Archives For joan crawford

On December, I wrote about a couple of my concert music DVDs rotting away.

And the YT algo just popped this on the feed, talking about a number of Warner Bros titles that are apparently being affected.

Somebody on forums (!!! They still exist!) posted a list of probable affected titles, and to my dismay, the Greta Garbo and (both) Joan Crawford collections are affected. I just popped Mata Hari and Possessed on the player and seem to be playing fine.

Another one of the fears with (new) media and products that developed in types of plastic is that they’re decaying faster than people expected. I’ve had older (retired) players that were kept on storage that have a general sticky texture after a while. However, this doesn’t seem to happen to players that are in general exposure, not directly with sunlight, but in a generally airy room that’s in use, unlike a display room. I also happen to live in the mildest of climates, though high in humidity, temperatures never go above 30C (above 90F) or lower than 14C (lower than 55F). So maybe these conditions are affecting the storage of physical media.

I did the vast majority of my library collection before 2007, though. I did buy a number of things in between the mid-2000s to late-2000s, so if disc rot is affecting a general batch produced in between 2007-2009, it is a concern. I’m generally more worried with collections I keep in drawers instead of a regular shelf display.

Buying physical media has been a chore lately, you gotta keep an eye out so you make sure you don’t miss your delivery because, for some reason, people cannot just leave your package any longer.

Plus, distributors are doing physical media less and less. The whole of the Indian Cinema industry has decided to phase out physical media in favor of going all in on OTT and VOD. Even enormous hits like RRR are left with no physical release, even in the West. Even Disney is letting Sony handle its physical media, which seems like the end of an era. Then there’s the whole thing about editing and disappearing media from libraries.

So these are some of the most recent -and not so recent- films that have been added to the physical library. I wish I had more disposable income because there are a bunch of titles (and upgrades) that had been added to the wishlist.

These on top of some Bluray upgrades like Sion Sono’s Love Exposure, Kalatozov’s The Cranes Are Flying, brand new Criterion’s for Los Otros and Laberinto del Fauno. Some random BR UK release for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?

Also, this post makes it so that this year is the most I’ve blogged since 2020. I’m coming for you 2019. Four posts in Feb’24 is the most continuous blogging since Aug’18.

It took a while, but

Happy 1000th fan!

If you aren’t following the list yet, you might discover a gem or two!

I was looking for a decent quality image of Alexander Walker’s Joan Crawford: The Ultimate Star book cover, but I couldn’t find any :/ so I decided to scan my own. Take it as a service to the online community. I was going to watermark it, but decided not to. A link back or a shout out would be nice, tho :)

Fox Series Latino finally aired the final episode of Ryan Murphy’s Feud with Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, and feelings were had~

I’ve been a huge Crawford admirer for many years now, and I’m so glad that there are people who have begun seeing her as something more than Wire Hangers Campy Crawford. Murphy, himself, enjoys Crawford’s campy self [1], and I do too, but I’m so happy we’re seeing her as something more. Jessica Lange’s isn’t exactly Joan Crawford, but her Lucille Le Sueur was pitch perfect.

There’s a really really great article on Joan Crawford talking about the harm that Mommy Dearest (film and movie) did to her legacy, notable films and how unfairly we may have judged her considering how we don’t judge her male counterparts for maybe committing some of the same mistakes as parents.

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Head over to RogerEbert.com

Oh, Happy Chinese New Year! Let’s start my (supposedly) bad-luck Goat Year with the now-mandatory Letterboxd list of my film collection~

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I have a really weird history with films– born in the late 80s, you’d think I would’ve grown watching loads of 90s kids stuff, but I actually grew up with a lot of Silly Symphonies (which were released in the 30s) and loads of Disney 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s stuff, plus a lot of more grown up 80s movies. Poltergeist, The Thing, The Fly and The Stuff were particularly scary stuff (and I’m pretty sure I was scared of yogurt or white stuff at some point).

I don’t ever remember buying any original VHS tape, except for the rare birthday gift of a Disney’s Sing-Along Songs chapter or that X-Men tape I have. My first DVDs buys were Coyote Ugly, She’s All That and Loser — you can’t blame me. I was a 15-year-old girl. The collection grew bigger, and possibly exploded during my years abroad. I’m nearing my 500th movie.

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I would get a time machine, go back in time and have a torrid affair with 1930s Joan, if I could. xD I know this is a Sadie McKee still, but she was so good-looking in Dancing Lady.

Oh.mah.gosh.

queen-christina-greta-garbo-monja-alferez-maria-felix

It’s a battle of the horse-riding sword-brandishing tough ladies that -actually- existed in real life, with lives brought onto the silver screen, beautified while being personified by THE faces of their own Golden Eras.

In the case of Greta Garbo, of course, with Hollywood in her most fun and most relaxed Queen Christina, often mistaken for a man and featuring the infamous scenes of Garbo kissing a lady and being romanced by John Gilbert while in mannish get-up. Then there’s the Mexican and Latin movie classic diva La Doña Maria Felix as Catalina Erauso, escaping a convent and dragging it up as Don Alonso, making the ladies of the Peruvian Viceroyalty swoon in La Monja Alferez, with a twist ending to match Some Like It Hot.

And to quote Toni Collette:

We’re women dressed as men dressed as women!

This is a tough one. I do have a terrible Greta Garbo bias, but I think I’m handing it down to La Doña on this one. Maria Felix is like the awesome fusion of everything that’s good with both Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford.

We’re still being pumped for Haider [1][2] with an (short) interview Tabu is doing with Rajeev Masand about the apprehension of playing this part, her choosing the role, and how her ‘brand’ of acting is most often remembered for her seriousness. Though I still owe Hera Pheri a rewatch, I don’t think Biwi No. 1 classifies as one of Tabu’s movies, she’s hardly in it! I thought Aamdani Atthani Kharcha Rupaiyaa was funnier, though Kelki Dave stole that movie out of everyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydUt9GgHa9Q

The funniest bit is, of course, when it’s pointed out that she refused Vishal’s offered with a “I’m not playing Shahid Kapoor’s mother,” while bursting out laughing.

She also admits that maybe she’s just lazy to pick films, so that’s something else she has in common with my Yu-chan fandom, apparently. That’s why there will be no other one quite like Joan Crawford. I’ve been re-connecting with Yu-chan, I’m having such fandom conflictive feelings.