gemisch gemosch

* So, the end of Prime Suspect was this evenin'. I dunno, think it was rather a hopeless mixed-up mess in some ways, with lots of fabulous elements that needed a much tighter weave. I stand by my Helen Mirren fixation--she was a good portion of the fabulousness--that, and good editing (I sometimes think the opening sequences of both parts were the best things about them). The show had grand plot elements, they were just all kinda jumbled together, even in the ending. The whole thing felt a bit like a trial run. But still--some very good moments. What is it about her that is so good? I feel bored at even trying to parse that out, except that she is smart, she is committed. She's the greatest.

* Saw my first helpful/non-irritating minutes of a Steve Raichlen cooking show this weekend. This is news. He has maybe the most un-attracting TV demeanor/voice/everything of anybody I've ever seen host a cooking show. Anyhow, he was going over cuts of meat, which is as far as I'm concerned something you can't do enough, and it was very clear and helpful. And non-annoying and non-grating. Odd.

* Saw Proof for the first time this weekend, the adaptation of the David Auburn play. I dunno, eh. I guess I'm in an Eh mood, but still. Eh. It's a pretty great premise, and I know the movie veered far enough from the play that he wanted to take his name off, but I found it not quite fully realized for such a great story. I didn't find Gwyneth P. particularly convincing as somebody who could be that smart (why is she ever the Smart Girl choice for mainstream movies? blah blah blah), although I'm trying to imagine Mary Louise Parker (who originated the role in NY) and I think I would have clocked her--I cannot STAND her mannerisms, her open-mouthed, wide-eyed reactionism that passes for acting. Hate her. Anthony Hopkins kinda put everyone to shame with his easy brilliance, but even that felt...I dunno! I don't wish I had seen MLParker, but I certainly do wish I had seen Larry Bryggman in NY. Golly. And (since I'm sort of playing fantasy football here with my casting wishes), definitely Richard Coyle from London for Hal, because he's so deadly yummy, although I thought Gyllenhalwhatever was pretty good.

I will say this: good Chicago geography. He got the way Hyde Parkers talk about Northwestern exactly. And Hope Davis was amazing.

* Also lazily saw for the first time this weekend: Murder, My Sweet, which was Raymond Chandler's adaptation of Farewell, My Lovely. I was surprised I hadn't seen it before, although in some ways not since I haven't been that interested in Marlowe-mangling in general. Don't think anybody really got it much right on screen.

I know the plot of Farewell well enough that I could kind of 1/2-watch the movie and say, oh, that's whomever, without much checking, but lost it once the plot veered off tremendously from the book. One thing I liked was making Anne Mrs. Grayle's stepdaughter--made more emotional sense. And some of that book is so racist--it was almost a relief that for whatever (moviely racist) reasons they didn't include so many scenes with black folk in the movie.

The thing they never ever get right is Marlowe. I think Mitchum gave hints of how he would have been perfect for the role in that bizarro English Farewell adaptation, but only 40 years prior. Dick Powell (that's him up there, on the right, with Moose Malloy on the left) was pretty good, but everybody's missing the world-weary, quiet but not Dana-Andrews-like quality that character should have. As well as the sex appeal (he's a Jane Eyre-like 1st-person narrator, in that you know he's hot). And the smartness. And the idealism. And the physical ability. It's pretty impossible to do him right, I guess. Maybe he's too delicious to ever come down from the page. Oh mystery writers and their delicious protagonists they fall in love with...


* Current can't-stop-playin song:

"Sista Big Bones" by Anthony Hamilton. Hookityhookityhook. His voice is sweet as pie, sweet as PIE. I love that Mo'Nique is the slo-mo video honey, and I love the goofy sweet expression on his face. But mostly I love his voice! Good GOLLY.

In order to break the spell, I switched over to the new DVD I got (swag) of the Maazel/Raimundi/Te Kanawa Don Giovanni and it's a fairly complementary switch. Sista Big Bones by Johannes Chrysostom...

* Completely and totally unrelated:

Don't you wish sometimes you could swish your hair clean after washing in a bucket of water like you were a Barbie doll? Sometimes when I'm in the shower trying to rinse my hair I think: I wish someone could pick me up by the feet and just...swish. Get it clean that way. Thank you.