Jim Thompson's Hell of a Woman is a classic favorite of mine; it's a dark, hard boiled masterpiece that deserves a great adaptation like other Thompson books have received (The Grifters; Coup de Torchon, the Pop. 1280 adaption; and After Dark My Sweet), and a great adaptation it got in Alain Corneau's Serie Noir.

I had no idea this film (here's the awesome French trailer) even existed until Film Forum's recent French Crime Wave series. Unfortunately, their double feature ticket policy (which they stand by as a matter of tradition) makes it really hard for people with jobs to attend, so I missed the single showing.

Fortunately, Brix Pick Five Minutes to Live, the ultimate resource for hard to find DVDs, sells an admittedly shoddy transfer in their Rare Film Noir section. Let's hope, for your sake, that it doesn't stay rare for long. I'm hoping that with the attention from the Film Forum presentation this dark and funny film will end up getting the full Criterion treatment (in fact, I just sent them an email with the suggestion).

It's an odd film that really captures the desperate and pessimistic but humourous tone of Thompson's novel. The settings are bleak and feel realistically lived in, the characters are neurotic at best and there's no music on the soundtrack aside from for the pop songs the protagonist, Frank Poupart (“Puppy” to his friends) dances and daydreams to.

Puppy is a door to door salesman and while he's not entirely without his charm (he really reminds me of Howard Moon–right down to the flop of greasy hair, thin moustache, and turtleneck) he's still a sad sack. He's a man with the worst intentions, but he's too weak to carry out the bad deeds he's hatched. Instead, he tells unconvincing lies to himself and everyone around him as he slips deeper and deeper into a mess of violence and theft.

Encouraged by an almost comatose apathetic teenage girl (who's been sold into prostitution by her aunt) to commit murder for money, Puppy almost stumbles blindly into the plot. His lazy and messy wife Janice has left him (but not before shredding all his clothes to pieces), his sticky fingers at work have landed him in and out of jail, and he just wants a break, man!

Patrick Deweare's riveting performance, which seems unaffectedly improvised, is stellar. He plays this incompetent loser with complexity and compassion; as a funny, dangerous fantasist, a pitiable pathological liar and sociopath who is mesmerizing to watch. The role was reportedly such a drain on the handsome and troubled Deweare that people claim it contributed to his mental decline. He committed suicide at 35, cutting short a promising and extraordinary career.

If you like your noir bleak and your comedy dead black, it's definitely worth your time to track down this film or, if you're optimistic enough to hope for an eventual proper DVD release, you can sate your appetite by reading the equally phenomenal book.

Well, Nick Cave was as phenomenal as could be expected last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. He was all high kicking, ear shattering rock and roll and bright light swagger. But it was the brief moment of quiet when he sat down at his piano that made me most excited; his rendition of Love Letter, a song I already adored, made me even crazier about it. In fact, the urge to listen to it struck me at about 5am and I listened to it over and over for the next couple hours.

Sure, I came out the other side feeling a bit like I too had just gotten over a horrible heroin addiction and was contemplating the loves that I had lost along the way–but in a good way.

Originally appearing on No More Shall We Part, it was also released as an Australian single import.

I think I stumbled upon a worthy obsession in Serie Noir star Patrick Dewaere. A promising star in 1970's France, Deweare starred alongside Gerard Depardieu, the two of them promised a new generation of masterful leading men. His life and career were tragically cut short when he committed suicide at the age of 35. He left behind several films, all of which have been added to my queue, where he usually played outsiders, neurotics, losers, and misfits.

He's incredibly charming on film despite his character's often seedy and discpicable flaws. His eyes are deep and spirited–his moustache sublime. I'm grateful that I was introduced to his work; it continues to amaze and thrill me that there will always be great things out there to discover. Patrick Deweare, who never had the chance to make a name for himself internationally, is one of my most famous of those recent discoveries.

Anna May Wong was a fashionable, determined and talented beauty who managed to forge a career as a Chinese American in a less than tolerant decade (“miscegenation” laws, which banned interracial marriage and sex – barred her from even having on screen kisses with non-Chinese actors).

While she was often only playing stereotypical roles of dragon ladies or demure obedient women, off screen she was daring and non-shrinking violet. She was a stylish and sophisticated woman who was called “The World's best-dressed woman” to the public's shock by the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York. She was good friends with other independent women like Marlene Dietrich and the controversial Leni Riefenstahl.

One of her most famous films, Piccadilly received new attention and praise when it was re-released after a restoration by the British Film Institute. This week's website pick, Refinery 29 has a gallery of images.

With eyes bigger than their tummies, my sister and her fianc? got a dozen sugary cupcakes from the Buttercup Bakery. We reaped the benefits and got to partake in a few on a rainy afternoon. Cupcakes and clouds go together really well by the way. These treats will be familiar to those fans of what has come to be the “New York” style cupcake thanks to Sex and the City featured Magnolia. Not a surprise as Buttercup owner Jennifer Appel use to co-own that hot spot before reported fighting had her off and opening her own upper side cupcake destination.

The two competing cupcakes taste about the same. The icing is sugary and done in a rainbow of pastel with little chatchkies, the cake is decently moist and everbody's happy. Well, we're happy at least, not sure if the bitter cupcake feuds are still brewing.

Buttercup has an East and a West side location and Appel has a cookbook out now.

Oshkosh joins the fight against Leukemia and Lymphoma by participating in the Light the Night walk, held this year on October 16th at the South street Seaport. I urge anyone who wants to join me, to sign up.

In addition, my team of graphics ladies hosted a bake sale to raise money. It's a tried and true charity activity that anyone can do, why not you? I made peanut butter cookies and spicy chocolate flourless cake (both from Brix pick Simply Recipes, both this week's recipe picks) and my coworkers made ginger dark chocolate cookies, Halloween sugar cookies, oatmeal chocolate squares, and more. We raised over two hundred dollars!

You can also help out by donating some money to me for walking. Here is a link.

Our bed and breakfast, located in the Bella Vista neighborhood and aptly named the Philadelphia Bella Vista Bed and Breakfast is mind blowingly awesome. Our reasonably priced suite of three rooms is decorated profusely like an old grandma's place where every wall and surface is stuffed with goods like he and she Victorian lamps, silver gilded mirrors, vaguely ethnic sculptures, crystal electric candelabras, huge old portraits, and many mismatched antique chairs gathered from more than one ex husband.

The service is hands off and brisk when present, but who cares when you're staying in an eccentric spot that's genuinely cozy, that you (or at least I) could honestly say, “I could happily live here, in the “oasis” suite”.

Despite it's moniker as bed AND breakfast, the breakfast consists of old fruit loops from variety packs and frozen waffles in the kitchen (a sign states “yogurt upon requst”) but we prefer it to those awkward bed and breakfast style communal rooms where we usually have to nod and be courteous to retired couples talking about lighthouses and boats or other subjects of medium to low importance in our lives.

Our first two meals (both again, Sarafina recommendations) were great. A mere two blocks from the B&B is Sarcone's a corner deli shop with that exact “crner deli shop” feel and fantastic sanwiches for cheap. My Sarcone Special (gourmet) has soft percuitto and other gourmet stuff like roasted red peppers and Jims turkey scicilian had a hard to describe but delctable garlickly cheese spread and asparagus. The only draw back were the plethroa of seeds on the rolls, just not a personal favortie, but a small sqibble for a tasty hoagie.

Dinner had us at the dim and labrynthian Monk's Cafe that features a really impressive menu of beers on tap and other wise. I enjoyed a “sour” ale, for the first time and really loved it. It smelled like vinegar and tasted like it but with a sweetness, it's an acquird taste and a beer choice I am unlikely to see often for that reason. St Barbunbus offerings a dark and white were also quite good. Thay also offered a large choice of mussel preparations, mine had apples, gryuere and leeks.

The next day I had my first Philly Cheeseteak within Philadelphia at the 25 year old, soon to be bitterly evicted Rick's in the Terminal Market. Of course I opted for gooey whiz and was not disappointed. Jim kept indulging at the martket with a piping hot apple dumpling from Dutch Eating Place. I had a few satisfying bites of the pillowy dough, yum.

Another brief trip to Philly with lots of good food and a truly unique bed and breakfast.

If you heeded my strong recommendation of the sea faring adventure series, Horatio Hornblower, good guy Robert Lindsay will be familiar to you. Here he plays a man completely devoted to his life as a detective. Great news for victims of crime in London, 1958, not so good news for criminals or for his personal life.

Jericho was meant to be a new big BBC hit for fans of Foyle's War and Inspector Morse, but despite good actors, nice art direction, and decent murder plots that aren't easy to figure out on your own, it failed to garner a second season after loosing lots of it's viewership to other more modern mystery shows and unlike America's (totally unrelated) Jericho, cult fans were not around to save it from it's demise.

It was aired a couple years ago on PBS and is available on DVD, so netflix it if you're a fan of British mysteries. It's not life changing, but good for afternoon easy viewing and Lindsay really is a treat to watch.

< I have recommended Simply Recipes, a great site for delicious meals before, but lately haven't cooked too much from it because I'm devoted mostly to sites that show calorie counts. When our bake sale approached, though, and calories be damned, I was back and found two excellent sweet recipes: Peanut Butter Cookies (I used low fat Skippy and opted for the chewy version) and Spicy Chocolate Flourless Cake (chipotle chili powder is not the easiest to find so I used regular grocery store stuff). I thought both were excellent, and others agree?- they sold out quickly.