louise on the left (coast)

Bjork:  More To Life Than This. Charlie Chaplin:  Moving through space. Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo. Required Daily Affirmation Unexpected family: Chimp and White Tiger cubs Woody Allen in "Manhattan."   Scene: Tracy's face. These are just a few moments, both fictional and real, to hang on to while ringing out this year. No doubt 2011 has been a particularly trying one.  It's easy to become cynical or numb at times like this, but we shouldn't linger there for long. The truth is no matter what year it is there will always be moments which are genuinely good or funny or simply breathtaking and nothing can change those moments, no matter how bad a year it is. More reminders to come. Just as soon as I think of them.

I have to say, Bell, Book and Candle remains one of my personal holiday must sees. I think I've posted about this before, but it bears repeating given that right now it's the holidays and most theaters are filled with the usual, as I see it, over-priced fare which are about as meaningful as a drive-thru fast food meal. Bell, Book and Candle remains just as magical and timelessly charming today as it was the year it opened. True, Jimmy Stewart is about 15 years past his prime for being cast as Novak's love interest, but he's still just as adorable as always in his graying sort-of way. However, Kim Novak casts an eternal spell on us all when she graces the screen as a witch who has fallen in love with a mere mortal while hailing from her own wacky witchy family with it's wacky witch rules. (Something we can all relate to. The witch part, I mean.) Add to this story the combined comedic talents of Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, Elsa Lanche