Staged Animals

Like many other Depression-era movie gems, the The Animal Kingdom deals with the problems of rich people. Adapted from a stage play it’s, well, stagey and drags in parts, but it’s also an honest and nuanced portrayal of human weaknesses and adult relationships.

Ann Harding has top billing. Her performance is more assured than Myrna Loy’s, while the character she plays is more interesting and complex. Loy’s star would later eclipse Ann’s relatively brief fame. And, yes, that’s Neil Hamilton, who played Commissioner Gordon on the Batman TV series 35 years later.

Huzza? Whuzza?

Here’s something I didn’t know until about 30 seconds ago. The word “boogaloo,” that I used in a post not long ago, has been appropriated by far-right wackos!

“Boog” is short for boogaloo, a far-right anti-government movement that began on the extremist site 4chan and aims to start a second American civil war.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-charged-deputy-ambush-scrawled-extremist-boogaloo-phrases-blood-n1230321

This is screwed-up beyond belief. Trump has got to go! He’s been validating and enabling these armed clowns to an extremely dangerous degree, and I have my fingers crossed for election day.

(Huzza=Huh? Whuzza=What?)

Crumb-y Music

A few posts ago, in a screen shot from Ghost World, Thora Birch is shown holding a copy of an album by R. Crumb and His Cheap Suit Serenaders. Lo and behold, here’s the album for your listening pleasure.

In an interview at this link, Crumb talks about his record collecting habit. Robert had to edge-ya-ma-kate the interviewer a bit about shellac 78’s, and the web page design is too “interesting” for easy reading. But it has some good comments and information, including this gem that, believe it or not, I’ve wondered about for years. How often does Crumb replace the stylus on his vintage, Swiss-made Lenco L75 turntable?

“In the 1970s I had some hi-fi components put together for me by a sound engineer wizard, which I’m still using. When this set of components wears out, I’ll have to get some help in finding the right stuff to replace it. About once a year I have to order a new stylus from a small company in England, the Expert Stylus Company, which will re-tip your stylus with a new diamond tip specially made for pre-WWII 78s. It now costs about 100 euros for this service.”