#my favorite out of this bunch is the rainer one (the last one)

[giftplane]

some more artfight stuff, part one!!!! the stuff that wasn't the revenge chain. for gayfeatherstar, sparkydear, meatcarnist, cow-legs, kiwipen, nimstratus, galaxyghosts, winter_menace, bluenightcomedies, and valtelgvrtea, in that order

i can be found on artfight @ aftonbuilt, team werewolf

[kindlythevoid]

Edgar Allen Poe // Pinterest // When the Mind Sleeps by Mariusz Lewandowski // Dark Matter by Robert Hunter Jones // Trillium by Louise Gluck // Carina Nebula (C92) pic from NASA // Promptuarium // Introduction to Quantum Theory by Franny Choi // Miracle of Creation by Mariusz Lewandowski // Rainer Maria Rilke, from Where Silence Reigns: Selected Prose; "An Experience," // Pinterest // Carl Sagan, Symphony of Science // Nebula Sharpless 2-106 pic from NASA // Twitter User @tsaritsasimp06 // chasingdaises // The Old Astronomer to His Pupil by Sarah Williams // Pinterest // Pinterest // Galaxy Hercules A pic from NASA // Imaginary Heroes (2004) dir. Dan Harris // Spacetime Fairytale by Regina Spektor // 30 Doradus Nebula pic from NASA // Stormy End by Sunrise Avenue // Dumbbell Nebula (M27) pic from NASA

This one was titled: Finding Comfort in the Enormity of the Universe When Your Problems Feel Too Big.

Yeah, I was *thisclose* to an existential crisis (aren't we all at some point?) and was learning about the stars, and isn't there something comforting about there being this wide expanse out there? All that beauty and chaos and light and dark and it's billions and millions of light years away, so far that you measure it in light, and you can't even use yourself as a metric when measuring up against nebulae and supergiants and blackholes. And it makes you feel kinda small, and maybe a little scared, but suddenly those problems aren't so big, are they? We're just little people on a little rock next to a little star with our own little moon. We really won the lottery on chances, didn't we? And doesn't that make you want to look at the stars, take a breath, and make it to the next day?

Side note: I spent a good couple of hours scrolling through NASA's website and getting sidetracked (hence my earlier post on the moon landing in two years). Lowkey in love with NASA's website, ngl. So as an added treat, here are a few of my favorites that I came across!!

This will tell you when/where you can see the ISS! (idk if it works internationally, I just sort of focusing on where I was atm, ha ha!)

This lets you know about upcoming launches! (how I found out about Artemis!!)

This is a map that lets you see pictures of a bunch of cool stars/galaxies/exoplanets/nebulae! (This is where I grabbed all of the pretty space pictures!! There's so much more, too!!!)

This is a website that posts a fun picture of certain tech or something in the universe as well as an explanation below every day!! (I was shown this recently and I keeeeep checking.)

And, last but not least, this website tells you what picture the Hubble Telescope took on your birthday!! (Astrology signs are OUT, tell me what picture was taken the day of your birth!!)

There's also a (fictional) comic strip about the first woman on the moon! (I didn't get a chance to read it, but it's also found on a whole page dedicated to interactives and games which is absolutely where I found some of those other links)

Anyway, there's definitely more to find and would highly recommend just scrolling through their website to see what you can find!

We're gonna be okay, y'all. (っ´⌣`)ﾉ(´._.`)

[justthishumanheart]

Ask Game!!

Tagged by @dare-g - sorry it’s taken me so long, but thank you :)

Five songs you’ve been listening to on repeat recently?

1. Talking Heads - Mind - pretty much how i feel talking to people these days. everyone is in their corner and convinced they are right. 

2. The Clash - The Sound of Sinners - i’m such a sucker for gospel choirs

3. Billy Joel - Two Thousand Years - cheesy idealistic throwback to my teens

4. Maná - Clavado en un Bar (En Vivo) - that opening riff goes harrrrrrrd. this is just a fun song for such a horrible feeling. i just wanna get drunk with a bunch of other heartbroken people and shout torch songs like this one. dondé estas maldita?! estoy clavado, estoy herido, estoy ahogado en un baaaaaaaarrrrr!!!!!

5. Golgol Bordello - Ave. B - heard about these guys first from the movie everything is illuminated. the lead singer plays one of my favorite movie characters of all time. gotta love that immigrant punk!

Last movie you watched?

i decided this year to start watching movies from my birth year - this has been really quite enjoyable so far. started off at summer camp with bill murray in meatballs, then on to one of my favorite movies as a kid: steve martin’s the jerk - which would totally not fly these days with the opening 5 minutes alone. most recently i finished woody allen’s manhattan - which i quite enjoyed...though it feels like one cannot admit such things these days. diane keaton was adorable.

Currently Watching?

the twilight zone. it’s a masterpiece. the writing is incredible. 

if you know, you know

Currently Reading?

different books for different times/moods. these are my current leafy companions

1. e e cummings - complete poems - i’ve always loved how cummings breaks me out of the monotony of cliché

2. sylvia plath - the unabridged journals of sylvia plath - i’m constantly impressed and jealous of how bright and intelligent and passionate plath was at 19-20. her yearning to fulfill her potential, to live all the lives she could, to maximize all her creative power...what an amazingly bright light. i have fallen in love with the woman in these journal entries. 

3. vladimir nabokov - the stories of vladimir nabokov - i get lost in the scenes he paints and don’t want to leave

4. jon dambacher - eraser crumbs - @jondambacher is one of us! multi-talented, and incredibly insightful. i’ve loved the fragments of life he captures - he knows how to pull magic out of the mundane. check him out.

5. the short stories of ernest hemingway - hemingway will always remind me of my grandpa. all man. all the time. i can smell him and hear his deep voice when i read hemingway.

6. rainer maria rilke - the notebooks of malte laurids brigge - rilke has written some of my very favorite lines. they are not to be found in this book so far :/ so it’s been a slog - one i didn’t expect. this one has felt like a chore

7. albert camus - lyrical and critical essays - @amiwalkingincircles recommended this after i had been blown away by reading the plague last summer. what a revelation. these essays are full of a realistic but very real love of humanity. what a beautiful soul i’ve found here.

8. sylvia plath - the collected poems - more plath. her precision with words and phrases is incredible. 

9. james gleick - genius: the life and science of richard feynman - maria popova from @brainpickings​ is one of the best bloggers in the world. she finds the most incredible books (especially children’s books). she once posted about a letter the physicist richard feynman wrote to his dead wife. it is the most moving letter i’ve ever read. please check out her post about it. after reading that, i had to pick up the biography she found it in. i know embarrassingly little about physics - let alone theoretical quantum physics - but i love learning how these people think and how they attack mental problems. this book is as fun as feynman’s personality was.

[schleierkauz]

Q&A Highlights

Ok so bad news first: My questions were ignored. Cornelia did not clarify any of our death-related theories. Maybe next time.

There was A Lot of other stuff, though so... Enjoy!

- The stream starts with everyone wishing us a happy women’s day! Usually women in Erfurt (where the bookstore people are) get flowers but not today because... you know. Cornelia says America is starting to go back to normal, meanwhile Germany... :| Anyway. Don’t look over here.

- Cornelia says she probably won’t get the vaccine anytime soon because she’s just chilling on her farm anyway and people who have to be out in public/are vulnerable should get it first

- Question: When will Cornelia visit Germany again? In response to this, she gives us some exclusive news, not official yet, heard it here first: She’s gonna move to Italy! Apparently she bought an olive farm there which is cheaper, better for the environment (her current farm will be sold to some people who want to turn it into an organic farm) and obviously closer to Germany so she’ll be here more often. :)

- The 4th Reckless book will be released in English at some point this autumn

- There’s no definite release date for TCoR because she’s busy with Dragonrider but she hopes she’ll have finished writing it by the end of this year

- If she’s still alive after all that to work on Reckless 5, it’ll be the last book of the series... probably. She’s also working on a bunch of smaller projects with her artists in residence

- Question: What are Cornelia’s favorite stories by Jane Austen, the Brontë sister and Shakespeare? She’s not a huge fan of Austen or Brontë because she finds all those repressed emotions too exhausting to read about. With Shakespeare on the other hand she struggles to name a favorite because there’s so much greatness to choose from (she does name MacBeth and Romeo and Juliet though)

- The Black Prince’s legacy in the Reckless timeline may play a role in the next Reckless book or it might evolve into a whole other story. Either way, she’s thinking about it  👀

- Someone asks about Reckless characters and Cornelia says that Kami’en and the Dark Fairy felt very familiar to her from the start in that she always knew who they were as people. She’s not sure why that is. She thinks the Dark Fairy represents many aspects of womanhood, like the ancient forgotten Goddess. Same with Fox, who embodies different sides of that.

- If Cornelia had to date a man from the Mirrorworld, Kami’en would interest her

- Rainer Strecker randomly joins the chat to say hi and everyone is delighted

- Cornelia’s favorite book series is still Lord of the Rings

- Question: Why has the Black Prince never found his true love? Cornelia says she’s not sure that’s true - maybe he did found true love at some point and then lost it again? ‘...and they lived happily ever after’ isn’t a guaranteed outcome after all. Since he’s such a passionate man, she’s pretty sure he’s had at least one big lovestory at this point. She hasn’t asked him about that yet but hopes she’ll find out when she continues writing his story.

- Jumping off that question, Cornelia says she respects her characters’ privacy and lets them keep their secrets until the time comes to ask about them, just as she would with real people.

- Someone asks if Cornelia has ever written herself into a story and she says a part of her is in all her characters. Except the villains because she hates them. She feels closest to Fox because she also always wished she could shapeshift

- The bookstore lady jumps in and asks about Meggie, is she similar to how Cornelia was as a child? Cornelia says yes, especially because she also had a very close relationship with her father and they would bond over books. However, she always envisioned Meggie with dark hair and as a different kind of girl than she was. (Ok sidenote from me on that, I wonder what she means by ‘dark hair’? Because Meggie is explicitly blond, so like... dark blond? Or did we just unlock brunette Meggie in 2021? Cornelia-)

- Continuing the conversation, Cornelia says she doesn’t consider herself the creator of any of the characters in her stories, she feels like she met them and wrote about him but she would never say something like ‘I invented Dustfinger’ because that’s absurd. How would that even work. That’s disrespectful. No.

- Some characters pretty much demand to be written about and are very impatient (like Jacob), others are more shy and elusive and take effort to understand (like Will or Dustfinger)

- There probably won’t be another book like The Labyrinth of the Faun because it was created under such unbelievable circumstances. Cornelia does enjoy writing film scripts, though, like she did for the Wild Chicks recently

- Question: How does Cornelia come up with character names? She has a bunch of encyclopedias and when she knows where a story takes place she checks if there are any artists from there whose names she can steal. She always wants names to have meaning and to paint a picture of whatever character it belongs to. However, she says that sometimes the vibe of a name is a tricky thing: When she wrote The Thief Lord (which takes place in Italy), she thought ‘Mosca’ was the perfect name for a big strong boy. However when the time came to translate the story into Italian, the Italians told her that ‘Mosca’ sounds like the name of a tiny little fly. Oh well.

- Cornelia says a lot of readers have written to her about The Thief Lord because at one point Victor (the detective) calls Mosca (who is black) a “Mohrenkopf”. Context: ‘Mohrenkopf’ is a German slur towards black people and also an outdated name for this goddamn marshmallow cookie:

Fuck this cookie.

- Cornelia says yeah, Victor is being racist in that moment but that doesn’t mean that she, the author, is racist. Similarly, she used the term ‘Indians’ in Reckless and a lot of readers were upset which she did not anticipate. To her it’s a positive word since she admires ‘Indians’ so deeply and finds terms like ‘Native/Indigenous Americans’ very complicated. She wonders how much longer she’ll be allowed to say ‘Black Prince’

- She thinks it’s right to be vigilant about bigotry but simply searching for problematic words is dangerous because context matters

- Bookstore lady brings up Pippi Longstocking and how the N-word has been removed from modern copies (think Pippi’s father). She think’s it’s wrong because the original text is part of the cultural heritage and shouldn’t be hidden from children but instead explained. 

- Cornelia says that in America she sees the hurt that’s connected to that word but she doesn’t think it’s right to simply remove the slur and expect everything to be fine. After all, the text in which it was used is still the same so any harmful ideas would still be in there and that needs to be discussed. Simply whitewashing things doesn’t make them any less racist.

- Cornelia brings up a visual example: The Asterix comics. She always liked them but the fact that the only black character is drawn as a racist caricature is harmful and wrong. It’s time to listen when black people express how hurtful depictions like that can be. Many white people never noticed racism growing up because it never affected them and that’s why it’s important to learn

- The ‘from rags to riches’ American dream was usually reserved for white people and Cornelia thinks a lot of (white) people are waking up to that fact. The way black people are still being criminalized and the way prisons use inmates for cheap labor is horrible and like a modern kind of slavery

- The bookstore people try to say something but Cornelia is not done: We Europeans are not off the hook either because the sins and wounds of colonialism are still felt around the world, not to mention the way other countries are still exploited today. Our wealth rests on the shoulders of poorer nations. Many doors are opening and it’s difficult to step through but we have to do it and admit to the things we may have been blind to due to privilege.

- The three of them agree on that and go back to reading questions

- Question: What are Cornelia’s tips for young authors? She advises to never start writing a story on a computer, always get a notebook and collect ideas & pictures for your story. Don’t rush things. If you have more than one story, give each story its own book and feed whichever one is hungry. It’s important to follow the idea where it leads, if you use cliches your readers will recognize them. And then it just takes time and passion. And trust in your own unique voice. She paraphrases a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson who once said no one cares about stories or characters or whatever, people read books to see the world through the goggles the author puts on them. I’m sure he said it prettier, I’m paraphrasing the paraphrase.

- That said, Cornelia thinks authors who say things like “I’m writing to express my innermost turbulences” are kinda dumb. She thinks it’s important to write about the things that happen everywhere else and around yourself and to try to find voices for others, not just yourself. Just like how carpenters build furniture for everyone else, a writer should use words to build things for others, whether it’s a window or door or a hiding place.

- Speaking of notebooks, as most of us probably know Cornelia has a lot of those and occasionally publishes them on her website. She says she’d love to let people look through them in person, maybe at the new farm in Germany (Cornelia sure does love farms)

- Speaking of writing things on paper, all three of them stress that everyone should write more letters because one day they’ll be old letters and curious people will want to read them, just as we like to read old documents now.

- Last question: How come both the Inkworld and the Mirrorworld feature a character called Bastard? Cornelia thinks that’s a good question and she should probably think about that. (Am I stupid? Are they talking about Basta? I’m confused)

...And with that, the livestream ends. They’ll get back together to do this again two months from now, until then: I’m going tf to sleep

[houseofvans]

ART SCHOOL | Sheryo & The Yok 

Talented and world-traveling artist duo, Sheryo & The Yok are known for their massive murals and installations all over the world, inspired by their travels, cartoons, and psychedelic imaginations. Their passion for painting large scale murals and their vision for creating immersive art installations make them both inspirational and mind blowing to fans and artists alike. We’re excited to interview these spray painting nomads and talk about their travels, their art processes, and their upcoming projects which include “a crocodile temple in Singapore” and “a bat house/shack under a bridge in Berlin.”

Photographs courtesy of the artist | Top photograph by Rainer Christian Kurzeder

introduce yourself  Yok:  Im from Perth, Western Australia, One of the most isolated cities, surrounded by desert and ocean. Currently I'm  based in Brooklyn and some times Indonesia and sometimes Thailand and sometimes Australia. We are trying to buy some jungle/beach land in seasia and make a weird sculpture park of sorts. Sheryo: I'm from Singapore, I share a work/live space with Yok in Brooklyn, New York and sometimes hang out in different parts of SEAsia living the island life drawing painting sippin on coconuts amongst palm trees watching the surf.

How did you both get into art, and at what point did you start collaborating?  Yok: I got into drawing from watching cartoons, reading mad magazine and copying skate logos, Jim Phillips, Pushead, Marc McKee's, Guy Mariano  Accidental Gun Death graphic had a huge impact on me.  As did early Blind decks, alien workshop, Girl art dump. The Gonz! Sheryo: I've always Been drawing but it wasn't until I moved to Cambodia that I really thought about pursuing art full time. I met yok and we painted our first wall together almost straight away and shared similar influences. I got into drawing from watching a ton of cartoons all day everyday. Growing up i was into Reg Mombassa, Ren and Stimpy, Garfield. I still love watching cartoons now.

What are your individual art processes like? How have your processes evolved or changed?  Draw every day. Our process evolves constantly when we are on the road depending on what materials we can get our hands on, which is also why we tend to keep our color palette to red white black and gold.  You can generally always find a black white and red in a dirty hardware store in a remote part of Vietnam.We also try to draw everyday wherever we are. We try to keep a sort of visual diary of whats going on.

What are some handy materials you always take along with you? India ink, some brushes, black pens, adapter spray caps, portable speaker, a few words of the local launguage. This works wonders for getting walls or getting out of trouble.

What’s your approach to murals and larger works? What was the last one you finished up? The last wall we painted was a rooftop on brooklyn, we've been painting a lot more spontaneously  with friends. The weather's finally warmed up in brooklyn so Night rides, weekend sprays and beers on the roof is the way to go. We've been building installations lately based on all the shacks we've seen on our travels in se Asia. Recently we built  a Ping Pong Auto Shack in Detroit with 1x Run, a big furry psychedelic gargoyle head in Germany and also a Lion house in Singapore for Singapore art week.

What’s been your favorite installation or sculpture that you’ve created? We love the "Ping Pong Auto Shack" and the "gargoyle head" the best. The ping Pong Auto Shack was a fun one it was a Detroit inspired car garage meets Indonesian warung/shack, with a huge tigers head that you can walk trough.. We turned the inside into a tattoo shop with neon devils and sexy ladies, we lined the walls with flash sheets and Sheryo made a bunch of tattoo's, good times!  IF you didn't want a tattoo we served jungle juice rum drinks out of the bar that we made at the tail end of the Tiger.

In the past, you’ve collaborated with Vans!  What’s your ultimate dream collaboration project? We want to build a skateable sculpture/installation badly, as well as a greenhouse filled with plants and our wooden sculptures. Imagine a snake run but it's a wild triple headed cobra. Excellent.

You really have traveled so much and around the world.  What has that experience been like and where are you headed to next?   Last year was great! We got to see and experience alot of  hard to get to, small towns in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia.  Next is Shanghai, Colorado,Florida then Perth.

Where has been your favorite place that you’ve visited?  What was the coolest thing you’ve seen in your travels? One of the recent favorites was a trip to Ethiopia to teach art at a school for impoverished kids, we painted the outside of the classroom and hung out it was great. We were also invited to paint Ethiopia's first skatepark, The kids had only had the park a few weeks, and for some only been riding a skateboard for the same amount of time and they were shredding it.

Much like how Vans aren’t just one thing, what other things are you guys into or do, when you’re not making art? Yok's a surfdog. Shezzy's a lay-in-the-beanbag-sipping-pinacoladas-and-coconuts-at-the-beach-all-day-nerd.

Who are some of your favorite artists, past and contemporary? woah too many to list! i have new ones everyday. I really love to see the grafitti in the cities towns and villages on the road, in places in Asia where they are not really exposed to that kind of thing, so the results are usually fresh.

Favorite Vans? Old skools!!!!!

What personally do you guys look for in or like in art? What’s your taste like?  Wavyness, good line work, original idea's and subject matter.

What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t an artist? SHeryo:I'd probably be selling coconuts with secret shots of rum in a shack I built by the beach. Ill catch some fish and grill them for dinner and share it with my friends. I'll have a sick collection of machetes with super cool painted handles.  Yok: I would be there also on the hammock eating that grilled fish. Sheryo: maybe i will feed u that grilled feed with my hands.

What has been your favorite thing so far this year? What do you have coming up for the rest of 2017? We are building a crocodile temple in Singapore next and a bat house/shack under a bridge in Berlin . I'm really looking forward to the 2 projects and hope to make them as rad as possible.

Whose someone you’d like to see on our Art School Q&A next? Mark Mulroney, Ryan Travis Christian, The Gonz!Palladingdong, Benjamin Rawson, Clay Hickson!

Follow Sheryo & The Yok Instagram: @_sheryo Website: www.yokandsheryo.com  Facebook: @Sheryo

[dawnjeman]

Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Farmhouse Cottage

  Hello, my wonderful friends! I am very happy to start this new week with one of the most amazing “Before and After” ever shared on Home Bunch. Sara, from @simplysoutherncottage, will certainly inspire and teach us a few important things, such as, to never, and I mean NEVER understate the power of visualization. Trust me, you must have a lot of power of visualization to transform what this cottage used to be to what it is today. I can’t find words to tell you how much I admire Sara and I just became her newest fan and follower! I hope you do the same!

Get to know all of the details below!

  Beautiful Homes of Instagram: Farmhouse Cottage

Roof: Standing seam metal roof

Pink flower border: Petunias

Meet the Homeowner

Oh my goodness y’all, I am beyond excited to be featured on Home Bunch this week. I’m Sara @simplysoutherncottage and almost a year ago, I wrapped up a MAJOR restoration project of my 1926 Louisiana cottage. Born and raised in the northern part of the state, once I left for college in Arkansas I said I would NEVER come back. Famous. Last. Words. After being away for nearly 15 years, my heart started stirring and longing to be back with my family. In December 2014 while driving around a quaint, southern, historic community, I stumbled upon this house and immediately knew it was supposed to be mine.

Before

I mean, it looks vacant, right? And it was. But persuading the family to sell, who had owned it for ninety years, proved extremely challenging. Even though it was in shambles, I could see in my mind all of the after pictures you are about to encounter. I KNEW what was hiding underneath the brush, decay and clutter. And after a twenty two long month love affair with this cottage, I finally was able to secure it. You can read the entire story here. Luciane will be showing you all of the beautiful after pictures, but you’ll definitely want to visit my blog to see all of the befores. By day, I am a senior educational sales consultant, and by night I love to “play with” and invest in other real estate properties. When time allows, I enjoy writing and you can find more of my personal journey on “SimplySara” and more about my cottage on “SimplySouthernCottage”. I’m highly motivated and extremely driven. Each morning I wake up with joyful expectation, excited about what will unfold during the day. I love Jesus and my family with my entire heart. I also love to read and I spend LOTS of time outdoors, both in my yard and doing outdoor fitness activities. Almost every week, you’ll find me on an airplane traveling for work and sometimes, I’m able to squeak in some personal adventures to feed my wanderlusting soul. I’m deeply Southern through and through and if you ever hear me talk, you’ll definitely notice my drawl that’s thick as molasses! Thank you so much for joining me on Home Bunch this week and I hope you’ll enjoy this segment about my little cottage!

Exterior Paint Color

Exterior: All original wood siding, Color: Extra White by Sherwin Williams.

Before & After Pin

Feel free to pin this to inspire others!

Front Porch

I get asked a lot…. “Why the yellow door?” I knew from the get go, I wanted a bright, cheery, colorful and inviting exterior.  This yellow door exudes joy and positivity and anyone who sees it, just has to smile.

Door color: Lemon Twist by Sherwin Williams

Gas Lanterns: Custom made by CopperWorks Custom Lighting in Shreveport, LA – similar here.

Talling bushes flanking sidewalk: Yuletide Camellia

Short bushes: Buford Hollies

Pink Flowers: Petunias

View from Park

Door was handcrafted by a local artisan: Webster Door Company

Park

My cottage sits directly across the street from a historical park. In 1850, an all boys school was constructed (in the current park) but closed in 1898 when the public school opened. The actual school building was eventually relocated, turned into a hotel and, sadly torn down in the 1970s. The park commemorates the academy and this gazebo sits in nearly the same location as the one constructed in the 1850s.

Side View

What a dreamy front porch!

Blue Porch Ceiling

Blue Porch Ceiling Paint Color: Atmospheric SW 6505b y Sherwin Williams.

Street View

The cottage sits within a historic residential district and is surrounded by historic homes.

Hello mat: Walmart (discontinued) Similar here, here & here.

Rockers: Walmart – similar here.

Porch Swing

This has to be one of the most inviting porches I have ever featured… isn’t this so inviting and perfect?! Sara is soooo talented and she definitely has a green thumb!

Swing: Lowes – similar here.

Outdoor Rugs: Orian Rugs.

Welcome Home!

Neutral décor and simplicity make my heart sing.  Walking into a peaceful, calm environment at the end of a long travel week, soothes my soul.  So inside my home, you won’t see much variety in color. But what you will see are bright, simple spaces! While I’m not a minimalist, per se, I’m not really a “things girl” and really adore an uncluttered home.

Three walls had to come down to create this space.  You are looking from the library area, into the living room and then into the dining kitchen area.

White Couch and chair: Normanson by Birch Lane Sofa & Chair.

Chandelier: Old World 9 light chandelier.

Millwork

All woodwork in the home is original to the cottage, but was covered by layers of wallpaper and paneling. It was milled from one of the first sawmills in Louisiana. All walls are painted Snowbound by Sherwin Williams.  Trim and all cabinets are Alabaster by SW.

End table: Ashley Furniture Signature Design

Rug: Rugs USA – similar here.

Lamps: Kirklands, clearance

Scroll: custom from Cottonwood Shanty

Dining Room

Shades: Horizons Natural Woven Shades, Pattern Matchstick, Color: Walnut (Leslie Rainer Designs (local) did them) – similar here, here & here.

Dining Table: Birch Lane.

Chairs: Custom made by Chair Whimsy.

Similar Rug: here.

Hutch

Hutch: My great grandmother’s

Dining Room & Kitchen

The dining room is directly connected to the kitchen.

Chandelier: Original to the cottage

Island Backside

I got most of my inspiration from Instagram and Pinterest.  I knew I wanted a rustic island similar to Becky Cunningham’s @becky.cunningham.home (also a fellow Louisiana décor Instagrammer) and after showing Shreveport Salvage several pictures, they were certain they could build something similar.  And I couldn’t be more pleased with the way it turned out.

Island pendants: Here.

Island hardware: Pulls & Knobs.

More Details

Island: Custom made from salvaged wood from one of the oldest houses in North Louisiana. Barnwood top is from a 100 year old salvaged barn, a parish over.

Island Measurements: 74” x 32” (43” with overhang) x 36”

Similar Library lights above sink: here, here, here, here, here, here & here.

Stools

Stools: Country Jungle.

Faucet

Faucet: Water Creation.

Sink

Originally there was two separate windows on this wall, but I knew I wanted a huge bank of triplets right over my kitchen sink!

Sink: 33” farm sink. It was a “second” so I got a good deal on it – similar here & here.

Hardware: Pulls & Knobs – I absolutely love them!!!

Countertops: Cambria Torquay

Refrigerator Cabinet

All kitchen, bath and laundry cabinets are made from birch and maple.

Appliances: Frigidaire Gallery

Hall

Looking from the kitchen, down the hallway into the mudroom area. Laundry room door was salvaged and repurposed from the home. Decal can be found here.  I made the magnolia wreath hanging on the back door.

Light: Birch Lane.

Vinyl Plank Floors: Mannington – Color: Sandpiper

Laundry Room

The cabinet above the washer/dryer is original to the cottage.  Prior to restoration, it was housed in almost the same location but over the original kitchen sink.

Whirlpool Washer/Dryer:Washer&Dryer.

Floors: Same as kitchen.

Hardware: Pulls & Knobs

Countertops: Cambria Torquay

Room Layout

Looking from the kitchen area, into the living area and finally into the library. Three walls were taken out to create this flowing space. All floors are original to the cottage. The black candlestick you see on the left was found at a rummage sale.

Library

This space is perfect to curl-up with a good book at the end of day.

Similar Ceiling Light: here & here.

DIY Bookwall

After being inspired by Erin @cottonstem’s bookwall, I decided to give it a go in the library area of my cottage.  I came across this quote somewhere online and knew I wanted it to be my focal point.  So I got to work one evening with some old books, nails and duct tape and made this happen! I LOVE the way it turned out.

Theater chairs are from a local antique shop and were salvaged from a theater in Michigan.

Ottoman: Wayfair.

Loveseat: Wayfair.

Rug: Amazon – similar here.

Fireplace

The fireplace was originally located in the living area, but I relocated it to the library and decided on a gas log insert. The bricks for the surround and hearth were given to be by a neighbor. And the windows and the mantel pictured here are both original to the home. Behind the windows are farmhouse style bi-fold doors to hide a TV. But, as part of my ongoing simplification process, I’ve chosen to not have a TV! This area used to be a bedroom. The fireplace surround and bookshelves are completely new.

Ceiling

One of my favorite things about the cottage are these amazing ceilings! They had been covered up with drop ceiling tiles so I was ecstatic when those came down and this gorgeous wood was hiding underneath! (The perpendicular boards you see are where the walls were.)

Chicken coop coffee table: Custom built by Shreveport Salvage.

Hardwood Flooring

Hardwood floors are refinished and original to the house.

Stairwell

Upstairs was originally a wide open attic space. I finished it out to create 2 bedrooms, a living area and a guest bath. The sconces on the wall shown here are original to the cottage and repurposed from a different location – similar here.

Guest Bath

This guest bathroom is completely new to the cottage and did not exist prior to restoration.  It is a converted space in the attic area.  The washstand was found at an area junk shop and if you look closely it fits JUST right!

Faucet: Signature Hardware – similar here.

Sink: Signature Hardware.

Similar Antique Washstand: here.

Similar Floor Tile: here.

Home Office

My office area.  I was SO disappointed when this desk arrived.  It clearly said the desk was “white” on the Birch Lane site, but when it came in, it was definitely a buttery yellow.  Then it was super hard to put together. But ultimately I decided to keep it! I love the functionality and storage it offers.  Yes it has drawers and cabinets on BOTH sides (it isn’t turned incorrectly).  The off-white color really does seem to work in the room and it’s definitely growing on me!

The cabinets that flank the windows are repurposed from the kitchen area.  The chair is a Facebook garage sale find that I customized a bit – similar here – Other Great Desk Chairs: here, here & here.

Desk: Birch Lane.

Rug: Wayfair.

Chandelier: Amazon – Also here.

Master Bedroom

I extended the calm, neutral palette into my bedroom area.  You can see there isn’t a lot of clutter in my home.  I love keeping everything simple, neat and organized.  It makes my life SO much easier! The little grate above the headboard is actually the ornamental piece from my grandparents’ screen door.  I salvaged two of those to use in my cottage.

Bedroom Suite: Ashley, but is about 12 years old and has been discontinued – Other Beautiful Four Poster Bed: here.

Windmill Ceiling Fan: Quorum.

Similar Rug: here.

Always There

One of my favorite scriptures and a constant reminder of where I’ve been and how far I’ve come.  Also, my biblical basis to live simply.  (Created by @treasuredpearlhandmade)

Decor

Comforter set:  Downlite topper and Wamsutta Vintage.

Reuse & Reinvent

I reused every single original door that was found in the cottage.  For my master closet and master bath, I repurposed two of the original French doors that led into the dining area.  By placing them on barn door tracks, I was able to save space in these areas.

Master Bathroom

The master bath was completely gutted and is brand new.  I wanted clean, simple lines and again, soothing, calming spaces.

Lights: Birch Lane.

Chandelier: Saint Mossi Chandelier – similar here.

Faucets: Signature Hardware.

Tub: Vintage Tub and Bath Randolph Morris 66 Inch – similar here.

Vinyl Plank Floors: Mannington

Hardware: Pulls & Knobs

Master Shower

The shower features subway tile and penny round floor tile.

Mudroom

My mudbench area was formerly the laundry porch and was not heated and cooled. Therefore, it was actually one of the most deteriorated parts of the cottage. I knew I needed a place to dump my purse and coat when I come in the back door, so this area was perfect for that purpose! The knobs are the former plumbing fixtures from the master bath and the locker baskets are salvaged from my old high school before it was razed. The back door is actually the former front door I repurposed here.

Back Porch

Originally, the cottage did not have a back porch.  I knew I would need a place for coffee drinking, book readin’, and afternoon nappin’, so I decided to add on an amazing porch area. And honestly, this is where I spend the bulk of my time when I’m home.  After seeing many amazing bedswings on Instagram and Pinterest, I showed pictures to a local artisan, Ali’s Creations, and this is my vision come to life under her hammer.  Definitely my favorite place under my entire roof!

Beautiful Pillows: here, here, here, here, here, here, here & here.

Planters

Sara really knows how to add charm and beauty to her home.

Flowers

The back porch features petunias.

Greenhouse

Most of the original windows were severely damaged, so ultimately I decided to replace them with new, energy efficient windows.  I knew immediately though, I wanted to save all the old windows to have a functional greenhouse built in my backyard.

Close-up

I am so pleased with the way this turned out!

Inside

This is how the greenhouse looks on the inside.

Hidden Treasure

About 12 years ago, my neighbors were tired of looking at the decaying, unkempt cottage. To remedy that, they built this amazing brick fence! And all these years later, I get to be the beneficiary! What a dream!

Fence Close-up

Charming and timeless brick fence design!

Garage

One evening as I was outside watering, I turned around to head back for more water, and this sight literally took my breath away. A storm had passed through and the remnants at sunset were spectacular! The garage is newly constructed and not original to the cottage. Upstairs is for storage. To the left of the one car garage is my craft room.

Dawn

I feel that Sara’s home is a proof that dreams do come true when you visualize, believe and work hard for them. Believe in your personal dreams…

Similar Bedswing: here & here.

  Many thanks to Sara for this inspiring house tour!

Make sure to follow @simplysoutherncottage and visit her website to see more of her beautiful home!

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Seven (Surprising) Discoveries at the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival

My eyes are still recovering from watching back-to-back movies from 9 am to midnight for days on end at the eighth annual TCM Classic Film Festival last week in Hollywood. But, eye strain aside, it is an exciting, joyous event for the thousands of classic movie lovers who come to town from all over the world for the festivities. I can’t even tell you how much I look forward to this four-day festival. Taking place in two historic 1920s movie palaces, Sid Grauman’s stunning Chinese and Egyptian theaters on Hollywood Boulevard, as well as the neighboring TCL Chinese Multiplex and a few presentations at the nearby Cinerama Dome, there are up to five concurrent presentations taking place in every time slot (totaling more than 100 films) over the course of the festival. Choosing what to see when there are so many great options is part of the agonizing fun.

I’ve attended every TCM Festival since it began in 2010 and this year’s was especially poignant following the death last month of the beloved TCM host and father figure Robert Osborne at the age of 84. Getting a chance to meet Osborne at the festival and hear him introduce films and interview the actors and filmmakers he knew so well was every bit as exciting as meeting our favorite stars. This year, the entire festival was dedicated to Robert Osborne and there were many tears at various remembrances. Also many laughs, as this year’s overall theme was comedy in the movies. Sadly, many of the people who attended the festival in years past are no longer with us. I have so many wonderful memories of hearing stars such as Debbie Reynolds, Tony Curtis, Maureen O’Hara, Luise Rainer, Mickey Rooney, Betty Garrett, Esther Williams, and so many others talk to us about their work. This year’s special guests included incredibly talented folks such as Carl and Rob Reiner (who became the first father and son to get their footprints immortalized in cement in the famous Grauman’s Chinese forecourt), Sidney Poitier, Genevieve Bujold, Michael Douglas, Peter Bognonavich, Lee Grant, Buck Henry, Keir Dullea, Richard Dreyfuss, Dick Cavett, Ruta Lee, and Mel Brooks. Taking up hosting duties in Robert Osborne’s absence were movie experts and TCM family members Ben Mankiewicz, Illeana Douglas, Cari Beauchamp, and Leonard Maltin, among others.

In addition to seeing great movies the way that should be seen and meeting some of the people who made them, one of the best parts of the festival is getting a chance to hang out with fellow movie lovers of all ages and from all walks of life. I have made many friendships at the festival which continue online throughout the year as we share notes and gab about our hopes for the next year’s offerings. The night before the festival, the online TCM group I am a part of gets together at the historic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (site of the very first Academy Awards and the festival headquarters) and we often bring in a special guest. This year I interviewed the glamorous and talented Barbara Rush who regaled us for over an hour with stories of her amazing films and co-stars including Frank Sinatra, Rock Hudson, Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, James Mason, Montgomery Clift, Richard Burton, Kirk Douglas, and many others. Barbara, who turned 90 in January, was so full of energy she was still going strong hours later across the street at Musso & Frank’s, holding court with an adoring crowd over dinner and sharing poignant stories of her close longtime friendship with Robert Osborne. I also got the chance to spend some time at our gathering with Cora Sue Collins, renowned child star of the 1930s who was handpicked by Greta Garbo to play Garbo as a child in Queen Christina (1933) and also appeared with the great Swedish star in Anna Karenina (1935). As a young girl, Cora Sue acted in many other well-known films such as Treasure Island (1934) with Wallace Beery and Jackie Cooper and  Evelyn Prentice (1934) in which she played the daughter of Myrna Loy and William Powell. She so enjoyed visiting with us two years ago that she came back to see us this year and had a mini-reunion with Barbara Rush (Cora Sue had appeared in the 1935 version of Magnificent Obsession with Irene Dunne and Robert Taylor while Barbara was in the 1954 Douglas Sirk version of the story with Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson).

Sitting in movies from early morning until midnight for several days in a row is a thrilling treat that requires stamina and an understanding family, but I wish I could do it all over again just to see some of the films I missed at this year’s festival. Films such as Jezebel (1938), Born Yesterday (1950), The Bridge on the River Kwai (1967), Broadcast News (1987), Laura (1944), Twentieth Century (1934), The China Syndrome (1979), The Last Picture Show (1971), David and Lisa (1962), The Great Dictator (1940), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), King of Hearts (1966), Bonnie and Clyde (1967), Postcards from the Edge (1990), Casablanca (1942), and so many others. Oh, the pain! And yet I don’t regret ANY of my choices, from the films I’ve seen dozens of time to the new discoveries. Despite being a classic movie fanatic, there are some surprising holes in my movie repertoire — I can’t tell you how many times I heard my TCM friends exclaim, “You’ve NEVER seen The Awful Truth or The Palm Beach Story? What the hell is wrong with you?!” I can’t explain why I’ve missed some of the classics, especially when I’ve seen so many other films such as The Philadelphia Story, Meet Me in St. Louis, and All About Eve at least 50 times each. Here’s a rundown of seven films I saw at the festival this year for very first time (in alphabetical order so I don’t play favorites):

1. The Awful Truth (Columbia, 1937). Such utter joy with Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, and Ralph Bellamy at their screwball best. Leo McCarey won his first of three Oscars for this film (although he personally felt that he deserved it more for his drama that came out earlier that year, Make Way for Tomorrow, that screened at the 2014 festival). I have no idea how I missed The Awful Truth all these years but seeing it with a big audience on a huge screen was a great introduction and we all laughed ourselves silly at the story of Jerry and Lucy Warriner — a loving couple that splits up early in the film and then keep sabotaging each other’s relationships before their final divorce kicks in. Grant was reportedly very unhappy with McCarey’s directing style during this film, which included a fair amount of improvisation (rare for the 1930s), and tried to get off the film. Thank goodness he didn’t succeed since his performance set the stage for many of his best comedies to come including three more films (The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, and My Favorite Wife) that featured divorced couples who rediscover each other and fall back in love. The best screwball comedies always include a bunch of perfectly played smaller roles and here I’d like to call out Egyptian actor Alexander D’Arcy as Irene Dunne’s questionable companion, Armand Duvalle, and Joyce Compton as Cary Grant’s showgirl squeeze, Dixie Belle Lee. My favorite part of The Awful Truth may be when Irene Dunne crashes a party at the home of Grant’s new fiancée, heiress Barbara Vance, and poses as his gum-chewing sister, performing one of Dixie Lee’s risqué nightclub numbers we saw earlier. The film also features Nick and Nora Charles’ dog Asta in the key role of the Warriners’ pooch, Mr. Smith. Grant and Dunne would go on to co-star in two more great movies, My Favorite Wife (1940), and Penny Serenade (1941).

2. The Court Jester (Paramount, 1955). Danny Kaye seems to be an acquired taste, I’ve spoken to many classic movie fans who are lukewarm on Kaye and his films. As a young kid I loved Kaye’s TV variety show, and I remember enjoying him in perennial broadcasts of White Christmas and Hans Christian Anderson. But I approached this film with a fair amount of trepidation myself, I really didn’t know what to expect, and have to admit I was flabbergasted by how much I loved it. Seeing a glorious Technicolor restoration on the huge Grauman’s Chinese screen didn’t hurt, nor did the fascinating discussion of the film and Danny Kaye’s work between Illeana Douglas and actor Fred Willard (a huge Danny Kaye fan) before the screening. Kaye is just brilliant in the triple role (sorta) of Hubert Hawkins and his masquerade as Giacomo the Jester in order to gain entry into the royal palace so that he and his friends can reinstall the rightful heir to the throne, a baby with a telling birthmark on his butt, the “purple pimpernel.” Confused? Don’t worry, it’ll all make sense when you watch the crazy fun, including Kaye’s “third” role as a much more menacing Giacomo after he’s hypnotized by Griselda (Mildred Natwick). With beautiful Glynis Johns as Kaye’s fellow rebel and eventual love interest, Maid Jean, and a young and gorgeous Angela Lansbury as the recalcitrant Princess Gwendolyn who falls in love with the hypnotized Kaye, the film provides lots of color, music, and howls from beginning to end, especially with great actors such as Basil Rathbone, Cecil Parker, and John Carradine playing it completely straight during the nonsense. Danny Kaye’s particular style of wordplay is at its peak here: “The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!”

3. Lady in the Dark (Paramount, 1944). Introduced by actress Rose McGowan, the final film I saw at the festival on Sunday night was a rare screening of the nitrate Technicolor print of Mitchell Leisen’s Lady in the Dark starring Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Warner Baxter, and Jon Hall. To say that this is one CRAZY-ASS film is an understatement. Loosely based on the successful Moss Hart-directed Broadway musical of the same name with songs by Ira Gershwin and Kurt Weill, the film stars Ginger Rogers as the no-nonsense editor-in-chief of Allure, a successful fashion magazine. The repressed Ginger is dating her older publisher (Baxter) despite the fact that his wife won’t give him a divorce and she is constantly battling with one of her top editors (Milland) in such an irritated way that you KNOW they will ultimately end up together. But poor overworked Ginger is plagued by strange nightmares (which we see in all their bizarre Technicolor glory) and is finally persuaded to visit a shrink (Barry Sullivan) who convinces her that something traumatic from her past is responsible for her decision to eschew all glamour and femininity (a ridiculous assertion given Ginger’s beauty and her allegedly “plain” clothes that any woman I know would kill for). Enter visiting hunky movie star Randy Curtis (Hall) who everyone in the magazine’s office (except for Ginger, of course) goes GAGA for, including the openly gay photographer (Mischa Auer in the part that made Danny Kaye a star on Broadway) and the male assistants at the magazine (I guess in 1944 it was okay to show male-to-male attraction in the context of employees at a fashion magazine). But Curtis only has eyes for Ginger, and her dreams take an even odder turn. The costumes in this film (by Edith Head, Raoul Pene du Bois, and Barbara Karinska) are miles over-the-top, including a bejeweled mink-lined number (now in the Smithsonian) that was so heavy Ginger needed a second, lighter version of it made for the dance sequence. What this movie says about psychotherapy, femininity, and relationships is so outrageous and politically incorrect that one friend of mine at the screening immediately pronounced the film “monstrous.” But it is fascinating time capsule of another time and place, and definitely worth seeing even though it’s so weird I now feel like I may need a visit with Rogers’ psychiatrist.

4. Love Crazy (MGM, 1941). This was the first film I saw at this year’s festival, introduced by the wonderful actress Dana Delany who is a classic movie lover and has appeared with Robert Osborne on TCM. And what’s a comedy-themed film festival without William Powell and Myrna Loy? This was the tenth of fourteen films the two made together (including the six Thin Man films) and one of the few I’d never seen. In true screwball style, Powell and Loy play the married Steve and Susan Ireland, a deliriously happy couple celebrating their fourth wedding anniversary until Susan’s overbearing mother (Florence Bates) arrives to mess up everything. Next thing we know, Powell runs into his old girlfriend (the beautiful and snide Gail Patrick, a favorite of mine in Stage Door and My Man Godfrey) who has just moved into their swanky apartment building. Alas, a series of zany misunderstandings involving Patrick, her husband, and a random neighbor who is a world champion archer (Jack Carson) lead to Powell and Loy’s impending divorce. After a few additional escapades, the hapless Steve ends up being committed to a sanitarium by the City Lunacy Commission who mistakenly believe he is a homicidal maniac. We even get to see Powell in drag when, hiding from the police, he disguises himself as his own sister (which forced the actor to temporarily shave off his signature mustache). I know I don’t need to tell you that Powell and Loy eventually come to their senses and continue on in wedded bliss. The film, directed by underrated MGM director Jack Conway, includes some funny inside jokes such as a drunken William Powell singing “It’s Delightful to Be Married” at the beginning of the film,  a song sung by his on-screen wife Luise Rainer several years earlier in The Great Ziegfeld.

5. The Palm Beach Story (Paramount, 1942). Of all of my discoveries at this year’s festival, it’s especially hard to believe that I had never seen this film, given my love of Preston Sturges and every single member of the glittering cast. I’m happy to say that the movie surpassed my high expectations and immediately leapfrogged to my list of all-time favorites. Preceded by a discussion between film scholar Cari Beauchamp and Wyatt McCrea, star Joel McCrea’s oldest grandchild, we were also introduced to several of Mary Astor’s great-grandchildren who were present at the screening, including Andrew Yang who wrote the foreword to the fascinating book I just finished reading, The Purple Diaries: Mary Astor and the Most Sensational Hollywood Scandal of the 1930s by Joseph Egan. In the brilliant comedy, McCrea and Claudette Colbert play Tom and Gerry Jeffers, a married couple in New York that is down on their luck financially — way down. I don’t even want to explain the rest of the plot because if you’ve never seen the film it will be fun to come to it fresh as I did, but let’s just call out a few of the crazy folks that McCrea and Colbert come into contact with during their adventures, from the Wienie King (Robert Dudley) to clueless zillionaire John D. Hackensacker III (Rudy Vallee) who wants to shower Colbert with riches, to Hackensacker’s eccentric sister, The Princess Centimillia (Mary Astor) who wants to do the same to McCrea. Carole Lombard was originally slated for this film before her tragic death in a plane crash that year, but Colbert does a brilliant job in the role. Astor was apparently insecure about her comedy chops and terrified that she wasn’t giving Sturges what he wanted, but as far as I’m concerned, she’s one of the best things in the film. The Palm Beach Story is a delightful antidote to Palm Beach’s current place in our consciousness as the home of Mar-a-Lago.

6. Rafter Romance (RKO, 1933). It’s always great fun to see pre-code films at the festival, those films that were made in the early 1930s before the Motion Picture Production Code put an end to many of the risqué plot lines that were once commonplace in the movies. The rarely seen Rafter Romance starring a young Ginger Rogers (just before she was first teamed with Fred Astaire in Flying Down to Rio) was a wonderful example of all that pre-codes have to offer. Caught up in a copyright battle for decades, our host Leonard Maltin explained that this was one of the first public screenings of the film since its release in 1933. Ginger plays a young woman who moves to New York to find a job but is having a terrible time making ends meet. Her landlord, Max Eckbaum (George Sidney, a Jewish immigrant from Hungary who was the uncle of the younger George Sidney, a director of many musicals including another of this year’s festival offerings, Bye Bye Birdie), suggests a solution. Ginger can share an apartment with another tenant in his building, a man she doesn’t know who is an artist but works as a night watchman so they will never be around at the same time. But that doesn’t keep the two from endlessly fighting via sharply worded notes left around the apartment. Of course confusion and hijinks ensue when the two meet, unaware that they are each other’s hated co-tenant. Added to the mix are Robert Benchley as Ginger’s lecherous boss and Laura Hope Crews (years before she appeared in Gone With the Wind as Scarlett’s Aunt Pittypat) as Foster’s sex-starved art patron. One interesting thing that Maltin pointed out to us was how, in addition to changes in language and depictions of sex, the dreaded Production Code also curtailed the existence of ethnic characters in mainstream movies to a large extent, such as the character of Ginger’s Jewish landlord and his Yiddish-speaking wife (played by Ferike Boros who nevertheless appeared in small parts in several subsequent Ginger Rogers films including Bachelor Mother, Fifth Avenue Girl, and Once Upon a Honeymoon).

7. Red-Headed Woman (MGM, 1932). Historian and author Cari Beauchamp introduced us to another delicious pre-code that I’d never seen, the fabulous Jean Harlow vehicle, Red-Headed Woman, directed by Love Crazy’s Jack Conway. This one is so out there and provocative it makes Rafter Romance look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. With a sizzling screenplay by Anita Loos (Gentleman Prefer Blondes), Jean Harlow plays “Lil” Andrews, a woman who will do anything to get ahead — and I mean anything. She seduces her married boss (Chester Morris), causing him to divorce his devoted wife (Leila Hymans) who he really loves only to eventually throw him over for one of her new husband’s even richer clients (Henry Stephenson). The beloved character actress Una Merkel (whose opening credit elicited as much applause as Harlow’s in our classic movie-obsessed crowd) stands by Jean throughout the film, even during Lil’s dangerous affair with her poor but sexy French chauffeur (a young and almost unrecognizable Charles Boyer). Only someone with the incredible warmth, charm, beauty, and screen presence of 21-year-old Jean Harlow could make us root for a character that, when you think about it, is completely devoid of any human decency. Once the Production Code took full effect, someone who caused such destruction to so many lives would never be allowed to get away with it. But in 1932, she does, and I found myself cheering the surprising happy ending for the unrepentant but hugely charismatic Harlow. So tragic that the actress would die just five years later at the age of 26. Considering she’s been gone for a whopping 80 years, her impact on audiences, even today, is pretty remarkable.

Lots more great films this year, I could go on indefinitely. Is it too soon to start obsessing about next year’s festival? Being the total movie geek that I am, one of my proudest moments this year was realizing the close family connection between actors in two wildly different films that were made decades apart. Remember the Jewish landlords in 1933’s Rafter Romance? Their son, Julius Eckbaum, was played by young actor Sidney Miller. Sidney is the father of actor Barry Miller who I saw as Bobby C. in the screening of 1977’s Saturday Night Fever (with director John Badham and actress Donna Pescow in attendance). Can you believe the close resemblance between father and son? See you next year at the movies!