Especially interesting vintage photos

A few posts ago I steered you all toward a great vintage photo site that provides new offerings daily.  If you are at all interested in seeing what some famous artists and writers of the late eighteen hundreds looked like, by all means check out these fantastic photos from the aforementioned vintage photo site.  All are amazing, but striking my fancy were Liszt, Sara Bernhardt, Baudelaire, Rodin, Dumas, Monet, and Manet.

Ronnie Gilbert R.I.P.

Just read of the passing of Ronnie Gilbert.  She was one of the great ladies of the folk music world in the 40's, 50's and 60's, mostly singing as one of the Weavers.  The Weavers were comprised of Ronnie, Lee Hays, Fred Hellerman and Pete Seeger.  You can read about them right here.  Dig especially their clashes with Joe McCarthy and HUAC -- good people, the Weavers.

There are quite a few videos of the Weavers in performance but I found one that is really cool.  It is described by its contributor as follows:

Published on Sep 13, 2014My father was a chairman at "Nordens Smalfilmsförbund" in the 70's. (Nordic Narrow Film Association). After his death in 2005, we digged into all the 16 mm and 8 mm film reel of film he left behind. Some were with music like this one. I'm uploading this to YouTube thinking that it might just put a smile on someones face. Maybe someone out there remember this. And if that someone is just one person... well... then this upload has fullfilled it's purpose.Enjoy! :)

Here is his upload.  Enjoy the Weavers.


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Honest Trailers

"Honest Trailers" is a fun website that I drop in on from time to time.  Some of their takes are just okay, but many of this are genuinely hilarious.  I never got into the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, although I did make the effort sit through one of them (can't remember which one), and have seen snatches of one or another while channel surfing.  That said,  I really enjoyed this "Honest Trailer"  Enjoy some of the other Honest Trailers while you're on the web site.

Daily vintage offerings

I could look at vintage photos and media all day.  Thus I am always happy to find a new site, such as this one.  The trick is to go to the end of any of the day's entries where you will see several choices of "You might also like..." and then pick one and after viewing that one, do the same thing. Using this method I found this bunch of rare photos of the Battle of the Bulge.  I'm going to start making a daily check of this site.

Hanging out in Carmel

We are here in a rental cottage in Carmel, celebrating Eileen's birthday. We drove down on Tuesday and we are heading home tomorrow afternoon.  The rental is pet friendly so Spenser is here with us.  We took a long drive on Wednesday down Highway One through Big Sur and further south to Hearst Castle.  As always, the scenery was stunning.

The dog and I took a hike up the hill this morning, which afforded a view of Carmel Valley over the roof tops of the swanky homes comprising this neighborhood.  Here are a couple of photos of the view we enjoyed.

One "Secretary" = Fifty Shades of Grey

I have not seen Fifty Shades of Grey and probably never will.  I have, however, read a few reviews of the film and the consensus is not favorable.  Oddly, two or three reviewers noted that the erotic scenes were surprisingly tame and thus a disappointment when compared to the film "Secretary," which stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Spader.

Eileen and I watched "Secretary" last night and really enjoyed it.  It was made 13 years ago, so Spader and Gyllenhaal look much younger than they do today.  They are both terrific in their respective roles, but Maggie's performance is on some sort of higher plain.  What she is able to do with her facial expressions is awesome, perhaps even better than Claire Danes in "Homeland."  I highly recommend "Secretary" for its unabashed kinky-ness, but even more for the script and the performances that bring the script to life.

Tina Fey's last Letterman

Check out this video.  Sure it's a bit contrived, but it works here thanks to Tina just being Tina.