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Christmas Leftovers
Ah, Facebook friends to the rescue!
I put out a plea for recipes for left over Prime Rib. I gave extra points for the exotic and unusual. I had a little over two pounds left, which was so amazingly delicious, I was not about to let it go to waste.
Well, the winners were the Beef Biriani - which I made last night, and the Beef, Guinness and Cheddar Cheese Puff Pastry Pie, pictured above.
I'm sorry, I didn't think to take pictures of the Biriaini, which was Most Excellent. So, of course, it's gone. Thank you, Ms. Carrie, for the recipe.
This is the basic recipe she sent, which I worked from:
"Onions sauteed in ghee or olive oil various spices of choice plus essential tumeric to yellow the rice chopped garlic. 3 or 4 cloves some sweet peppers rough chopped one or two chillis depending on heat tolerance 4 oz of currants 6 oz of beef diced and flashed in pan 2 -3 cups of rice salt to taste stock water to cover. Lid on simmer for 20 mins. GET Out of Here! Taste sensation. Serve with Greek yogurt and chopped bananas garnish with freshly toasted almond flakes.It was amazing. Truly.
Biriani is a must eat at least once a month cleansing on the pallet (!) and just wonderful for the aromas in the kitchen whilst simmering. . . . .Elizabeth go easy on the chillis though - in India when younger nearly gave myself a heart attack on an evil wee seeded chili slice lurking in the bloated grains of saffroned rice!
I boiled down the bones of the left over prime rib to make a stock with some rosemary, thyme, sage, salt and pepper, until the bones had practically surrendered the marrow. Or, you could simply start with six or eight cups of beef broth.
Then, in a large "dutch oven" or soup pot,I sauteed in a "glug" of EVOO: onions and garlic, then added celery, carrots and mushrooms. Once the onions were wilted and golden, I added about a cup of the left over beef, added the stock, and let the whole thing come to a gentle boil. Then, I added a cup of barley and cooked them together for about 40 minutes.
Some people like a can of diced tomatoes in their Beef Barley Soup. I don't. But, it's optional for you and your family. Also optional: I add just a dash of either red or white wine or sherry just before serving. Serve with crusty bread and a side salad of Boston Baby Bib lettuce with light EVOO dressing, salt, pepper and, perhaps some shaves of your favorite cheese (parmesan, cheddar, whatever). AMAZING.
It's my lunch for tomorrow, after all the ingredients have had a chance to "marry" each other overnight.
The house smells absolutely glorious.
So, I'm going to share this amazing recipe for the Guinness Beef 'n Cheese Puff Pastry Pie with you. Jane Dunning sent it to me. It's Jamie Oliver's recipe which I adapted (but, of course!). You can, too, according to taste.
It's very British. I think, next time, I may try it with chunks of lamb. Or, perhaps, a medley of beef, lamb and pork.
Oh, my soul!
This pie is a real winner. As it uses bought puff pastry, it's quick to prepare and you can make the filling the day before, if you wish. As you may have already suspected, it's also great for roast beef left overs. I suppose you can even make the filling in a crock pot whistle you are away at work and then spoon it into the puff pastry and bake.
I'm thinking it could easily be adapted for vegetarians. Instead of the meat, I'm thinking you might add a few chunks of turnips or parsnips (I'm not particularly fond of parsnips, but if you are, have at it), perhaps a few chunks of potatoes, and some acorn or Hubbard squash. Nice and earthy and satisfying to the soul - even if you are a carnivore.
It serves 4-6 hearty appetites on a cold, wintry night.
Okay, here we go. Ready?
Ingredients:
6 small or 3 medium red onions, peeled and chopped (more or less)
6 cloves (more or less, depending on your taste), garlic, peeled and chopped
30 g butter (about 1/2 a stick), plus extra for greasing
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2-3 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
4 field mushrooms, peeled and sliced
1 kg brisket of beef or stewing beef, cut into 2 cm cubes
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 x 440ml can of Guinness (no larger, please)
2 heaping tablespoons flour (I only use all purpose wheat flour)
200 g (approximately one eight ounce slab) freshly grated Cheddar cheese
500 g best-quality ready-made all-butter puff pastry
(note: I used a package of Peppridge Farm)
1 large free-range or organic egg, beaten.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 190/375/gas 5 degrees.
In a large oven proof pan, heat a 'glug' of olive oil (EVOO is best) on low heat. Add the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes - try not to cook them too much. Turn the heat up, add the garlic, butter, carrots and celery and scatter in the mushrooms. Mix everything together before stirring in the beef, rosemary, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of pepper.
Fry fast for 3 or 4 minutes, then pour in the Guinness, stir in the flour and add just enough water to cover. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan with a lid and place in the preheated oven for about 1 1/2 hours. Remove the pan from the oven and give the stew a stir. Put it back into the oven and continue to cook it for another hour, or until the meat is very tender and the stew is rich, dark and thick.
A perfect pie filling needs to be robust, so if it's still quite liquidy, place the pan on the hob (stove) and reduce until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in half the cheese, then season carefully and leave to cool slightly.
Cut about a third of the pastry off the block (if you are using Pepperidge Farm, this comes in two sheets, perforated in thirds). Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll the piece of pastry out evenly, to the thickness of a pound coin. (!!)
Butter a deep pie dish, then line with the larger sheet leaving the edges dangling over the side (Or, pat up the edges as far as it will go. Since the Pepperidge Farm sheet is oblong and my pan was round, it was not even. Which, as you can see, worked out perfectly fine.)
Tip the stew into your lined dish and even it out before sprinkling over the remaining cheese.
Cut the other rolled sheet of pastry to fit the top of the pie dish and criss-cross it lightly with a sharp knife. Place it over the top of the pie and fold the overhanging pastry onto the pastry lid to make it look nice and rustic.
Brush the top with beaten egg, then bake the pie directly on the bottom rack of the oven for 45 minutes at 375/190/gas 5 degrees, until the pastry is cooked, puffed and golden.
Jamie Oliver says this is to be served with peas, but that's a bit too hearty, methinks. I'll be serving this to Ms. Conroy with a light Boston Baby Bib salad, perhaps tossed with EVOO (that's Extra Virgin Olive Oil) that I've infused with rosemary, thyme and sage, and, perhaps, sprinkled with a few sliced black olives and some of the shredded cheddar cheese I've not added to the pie filling.
There you go. Christmas all over again - filled with Love, even if it is leftover.
Then, again, there are 12 days of Christmas, aren't there?
January 5th is 12th Night. Epiphany is on the 6th.
While this particular pie won't make it till then, methinks it's a wonderful manifestation of the Glory of God.
I think Jesus would be more pleased with this than his parents would be with the incessant "Par-ump-pa-pum" of that bloody Little Drummer Boy.
Merry Christmastide and a Happy, Healthy New Year!
Some final questions as we wrap up this year
How fitting to end the year with questions. What’s yours?
Matt starts with a follow-up question about the "how did we handle drinking on CHEERS" post:
Were the actors actually nursing beer?
They were drinking “near-beer”, 3.2 alcohol content, and it was warm. I don’t know George Wendt guzzled all that swill each week.
However, the Heinekens in the writers room were real.
VP81955 asks:
At times I see sitcom episodes directed by cast members, which I presume is one of the "perks" of their contract. What's your experience been like in those situations? Are they looking for diversifying their resume in later years -- in other words, are they genuinely interested in directing as a future endeavor -- and do you assist them when they have to act in a scene?
Some actors are excellent directors. Three that I have worked with are Alan Alda, Kelsey Grammer, and Adam Arkin. There have been other times when actors have directed and the results have been, uh… “less than stellar”. In one case, and I won’t name the actor, anytime he directed it was bizarre. Normally he was the nicest guy in the world, but the minute he stepped onto the stage as the director he became a tyrant, even snapping at his fellow cast members. The next week he was just an actor again and went back to being the sweetest guy on the planet. How the rest of the cast didn't kill I do not know.
On multi-camera shows, when actors direct they pretty much leave all the camera blocking and technical stuff to the camera coordinator. And of course, if you’re blocking a scene without regard to just how you plan to shoot it, you may block it in such a way that is hard or impossible to shoot. Actors are too close to walls, upstaging each other, in spots where the camera can't find them, etc. Those camera blocking days can be total nightmares.
Kelsey was the only one I saw who really studied the cameras and participated in that aspect of the job.
Generally, when an actor directs an episode it’s one in which he’s very light. Some will ask for an objective eye like the first AD and others won’t. Of course actors in long-running series generally know their characters so well that they don’t need much guidance.
Do you know which actor was also a director? Someone I bet you wouldn’t expect. Nick Colasanto, the Coach on CHEERS. He directed tons of episodes of HAWAII 5-0 (the good version), COLUMBO, STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, and even BONANZA.
I wonder if Ron Howard ever asked the producers of HAPPY DAYS if he could direct an episode and they told him to just stick to acting.
From Cedric Hohnstadt:
I'd love to know your thoughts, Ken: Is it possible to train yourself to be creatively "in the zone" when needed or is inspiration something that always strikes on its own random schedule?
If you write for television, especially on staff, you cannot afford to wait for the muse to come along and inspire you. You must train yourself to write on demand. Morning, night, late night, when you’re tired, have a cold, dealing with family issues, ducking a drug cartel – it makes no difference. You’re expected to be productive. This takes discipline, experience, and fear (I mean, “motivation”).
A large part of the job is being able to perform under pressure. During filming nights on multi-camera shows, when a joke bombs the writers quickly huddle and with the cast and crew waiting and two hundred people in the audience impatiently looking on, you’re expected to come up with that new killer line. You can’t say, “Let me go up to my cabin in Arrowhead for the weekend, pour myself some nice Swiss Miss, light a cozy fire, put on my “Pat Boone Sings Heavy Metal” CD, and work on it. I’ll have the joke for you on Monday.” You need it now. Just like the drug cartel.
Phillip B wonders:
Have you ever been approached -- or tempted - to work on an "unscripted" show?
I have an idea for an unscripted series. It’s one of those outdoorsman-type shows, where everyone wears hats and totes around rifles. HUNTING THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS. What do you think?
Happy New Year to everyone. Drive carefully tonight.
Chart Of The Year 2010
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Chart
It's time to do a little review on this dying away year. Hence, I choose my top 35 out of my posts and all other videos and tracks which did impressed me this year. Maybe there are some tracks which wasn't released in 2010. But I think it doesn't matter, cause I just recongized them in this year. Now, I only want to thank you for reading my blog. I hope you enjoy it and you gonna follow it next year again. If there are any questions or something like that, don't be shy and write.
Happy New Year,
your Duke
__________
35 La Roux - Bulletproof (Glasnost Remix)
34 Florence & The Machine - Drumming Song (Boy 8-Bit Remix)
33 She & Him - In The Sun
32 Vampire Weekend - White Sky (Basement Jaxx Remix)
31 Cee-Lo - Georgia
30 Estelle & John Legend - No Other Love
29 Valesta - Best Friends
28 Wolf Gang - The King And All Of His Men
27 McGi - Abehla (Daniel Klauser Remix)
Sorry, lovely reader, I didn't find neither a video nor a embedable stream.
26 The Pass - Colors
25 Mumford & Son - Little Lion Man
24 Of Montreal - Sex Karma (Live)
23 The Count & Sinden ft. Mystery Jets - After Dark
THE COUNT & SINDEN Feat. MYSTERY JETS "After Dark"
Hochgeladen von domino. - Entdecke weitere Musik Videos.
22 The Like - Release Me (Viking Remix)
21 The Glass - Four Floor Letter (Black Van Remix)
20 Bright Eyes - Shell Games
19 The BPA - Toa Jam
Pop Waffle Presents: Toe Jam by The BPA - Watch more Funny Videos
18 Hey Champ - Neverest (Database Remix)
17 Chilly Gonzales - I Am Europe (Djedjotronic Remix)
16 The XX - Stars (Lazrtag Remix)
15 Foster The People - Pumped Up Kicks
14 Lykke Li - Get some (Remix By Beck)
13 The Temper Trap - Soldier On (Live)
12 The Thermals - I Don't Believe You
11 Laserkraft 3D - Nein Mann
Laserkraft 3D - Nein Mann found on Electronic
10 Scanner - Baby Blue (Chaotic Good Remix)
09 Ou Est Le Swimming Pool - Dance The Way I Feel
08 Miike Snow - Animal (Mark Ronson Dub Remix)
07 Lykke Li - Little Bit (Gigamesh Remix)
06 Soko - I'll kill her
05 Bomb The Bass - Burn Less Brighter
04 Caribou - Sun
03 Oh Land - Sun Of A Gun (Yuksek Remix)
02 Crystal Castles ft. Robert Smith - Not In Love
01 Hermanos Inglesos ft. MeMe - Wanderland
The guy who built the MASH set comments for this blog
A few weeks ago I posted photos of a MASH set built in someone's backyard. The person who did that very graciously left this anonymously in the comments section, but I felt it was worth re-posting because as unbelievable as this might sound, not everybody reads the comments. Thanks much to this person, whoever he is.
I sold it over a year ago. It's now in a museum.
These pictures were not posted by me. I did not want this attention. Mainly because I could write the "wayyy to much time on his hands" comment in my sleep. These pictures were first posted on a blog I had never heard of by a friend that was last here 2 years ago.
It was something I wanted to build, and I did. Nothing more,nothing less.
I ask you. Has your hobby, or "obsession" been asked to be in a museum? If not. Maybe you need more time on your hands.
Thanks very much to all of you who made kind thoughtful comments.
Read more »
I sold it over a year ago. It's now in a museum.
These pictures were not posted by me. I did not want this attention. Mainly because I could write the "wayyy to much time on his hands" comment in my sleep. These pictures were first posted on a blog I had never heard of by a friend that was last here 2 years ago.
It was something I wanted to build, and I did. Nothing more,nothing less.
I ask you. Has your hobby, or "obsession" been asked to be in a museum? If not. Maybe you need more time on your hands.
Thanks very much to all of you who made kind thoughtful comments.
Lykke Li - Get Some
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Beck,
Lykke Li
Stockholm, Sweden. This year 2010 Lykke Li released the single "Get Some". I don't know why, but I missed it. However, Beck made a remix and so, I'm back in the game. Here I give to you the original and the Beck remix. Pherhaps you remember my post in August. It says everything what I'm thinking and loving about Lykke Li. Probably in 2008 "Youth Novel" was one of the best album of the year. And of course it is still one of the best album I've ever heard.
The Politics and Sexuality of Hair
I would later notice his "Christmas Tradition" of wearing one red and one green sock, but the first thing I noted was that he had had his hair cut.
My first thought to myself was, "Hmmm, he has one of the six 'authorized' lesbian hair cuts," but what I said to him was, "Ah, you've had your hair cut."
He giggled and gingerly patted the top of his freshly lacquered, very heterosexual head and said, "Yeah, I look like a lesbian, right?"
We both burst into laughter, because, of course, he did. And, to my amazement and delight, he seemed to have gotten the joke about lesbians.
Well, it's an old joke in the lesbian community that doesn't have the same relevance as it once did, 'back in the day' when lesbians made a statement about their sexuality by wearing their hair Really Short.
Oh, some still do, but mostly, it doesn't matter much any more. Well, I suppose it still does - at least to some - by the looks of some of the younger lesbian women I've seen around town.
Mostly, middle aged women with short hair end up looking like most Roman Catholic nuns or Methodist women pastors I've known, who always set off my "gaydar" - which, for the uninitiated, is like a GPS system in the LGBT community wherein we 'recognize' each other.
"The personal is political" we were very carefully taught. And, you know, that still remains true. It's just expressed differently.
Another 'old joke' in the lesbian community is that you can always tell if a woman is a lesbian because, besides having Very Short Hair, she wears a pinkie ring, sports Birkenstock sandals or penny loafers, would never be seen in a skirt or wearing makeup or lipstick (unless, of course, she's a 'lipstick lesbian'), has a few cats, her home has at least a few macrame plant hangers and there's a rainbow sticker - among all the political bumper stickers - on her (beat up) car.
Oh, and short finger nails. Very short finger nails.
Not so much, any more. Many lesbians and gay men no longer feel the need to intentionally set off anyone's gaydar. It's not about 'internalized homophobia'.
It's more about the fact that it doesn't really matter so much anymore. If you want to, fine. If you don't, fine. It's more a choice now than the subtly but powerfully coercive message of conformity for a consistent political message 'back in the day'.
You know. Sort of the way it's no longer important to wear white only after Memorial Day and never, EVER after Labor Day.
Or, for a woman to cover her head with a hat or a lacy mantilla or scarf before entering a church. Or, God forbid you should forget, a tissue bobby-pinned to the top of your head! (Do they even sell bobby pins anymore?)
The personal is political and all politics is local.
I don't think it's a coincidence that, for centuries, women and men who have become members of religious orders - Roman Catholic, Buddhist, Taoist - have had their hair tonsured or shaved off completely as an outward and visible sign of their vows of celibacy and/or the sacrifices of worldly values in order to be more obedient to their professed devotion to God.
There's something ancient and, perhaps, even primordial about the connection between sexuality and one's hair.
That's especially so for women, but men are not exempt. If a man changes his hair style - even if he subtly changes the side of his head where he parts his hair - you know something is going on with him internally.
And, when men start to lose their hair? OMG!! Well, all that machismo tough-guy stuff starts to dissolve right before your eyes and they become positively neurotic.
Can't say as I can blame them, really. I know that when Ms. Conroy lost all her hair, it was very traumatic. Still is, really. She just recently had eyebrows and eyeliner tattooed on, which really helps to bring out her features and makes her look less "washed out". It was a pretty brave thing for her to do, I think.
She still gets sympathetic looks, however, especially at the end of the day when she looks as tired as she feels and she's, say, in the grocery store. Someone is bound to call her to the front of the line, or a manager will come out and offer to "ring her up" at the Service Desk. I suppose they think she's on chemotherapy. She always smiles gratefully and silently accepts the offer.
I recently watched Chris Rock's "Good Hair" - a fascinating look into the industry, economics, aesthetics and politics of hair in the Black Community.
I was astounded to learn that some Black women spend up to 20% of their income on things like relaxers, wigs, braids and weaves. And, we're not talking rich women here. These are day care workers and teachers. Some weaves alone can cost $1,000. And, that's just for the weave. It doesn't include the cost of six to eight hours (6 - 8 HOURS!!!!) in a beautician's chair.
And the scene where the chemicals in the 'relaxers' destroys a soda can in a matter of a few hours is absolutely chilling.
It's a multi-billion dollar industry, most of which benefits people outside the Black community.
There's a powerful scene where Al Sharpton tells Chris Rock that, when a Black woman puts on her wig or straightens her weave in the morning, "It's like wearing a symbol of your economic bondage and oppression - right on your head."
It's a stunning moment in a documentary that reportedly began when Rock's eldest daughter, Lola, came home from school and asked her father, "Daddy, do I have 'good hair'?"
I don't think it was an accident that this little girl asked her daddy about what he thought of her hair. It's very powerful symbolic language. If a little girl's daddy thinks she's beautiful or smart or has long hair, chances are, she comes to think, that other men will see her in the same way.
Even if a child's sexual orientation has not yet come into consciousness, her cultural awareness has certainly matured enough to know that this is an important component to the way she is seen by others - which impacts her still developing sense of self esteem.
Which leads me to think again about that ancient, even primordial link between hair and sexuality.
There's that curious story about Sampson (Judges 13-16). When Delila cuts off his hair, she steals his masculinity and his strength and virility are lost.
Both John (12:1-8) and Luke's (7:36-50) gospels report a scene at a meal wherein a woman (Mary of Bethany in John's Gospel and 'a sinful woman' in Luke's report), anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped them with her hair.
This was a shocking display of intimacy to the disciples. The woman seems to set the stage for Jesus, three full days later in John's Gospel, to wash the feet of his disciples as a sign of the humility we are to have with each other whenever we minister in His name.
I maintain, however, that it's neither her humility nor her use of expensive oil that was shocking to the disciples. The deeper scandal has to do with the overt sexuality of the woman using her hair to wipe the feet of Jesus.
Is it that long, thick, healthy, wavy hair is a sign of youth and fertility? The appeal of female long hair goes far back into western mythology, to the stories of Rapunzel (a Grimm brothers twist on Saint Barbara), the Mermaid Lorelei, the Norse Goddess Sif, and Lady Godiva.
Is the traditional soldier's 'buzz cut' a sign of a warrior who will sacrifice even lustful impulses for military order and obedience? And, of course, to prove that they are 'manly men' - meaning, not women.
Which is interesting because like Sampson, and characters in Greek mythology such as Zeus, Achilles, Hector, Poseidon and Trojan soldiers are always depicted wearing long hair, a sign of their aristocracy and virility.
Come to think of it, have you ever seen a depiction of Jesus with short hair? For that matter, many biblical characters, including Muhammad, all have long hair.
Then, of course, there's the rock musical "Hair" - an anthem against the Viet Nam war and and ode to the sexual revolution and drug culture of the 60's. Long hair was seen as a clear counter-cultural statement, and the link with sexuality and "free love" was fairly explicit.
I love the lyrics of the theme song:
My hair like Jesus wore itI don't know about the connection between hair and sexuality. I only know that it exists.
Hallelujah I adore it
Hallelujah Mary loved her son
Why don't my mother love me?
Hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair, hair
Flow it, show it
Long as God can grow it
My hair
And, I know that beauty shops and hair salons and barber shops are often gathering places for communities. Indeed, they often become their own communities where everything from politics to personal, private concerns are discussed - sometimes openly and other times in hushed, confessional tones between stylist and client.
There's an intimacy there that has something to do, I think, with the connection between hair and sexuality.
I clearly remember the day my mother took me to "her" beauty parlor for my first hair cut, shampoo and styling. It was a right of passage, of sorts. I was, now, "old enough". It was an unspoken part of a young girl's initiation into the mysteries of being a woman.
I can still remember the mildly offensive smell of hair products - hair spray, lotions, and (peee-UUUU) perms. I can still hear the sounds of women's laughter and chatter over the drone of the motors of the domed hair dryers, all lined up against the wall.
If I close my eyes, I can see myself sitting proudly on one of those pink plastic beauty parlor chairs, my hair rolled tight in curlers, sitting proudly under the clear plastic dome of the hair dryer. And, I can see my mother smiling a knowing smile at me. "This is it, kid," she seemed to be saying. "You've arrived."
Oh, and, the other message was: "See? A woman has to suffer for beauty!"
Meanwhile, down the street and around the corner, my father and brother were getting their hair cut at the barber shop. It was a twice monthly Saturday morning ritual for them.
My mother, on the other hand, went every week to have her hair "done." Said it made her feel "so much better". I thought it looked pretty weird. Unnatural. Nobody's hair looks like that, naturally. It always looked like it had been "done". And, she wore elaborate "wraps" on her hair when she went to bed to keep it looking "done".
I much preferred my grandmother's hair, brushed thoroughly every morning, pulled back and braided in a long braid which she would wind round and round and round into a tight bun at the back of her neck. Then, at night, she would undo the bun and her braid, brush out her hair thoroughly and wear it to bed, flowing down over her shoulders and night gown.
I thought she was one of the most beautiful women I'd ever seen. And, much of that beauty came from her long, beautiful hair which stayed thick and lustrous even in her old age.
Maybe that's the connection between hair and sexuality: beauty.
Natural beauty, in my mind anyway, is always one of the best aphrodisiacs.
Then again, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Isn't it?
Which is also true about sexuality and sexual orientation.
It's a very personal thing.
And, the personal is still very political.
Cut Copy - Take Me Over (Thee Loving Hands Remix)
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Cut Copy
Melbourne, VIC, Australia. Oh, I'm a little bit excited for the new year. The will be nice album releases, I'm pretty sure. One of them could be "Zonoscope" by Cut Copy. Once in July I'd talked about loving or hating their songs. But know I'm sure - after I bought the second album and listened to it very often - I loving them very very much. And I'm looking forward to the new one. It will be released on 8th February 2011. Now, you get here a 10 minutes remix of Take me over, which is created by second album "In Ghost Colours" producer Tim Goldsworthy.
My Best & Worst of 2010
BEST ENGAGEMENT – Tie: Shania Twain, who is marrying the ex-husband of the woman who cheated with her husband. And Hugh Hefner (84) & Crystal Harris (24). So Christie Hefner will be 34 years older than her new mother. Personally, I think Hef is just settling, but that’s just me.
BEST MOVIE – SOCIAL NETWORK (and not just because Aaron Sorkin wrote a piece for this blog). I hear THE KING’S SPEECH is great but haven’t seen it. So I may change my mind. That happened once before. 2004. MYSTIC RIVER was my ultimate favorite but originally I had said FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY.
BEST COMEDY MOVIE –
BEST MOVIE I WILL NEVER SEE – 127 HOURS. I don’t care how good it is, I’m not going to watch a movie where a guy cuts off his own arm. I didn’t like it when it was suggested for an episode of FRASIER, and I don’t like it now.
WORST MOVIE I WILL NEVER SEE – LITTLE FOCKERS. I’d rather cut off my own arm.
BEST MOVIE THAT’S STILL A CONFUSING MESS – INCEPTION. Wow but huh?
BEST TV DRAMA – THE GOOD WIFE. Sorry MAD MEN but THE GOOD WIFE has evolved into a spectacular show. Each episode is so layered, so engrossing, and yet seems so effortless. Other than Christine Baranski, I care about every single character. What’s so amazing is that this is a show on a broadcast network. Please let there not be a spinoff like THE GOOD WIFE: MIAMI.
BEST SINGLE EPISODE OF TV – Okay, this one I give to MAD MEN. The show where Peggy and Don spend a long night together, written by Matthew Weiner, is worthy of Chayefsky.
BEST TV COMEDY – MODERN FAMILY. One of the few sitcoms these days that is funny but won't sacrifice character or story for a laugh.
BEST 3-D MOVIE – LA BETE, starring David Hyde Pierce. The actors seemed so lifelike I actually thought I was in the same room with them. Oh wait, LA BETE is a play. I was in the same room with them. Okay. I can’t see 3-D. So I have no idea.
BEST BEVERLY HILLS HOUSEWIFE – Camille
WORST BEVERLY HILLS HOUSEWIFE – Camille
BEST FINALE – LOST. They wrapped up most everything and brought Elizabeth Mitchell back.
WORST FINALE – Larry King. As with LOST, it spent the last year in the afterlife.
BEST ACTRESS IN A MOVIE – Annette Bening. I don’t care what Meryl Streep was in this year.
BEST ACTRESS WHO PLAYS AN IDIOT – Rebecca Hall in THE TOWN.
BEST CANCELED SHOW -- TERRIERS
BEST FIRING – Kara DioGuardi off AMERICAN IDOL. Why it took two years and not two minutes I'll never know.
BEST FIRING ALTHOUGH SHE SAYS SHE QUIT BUT WHO WE KIDDING? – Ellen DeGeneres off AMERICAN IDOL
BEST WRITING STAFF THAT WAS FIRED – WALKING DEAD
BEST TALK SHOW SIDEKICK – the robot on Craig Fergeson.
BEST COMEBACK – Betty White. I've loved her on all seven TV shows she's been on and all twelve movies.
WORST COMEBACK – David Hasselhoff. He’s won this category eight years running.
BEST CABLE SHOW YOU MIGHT NOT EVEN HEARD OF – JUSTIFIED on FX. Tim Olyphant is a great lead, the characters are all very rich, and ignorant anti-Semite red neck assholes get shot every week. I hope Mel Gibson guests next season.
BEST NEW BOOK – Mark Twain’s Autobiography. Shania’s ex tells-all!
BEST DOCUMENTARY – WHO IS HARRY NILSSON? If you have to ask that question yourself you should really see it.
BEST AWARD SHOW HOST – Jimmy Fallon, the EMMYS
WORST AWARD SHOW HOST – Chelsea Handler, the VMA’s
BEST AWARDS SHOW – Southern California Sportscasters Association awards lunch. Hey, gimme a break. I was one of the winners.
WORST CROSSOVER PORN STAR – Sasha Grey on ENTOURAGE. It’s tough when you have to use your mouth to talk.
WORST STATUE UNVEILED – Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig at Miller Park, Milwaukee.
BEST STATUE UNVEILED – Tom Selleck in BLUE BLOODS.
BEST NEW VIDEO GAME – Anything created by the other Ken Levine. I keep hoping I get his royalties by mistake.
Mae West
Known for her bawdy double entendres, West made a name for herself in Vaudeville and on the stage in New York before moving to Hollywood to become a comedienne, actress and writer in the motion picture industry. One of the more controversial movie stars of her day, West encountered many problems including censorship.
When her cinematic career ended, she continued to perform on stage, in Las Vegas, in the United Kingdom, on radio and television, and recorded rock and roll albums.
West was born Mary Jane West in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, daughter of John Patrick West and Matilda "Tillie" Doelger (also spelled Delker).
Her father was a prizefighter known as "Battlin' Jack West" who later worked as a "special policeman" and then as a private investigator who ran his own agency. Her mother was a former corset and fashion model. The family was Protestant, by some accounts West's mother was reported as Jewishimmigrant from Bavaria. Her Irish Catholic paternal grandmother, as well as other relatives who were Roman Catholic, disapproved of her career and her choices, as did the aunt who helped deliver her. West's paternal grandfather, John Edwin, may have been an African American who passed for white.
Her siblings were Mildred Katherine West (December 8, 1898 – March 12, 1982), known as Beverly, and John Edwin West (February 11, 1900 – October 12, 1964). During her childhood, West's family moved to various parts of Woodhaven, Queens, as well as Williamsburg and Greenpoint in Brooklyn. She may have attended Erasmus Hall High School.
At five years old, West first entertained a crowd, at a church social, and she started appearing in amateur shows at the age of seven. She often won prizes at local talent contests. She began performing professionally in vaudeville in the Hal Clarendon Stock Company in 1907 at the age of fourteen. West first performed under the stage name Baby Mae,and tried various personas including a male impersonator, Sis Hopkins, and a blackface coon shouter. Her trademark walk was said[by whom?] to have been inspired or influenced by female impersonators Bert Savoy and Julian Eltinge, who were famous during the Pansy Craze. Her first appearance in a legitimate Broadway show was in a 1911 revue A La Broadway put on by her former dancing teacher, Ned Wayburn. The show folded after just eight performances. She then appeared in a show called "Vera Violetta," whose cast featured another newcomer, Al Jolson. In 1912 she also appeared in the opening performance of "A Winsome Widow" as a 'baby vamp' named La Petite Daffy.
"Ev'rybody Shimmies Now" sheet music cover with portrait, 1918
In 1918, after exiting several high-profile revues, West finally got her break in the Shubert Brothers revue Sometime, opposite Ed Wynn. Her character Mayme danced the shimmy. Eventually, she began writing her own risqué plays using the pen name Jane Mast. Her first starring role on Broadway was in a play she titled Sex, which she also wrote, produced, and directed. Though critics hated the show, ticket sales were good. The notorious production did not go over well with city officials and the theater was raided with West arrested along with the cast.
She was prosecuted on morals charges and, on April 19, 1927, was sentenced to ten days for "corrupting the morals of youth." While incarcerated on Welfare Island (now known as Roosevelt Island), she dined with the warden and his wife and told reporters that she wore her silk underpants while serving time. She served eight days with two days off for good behavior. Media attention about the case enhanced her career. Her next play, The Drag, dealt with homosexuality and was what West called one of her "comedy-dramas of life". After a series of try-outs in Connecticut and New Jersey, West announced she would open the play in New York. However, The Drag never opened on Broadway due to the Society for the Prevention of Vice vows to ban it if West attempted to stage it. West was an early supporter of the women's liberation movement, but stated she was not a feminist. She was also a supporter of gay rights.
West continued to write plays, including The Wicked Age, Pleasure Man and The Constant Sinner. Her productions were plagued by controversy and other problems, although the controversy ensured that West stayed in the news and most of the time this resulted in packed performances. Her 1928 play, Diamond Lil, about a racy, easygoing lady of the 1890s, became a Broadway hit. This show enjoyed an enduring popularity and West would successfully revive it many times throughout the course of her career.
Motion pictures
"Diamond Lil" returning to New York from Hollywood, 1933
She brought her Diamond Lil character, now renamed Lady Lou, to the screen in She Done Him Wrong (1933). The film is also notable as one of Cary Grant's first major roles, which boosted his career. West claimed she spotted Grant at the studio and insisted that he be cast as the male lead.The film was a box office hit and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The success of the film most likely saved Paramount from bankruptcy.
Cary Grant and Mae West in I'm No Angel (1933)
West's next film was Belle of the Nineties (1934). Originally titled It Ain't No Sin, the title was changed due to the censors' objections. Her next film, Goin' to Town (1935), received mixed reviews.
Her next film, Klondike Annie (1936), was concerned with religion and hypocrisy and was very controversial.[49] Many critics have called this film her screen masterpiece. That same year, West played opposite Randolph Scott in Go West, Young Man. In this film, she adapted Lawrence Riley's Broadway hit Personal Appearance into a screenplay. Directed by Henry Hathaway, Go West, Young Man is considered one of West's weaker films of the era. After this film, West starred in Every Day's a Holiday (1937) for Paramount before their association came to an end.
In 1939, Universal Pictures approached West to star in a film opposite W. C. Fields. The studio was eager to duplicate the success of Destry Rides Again starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart with a vehicle starring West and Fields. Having left Paramount eighteen months earlier and looking for a comeback film, West accepted the role of Flower Belle Lee in the film My Little Chickadee (1940).Despite mutual dislike between West and Fields (at least in part because West was a teetotaler who disapproved of Fields' heavy drinking) and fights over the screenplay, My Little Chickadee was a box office success, outgrossing Fields' previous films You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (1939) and The Bank Dick (1940).
West's next film was The Heat's On (1943) for Columbia Pictures. She initially didn't want to do the film but after producer and director Gregory Ratoff pleaded with her and claimed he would go bankrupt if she didn't, West relented. The film opened to bad reviews and failed at the box office. West would not return to films until 1970.
Radio
On December 12, 1937, West appeared in two separate sketches on ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's radio show The Chase and Sanborn Hour. Appearing as herself, West flirted with Charlie McCarthy, Bergen's dummy, using her usual brand of wit and risqué sexual references. West referred to Charlie as "all wood and a yard long" and commented that his kisses gave her splinters.Even more outrageous was a sketch written by Arch Oboler that starred West and Don Ameche as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. She told Ameche in the show to "get me a big one... I feel like doin' a big apple!" Days after the broadcast, NBC received letters calling the show "immoral" and "obscene". Women's clubs and Catholic groups admonished the show's sponsor, Chase & Sanborn Coffee Company, for "prostituting" their services for allowing "impurity [to] invade the air". The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) later deemed the broadcast "vulgar and indecent" and "far below even the minimum standard which should control in the selection and production of broadcast programs". NBC personally blamed West for the incident and banned her (and the mention of her name) from their stations. West would not perform in radio for another twelve years until January 1950, in an episode of The Chesterfield Supper Club hosted by Perry Como.
Middle years
Mae West in 1953
When casting the role of Norma Desmond for the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, Billy Wilder offered West, then nearing 60, the role. West turned down the part. Wilder later said, "The idea of [casting] Mae West was idiotic because we only had to talk to her to find out that she thought she was as great, as desirable, as sexy as she had ever been." Gloria Swanson was eventually cast in the role.
In 1958, West appeared at the Academy Awards and performed the song "Baby, It's Cold Outside" with Rock Hudson. In 1959, she released her autobiography entitled Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, which went on to become a best seller.
Later career and final years
West made some rare appearances on television, including The Red Skelton Show in 1960. In 1964, she guest starred on the sitcom Mister Ed. In order to keep her appeal fresh with younger generations, she recorded two rock and roll albums, Way Out West and Wild Christmas in the late 1960s. She also recorded a number of parody songs including "Santa, Come Up to See Me" on the album Wild Christmas.After a 26-year absence from motion pictures, West appeared as Leticia Van Allen in Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge (1970) with Raquel Welch, Rex Reed, Farrah Fawcett, and Tom Selleck in a small part. The movie was a deliberately campy sex change comedy that was both a box office and critical failure. Vidal later called the film "an awful joke". Despite Myra Breckinridge's mainstream failure, it did find an audience on the cult film circuit where West's films were regularly screened and West herself was dubbed "the queen of camp".
West recorded another album in the 1970s on MGM Records titled Great Balls of Fire, which covered songs by The Doors among others. Her autobiography, Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, was also updated and republished.
In 1976, she appeared on The Dick Cavett Show and that same year began work on her final film, Sextette (1978). Adapted from a script written by West, daily revisions and disagreements hampered production from the beginning. Due to the numerous changes, West agreed to have her lines fed to her through a speaker concealed in her wig. Despite the daily problems, West was, according to Sextette director Ken Hughes, determined to see the film through. In spite of her determination, Hughes noted that West sometimes appeared disoriented and forgetful and found it difficult to follow his directions. Her now failing eyesight also made navigating around the set difficult. Hughes eventually began shooting her from the waist up to hide the out-of-shot production assistant crawling on the floor, guiding her around the set. Upon its release, Sextette was a critical and commercial failure.
In August 1980, West tripped while getting out of bed. After the fall, West was unable to speak and was taken to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles where tests revealed that she had suffered a stroke. She remained in the hospital where, seven days later, she had a diabetic reaction to the formula in her feeding tube. On September 18, she suffered a second stroke which left her right side paralyzed and developed pneumonia. By November, West's condition had improved, but the prognosis was not good and she was sent home.
She died there on November 22, 1980, at age 87.
A private service was held in the Old North Church replica, in Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, on November 25, 1980. Bishop Andre Penachio, who was also a friend, officiated at the entombment in the family room at Cypress Hills Abbey, Brooklyn, purchased in 1930 when her mother died. Her father and brother were also entombed there before her, and her younger sister was laid to rest in the last of the five crypts within 18 months after West's death.
For her contribution to the film industry, she has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine Street in Hollywood.
Personal life
West was married on April 11, 1911, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to Frank Szatkus, stage name Frank Wallace, a fellow vaudevillian whom she first met in 1909. She was 17, he was 21. West kept the marriage a secret. But in 1935, after West had made several hit movies, a filing clerk discovered West's marriage certificate and alerted the press. An affidavit in which she had declared herself married, which she made during the Sex trial in 1927, was also uncovered. At first, West denied ever marrying Wallace but finally admitted in July 1937, in reply to a legal interrogatory, that they had been married. Even though the marriage was a reality, she never lived with Wallace as husband and wife. She insisted they have separate bedrooms and she soon sent him away in a show of his own in order to get rid of him. She obtained a legal divorce on July 21, 1942, during which Wallace withdrew his request for separate maintenance, and West testified that she and Wallace had lived together for only "several weeks." The final divorce decree was granted on May 7, 1943.West may also have had another secret marriage. In August 1913, she met an Italian-born Vaudeville headliner and star of the piano-accordion, Guido Deiro. Her affair went "[v]ery deep, hittin' on all the emotions. You can't get too hot over anybody unless there's somethin' that goes along with the sex act, can you?" Deiro fell in love with West and arranged his bookings so that the two traveled together. They became engaged late in 1913 or perhaps early in 1914. Some sources reported the pair were married. During a 1935 radio broadcast Walter Winchell incorrectly reported that Mae West had been married to Guido's brother, Pietro. Walter Wincher, a writer for Accordion News magazine, corrected the error: "In a recent radio broadcast, Walter Winchell conveyed the information that Pietro Deiro had been married to Mae West for four years. As one Walter to another, I must set him right. Pietro was never married to the 'come up and see me sometime' girl. Guido Deiro, his brother, was supposed to be the fortunate accordionist."
West made no public statements indicating that she had been married to Deiro. She referred to him simply as "D" in her autobiography. West's biographers state that the two never married. If they were married, this would have constituted bigamy as West was legally married to Frank Wallace at the time. West and Deiro split in 1916.
Deiro's son claimed that years later Mae West privately revealed to him that she had become pregnant by Guido, had an abortion without his knowledge resulting in complications which left her sick for nearly a year and ultimately unable to bear children.
According to Deiro's biographer, West filed for divorce on the grounds of adultery on July 14, 1920. The divorce was granted by the Supreme Court of the State of New York on November 9 of that year.West later said, "Marriage is a great institution. I’m not ready for an institution yet."
Mae West remained close to her family throughout her life and was devastated by her mother's death in 1930. In that year, she moved to Hollywood and into the penthouse at the historic Ravenswood apartment building (where she would live until her death in 1980). After she began her movie career, her sister, brother and father followed her there. West provided them with nearby homes and also jobs and sometimes financial support. Another person whom West spent her life with was lawyer James Timony. She met Timony, who was fifteen years her senior, in 1916 when she was a vaudeville actress. They became romantically involved and he also began to act as her manager. By the mid-Thirties when West was an established movie actress, they were no longer a couple. However, they remained extremely close, living in the same building, working together, and providing support for each other, until Timony's death in 1954. A year later, when she was 61, Mae West became romantically involved with one of the musclemen in her Las Vegas stage show: wrestler, former Mr. California and former merchant marine Chester Rybonski (1923–1999). He was thirty years younger than West, and later changed his name to Paul Novak. He soon moved in with her and their romance continued until West died at the age of 87. Novak once commented, "I believe I was put on this Earth to take care of Mae West." West also had many other boyfriends throughout her life. One was boxing champion William Jones, nicknamed Gorilla Jones. When the management at her apartment building discriminated against the African-American boxer and barred his entry, West solved the problem by buying the building.
In popular culture
During World War II, Allied aircrew called their yellow inflatable, vest-like life preserver jackets "Mae Wests" partly from rhyming slang for "breasts" and "life vest" and partly because of the resemblance to her curvaceous torso.A "Mae West" is also a type of round parachute malfunction (partial inversion) which contorts the shape of the canopy into the appearance of an extraordinarily large brassiere, presumably one suitable for a woman of West's generous proportions.
West has been the subject of songs, such as in the title song of Cole Porter's Broadway musical Anything Goes and in "You're the Top", from the same show.
MAE-West was also the name of the Metropolitan Area Exchange West, located in San Jose and Los Angeles, one of the first Internet tier-one hubs to connect all the major TCP/IP networks that made up the Internet in 1992. It is not documented whether the founders of MAE-West named this early Internet Exchange after the actress.
One of the most popular objects of the surrealist movement was the Mae West Lips Sofa, which was completed by artist Salvador Dalí in 1938 for Edward James
A May West (originally spelled Mae West) is a Twinkie-like cake popular in the province of Quebec, Canada
Quotes
In her later years, she famously described the gangster Owney Madden, a former boyfriend who helped bankroll her Hollywood career, as "Sweet, but oh so vicious."
Likewise, "When I'm good, I'm very good. When I'm bad, I'm better," from I'm No Angel, is generally quoted in its original context. Conversely, however, some quips have been widely adapted to very different settings and meanings. For example, "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful" has been applied to many settings by others, including Warren Buffett (as a sound principle of informed financial investing).
- "It's not the men in your life that count, it's the life in your men."
- "Marriage is a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution."
- "When I'm good, I'm very good, but when I'm bad, I'm better."
- "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?"
Broadway stage
Date | Production | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 22, 1911 – September 30, 1911 | A La Broadway | Maggie O'Hara | |
| November 20, 1911 – February 24, 1912 | Vera Violetta | West left show during previews | |
| April 11, 1912 – September 7, 1912 | A Winsome Widow | Le Petite Daffy | West left show after opening night |
| October 4, 1918 – June 1919 | Sometime | ||
| August 17, 1921 – September 10, 1921 | The Mimic World of 1921 | ||
| April 26, 1926 – March 1927 | Sex | Margie LaMont | Written by Jane Mast (West) |
| January 1927 | The Drag | closed during out-of-town tryouts (Bridgeport, Connecticut) credited only as writer | |
| November 1927 | The Wicked Age | Evelyn ("Babe") Carson | |
| April 9, 1928 – September 1928 | Diamond Lil | Diamond Lil | |
| October 1, 1928 –October 2, 1928 | The Pleasure Man | credited only as writer | |
| September 14, 1931 – November 1931 | The Constant Sinner | Babe Gordon | |
| August 2, 1944 – January 13, 1945 | Catherine Was Great | Catherine II | |
| 1945–1946 | Come On Up | Tour | |
| September 1947 – May 1948 | Diamond Lil | Diamond Lil | (Revival) United Kingdom and Scotland |
| February 5, 1949 – February 26, 1949 | Diamond Lil | Diamond Lil | (2nd Revival) until West broke her ankle on the latter date. The play resumed as a "return engagement" |
| September 7, 1949 – January 21, 1950 | Diamond Lil | Diamond Lil | (2nd Revival) as "return engagement" |
| September 14, 1951 – November 10, 1951 | Diamond Lil | Diamond Lil | (3rd Revival) |
| July 7, 1961 – closing date unknown | Sextette | Edgewater Beach Playhouse |
- Other plays as writer
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1921 | The Ruby Ring | Vaudeville playlet |
| 1922 | The Hussy | Unproduced |
| 1930 | Frisco Kate | Unproduced |
| 1933 | Loose Women | Performed in 1935 under title Ladies By Request |
| 1936 | Clean Beds | Sold treatment to George S. George, who produced an unsuccessful Broadway play of West's treatment |
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Night After Night | Maudie Triplett | Paramount Pictures |
| 1933 | She Done Him Wrong | Lady Lou | |
| I'm No Angel | Tira | ||
| 1934 | Belle of the Nineties | Ruby Carter | |
| 1935 | Goin' to Town | Cleo Borden | |
| 1936 | Klondike Annie | The Frisco Doll/Rose Carlton/Sister Annie Alden | |
| Go West, Young Man | Mavis Arden | ||
| 1938 | Every Day's a Holiday | Peaches O'Day | |
| 1940 | My Little Chickadee | Flower Belle Lee | Universal Pictures |
| 1943 | The Heat's On | Fay Lawrence | Columbia Pictures |
| 1970 | Myra Breckinridge | Leticia Van Allen | 20th Century Fox |
| 1978 | Sextette | Marlo Manners/Lady Barrington | Crown International Pictures |
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1933 | Hollywood on Parade No. A-9 | herself |
| Hollywood on Parade No. B-5 | ||
| 1935 | The Fashion Side of Hollywood |
Discography
Albums:- 1956: The Fabulous Mae West; Decca D/DL-79016 (several reissues up to 2006)
- 1960: W.C. Fields His Only Recording Plus 8 Songs by Mae West; Proscenium PR 22
- 1966: Way Out West; Tower T/ST-5028
- 1966: Wild Christmas; Dragonet LPDG-48
- 1970: The Original Voice Tracks from Her Greatest Movies; Decca D/DL-791/76
- 1970: Mae West & W.C. Fields Side by Side; Harmony HS 11374/HS 11405
- 1972: Great Balls of Fire; MGM SE 4869
- 1974: Original Radio Broadcasts; Mark 56 Records 643
- 1987/1995: Sixteen Sultry Songs Sung by Mae West Queen of Sex; Rosetta RR 1315
- 1996: I'm No Angel; Jasmine CD 04980 102
- 2006: The Fabulous: Rev-Ola CR Rev 181
Bibliography
- West, Mae (1930). Babe Gordon. The Macaulay Company. (the novel on which The Constant Sinner was based)
- West, Mae (1932). Diamond Lil. Caxton House. (novelization of play)
- West, Mae (1959, revised 1970). Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It. Prentice-Hall.
- West, Mae (1975). Mae West On Sex, Health and ESP. W. H. Allen.
- West, Mae (1975). Pleasure Man. Dell Pub. Co.
- West, Mae; Joseph Weintraub (1967). The Wit and Wisdom of Mae West. G. P. Putnam.
