La Belle et la Bête

Josette Day and Jean Marais as the title characters.

 

Finally saw Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast (1946) after years of it sitting on my to-be-watched list. I saw it on HBOmax and it's usually on the Criterion Channel as well. The story moves along at a decent pace and has enough weirdness throughout to keep me interested. I especially like the moving heads of the sculptures. What impressed me was how much it felt like a Hollywood picture of the same era. Cocteau's Orpheus (1950), on the other hand feels much more like an indie film. Is it the budget? Or is Beauty's surrealism subsumed by the fairy tale nature of the story while that of Orpheus stands out in sharper contrast, affecting our biases? I recommend this film to people who have exactly my tastes.

Goals Update

I’ve been gone for a while! Here’s an update on the goals I posted on January 1st. 

The short version: IT'S GOING TERRIBLY!

The longer version:

1. Write 365,000 words: I currently only have 103,068 words in. I’m running about 109,000 behind.

2. Finish Hive Five: Not even close. I’m about 22 chapters into what I think will run about thirty chapters and those 22 are far from final drafts.

3. Read 104 books: I’m currently at 29 books

4. Have 50 patrons (at the same time): The strategy here was to produce weekly videos and establish a YouTube presence. First I didn’t have enough time because of school. Then I was done with school and no longer had free access to Adobe products through the school. So, that strategy is going nowhere. I seem to have one more patron than I started the years with though, so, technically, I’m going in the right direction (hey, I’ll take whatever progress I can get).

5. Weigh 225 pounds (and don’t get heavier after I do): I think I’ve actually gained weight since the beginning of the year, but I’m not giving up yet. I might even try this time.

6. Write 52 blog posts on The One-Thousand: We’re in August and this is post number six!

7. Get my A.A. in English: I succeeded!

Well, I’ve got a lot of work to do. Better get to it!

BTPM 152

UPDATE: The Patreon player is acting up at the moment. If you can't play it in the player, you can always download it and give it a listen.

Here's a link to the latest episode of Beware the Patronizing Mango, number 152. Enjoy!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/patronizing-152-68890838