Tuesday blunders on...with a cherry aspect, cookies help

[shadowkat]

So, the side-effect of listening to Landau's podcasts, and seeing her independent film is...I've developed a major gurl-crush on Juliette Landau. I tend to develop crushes on cult television/movie and theater character actors who aren't in that much? Not enough of one to pay for her podcast, I'm willing to do it for free though. She's adorable - she loves theater, is detailed on theater, film, music, and the craft. And an excellent interviewer - she's better than the guy who did Inside the Actor's Studio.

(Previous gurl-crushes include Claudia Black, Carrie Fisher, Angela Basset, Katee Sackoff...)

Oh well it's fitting, she's the other side of Spike/James Marsters - which is my other Buffy actor crush. Along with Anthony Stewart Head. I do wish I'd get crushes on people with lots of content available - and good content available. I've watched a lot of bad television and films because of actor crushes. Note to self - do not follow actors, follow directors and writers (although they aren't that reliable either, sorry to say - so just whatever looks appealing and has been rec'd by folks I trust?)

***

AHM told me to try "Telecharge" Lottery - to get discounted Broadway Theater tickets. Kyoto is on it. Just in Time isn't - so that's kind of out. Any of the Big Ticket Tourist Shows are out. Which is a shame - I really want to see Chess - I didn't know the score was ABBA and Tim Rice. (I'm a shameless ABBA fan - I had their music on 8 track in the 1970s and 80s). But alas, Big Ticket Tourist item - with rates between $440-$1K. Way outside my price range.

***

After I took my fifteen to twenty minute walk down the pier and around the tiny historic housing district, I went to Insomina Cookies to snag my Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip cookies - freshly baked, warm, with melt in your mouth chocolate. I've going there almost every weekday for a while now - the counter folks are getting to know me - in part, because I'm the only one getting gluten free cookies.

Counter guy: So, I only charged you for one cookie and gave you three.
ME: Huh? But I only ordered two -

Counter guy: I know, but I thought you deserved three for the price of one. You come in all the time, and you're the only one since I've been working in the day time who orders gluten free chocolate chip cookies - so they are going to waste and I feel bad -
Me: I can't be the only one? I mean you'd stop carrying them -
Guy: Since I've been doing days, you are...

So, I got three warm, good size, gluten free melt in your mouth chocolate chip cookies for...about $3.26. To put this in perspective? Primtemps thin, Caribbean Chocolate Sea Salt cookies, are cold, paper thin, and smaller - and they cost $14.50 for two cookies. Also for one oatmeal cookie - I pay about $6.95.

If they ever stop offering them, I'm doomed. Which is possible. They aren't busy during the day. And people come in and spend ten minutes trying to figure out which cookies they want, order ice cream and often a box. I just want two gluten free chocolate chip to go.


Mother wants me to visit St. Patrick's Cathedral to see the new murals that the Cardinal commissioned and have been put up. I don't know. I'm more curious about the Cathedral of St. John the Divine - I've never been to it.

****

Buffy Rewatch - S4 Buffy - Beer Bad is better than I remembered. It's hilarious in places. Also, it has the added bonus of watching Kal Penn (who was later on the West Wing, and for a while interned in Obama's White House) and is a comedic actor - turn into a caveman after drinking too much beer.

Xander: How much beer does someone have to drink before they start questing for fire?
Pub owner: Oh, don't worry - it'll wear off in a day or two.
Xander: I served that beer to them - to Buffy - someone could get seriously hurt in a day or two. You are a bad bad man.

Xander is hilarious in S4. I actually like all the characters in this season, which is a first for the series. In S1-3, Xander got on my ever living nerve. Willow kind of did too, along with Cordelia at various points.

I'm liking Buffy S4 more than Angel S1, which isn't as entertaining and a bit too much like a dozen other similar series I've seen. In listening to the Landau podcasts - I learned a lot of recent Buffy fans, had watched Angel first - and then watched Buffy, they were David B fans first. But, ironically their favorite Buffy episodes are Hush and OMWF, not Angel centric episodes.

**

Regarding Buffy S1? I learned from Juliet Landau's podcasts and interviews that Mark Metcalf's makeup for the Master took six hours to put on, and he didn't take it off the whole time he played the role. Those who acted with him, never saw him without it. Julie Benze who portrayed Darla - said he was disgusting with it on, and it was hard for her to look at him. But he was easy to work with. Benze was able to create her own character - and made various suggestions, most of which the writers took. (Except for one - she wasn't going to be a Greek Fury, she wasn't that old.)

Comments

[kazzy_cee]

That's worrying about the gluten-free cookie place (and how nice are they to give you extra?).

[shadowkat]

I'm taking advantage of the gf cookies as long as I can. It's hard to find good gf cookies - people tend to make them too big, or wrong somehow.

[trepkos]

You have great taste in girl crushes.
"Beer Bad" gets a bad rap for some reason, but I love it.
Mark Metcalf is very Method. In Animal House, he didn't socialise with the rest of the cast, so as to keep the enmity between Neidermyer and the rest of them real.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I think from hearing commentaries - the show-runner didn't like it? But honestly, I like it better than some of the stand-a-alone S1, 2, and 3 episodes. Such as Bad Eggs - which I didn't bother rewatching.

Mark Metcalf is very Method. In Animal House, he didn't socialise with the rest of the cast, so as to keep the enmity between Neidermyer and the rest of them real.

Per the interview (s) with Metcalf and Benz - this had less to do with the Method, and more to do with the fact that it took close to eight hours to put on and take off the makeup. He'd get in before everyone else, spend hours in the makeup chair putting it on, and leave long after everyone else. It was so confining - that he had to have an assistant help him go to the bathroom and eat, and he barely ate anything while playing the part - because of the makeup.

[trepkos]

He did say he deliberately alienated himself from the "good guys" in Animal House.

[shadowkat]

Yes, but that wasn't the case on Buffy - it really was the makeup. He was in makeup for 6-8 hours a day.
Animal House was over twenty years prior to his role on Buffy.

[trepkos]

I know! Such a different role! Never imagined I'd be dancing to Uptown Funk with Neidermeyer!

[shadowkat]

I don't really remember Animal House? I saw it once in college in 1985.

[trepkos]

I don't imagine it has aged well, but the chaos caused by a small group of students including Buto, played by John Belushi - enemies of the very orderly and rule-obsessed Neidemeyer - in the final 20 minutes is quite a spectacle! Supposed to be based on someone's true experiences.
ETA: I'm astonished to read that the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, well, it is iconic, and made stars of various Saturday Night Live alumni and comedic actors.
John Belushi, Tom Hulce, Stephen Furst, Kevin Bacon, Tim Matheson, Karen Allen, Peter Reigert, Bruce McGill...

And was at the time - innovative and the first of its kind. No one had done anything like it before. And it kind of set up the trope. The rest is subjective. It's a cultural satire, and basically lampoons fraternity life and classicism in the US. I don't like it - but I can appreciate it's cultural significance?

[iddewes]

Carrie Fisher was great, I was a big fan of her too and I know a lot of others who were too.

[shadowkat]

I adored her - I read her books, watched her in various films...she had a delightful snarky sense of humor that I identified with.

[yourlibrarian]

Ooh nice about the cookies! And I firmly support him giving them to you instead of throwing them away.

[shadowkat]

Hee, thank you!