Wednesday, February 12, 2014

WWW.WEDNESDAY

To play along, just answer the following three questions ...

• What are you currently reading?  Primetime Princess by Lindy DeKoven. It bills itself as a Devil Wears Prada set in TV, rather than publishing, but I don't think that's accurate. DWP (the book) had a very unlikeable heroine. Yes, her boss was a horror, but the protagonist was hard to root for, as well. (I feel vindicated on this point, since Anne Hathaway's character in the movie was much nicer.) ANYWAY, Alexa in Primetime Princess is up against an entrenched old boy's network. The TV network provides an interesting backdrop and I enjoy reading about Alexa's different friends. I know I've always had a variety of people in my life, different friends I turn to at different times, and I like seeing that aspect of Alexa's life portrayed in this book.

• What did you recently finish reading? Bruce, by Peter Ames Carlin. OK, I admit it: I didn't really finish it. I put down this detailed (500+ page) Springsteen biography because I needed a little chick-lit break. I'll return to Bruce soon.

• What do you think you’ll read next? We'll see how I feel after Bruce.

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A little in love


My classic movie group got together Tuesday night for the screwball classic Bringing Up Baby. When I first saw it back in the 1970s, I was bowled over by Katharine Hepburn. And she is beautiful and so very funny in a fast-talking, breathless and exhausting kind of way.

But this time around I was enchanted by watching Cary Grant respond to her. His posture, his reaction shots, were almost as funny as her antics and it doesn't hurt at all that he looks and sounds, well, like Cary Grant.

I love watching Hepburn with Spencer Tracy because I know their story. But I wonder, if I was able to see The Great Kate's work without being biased by her astounding biography, if I wouldn't prefer her with Cary Grant. Think of him wooing her away from both her stodgy fiance and the brash reporter in The Philadelphia Story, or her falling in dear, unrequited love with him in Holiday. Sigh ...

On a side note, it was nice to see Martha again. She's become my classic film series buddy.  On the face of it, we don't have much in common. She's an African American CTA bus driver and grandmother. But we do both love our movies!