Arsenic & Kinda True Story

Who knew?




The authorities said that Ms. Puente drugged the tenants and stole their money. She escaped to Los Angeles while investigators were unearthing bodies from the backyard, but was caught a few days later.

“I used to be a very good person, at one time,” she told reporters during her flight back to Sacramento.

More here.

A Farley Good Life

What's left to say about my dear friend Farley Granger that I haven't said here, or here, or even here?
He went up to Heaven yesterday, just a few beats behind Dame Elizabeth. I'm hoping he had the best welcome from all his ex-lovers - I mean, who else has dated Shelley Winters, Arthur Laurents, Ava Gardner, and Leonard Bernstein? How could he NOT be a hero?

Hitchcock! They Live By Night! Behave Yourself! What flicks.


(hee hee. "Not enough of the straight.")

Thanks Farley. You were a good one.

Why I Don't Read User Reviews

The Letter P Two Times In A Row

Thank you, Huffington Post. Every now and then, a gem.



Who knew this existed? Why didn't I? Why is Father Christmas in the chorus? Did this little boy pee pee his bed again tonight? So many questions.

Some Days I Just Play on Google Image Search

Bears AND Boobs.
A dame and a pistol, WITH a pistol.
(remember how great this song is?

Butterfield 8: Now More Than Ever

There Is Art In Everything

Conductor: www.mta.me from Alexander Chen on Vimeo.

Conductor turns the New York subway system into an interactive string instrument. Using the MTA's actual subway schedule, the piece begins in realtime by spawning trains which departed in the last minute, then continues accelerating through a 24 hour loop. The visuals are based on Massimo Vignelli's 1972 diagram.

(details here)

Shelley, It's For You!

If you've ever been a boy and peed at my house, you know I sure like it when Miss Shelley Winters is on the phone.


Who knew the internet was full of such goodies?



In conclusion, The End. Happy Weekending!

Fi-Er Uh-Larm Sis-Tum E-Nuns-E-A-Tor

A Pearl Within A Pearl

If there's one thing I love, it's celebrity dame memoirs. And if there's one other thing I love, it's crazy editions of them. There's the zany copy of Shelley Winters' memoir I blogged about once, if you might recall. I had assumed this signed copy of Pearl's Kitchen would remain the pride and joy of the B section of my bookshelf.

Casual browsers of said bookshelf might have noticed the gap in said Bailey section:

Well, no more! A trip to the Strand on Sunday solved that, with bonus Miss Peggy Lee, more on that another day I'm sure.

But what fell out of the book you might say? What's this, a letter?


Here it is zoomed in, in 3 pics (I was too lazy to bring the scanner out from under the bed).



Hopefully you can read cursive. If you can, you'll see that as Ronne (Ronni?) wrote Jordon on that fateful August day in 1997 (could I have been bowling for Amber's birthday at the moment she scribbled her tale? It's likely), our letter-writer had an affair with Pearl's husband! He would pretend to go to the "store" and call! And he had a nice Jaguar XKE! What memories. When she was young and tiny, there were a few old (50 and up) Hollywood Types after her.

I feel like Charlie when the golden ticket popped out of the candy bar. If you need me, I'll be at the frame store. God Bless, America.

I Cainet Understand You

"I couldn't understand a word Michael Caine said. I just waited for the gaps and then said my lines."

British people talk funny. Happy Birthday, Michael Caine!

U R Not Going To Stop Me From Giggling

The Figs Are Alright

Sometimes people say, "is Brian the only person you cook with?" And I say, "no sometimes, I cook with Amber, or Colleen, or Evan [but somehow we never photo-document those adventures]." But then also sometimes I cook with Matt.

We decided to go a vegetarian route on Thursday, which means we cooked VEGETABLES and no MEAT. Some vegetarian meals are boring, but I sat in my new chair and flipped through the recipe books until I came up with a good one: baked pasta with bleu cheese, figs, and brussel sprouts. Yum, right?

So, here we start with the INGREDIENTS, and the COOKBOOK. With MATT, and BENDER, for scale.

Look at the beautiful job I did chopping up the SPROUTS! I used the new sharp knife that some people avoid, and yet I didn't chop off a single digit.

Matt's good at cutting things up too, so he did the FIGS. He has to stand kinda funny since my kitchen island is a bit low, but that's OK. Maybe by next time we cook I'll have a new kitchen island, or Matt will be shorter.
My job now is to pour the PASTA into BOILING WATER. You can tell I'm doing a good job since I'm shaking the bag, and MYSELF.

In a little bit, you add the SPROUTS, and everything gets to boil together at the same time! Like a hot tub at a fancy resort.


NOT PICTURED: drain the SPROUTY-PASTA mixture. Then, put it all back in the POT.

Add FIGS!

And...the BLEU CHEESE! Mmmm, Bleu Cheese. I can't really think of anything, except maybe breakfast cereal, that Bleu Cheese doesn't improve.


With the cheese added, you mix it all up. With TONGS!


Put it in a OVEN PAN, and mix it up a bit.


Then, SIT and WAIT while it cooks up.


Later...Yum! All cooked.

Serve it up!

And, EAT. One thumbs up!
One fork up. Good job, team.
Sometimes, you forget to add the CHOPPED ALMONDS. And yet, you get to eat them anyway the next day as a healthy SNACK.

The End.

The One Nice Thing About Sales Conference

Bring it, Piña Coladas!

To A Good Guy: Happy Birthdaysaurus

I Mae Have Just Discovered Something Awesome

You know those days when you wake up at 5:30 am with jet lag and just think, how am I going to face this day?

I always just say, WWMD. What Would Mae Do?

And you know what? A little googling and I discover this.


And this.



And now I can face the day. Maebe.

Best eBay Purchase Ever

If there's one thing this non-diabetic wants to do, it's to get diabetes advice from Elaine Stritch.


The internet is the best thing EVER.

The Two And Only

I have to admit, I had no idea Jane Russell was still alive. But, she was, and until yesterday was 89 years young. She died too late to make the Oscar R.I.P. list, but at least she didn't get skipped, poor Corey Haim.
Anyway, I only really knew her from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which is certainly a fun romp. Thanks to jet lag, I woke up at 4am today so I've had plenty of time to do research.

The duet with her & Marilyn is fantastic, but for fun here's "Ain't There Anyone Here For Love," her solo number where the boys are wearing skin colored trunks (we'd now call that peach). Hollywood sure was racy back then.



Furthermore, I hadn't heard the story of how Howard Hughes claimed to have created a special "cantilever bra" to hold up her 38D rack. I mean, I had only learned the word "cantilever" last year, so maybe I had heard this but didn't know what it meant.

I had heard the Bob Hope quip though, he once introduced her as "the two and only Jane Russell." Boobs!

I had no idea there was a sequel to Blondes: Gentlemen Marry Brunettes. Yikes. And really, she guest-starred on Hunter? I bet she played Dee Dee's mom.

More importantly, I had NO idea that in 1971 she took over for Stritchy in Company. I kinda wish there was a youtube of her doing "The Ladies Who Lunch" with those bathing suit boys in the background.

In conclusion, here she is doing "Looking for Trouble" from The French Line. Ladies and Gentlemen, here they are, Miss Jane Russell: