sisu

Mugged by reality?

"Ah! Li'l Greenie looks so stark over there in the muddy lot," writes a heartbroken Ann Althouse as she says goodbye to "The Little Car that Could" and gets behind the wheel of Silvio, the sleek, silver Audi TT Coupe (the 6-speed Quattro) that will take her where she's going from now on.

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a political moderate. More than any ideology, I care about rational discourse," writes Ann Althouse:

In the year that I've been blogging, I've taken a lot of different positions, some left and some right. What I've noticed, over and over, is that the bloggers on the right link to you when they agree and ignore the disagreements, and the bloggers on the left link only for the things they disagree with, to denounce you with short posts saying you're evil/stupid/crazy, and don't even seem to notice all the times you've written posts that take their side. Why is this happening? I find it terribly, terribly sad.

We more than admire and respect this learned, thoughtful woman, whose recent posts about the air-bag-cushioned loss of her "L'il Greenie" VW -- who "gave his life for us" -- are sheer poetry.  Not to mention the grace of her writing and her artist's eye for heartstopping beauty in unexpected places like "a scrambled corner of my office desk." But "why is this happening?" caught us up short. It has been ever thus, at least in our experience.

Those of the right, who believe government ought to get out of the way and provide incentives for citizens to become proud, contributing members of society vs. those of the left, who know what's best for us and are into squeezing the money out of the productive citizens' pockets to perpetuate dependency -- humiliation, at bottom -- for the "little people." As for leftists' trashing of a lovely human being like Ann because she writes something they disagree with, we suspect that has to do with the left's current plight of waking up to find themselves on the wrong side of history.

Update:  Ann responds that she is "trying to reach out to the left and say: Behave better! Engage me! But I read [Sissy] as telling me that's hopeless."  Sounds about right.

Update II:  One year later, Ann's post is still alive and well and the talk of the blogosphere.

The ineffable pain of their loss

Christopher Reeve in his prime. That's how we will always think of him.

Our heart is breaking over the premature death of the courageous-beyond-measure Christopher Reeve. At the same time (that being said?), we are totally disgusted with the stem-cell harpies who are even now, before the body is cold, swooping down to use his death for their own political purposes. We saw a most offensive clip of Candidate Kerry speaking out the other day before Reeve's death, saying something to the effect of "I know Chris Reeve. He's a friend of mine." and then some inaccurate, Bush-bashing thing about the administration's trying to stop all stem-cell research.

Be silent. Remember the man. May he rest in peace, and may God bless all those who loved him are now suffering the ineffable pain of their loss.

An All-American Romeo and Juliet for older folkswith a happy ending

Keith Gordon (left) plays Rodney Dangerfield's troubled son in the 1986 happy-ending version of Romeo and Juliet, "Back to School"

"Warm and lovable," Judge Napolitano on Fox & Friends is saying re Rodney Dangerfield, who has died. And the judge's young, beautiful co-anchor Kiran Chetrey is saying that two generations later the man who "can't get no respect" was loved as well. We feel the same. For us, it was "Back to School," where a rough-around-the-edges business tycoon decides to attend college alongside his troubled son to lend moral support. After a string of TJLOL* misadventures, the old boy ends up winning the hearts and minds of students, faculty, alumni and -- most importantly -- the most desirable woman on campus, a soulful professor played by Sally Kellerman in one of her most endearing roles. We can never see it too many times. The Great American Love Story. Sort of a Romeo and Juliet for older folks but with a happy ending. Thinking about it now, here's what was so great, besides the script and the acting and the directing and everything else that was so funny and sweet and -- yes -- American about it. The earnest if flawed entrepreneur sticks it to the pretentious gasbag academic and walks off with the girl.

*Tummy jiggling, laughing out loud

The rattle of the bones

Janet Leigh in her prime

Now we're crying again. Janet Leigh has died. Details here. She was 77, and known to us sisters -- Si-susie and Su-sissy -- via movie mags at Grammy's in the Fifties as a well-endowed Hollywood glamor girl. Mummy would drive us to Grammy's on the roller-coaster road between Exeter, NH and Fitchburg, MA and drop us off for Christmas vacation. We'd scramble to the magazine rack at Hubby's drugstore -- Loddy's Pharmacy -- on Main Street for all the comics and fan mags you could carry, free for the taking. Presumably they were put back onto the rack for sale after we had had our fill.

Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh "together in 'The Perfect Furlough'"

Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, one of those Photoplay photo-op couples like Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. Kind of disgusting, especially the men, but fascinating to read about. None of those Clairol blondes could hold a candle to pure-as-the-driven-snow brunette Liz Taylor, of course. The reason she married so often was because she would never have sex with a man she wasn't married to . . . Or at least a man she intended to marry in the very near future as soon as he divorced his current wife ('stole Eddie right out from under the nose of "best friend" Debbie). But Janet and Tony had a life. Kids (middle-agers?) today would know her as the woman slashed in the shower in "Psycho" -- and mother of the magnificent Jamie Lee Curtis of "A Fish Named Wanda" and "Halloween." God bless, Jamie Lee.

My sweet little Alice blue gown*

This one's for Emmy. From our salad days, it reminds us of her latest e-Bay find:

I love those dresses. Most are from the late sixties/early seventies.

Also check out Emmy's afternoon in the park, Vrijbroekpark Mechelen, plus "A Quiet Afternoon For Bismarck" and "Two Brothers."

*In my sweet little Alice blue gown,
When I first wandered down into town,
I was so proud inside,
As I felt every eye,
And in every shop window I primped, passing by.

Alice Blue Gown

One of the "greatest broadcasters of all time"

Alistaire Cooke, who died in New York at the age of 95, was hailed by Tony Blair as one of the "greatest broadcasters of all time".

"Cooke was a brave exception to the BBC rule during the war to liberate Iraq," writes Andrew Sullivan in "A 'Cynical Sentimentalist,'" an appreciation of Alistair Cooke, who died yesterday:

He understood what America experienced on 9/11 and he never descended into the mire of knee-jerk anti-Americanism that consumed the BBC in the last few years. He did this as an old-fashioned FDR-style liberal. Beneath his urbanity, you see, there was steel.

Cooke was "a real idol to me in many ways," says Andrew.  "He came to America, as I did, on a Commonwealth Fund fellowship, was absorbed by the theater, as I was, and fell in love with America, as I did, while traveling across the entire country."

For ourselves, coming of age in the seventies and eighties when Cooke burst upon the American television scene with his unique brand of "encyclopaedic knowledge expressed in seemingly casual style," first in "America:  A Personal History of the United States" and then in his introductions to "Masterpiece Theater," he was a revelation.  His presentations were the metaphoric hearth around which the family gathered of a Sunday evening. We agree with William Farish, US ambassador in London, quoted in the London Telegraph obit:

For many Americans, he will always be associated with the best of Britain. He had a poised and effortless manner, a first-class mind and a sincere interest in all things American.

NOTE.  Telegraph requires brief registration.

Keeping the home fires burning

Tiny ponders mystery structure brought up from the shop for "Guess and Tell"

"Can you guess what this is?" asked the man of the house, presenting the object pictured above, a frame-like wooden structure with a triangular footprint. "There are two of them."

"Something to do with a speaker?" we ventured.

It turns out they were speaker guards custom-built in the shop to protect our now-vintage Allison One speakers, way back when, from the irrational exuberance of firey dancers at the Fishouse-Punch-fueled Xmas parties of our youth.

Now they will be deconstructed and recycled to fuel the tamer fires of the Franklin stove upstairs in the gentlemen's study where man and cat -- Tiny's brother, Baby Cakes -- often like to retire with a good book on blustery winter evenings for a brandy and cigar.

I'll drink to that

Eggs Bennie, fresh-ground coffee and a champagne toast to the morning after our Thirty-first:

No wonder we're so old!

Gone from the madding crowd

Alan Bates and Julie Christie in Far from the Madding Crowd.

Actor Sir Alan Bates has died at the age of 69:

Sir Alan had a long career in the theatre, cinema and television. The brooding good looks that brought him early success in John Osborne's Look Back in Anger matured into a talent for a wide range of modern and classical roles. 

On Sunday actor and Labour MP Glenda Jackson paid tribute to the actor on BBC Radio 4.

"As he grew older he became an even better actor with much greater depth and breadth.

"I just thought that, apart from being a really first-rate actor, he was the most delightful person."

Our hearts were young and gay

Actress Hope Lange, who starred in the TV series "The Ghost and Mrs Muir" and earned an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the 1957 film "Peyton Place," has died at the age of 70.

And time that gave, doth now his gift confound.

William Shakespeare, Sonnet 60

70 years old?