PoodleWrangler2001
poodlewrangler2001.bsky.social
PoodleWrangler2001
@poodlewrangler2001.bsky.social
dog-obsessed cinephile and reading enthusiast
Trees Lounge also suggests that recovery isn't possible for some (and is the film that most reminds me of so many regulars during my time bartending in various places; gahhhh, I went to so many funerals).

Also GIF-less.
December 17, 2025 at 5:25 PM
A number of film historians--Tony Williams, Barry Keith Grant, and Timothy Sharrett-- have noted the nightmare elements in Minelli's film. I don't think you've lost your mind at all:)
We are watching Meet Me in St Louis because apparently it’s a Christmas movie (no evidence of that yet). A child just tried to derail a trolley as a prank and Judy Garland said “you could have killed dozens of people” and then everyone laughed. I am losing my mind
December 13, 2025 at 5:19 PM
not my favorite (it's almost always Sherlock, Jr., which I watch every year), but my students were so, so smitten with the short Princess Nicotine.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Kug...
December 12, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Also,
December 8, 2025 at 12:55 AM
So many to choose from; suppose GIF availability may be the determining factor
December 8, 2025 at 12:53 AM
I'll contribute to the Matthew Lillard appreciation thread.

In addition to the obvious -- Salt Lake City Punk -- I loved him in Barkskins, as the journalist in The Bridge, as the best buddy in She's all That, and, most recently, as Gus in The Life of Chuck.
A buddy and I were talking about how good Matthew Lillard is just last week, oddly enough. So many of his roles must have been next to nothing on the page, but he brings so much energy and depth to it. When he pauses and gets emotional I feel it every time. My eye just loves him on film.
December 7, 2025 at 5:33 PM
If folks want to send him a postcard with this sentiment, the address is:

John Roberts
One First Street, NE
Washington DC 20543
If you see John Roberts in person, be sure to tell him he’s a worse Chief Justice than Roger Taney (pronounced “tawny”). That’s a nerd burn that will hit him where it counts.
December 5, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Looper is good; Paul is great in it.

I would also offer up Dwayne in Little Miss Sunshine
December 4, 2025 at 3:02 AM
I love Chris Chalk -- he's so good in everything -- my personal favorites: Paul Drake in Perry Mason; Yusef in When They See Us; that one episode in Feud as James Baldwin.
December 3, 2025 at 5:47 PM
The absence of functional cars is a significant plot line in The Stand. Motorcycles do figure in the narrative, but so does walking and one of the heroes, Nick, bikes.

Cars were the tool that allowed a soldier to escape the military facility and spread the virus.
Hivemind, I have a challenge. Popular culture is dominated by the car (car chases, cop dramas etc), helping us accept a car-dominated urban environment as normal. Can you think of any examples of popular culture highlighting bikes, trams, walking etc? I can only think of A Streetcar Named Desire.
December 2, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Also, several TV shows feature the L prominently: The Bear, Shameless, ER. Red Line, the limited series, also featured the L.

Southside with You showcases Barack and Michelle walking around Chicago
Desperately Seeking Susan and After Hours are predominantly about walking around the Village. Aidan Quinn rides a scooter.
December 2, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Paul McEwan has an article, "Racist Film," that discusses the challenges of teaching BOAN (as a lesson in American racism & a historically celebrated text). He's the guy who wrote the slim BFI text on BOAN.

Personally, I think it's important to counter the narrative
In your view, what should Birth of a Nation be considered important for, if anything? The size of its commercial impact? I teach US history and a class on popular culture history, so I want to get my silent film history more correct!
November 30, 2025 at 7:28 PM
It's that time of the term when I cast about for tiny prizes for the student who is voted "most helpful classmate" by their peers + runners-up.

I found this delightful bunting of Buster Keaton on Etsy from, I think, The Cook.

Also learned that "bunting" = term for "festive decoration"/garland.
November 30, 2025 at 6:26 PM
I optimistically long for a Jane Shore/Cersei-inspired parade through DC, and Hegseth pelted with rotting fruits and vegetables as people yell, "traitor" and "shame." Not naked, though; I don't want to be subjected to Hegseth naked.
Followed by prison.
I can't wait until this chest-beating imbecile is brought up on murder charges.
November 29, 2025 at 6:48 PM
just the state; not the actual county
November 24, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Klaus Theweleit's dissertation on the diaries/letters of the Freikorp, Male Fantasies, likewise, centers around homoerotic imagery (Vol. II). Theweleit's analysis is fascinating 'though the 2 published texts are dauntingly huge (1000+ pages). Hatred/fear of women = a central tenet of the fantasy.
Malcolm Nance said these sound like the titles of porn movies.
November 16, 2025 at 8:57 PM
November 16, 2025 at 8:32 PM
This is my favorite sentiment about AI art.

I bought stickers from Khallion on Etsy, an actual human being from MA, who makes art. www.etsy.com/shop/khallio...
November 15, 2025 at 9:22 PM
I can't be the only one who hopes for all bad things for Leavitt, can I?

I truly hate her with the fire of 1000 suns (for DJT, it's 10,000 suns)
Oh whoa!
As Karoline Leavitt concludes her press briefing and walks off, @andrewfeinberg.com asks: "What was the president doing with Virginia Giuffre for hours at Epstein's house?"

She did not respond.
November 13, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Is Douthat ever *not* cringey?
*Turns in film-critic badge, walks dejectedly into the night*
November 13, 2025 at 5:09 PM
The plug for Ordinary People was a bit of surprise for me (not because it's not a great movie--it is--but because it makes an argument for ending a marriage).

I love Judd Hirsch's Dr Berger performance. We would have no Robin Williams/Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting if not for Hirsch in OP.
(JKJK--actually the papal movie picks are kind of awesome & I love that he's reaching out to the world of cinema in this way.)
November 12, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Std. Poodles
antelopes described as "grace notes on the horizon" (K Norris)
cucumbers with dill vinaigrette
Hallstrom's film My Life as a Dog
the SD mixed-grass prairie
the sound of mourning doves
real plaster walls
swimming at dawn, in the rain
cardamom rolls (cardamom anything)
rosemary bushes
get to know your mutuals! list 10 random things you like

Lavender tea
Act Raiser
Glottal stops
Black tomatoes
John Candy
Daffodils
Rocky beaches in the winter
Guinea pigs
Olga Preobrazhenskaya
Jordi Savall
get to know your mutuals! list 10 random things you like

Jethro Tull
Fantasy movies made before 1960
Winnie the Pooh
Action figures
Christmas folklore
Time travel stories
Scooby Doo: Mystery Inc
The Legend of Zelda: BotW
Movies that change genre in the 3rd act
Slow Cookers
November 11, 2025 at 5:40 PM
People told me that reading all of Klaus Thewelweit's Male Fantasies I & II wasn't necessary for completing the doctorate. They -were right; it wasn't --but KT's analysis of white male sociopathy has been helpful for parsing motivations of the current administration (esp. Trump, Miller, & Johnson)
Joke’s on everyone who said liberal arts degrees don’t prepare you for the real world - my studies in rise of the Third Reich now doubles as a survival guide.
November 11, 2025 at 5:31 PM
you are Shiva!
headed into DC
November 7, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Students gave a presentation on Battleship Potemkin last week. One ambitious non-presenter found some 1920s Russian recipes and made Borodinsky rye/brown bread for the class.

Not celebrity caliber, but still . . . (don't know where she got the rye malt--maybe at our local food co-op distributor)
No promises but I would sure love to revive my silent era celebrity recipe taste tests. Have not done one since before the pandemic. Maybe the long weekend is an opportunity?
November 3, 2025 at 6:04 PM