Ooooh! I haven't seen this movie since I was a girl!

Julia, starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave and Jason Robards, was a huge deal to me when it first came out in the 1970s. I happened to be in my Lillian Hellman period -- I read everything of hers I could get my hands on. "Julia" is a chapter of Pentimento, one of Hellman's memoirs. Robards played Dashiell Hammett, Hellman's lover and mentor and a great man of letters his damn self. And Redgrave was Julia, Hellman's girlfriend friend/idol/conscience. The "bad guys" in this story are as villainous as they come -- Hitler and Mussolini.

At the beginning of tonight's TCM broadcast, Robert Osborne said Julia marked Meryl Streep's movie debut in a bit part. I'll have to look for her.

I love Oscar time because movies like this one get dusted off, and I get to fall in love with them again!

Or not. This just in: I dozed off before the end. It seemed far more pretentious to me this time around. Maybe I should have just left it as I remembered it. "Pentimento."

Though I did see an impossibly young Meryl Streep in a scene with Fonda/Hellman, playing a shallow socialite.

Emergency provisions are called for

A winter storm warning kicks into effect tonight and will last until Wednesday morning. By that time, we could have up to 14" of snow. The ol' Gal has lived in Chicagoland all her life and knows what's required for times like this.

Cat food (check)
Cat litter (check)
Milk (check)
Coke (check)
Vodka … DAMN! I don't know if I have enough hootch to last me! Must stop at the store tonight!

I have to come in tomorrow for a client meeting. But I am seriously hoping for a snow day on Wednesday.

First of all, I'd simply like the day off. Secondly, I hate listening to people whine. It's winter in Chicago. WE KNOW THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!! That's why our closets contain boots with treads and thick mittens and down coats that make us all look like Ralphie's younger brother in A Christmas Story.

Snow can be pretty. Snow can be fun. Surviving a good snow storm can leave you feeling like you're made of stern stuff. And it gives you an excuse to drink tea laced with brandy. (Must remember to pick up brandy, too.)

Movie Monday

This week's movie topic is all about Bugs...

Movies that feature insects. Share on your blog others instances of those crawly critters and link back here at The Bumbles. And don't forget to visit your fellow participants!

One great lady springs instantly to mind: Charlotte A. Cavatica. She, who spun Charlotte's Web. In the latest version, she's voiced by Julia Roberts, who sounds very wise and soothing and lives up to how Charlotte's friend, Wilbur, eulogized her: "a true friend and a good writer." If my life can be summed up the same way as that spider's, I'll die a happy woman.

Steve Buscemi is a suitably ambivalent Templeton, and Robert Redford does a good job as the rather skittish horse, Ike, too. But Charlotte has been a heroine of mine since my mother read me the book, and to this day I when I encounter I spider, I try to catch and release.