Silent Era Vamp

The exquisitely exotic and gothy Musidora (born Jeanne Roques) was introduced to me by this week’s movie pick, Irma Vep which imagines a fictional remake of Les Vampires, the silent serial that made Musidora famous in France in the early 1910’s. With her heavily kohled eyes and gorgeous alabaster skin, she shines in the dramatic styles she donned. Aside from her stunning looks and personal style, though, she was quite a pioneer in the cinematic world. At a time when women rarely worked beyond the roles of actress or costume designer, she was both a director and producer. Many of her works are sadly lost.

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Posted on September 5, 2010

251 E 82nd St

Kings’ Carriage House only opened a decade ago but you’ll feel whisked away to the beginning of the century with the elegant, cozy and lovely decor. Admittedly a bit clueless about word of mouth spots above 14th street, I found out about this because good friend and fellow mom to be, Grace had her afternoon tea baby shower here. It’s a great place to host a private event and the tea was scrumptious.

We were served tea sandwiches complete with crusts removed including egg and watercress and cucumber butter. Smoked salmon pinwheels allowed me to cheat a little on my pregnancy diet (smoked salmon is a no-no, but one small bite can’t hurt) and mango goat cheese tartlets were surprising and yummy. The teas, chamomile and English breakfast were wonderful and served in the quaintest China I’ve seen since being at my English grandmas house as a kid.

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Posted on September 5, 2010

100 N. 3rd St, Williamsburg, Brooklyn

We read a lot and therefor had a few hefty boxes of good books to give away with our recent cleaning overhaul. I figured we’d just drop them off at one of the local used book shops and for once, actually enjoy the idea of store credit. I found this simple task far more difficult than I could have imagined. One place, after we dragged a box in (after they previously told us they took books) decided it was too much work to go through the box because they didn’t feel well, another nameless spot only looked at books one inconvenient day a week, yet another told us basically to not even bother because they were “so selective” (was this a used book store or a Manhattan private school??)

With so many fails we nearly gave up until I discovered a small article about Book Thug Nation. This excellent shop takes your books any day of the week and most importantly, have great taste. This means your good books get swooped up and there are plenty of intreguing books to choose from with the store credit.

Of course, the quality of the selection still applies even if you’re not selling including a section of nice art books and walls of fiction titles from all the authors you actually want to read (Vonnegut, Boyle, Sedaris, Price, etc.). The space is also used for a broad variety of events from comedy shows to readings. Check in with their website for the upcoming calendar.

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Posted on September 5, 2010

on Youtube

The curly haired tot, Jessica from this popular viral video is so adorable. There are days where I wish I could muster this kind of optimistic enthusiasm to start my day.

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Posted on September 5, 2010

directed by Andy Sidaris (1987)

We just went to see Piranha 3D and can say it’s a fun barrel of trash that at least goes literally balls out with its sleaze and B-movie tropes. It lead to a discussion about how hard it is to make good bad things. Which, aside from a full monologue about my favorite Seagal films, eventually, inevitably lead to a lesson in Andy Sidaris. His soft core oeuvre is incredible, and Hard Ticket to Hawaii is his finest – truly the Citizen Kane of soft core action films. All the signature Sidaris touches are here – Playboy actresses, long shots of airplanes taking off and landing, the excessive use of toy helicopters and cars to deliver either explosions or drugs, elaborate death scenes, and a bad guy named Seth.

Donna Speir, who grits her teeth for dramatic line readings and babysitter gone slightly naughty Hope Marie Carlton are special agents and copter pilots who stumble upon a drug ring mastered by Seth. Total babes Ronn Moss and Harold Diamond are their Agency mates and, in Donna’s case, tit rubbing lover (no worries about being too embarrassed a la Travis Bickle to watch this – the most you’ll get is semi nude heavy petting – though the stills after the jump/below might not be safe for work).

From the opening song “Hard ticket to Hawaaaaaii, it’s not paradise all the time” you know you’re in for a treat, a treat that includes a dangerous cancer infested snake (which in theory would just make it sick and likely to die but here makes it a man eating killer machine that can bust through toilets with a radio active glow), a weapon made from a frisbee and razor blades, and one of the greatest “action” scenes of all time that includes a blow up doll, hot dogging skateboarding, and explosions (you’ll find a moment by moment break down of this scene below).

Sidaris, who my family contacted as fans and was a lovely man with a co-creator wife that sent us all signed photographs, sadly passed away a few years ago, but his legacy is vast. My guess is he’s unknown to you, so you have plenty in his archives to discover – after this immaculate classic, try Picasso Trigger and Return to Savage Beach.

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Posted on August 29, 2010