Monthly Archives: August 2025

Sat Mat

 

Spoilt for choice today with films plus TV episodes and what do I do? Go back to a re-run of what we’ve already seen … but why not, when they’re this good, these two?

Just a reminder:

“You know that jockey, Gomez,” says Lieutenant Abrams (Sam Levene) to Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) as the two arrive at the racetrack for a little betting, “the one who was caught throwing the fourth race yesterday? He was shot.”

“My,” says Nora, “they’re strict at this track.”

And we’re off on the fourth of the Nick and Nora Charles Thin Man series. The mystery isn’t bad. The Powell-Loy chemistry is just as fine as always, and the characters…well, Nick remains the suave, gentleman private detective, fond of martinis and double-breasted suits, clever at putting puzzles together, and a man who seems to know everyone from distinguished officials to Rainbow Benny, a racetrack tout.

Nora, his wealthy, socialite wife, remains most of the time a skeptical, affectionate, funny helpmate who can match her husband’s martini intake whenever she chooses. However, slowly the series is turning Nora into a more conventional wife and mother. In Shadow of the Thin Man, the writers have Nora sometimes just being a ditzy, adoring wife. Myrna Loy makes it work, but some of Nora’s smartness and wit have been dumbed down. 

Nick agrees to look into the death of the jockey, but then another shooting takes place, this time of Whitey Barrow, a corrupt reporter who is in cahoots with a ring of racketeers who are making a fortune on racetrack gambling. When the dignified Major Jason Scully, hired by the track commission to clean up the situation, and Paul Clark, a young, crusading reporter, visit Nick and try to enlist his services, he turns them down. He’s got too much on his hands already with Nora and their three-year-old son, Nick, Jr.

That second murder makes him change his mind. Before long he’s up to his waist in suspects. There’s Link Stephens, the tough smoothie who runs the syndicate and who is weak around the edges; Fred Main, his wise-guy enforcer; Claire Porter, Stephen’s upper-class girl friend; and Baku, her chauffeur. There is even a ticket seller to be suspicious of.

Plus, just maybe Paul Clark (Barry Nelson) isn’t as honest as he seems, especially since his girlfriend, Molly (Donna Reed), works for Stephens. It all comes together, of course, with a big meeting of all the suspects, with Nick taking apart the case clue by clue until the murderer is unmasked. This time, Nora does a bit of heroics that ends with a loving smooch by our favorite couple, with Asta the dog covering its eyes with a paw. 

The movie features three genuinely funny set pieces. First up is Nick and Nora at a crowded wrestling match. It’s reassuring to see that professional wrestling hasn’t advanced an inch in more than 65 years when it comes to the need for great acting ability. Next is the merry-go- round where Nick has to prove that he’s not a scaredy-cat to a group of sneering tykes. And finally is a classic that should be revived, where the waiter at Mario’s Grotto is determined Nick and Nora and their two guests will all order the sea bass. He will not take broiled lobster as an answer. 

And let’s spend a moment with Stella Adler, who plays Claire Porter. She was 40 when she made this movie. She was born into one of the leading Yiddish theater families in New York, and became a star in Yiddish theater in the Twenties. In the Thirties she joined the Group Theater, became a star on Broadway, went to the Soviet Union to study under Stanislavsky himself, and returned to become one of America’s great drama teachers, as well as an actor and director.

Adler never made much of an impression in Hollywood; she spent most of her life in New York.She taught and mentored Marlon Brando and was the single most important influence on his acting career. She died, honored and full of years, in 1992. Just watch her as Porter, a lush, well-bred blonde with a voice as cultured as clotted cream.

Except that Claire had been a professional woman, as in the oldest profession. When Claire loses her temper, she loses her culture, her class and her accent. Nick finds this out. Adler handles the role with aplomb, and her instant transformation from cultured to common is something to see.

……

My only question, concern, is if they dumbed Myrna down as the review said … made her more conventional. While that makes sense as a mother … more responsible etc. … not so sure it’s what viewers are looking for … they’re looking for male-female chemistry here at a difficult time in the world, as I’m forever boring you about.

Saturday [11 to 15]

(1141)(1158)

 

15. Saturday postbox toppers


14. Similar type of thing around the west


13. So many Reform hopefuls simply can’t see through him


12. Indeed


11. Petitions


It’s an extension, the idea of petitioning the puppets, of the same idea of voting for parachuted in puppets, as if this i somehow democratic choice … when the real decisonmakers are elsewhere.

The Nightmare Aesthetic Replacement

 

Many decades ago, I sailed a catamaran called a Quest B2, a super functional sailboat, shaped like a long machete, designed to handle choppy seas and big waves … she was based on the winning Little America’s Cup boat Quest … in fact I bought it from that Denmark series winner.

How did she sail? Phenomenally, pedigree, as you’d expect. However, sheer classical beauty was not one of the design criteria. The old J Boats though … Thomas Lipton and so on … now they were sheer beauties. The old tall ships too, clippers, schooners … dreams to look at, like women at their best.

So the question is … can function have beautiful form? And my answer is … yes, in the hands of the old aesthetes … but never in the hands of the “modern” designers and practitioners. And this flows over into the subtheme of my blog, my X account, anything I’ve ever tried.

The girl in the YT below is speaking more of function versus form, another question … and yet a valid question. It can be argued that she scores on both counts … function plus form.

You might recall Friday 17 on the topic of Cracker Barrel. Plus today’s Saturday 10. Plus Lord of the Rings last book, last chapters, when Sharkey had tried to replace homes with barracks, had cut down the town’s big, beautiful tree. It’s also those using Helvetica typeface over, say, Bookman Old Style.

I too have succumbed to a point … this is Arial you are reading now. The simplicity is the idea here … calligraphy, though beautiful, is difficult reading after a while.

Some comments:

The ugliness of those three Cracker Barrel women, esp. inside … imagine you could photograph their souls … also comes through in this ugliness Julia calls out:

Saturday [6 to 10]

(0707) A long time completing this post today, mainly because I’ve been scouring X, replying, saving, redacting, brekking etc. (0921)

 

10. The next post is about aesthetics

… even before getting to it, an online friend from the Wolds is posting this … combination of nature’s aesthetics and the tech ability to capture it. Q.E.D.


9. Horror in the Netherlands


8. Isilme busy right now

… will this suffice for the interim?

7. IYE, following on from Sat 4

Four. Are they trying to rehabilitate Grisly in the eyes of the public? Look how ‘umble she’s appearing after one of her previous testimonies where she tried to take control of the hearing. Uriah Heap springs to mind.

I am of the opinion Andrew Lownie is on to something (see 2 YT interviews I dropped on Thurs). He opines that she will be moved to a less severe facility, if she hasn’t already, and no one will hear a peep out of her again. Could be a faked un-alived event?

Meanwhile after abit of tweaking to her physog she’ll be sunning herself on a beach near Tel-aviv. Might even be where Island man is now….? Didn’t that episode of the drama happen on Donny’s watch? Not what you know but who you know.

6. In Lord Toby’s TDS today (see Brolls)

… in a teaser to get you to part with money:

In Episode 47 of the Sceptic, host Laurie Wastell speaks to the following guests:

  • Lubna Zaidi, a British-Pakistani former Apprentice star and YouTuber on how she received death threats and had to move out of her hometown after speaking out about the grooming gangs
  • Charlotte Gill, freelance journalist, Daily Sceptic columnist and author of the Woke Waste Substack, on who’s behind the so-called “Sanctuary Cities” programme for migrants, and the schoolchildren being encouraged to send Valentine’s Cards to asylum seekers

Saturday [1 to 5]

(0547) Morning all. Bleah out there, poisoned skies. (0702)

 

5. Farmers on Clarkson


4. IYE’s late night flurry

… late night in my terms.

Maxwell Interview [from the Dept of Justice]
“Redactions of victim names and other identifying information have been applied.”
https://www.justice.gov/maxwell-interview

“In the interest of transparency.”

I went through it, as did many, and yes, names of offenders were blacked out.

The problem for us with Maxwell was she was doing this whole “I don’t fully recall that” stunt, which reminds me very much of Amanda Knox and her “my best truth is”. Reaction of all back then who were not defence counsel was as Mike Engleman’s was just now.

On the other hand, I’ve a Miss Anne Elk theory about both, also PM Johnson during covid when they put him in hospital for days. The difference is it’s not a theory and it’s not all mine. From GH Estabrooks to Ewen Cameron to Selwyn Leeks to MK Ultra in 1973, plus fictional references in detail in both Bourne and the Manchurian … messing with the mind is what is done.

The more ggl post learn-ed discourses about the “myth” of DID at the top of their rankings, and only “myth-debunking” articles … well let’s just say it’s in the same basket as the current state of evidence that net zero is bollox, the jab is toxic and that we have an invader problem. That is … copious evidence, rendering ggl wrong and disingenuous, as is the MSM.

There were three ways to go on Knox’s lies … first, that they were little girl lies, second that they were drug-addled lies and thirdly that they were brain-messing induced. Evidence for the latter was the close personal interest of Berlusconi, plus his closeness to the boy’s father. Then the manner in which the two States got her out of the clutch of prosecutions and courts, against judicial procedure … released, not exonerated.

3. Shorts … no, not Sydney Sweeney’s


2. Via Redacted at 1137

… which is via The Feral Irishman

1. DAD at 1137

a) According to Rennes Infos Autrement, on the night of August 20-21, individuals dressed in black launched a hail of packages over the walls of the solitary confinement section of the Rennes-Vezin-le-Coquet prison

b) In France, the image of teenagers strolling through squares and boulevards on summer evenings is becoming a thing of the past.

c) The French left-wing party La France Insoumise (LFI) has refused accreditation for journalists Olivier Pérou and Sandrine Cassini from Le Monde for its annual summer camp.

d) Video interview [28 minutes] with French political analyst Nicolas Monti explains how immigration has transformed France.

Friday [16 till close of play]

(1710) Evening all.

 

21. Lucy Connolly

20. Moosh corner


19. The murderous midget has been noticed by the Don


18. This is some days old now

… and it’s from downunder, not far from Geelong:


Oz has always been strategically important to the US but this is an interesting development … that’s a fair bit of money, almost on Melbourne’s doorstep. I’m not up with their situation, apart from the country collapsing, as in Britain and Canada.

17. Cracker Barrel


16. Steve corner at 1137

Hearts of Oak:

Montgomery Toms – Youth Activism Unleashed: One Man’s Crusade Against Cultural Gaslighting

War Room snippets…

  • Bannon: Let’s be real. Putin Will Only Take One Meeting: Surrender. Europe Is Broke, Gutless, And Out Of Men. Sick, Demented, Perverted Joke. 625k Ukrainians Dead Or Wounded In 2025 Already
  • Mike Benz On US Institute Of Peace: “They Create A Network Of Assets For The CIA To Play With Abroad”
  • Loomer: “We’re Seeing That Some Of The Biggest Turncoats And Traitors Working In The Trump Admin Are People Who Did Work In The First Term”
  • Artificial Idiocracy: As Machines Get Smarter, Humans Get Dumber

Fri Mat

 

It might be asking a bit much for Rathbone and Brett fans to “buy” this one with John Neville but see what you think:

Review:

“I am both a fan of Sherlock Holmes and an interested observer of the case of Jack the Ripper. This film, with excellent show-saving performances by John Neville, Anthony Quayle, Robert Morley and the whole cast, was clearly written by a Sherlockian rather than a Ripperologist. A lot of Holmes’s lines are lifted from stories in the original cannon.

The fictional story here (where Holmes encounters Jack the Ripper) is good and basic, and I prefer the simplicity of its solution to the complexity of that in “Murder by Decree”, the other Holmes-Ripper film, made in 1979.

The research, however, on the Jack the Ripper crimes was clearly lousy, if not non-existent: From the first five seconds of the film, with Mary-Anne Nichols (nicknamed “Polly”, but would The Times call her that?) having a knife stuck through her neck and seconds later a fat woman discovering her, when in reality, Nichols had her throat cut and her uterus torn out, two hours before she was discovered by two men.

The “dear boss” letter is anything but complete here, there is no mention of the other letters or reasonable explanation for why the Ripper sent it. The writing on the wall for murder three is absent.

Still, if you don’t mind historical inaccuracies, this film is definitely worth watching.”

Friday [11 to 15]

(1215) A few more. Afternoon all … still bleah out there, coolish outside. (1237)

 

15. Moosh corner


14. Farmers Co-ops?


13. Pervfest goes ahead on the weekend


12. DJT and Putin need to deal with the mass murdering midget


11. He needs to deal with the mass murdering midget