Song of the week: The Who’s “I Can’t Explain”
Song of the week: The Who’s first single, 1965′s “I Can’t Explain”. The song’s promo video (shot in 1965) is so adorable and Mod-y and fun: I heart The Who, especially the early stuff. And especially Keith. ♥
Put off your maiden blushes
I recently re-watched Kenneth Branagh’s splendid adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V. The entire film (and play) is wonderful, but I’m especially fond of the interaction between Henry and Catherine in Act 5, Scene 2, in which he, with charmingly clumsy sweetness, tries to convince her to marry him. Branagh and Emma Thompson are fantastic together [...]
Song of the week: Belle and Sebastian’s “Wrapped Up In Books”
Song of the week: Belle and Sebastian‘s lovely and delightfully catchy “Wrapped Up In Books,” from their 2003 album Dear Catastrophe Waitress: I will say a prayer, just while you are sitting there I will wrap my hands around you I know it will be fine We’ve got a fantasy affair We didn’t get wet, [...]
Jeeves, the omniscient valet
From The Paris Review‘s 1975 interview with P.G. Wodehouse: INTERVIEWER How did you create Jeeves, then? WODEHOUSE I only intended to use him once. His first entrance was: “Mrs. Gregson to see you, sir,” in a story called “Extricating Young Gussie.” He only had one other line, “Very good, sir. Which suit will you wear?” [...]
Song of the week: The Bird and the Bee’s “How Deep Is Your Love”
Song of the week: indie pop duo The Bird and the Bee‘s cover of The Bee Gees‘s “How Deep Is Your Love”. It’s so gentle and lovely: And you come to me on a summer breeze, Keep me warm in your love Then you softly leave And it’s me you need to show How deep [...]
W.H. Auden reading his “As I Walked Out One Evening”
A recommendation: close your eyes and listen to Auden read his “As I Walked Out One Evening”. It’s a hauntingly lovely poem and Auden’s carefully measured cadence and precise diction make its melancholic beauty all the more pronounced and moving: As I walked out one evening, Walking down Bristol Street, The crowds upon the pavement [...]
Every movie should have a Paul Krugman cameo
Permit me to do a little fangirl-ish squeeing: My step-dad and I saw Get Him to the Greek on Father’s Day. The movie was a lot funnier than I expected. Pretty hilarious, actually. And my nerdy heart almost exploded with SQUEE! when Paul Krugman showed up. Dreamy adorable Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman! So [...]
So as to choose
One of my favorite literary passages of all time, from Henry James’s The Portrait of a Lady: “Young girls here–in decent houses–don’t sit alone with the gentlemen late at night.” “You were very right to tell me then,” said Isabel. “I don’t understand it, but I’m very glad I know it.” “I shall always tell [...]
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