Entre Nous.

Moonlight and Magnolias

I want to apologize for being so neglectful of my blog lately.  I've been terribly stressed what with putting in overtime at work and preparing for a cross country move.  So please bear with me while I slowly get my blogging schedule back on track.  I have a lengthy list of movies (Kinky Boots), obsessions (Coca-Cola Blak), trips (Portland for my Birthday), television shows (So NoTORIous), books (Artrage) etc. that I intend to blog about over the next few weeks.  So do keep checking back. 

Illegitimus non carborundum est

I recently finished Julia Child's My Life in France and was so taken with her tales.  My Life in France was written by Julia Child in the last few years of her life with the assistance of her grandnephew, writer Alex Prud'Homme.  In her memoir Child focuses on her years in France, where she discovered her life's passion, years she considered "among the best in my life."  From the Introduction:

“This is a book about some of the things I have loved most in life: my husband, Paul Child; la belle France; and the many pleasures of cooking and eating. It is also something new for me. Rather than a collection of recipes, I’ve put together a series of linked autobiographical stories, mostly focused on the years 1948 through 1954, when we lived in Paris and Marseille, and also a few of our later adventures in Provence. Those early years in France were among the best of my life. They marked a crucial period of transformation in which I found my true calling, experienced an awakening of the senses, and had such fun that I hardly stopped moving long enough to catch my breath."

The book is based in large part on the letters that Julia and her husband Paul wrote to their friends and family back home.  Julia's husband Paul was a photographer, artist, poet, and diplomat.  Paul played a crucial role in Julia's life and career.  Once in France Child found the French amenable and the food delicious.  Child enrolled at the Cordon Bleu and "toiled with increasing zeal under the rigorous tutelage of eminence grise Chef Bugnard".  She went on to "start an informal school with fellow gourmandes Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, who were already at work on a French cookbook for American readers, although it took Child's know-how to transform the tome - after nine years, many title changes and three publishers - into the bestselling Mastering the Art of French Cooking."  As a Food Network devotee I can't help but be forever grateful to Julia for hosting the first cooking show which aired on PBS and came about after the publication of MTAOFC.  Aside from the cooking bits this book is very much about the love affair between Julia and her beloved Paul, truly it made my heart melt.  I could gush on and on about this memoir but I'll end with this, My Life in France is brilliant beyond belief and I insist you pick up a copy. 

Striporama

A few weeks ago I got together with my friend Alina, her new boyfriend (who I'd not yet met) and his best friend for a viewing the biopic The Notorious Bettie Page.  The film starts out in nostalgic black & white and continues that way with occasional splashes of color at appropriate moments.  Unlike other biopics this one only scratches the surface of the central characters life.  As well, you'd expect that a film with notorious in the title would aim for scandal.  But that is not the case.  Lou Lumenick of the Post said the film was “disappointingly skin-deep and almost shockingly wholesome.”  The director, Mary Harron, chose to present a lighthearted campy look at Bettie Page's "notorious" years.  The film shows pinup and bondage in an amusing manner; like when we clearly see that the spanking is pretend, with no actual contact (I adored the Tara Subkoff cameo in the bondage film scenes).  I thought Gretchen Mol was superb as Bettie.  Mol's posing was unaffected and her attitude cheerful while she dressed up and posed in what Bettie describe as her "silly costumes".  In Bettie's actual photographs no matter how serious the scenario, she appears to be at play.  In some ways The Notorious Bettie Page more closely resembles a TV movie than a feature film.  I walked away from the theater still not knowing what made Page tick, but I'm okay with that.

Raw and glittering

Last week I attended a book reading by Sean Wilsey, editor of McSweeney's.  He was promoting the paperback version of his memoir Oh the Glory of It All.  OTGOIA is about Sean's life with his blonde bombshell of a Mother (one of the thinly veiled characters in Armistead Maupin's bestselling Tales of the City!) and enigmatic Father.  While reading passages from the book he also showed incredible slides from his childhood (Andy Warhol came to his house!).  Unfortunately the reading took place on one of those perfect sunny evenings that keeps people outdoors, so the attendance at the reading was sparse.  My only qualm with the evening is that Sean didn't read more from the book.  He read for a mere 20 minutes.  After the reading he sat and signed books and due to the small turn out I was the only person with a copy of the book to be signed.  Sean was very gracious, writing more than his name and chitchatting a bit.  He even told me I looked familiar and I actually thought he did as well.  Although I have no clue how we might have known one another.  I haven't yet finished the book but so far it's superb.  Once I finish I will be posting a review.

Catfights and Caviar

Alright, the results are in.  There was a three way tie between Bone, Possession and Behind the Scenes at the Museum.  I've selected Bone for purely selfish reasons.  This month is an extremely busy one for me and Bone is the shortest of the three books.  So if you're interested in participating in month two of Blogger's Book Club please pick up a copy of Bone sometime in the next few days.  And I promise we'll eventually get to all the books on the list.