“Life is like a B-movie. You don’t want to leave in the middle of it but you don’t want to see it again.”
Today is cloudy and only 71°. I’ve put the screens in the doors and opened the windows. After three days of the AC and isolation, the world is back all around me. I can hear the neighbors next door chatting on their deck, lawnmowers, cars and voices from down the street. The breeze from the windows is a delight and welcomed after the horrific heat of the last three days. It will be in the 60’s tonight and by Tuesday down to the 50’s. Gracie isn’t even panting.
The world is in danger of a new ice age on syfi because of volcanic eruptions in Iceland, but an ice age mightn’t be all that bad an idea as alien insects will be by later, and the cold might deter them from world domination. Today is disaster/bug day on syfi all leading up to an earthquake unleashing monstrous spiders on New Orleans in tonight’s movie. Where’s the popcorn?
It won’t be long before the deck movies start. My friends have never seen Ferris Bueller so it will be the first movie. After that, I’m in a quandary. My taste is different, and I have no ideas as to which movies they’d find entertaining. I struck out last year a few times, but I do have some musicals, not to my liking, but I can sit through most movies as long as I have popcorn and nonpareils. I’m thinking West Side Story which is the one musical I actually like.
In Ghana, the Hotel d’Bull in Bolga, used to show movies on the white wall in the courtyard. I always bought super seats for about a quarter and sat on roof which had patio chairs and tables. I ate kabobs, mostly beef but a few liver, and saw really old movies: American westerns and Indian movies, pre-Bollywood but still filled with singing. When I went to Accra, I’d always go to the movies. West Side Story was one of the films I saw. Is Paris Burning and The Thomas Crown Affair were a couple more. They too were old but at least were in color. The theaters had seats you placed wherever you wanted, and the screen was outside. If it rained, you picked up your seat, moved to the overhang and continued watching.
When I traveled in other countries during school vacations, most American embassies had a movie night. I remember being eaten alive by mosquitoes in Niamey, Niger while I was watching a really bad WWII movie, but my standards back then were pretty different based on the rarity of movies. I’d watch just about anything.
Now that I’m thinking about it, my taste hasn’t really changed all that much. Nothing better than a B movie to while away the day!
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Tags: Accra, Bolga, Clouds, cool day, ice age, monstrous spiders, movies, Niamey, old movies, Peace Corps Ghana, syfi, Thomas Crown Affair
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June 23, 2012 at 10:30 am
Movies On The Deck Kat. All is well for yet another Cape Cod summer. Wish I could rattle my brain and think of some beauties for you. Perhaps ’16 Candles” if you haven’t seen it a zillion times. I can always watch ‘The Big Lebowski’ or that recent Woody Allen ‘Midnight In Paris’. How about ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’?
(Thank goodness they haven’t made a movie of any Clive Cussler novel. I know you don’t mind him but I read one years ago & I think purile is a generous critique. LOL.)
June 23, 2012 at 10:39 am
My Dear Pete,
You must have missed: Raise the Titanic and Sahara: the first was pretty good! Cussler is only meant to while away a summer’s day. The novels have no redeeming value but, they’re fun, and I love novels which take no thought as summer reading. They fit right in with lazy days.
I loved Midnight in Paris, but I think they’ve seen that one. I don’t think they’d like The Big Lebowski but Once Upon a Time in the West is a great choice!
June 23, 2012 at 10:37 am
Cloudy and rainy here today and mostly around 61F except for when the sun makes a rare appearance then it jumps up above 70. This would be a perfect day for me to have Your Syfi channel 🙂 But I do have a couple of b-movies in my collection that I might watch later 🙂
I’ve never seen a movie outdoors, it’s too bright here during summer and I’ve never gotten the chance when I’ve been abroad.
The only musical I really like is Singing in the rain. I usually like the music from musicals but it is sort of odd when they suddenly start to dance and sing in the middle of everything 🙂 But I can accept that in a Bollywood film. Those are so strange anyway that it sort of is logical to sing and dance like that 🙂 🙂 🙂
have a great day!
Christer.
June 23, 2012 at 10:42 am
Christer,
I totally forgot about Singing in the Rain which I also like espcially Gene’s dancing with the umbrella.
We wait until around 8 this time of year for it to get dark enough. I think it was about the same as in Ghana. We have drive-in movies where you go in your car and sit there to watch the movies. When I was a kid, we went every week. Luckily the cape still has one in Wellfleet.
I like your weather! The sun appeared for a few minutes then disappeared. It is 73° now but still okay!
June 23, 2012 at 10:53 am
Let me throw in a vote for “Risky Business”, and yes im6 the Tangerine Dream soundtrack is perfect.
June 23, 2012 at 11:12 am
My Dear Hedley,
I haven’t seen Risky Business in years-great suggestion!
June 23, 2012 at 11:02 am
You must find and show the world’s worst B movie, “Plan 9 From Outer Space”. Or, how about Ed Wood’s other shlock classic “Glen or Glenda”? Although neither of them have insects from outer space as supporting cast members, they are classics. I believe that summer movie releases by the big studios were a result of movie theaters being one of the first businesses to install air conditioning.
Because I don’t have cable TV or satellite TV I don’t have access to the science fiction station. I can’t see spending money for a 1,000 informercial channels and QVC.
Today we might get to 99 degrees. They are forecasting several dry 100 degree days for next week. It seems cooler if you think in terms of 40 degrees C 🙂 The good part is that when it gets above 99 there is almost no humidity. Going outside is like sticking your head into an oven.
June 23, 2012 at 11:18 am
Bob,
I have all the movie channels from cable and luckily my cable only carries two channels hawking wares: QVC and the other I don’t remember. The infomercials are on the regular channels you get even without cable. They start in the wee hours of the morning, and that’s when I’m happy I have cable as I can watch a movie or all sorts of other shows.
I love Plan 9 but my friends won’t-they’ll groan at how bad it is. Glen and Glenda always makes me laugh! I have both of them, but my audience for either would be selective.
After the last few days, I totally sympathize with you. I couldn’t stand a whole summer of days like you describe. Here we get the humidity as well and that seems choking at time.
In Ghana, during the dry season, we had temps above 100 most days, but no humidity either. I was younger and more tolerant then!
June 23, 2012 at 11:12 am
Since I struck out with your friends on one of my recommendations last year and since I never heard your opinion of ‘New York, New York,’ I should probably not make any movie suggestions. I try to recommend things a bit off the beaten path (sometimes way out in left field!), so I’m not surprised when I hear of less-than-enthusiastic receptions. Did I send you a copy of ‘What’s Up, Doc?’ That’s one of my favorite comedies. I always recommend ‘Chinatown,’ my all-time favorite film. For summer (and in keeping with today’s theme), what about ‘Close Encounters…’ or ‘Alien’? It’s baseball season, so what about ‘Bull Durham?’ I don’t like westerns, but I loved ‘Silverado.’ Make it an all-nighter with a double feature of ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Godfather II.’
At least I didn’t recommend ‘Mosquito Coast’
June 23, 2012 at 11:24 am
Strange im6, I rather thought you might go for Beach Blanket Bingo.
If you caught Jeopardy last night, your boy was actually one of the questions.
June 23, 2012 at 11:55 am
I did see Jeopardy! And she got the answer right! For you, MDH, I’ll recommend “Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of ‘Smile’ “(2004). Surf movies suck, but one of my favorite summer movies is Cliff Richard’s “Summer Holiday.” Everybody on the bus!
June 23, 2012 at 12:45 pm
Loved “Summer Holiday” perfect movie as Cliff and the Shads headed to Greece with Una Stubbs….all together now “we’re all going on a Summer Holiday, no more working for a week or two”
June 23, 2012 at 11:27 am
im6,
I loved New York, New York, but I’d forgotten it so now I’ll add it to the growing list of musicals I like. I also loved Next Stop Wonderland. The two guys didn’t-kept calling it a chick flick which I found offensive.
You did send What’s Up Doc and I’ve watched it twice and laughed each time. That’s a great choice as my friends are BS fans.
I recommended Bull Durham to them, and they watched it-didn’t think it was funny. I guess its ranking as one of the best sports’ movies didn’t impress them. I love it!
You and I have very similar taste in movies. I don’t like westerns either except for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. There’s something about that movie, and it isn’t John Wayne.
Keep on recommending movies-you always hit the jackpot with me!
June 23, 2012 at 11:44 am
You asked, so… One of my favorite movies is ‘Shampoo’ with Warren Beatty. It’s an ideal election year film, set on the eve of the 1968 presidential election. It captures the late 60s perfectly. If you can find a copy of ‘Gates of Heaven,’ I’d put that on the list for documentary night. It’s about pet cemeteries. The other doc I loved is ‘Grey Gardens’… but the doc by The Maysle brothers, not the HBO movie based on the this documentary about the Beale’s. Now if you want your friends to leave, pop in another favorite of mine, Robert Altman’s ‘3 Women’ with Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall. It’s based on a dream Altman had and it is challenging, weird and wonderful, but not for the masses. And finally, I don’t know why this popped into my head, but ‘Harold & Maude’ might be a crowd-pleaser. If your friends don’t like the movie, at least they’ll probably like the Cat Stevens soundtrack. Wished you lived nearby. I’d love to have movie night with you!
June 23, 2012 at 11:15 am
Hi Kat,
I’m not much of a movie fan and what I like seems to be very different from what my friends and family would watch. I like stuff like Sanjuro and Seven Samurai (Toshiro Mifuni crush 🙂 ) and Shao Lin Soccer (subtitled, not dubbed because dubbed is a whole different movie). Other than the Harry Potter movies, I can’t think of anything recent that I have actually seen.
I saw a Bolga Basket in real life the other night. One of the Thursday night knitters had her project in one. The basket was very nicely made and the colors were lovely. I could covet it. 🙂
Popcorn and nonpareils. Together. Yummy.
Heat has broken up here. The sun is out so it will get a bit warmer than you are but not as bad as it has been. I had no AC for those three days so it was not fun.
Enjoy the bug wars! 🙂
June 23, 2012 at 11:32 am
Hi Caryn,
I am a huge movie fan and have been since I was a kid. I just saw Moonrise Kingdom and thought it spectacular. I have long been a Wes Anderson fan.
The Bolga baskets are definitely colorful. I have four or five of them, a couple came back with me in 1971 while the others came from my sister and my trip last year. Everyone got a Bolga basket for Christmas this last year. I brought back a sports bag (which I had to buy) filled with them.
Heat has broken here too. I’m loving having the windows open.
Enjoy the weekend!
June 23, 2012 at 12:03 pm
Hopefully the world survives this disaster/bug day 😉
Some of my summer fun outdoor favorites:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (at night!) , The Blues Brothers,
Hairspray (1988), Life of Brian and Mars Attacks
May be a matter of age and sentimental memories?
June 23, 2012 at 12:11 pm
Birgit,
I just watched Mars Attacks the other night. It’s probably about the fifth or sixth time I’ve seen it. I used to go to the midnight showing of Rocky Horror, and I’d bring all my props. It was great fun every summer! Love Hairspray and any Monty Python-all great recommendations!
June 23, 2012 at 12:08 pm
im6,
Harold and Maude is one of my favorite movies.
I’d show Kings of Hearts, but I’m not sure it’s to everyone’s liking. Warren Beatty is wonderful in Shampoo-I’m putting that on the list! The crowd liked Altman’s MASH, but I’ll have to pass on 3 Women. My friends loved Birdcage and bought it so I could show it. I liked it okay, but I love Las Cage aux Folles. I used to see it every year at a local theater here.
I’m sorry you’re so far away too as I’d love you here for a movie night!
June 23, 2012 at 12:19 pm
im6,
PS
I just ordered Shampoo and Grey Gardens, which I’ve seen. I may not show it, but I’m happy to have it!
June 23, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Kat, next time, let me know. I think I have an extra copy of ‘Shampoo.’ Now you’ll have me to blame for that high credit card bill (what with all these movies and Ray Davies CD). Another movie I thought of you may not know is ‘Local Hero’ (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085859/k) Magic!
June 23, 2012 at 12:36 pm
oops: s/b: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085859/
June 23, 2012 at 3:24 pm
I didn’t read that Kat was investing in choral Ray….
June 23, 2012 at 1:58 pm
We have all day western movies on AMC but missed most of them so far since our Tropical Storm up from the Gulf is due to cover Florida around 2pm. It’s already dark outside but we got our shopping done, except Ann’s trip to the Mall, and will settle in for a weekend of non-stop rain. Our feral cat, Carlacita surprised us this morning by bringing three new kittens to the breakfast table. A tuxedo kit and two gray ones. We were delighted. I didn’t detect she was even pregnant. This is her third litter. I will now trap her and the kittens in September. Hate to because once done they disappear. We haven’t seen our favorite Pooh Bear since the neutering. I wonder why they scoot after being fixed.
June 23, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Z&Me,
If you think about it, you’d proabably run away from away from the guy who “fixed” you! I bet, though, she’ll be back!
I’ve read about the storm. I hope you are not flooded, and it blows away without much damage.
June 23, 2012 at 2:00 pm
Just a thought: Have your friends already seen the
“The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” -series on TV ?
The funny crime novels located in Botswana
(unfortunately not in Ghana).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_No._1_Ladies'_Detective_Agency_Series
I loved the episodes.
June 23, 2012 at 3:42 pm
Birgit,
I loved that series too, and I’ve also read several of the books. It was fun to see Botswana and made me want to go there. I was thinking of a safari and the Okavango delta.
I think my friend has read them, but I don’t know if her husband would like it.
June 23, 2012 at 3:23 pm
Try “The Four Lions” , a dark comedy.
June 23, 2012 at 3:38 pm
im6,
I love Local Hero!
June 23, 2012 at 3:45 pm
You should have a banned list…anything with Kevin Cosner or Babsy Streisand.
June 23, 2012 at 3:53 pm
MDH,
I do like What’s Up Doc with Babs. It’s funny!