Category Archives: Movies

Route 66, with a drop of milk, please

09 Wednesday May 2012

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Fellow travelers, cofffee -on -the -go amateurs and connoisseurs, Easy Rider fans, wanderers of the world….

….YOU…who have a link, special,  accidental or else, with the Mythical Route 66, I’ll share this with you.

Before boarding that helicopter…..

….to tour the Grand Canyon…

…take time for a coffee in Williams, Arizona.

This train reminded me of how the Mother Road had so strongly embodied, in the 30’s, the search for a better living  during the Dust Bowl for thousands of farmers.

They were heading West  towards the sunset, (what a significant symbol, marching towards the last ray of light), just as the Pioneers had done before them.

I remembered the poignant dignity of a struggling Tom Joad ( young Henry Fonda) in the movie “The Grapes of Wrath” .

And then, the splash of colors of neon signs across the small town set my mind into another mood, more joyful and happy. Now it was rockn’roll allover, and Jack Kerouac was riding next to me, reciting immortal sentences.

On a portion of the Historic Route 66, diners proudly claims their attachment  to a long bygone era.

I decided to choose whichever was open that day.

Route 66 Diner was closed, although promising.

And Twisters Soda Fountain had no food to offer.

But they have Elvis.

And a Cadillac(  it’s not an unbalance in colors, it’s really pink). Really beautiful too.

So, the third won the deal.

Black & White checkered linoleum, red and  chrome chairs and booths. Huge Cola Soda ads. Neon, coffee, cream soda and burgers. Welcome back in the 50’s.

Coffee was overly nice, light and flavoured. Could have been a bit more muscled by using stronger beans, though.

All prices, on the souvenirs, postcards, magnets, even on the menu, bear the homage to the Mother Road. Look closer. All prices are $* and 66 cts.

This is the Route 66 Café, pal.

Other little time capsules such as that one can be found along the Main Road of America.

Follow the brown signs “Historic Route 66” and the white shields painted on the road, watch “Billy Connolly’ Route 66”, episodes of the late show Route 66, order an ice-cream soda at the soda fountain, have Creedence Clearwater’s Midnight Special or Johnny Cash blasting in the cd player and just… do… it.

Cruise.

Twisters and the Route 66 Café
417 East Route 66
Williams, Arizona 86046
(928) 635-0266

John Steinbeck Novel The grapes of Wrath, 1939, won the Pulitzer

John Ford Movie The Grapes of Wrath, 1940, 20th Century Fox, won the Academy Award for best director.

Margo Channing @ White House Black Market

07 Monday May 2012

Posted by in Caffeine, Life in style, Movies, Places, TV Series

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Last Thursday I had an appointment at 9am. As I was very early and there was no traffic jam (lucky me!) I had nearly 40 minutes before hand, so I went for window shopping in Town & Country. Weather was fine, parking lot still empty, the set of beautiful shops nestled between Memorial and Kimberley was just ready for a private visit.

Nobody around.

Too good to miss.

I grabbed a coffee – just a coffee *sigh*-at the Starbucks corner in the store, and off I went.

The first windows belonged to Banana Republic. Very “Mad Men on a Safari tour”.

Yeah, it’s a jungle out there.

The “Men collection” is just …just…perfect. Nothing to add here. Have a look.

I remembered these ads in magazines for the spring collection featuring designs seemingly taken just out of the series.This  kind of team up between BR and Madmen surely is bound to be a hit….and the male model has a strong resemblance to Don Draper…

Is it Don Draper already?

I left the Men Mad with their Jungle Out There and I shifted to the huge windows of White House & Black Market.

Such a lovely boutique, such pretty items.

Sophisticated yet cool. Classic with a twist, bold style and fashionista-pleasing collections, displayed in a glamorous, boudoir-style shop.


And they are not ashamed of their commitment to charities (which is always a good point).

Hum…how can I tell you… I can’t resist.

Certainly Margo Channing would have bought her day garments in there (or at least, sent Birdie to buy them), had she not been only real on the silver screen and had the brand existed back then. Grace Kelly seems more a J Crew-type girl, I should say. In the evening :  Balenciaga, Valentino, or Nina Ricci. For both Miss Davis and Miss Kelly.

Bette Davis portraited an immortal Margo in the Movie “All about Eve” (Mankiewicz, 1950,20th Century Fox). Should you wander why the movie is a MAJOR classic in the history of Cinema (apart from the numerous awards it received), just pick a copy or dive into Netflix, and (re)discover the imperial Bette Davis, the ruthless predatory nature of the bitchy Eve (incredibly talented Anne Baxter), the stylish and smoothly cynical Addison DeWitt (magnificent George Sanders), the lovely debutante Marilyn Monroe, the charming and reliable Gary Merrill, the confused Hugh Marlowe and the naive friend Karen Richards (Celeste Holm), encapsulated in a masterpiece so carefully crafted, that it looks like a  diamond necklace, sparkling with wit and brilliant dialogues, sumptuous costumes and decors, and such a mastery of photo and directing, you’ll be swept off you feet…

As for me, I love diamond necklaces…

PS : in Pop culture, references or homage to Miss Channing or to the movie are plethora, the following are the latest addenda to the entertainment industry (I thank Wikipedia-San for his help on the subject, seeing I am not a big fan of the Simpsons nor of Glee):

  • Blair (Gossip Girl, season 3, ep “Enough about Eve”) dreams that she is Margo Channing
  • P. Almodovar’s movie title “All about my mother” is a reference to Mankiewicz’s, and the first scene shows the protagonist watching the 1950 movie on TV, later a character is accused of  learning her lines “just like Eve Harrington”.
  • A 2008 Simpsons’s episode is called “All about Lisa”
  • In a Season 2 episode of Glee, a character is called a Latina Eve Harrington
*****
Later, during lunch time, I sneaked in the shop to try some garments on.
And then back to work…
So long, WHBM.

Vienna, Klimt and Demel

06 Sunday May 2012

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In a few weeks from now, I’ll be flying to Vienna.

I’ll have a lot to do but surely will find some moments to sneak into one of those mythic havens praised by travelers and writers : the deliciously old-fashioned café houses (e.g. the Café Central, as shown below ). After all, the art of consuming coffee was born in this city, after the Siege by the Turks, when bags of strangely perfumed beans were left by the attackers after they were defeated.And of course, I must pay a visit to the artifacts of Sissi’s glamourous passage on Earth, gracefully displayed at the Hofburg.

Last time I went it was in winter and it was wonderful.

A Winter wonderland.

Christmas Markets were heavenly lit.

Klimt and the Secession members will also have their fair share of my time.  The buoyant years of the Secession era are plastered all over the city, and they call for my respectful attention to their extraordinary applications to architecture, fine arts, design and furnishing. 

Klimt, Kolo Moser, Joseph Hoffmann, Joseph Olbrich and Otto Wagner, I’m glad I’ll see your works again.

BTW, 2012 is the 150th year of Klimt’s birthday, and Vienna is celebrating the eminent artist.

Which leads naturally to mention the movie “Klimt” by director Raul Ruiz (2006), with John Malkovich in the role of the painter. Whereas, as a fan of Klimt’s work, I had great expectations regarding an insight view of the artist’s challenging and daring ideas and aspirations to hustle a little the establishment and the Academy, I ended being disappointed by the… hum… liberties taken with the historical truth and the quasi-sole “libertine” aspect of Klimt’s life that Ruiz chose to expose.

Klimt may have been caught in the turmoils of both an artistic revolution and a sexual revolution – the latter being instigated by Freud- at the beginning of a new era, and he may have been the subject to scandals (particularly through his  paintings, uber-controversial for that time, have a close look at “Medicine”, “Jurisprudence ” or  “The gold fish” for instance), he will forever embody a new way of representing the world, as the impressionists will in their way too.

His influence was major in the history of art and his legacy is tremendous. It would probably have been much more consistent and satisfying to explore the reasons for his troubled relations with authority and women (and particularly Emilie Flöge). Probably deeply rooted in the attachment to his mother and loss of his father and his brother, which resulted in his assuming financial responsibility for both his father’s and brother’s families.

Klimt is particularly honored this year at the Belvedere, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Leopold Museum, Albertina, Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art, and Vienna Museum. If you may be near Vienna those coming months, indulge your artistic cravings for beautiful and powerful art, and go meet the genius.

Well, for me, I shall pack a soothing cream for my (future) aching muscles, as I’ll certainly will not only greet the master’s works, but also walk into every sightseeing-worthy corner.  It will be a delight, and Demel’s famous pastries and delicacies will be just a dream away.

I just discovered that Demel is present in NY as well as in Vienna, and has an online shop. I can’t wait to order…

Here we go, coffee addicts…

06 Sunday May 2012

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