This is not a very good movie, but it has a remarkable cast. Every scene has a face you’ll recognize (well, if you are horribly, horribly old).

The plot reminds me a bit of “Monolith Monsters” (1957).

[Later…] Hey, this was directed and co-written by Curt Siodmak! Son of a gun. I sometimes get Curt Siodmak confused with Clifford Simak, who wrote one of my favourite books, “City” (1952).