Square eyes and jam
May. 3rd, 2010 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
susie_floOver the last year or so, G and I have built up quite a large library of films recorded off the TV. It's a ramshackle mixture of the serious and the ludicrous from all eras. A fair proportion of them are old movies that we have little fads on every now and then (especially in the thriller/film noir vein). G has a liking for Humprey Bogbrush... I have to confess I'm not entirely sure whether I share this liking (he strikes me as a grumpy, wizened little man) but am open to convincing. We're also gradually working our way through the Hitchcocks.
Last night we recorded The Birds and, while it was recording, watched Stage Fright, which I really enjoyed. Marlene Dietrich stars with the sort of glamour that you just don't see any more (however hard Madonna may try). She even smokes a cigarette under her veil. At one point she does a stage act that is hard to watch without seeing 100 drag tribute performances. But my favourite role in the film is Alistair Sim, who plays the dad that every girl needs in life... unshockable, dapper, wry, there-in-a-crisis and just a little bit criminal. Hitchcock also manages to introduce tension in the funniest places, such as a scene in which Alistair Sim is trying quickly to shoot a duck at a fairground in order to get a doll while the stallholder (Joyce Grenfell) delays him with relentless wittering.
On an entirely different note, we also watched The Exorcist for the first time (yes, there really were some people left who hadn't seen it). I don't tend to watch that many horror films, but we decided to give this one a spin, it being such a classic and all. Well, it certainly has its moments. Given its use of a child actor, it's hard to believe that anyone made this film without the tabloids having a field day. Perhaps they did... Anyway the version we watched was The Director's Cut whch had a few extra scenes that had been cut from the the main release. One of these was, for me, the most chillingly creepy scene of the whole film, when Regan suddenly comes down the stairs backwards like a crab. It's just really unexpected, scary and wrong (shudder).
Moving onto much lovelier things... today I have a big bowl of redness to contend with.
I'm planning to use this for a new batch of Nigella's chilli jelly. This stuff is essentially the jam equivalent of sweet chilli sauce and is like crack. Some of you might recall I made five jars just before christmas (the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com/56148.html). I was supposed to give three of those jars away, but G and I ended up eating all of them within a month. As a result I'm now incapable of eating a sandwich that doesn't contain a big dollop of it. (Sandwich of the gods = a bed of salad leaves and trimmings with a charred salmon fillet on top, smothered in chilli jam).
Anyway this plan for domestic godessery is all dependent on Richmond Tesco being open and selling Jam Sugar. Wish me luck...
EDIT as at 7:30pm: Little miss Jam Hubris did not factor in that a double batch of chilli jelly might need a double-sized pan. Cue cooker incident... bollox.
Last night we recorded The Birds and, while it was recording, watched Stage Fright, which I really enjoyed. Marlene Dietrich stars with the sort of glamour that you just don't see any more (however hard Madonna may try). She even smokes a cigarette under her veil. At one point she does a stage act that is hard to watch without seeing 100 drag tribute performances. But my favourite role in the film is Alistair Sim, who plays the dad that every girl needs in life... unshockable, dapper, wry, there-in-a-crisis and just a little bit criminal. Hitchcock also manages to introduce tension in the funniest places, such as a scene in which Alistair Sim is trying quickly to shoot a duck at a fairground in order to get a doll while the stallholder (Joyce Grenfell) delays him with relentless wittering.
On an entirely different note, we also watched The Exorcist for the first time (yes, there really were some people left who hadn't seen it). I don't tend to watch that many horror films, but we decided to give this one a spin, it being such a classic and all. Well, it certainly has its moments. Given its use of a child actor, it's hard to believe that anyone made this film without the tabloids having a field day. Perhaps they did... Anyway the version we watched was The Director's Cut whch had a few extra scenes that had been cut from the the main release. One of these was, for me, the most chillingly creepy scene of the whole film, when Regan suddenly comes down the stairs backwards like a crab. It's just really unexpected, scary and wrong (shudder).
Moving onto much lovelier things... today I have a big bowl of redness to contend with.
I'm planning to use this for a new batch of Nigella's chilli jelly. This stuff is essentially the jam equivalent of sweet chilli sauce and is like crack. Some of you might recall I made five jars just before christmas (the-meanest-cat.livejournal.com/56148.html). I was supposed to give three of those jars away, but G and I ended up eating all of them within a month. As a result I'm now incapable of eating a sandwich that doesn't contain a big dollop of it. (Sandwich of the gods = a bed of salad leaves and trimmings with a charred salmon fillet on top, smothered in chilli jam).
Anyway this plan for domestic godessery is all dependent on Richmond Tesco being open and selling Jam Sugar. Wish me luck...
EDIT as at 7:30pm: Little miss Jam Hubris did not factor in that a double batch of chilli jelly might need a double-sized pan. Cue cooker incident... bollox.
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Date: 2010-05-03 12:07 pm (UTC)There was also a huge exhibition all about Hitchcock which was fascinating. It's one of the best museums I've ever been to.
I quite like Humphrey - even if he was a bit wizened, he is simply brilliant in the African Queen and Casablanca.
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Date: 2010-05-03 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 12:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 01:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 03:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 02:04 pm (UTC)The Birds is really good though - if you haven't seen it, it's a treat. I thought it would be really schlocky but it's genuinely scary.
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Date: 2010-05-03 03:27 pm (UTC)And I suppose I could give old Bogbrush a chance... :-)
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Date: 2010-05-03 08:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-05-03 03:28 pm (UTC)