"Noel" by Linda Pastan

 

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Like a single
ornament,

the red cardinal
on a pine

outside
the window

is our only
decoration,

until
the snow.

Victorian Christmas Horror

Merry Christmas Eve! We are blessed to be able to listen to a brand-new spooky Victorian Christmas tale read by author Carla Pettigrew this year. Enjoy. 

These are Carla's links from the show notes, should you wish to explore more about William Wilthew Fenn:

Strange Stories of Coincidence and Ghostly Adventure

Table of Contents

Bibliography

About the Author

Carla's Substack

Carla's Reddit

Support There Might Be Cupcakes Podcast on Spreaker

W. W. Fenn Building, Fenn School, Concord MA. John Phelan, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

This Movie Could Have Been An Email

On Sunday, December 22nd, I watched Joker: Folie à Deux. I didn't enjoy it. I thought I would after roughly the first third, but it descends quickly into grimness after that.

It's a movie that could have been an email. That email would go approximately like this:

From: Todd Phillips

To: Joker Fanboys

Some of you undersocialized incels* took the completely wrong message from the first Joker film. In response, here are three pumps and an apology. Now fuck off forever, weirdos.

With all due respect, which is none,

Todd

*For a nuanced discussion of the so-called manosphere and its relationship to misogyny and male supremacy, please listen to Jamie Loftus's manosphere series on her Sixteenth Minute (Of Fame) podcast.

Todd Phillips, you directed Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born; you know she deserves better than to play the audience stand-in in your fan disservice film. You owe her another movie in which her character is a  well-developed and fully rounded human being with complex emotions.

Which is not to say that Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga played their roles badly. I feel they did the best the could with the material they were given. Their dance sequences were lovely. The material simply wasn't very interested in their characters as much as it was interested in pathologizing (certain members of) the audience of the first movie.

Given the recent folk heroization of the 27-year-old man accused of murdering the CEO of United Healthcare, this movie was badly timed as well as uninterestingly written. Americans aren't very much in the mood for a lecture about how the televised murder of a wealthy elite is the worst thing that could happen, more punishable than the daily degradation and abuse visited upon the poor and disenfranchised.

Wasn't one of the intended messages embedded in the first film that Arthur, an abused 7-year-old boy failed by the social safety net, unable as an adult to access the medicine (health care) that would help keep him emotionally stable, deserved real help with his problems? Wasn't Joker in part about institutional failure?

A movie about how individual responses to institutional failure are pathetic, useless, wasted efforts performed by doomed sociopaths is a bit bleak for the moment, Todd Phillips. Sure, no one wants to watch a movie where people from Arthur's neighborhood run for the local housing commission seats and work together to provide more low-income housing for Gotham City's poor.

Still, Lady Gaga was there when Vice President Kamala Harris was inaugurated. She needs a less grim, more hopeful project.

"Lady Gaga enters the inauguration platform as she prepares to sing a rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' at the 59th Presidential Inauguration ceremony in Washington, Jan. 20, 2021. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris took the oath of office on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. (DOD Photo by Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Carlos M. Vazquez II)." Carlos M. Vazquez II, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Arthur Fleck's defense attorney is played by Catherine Keener. She was in Hamlet 2, a goofy comedy about high school musicals. The actor who played her character's romantic partner in Hamlet 2 was Steve Coogan, and Steve Coogan also appeared in Folie à Deux as a smarmy tv journalist. That appears to be a coincidence; I didn't see anything that said Keener and Coogan were both friends with Phillips or that Phillips had anything to do with Hamlet 2.

Keener, of course, also played Ms. Nelle Harper Lee in Capote. Always and forever fascinated by Harper Lee and Truman Capote, I happen to be reading Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century by Roseanne Montillo. 

Everything always comes back to Capote, even the other movie I watched on the 22nd, Dear Santa, in which a middle school English teacher referenced To Kill a Mockingbird. And if that happens to pull once again at my Lucifer thread, then so mote it be.

___

A dream: Yesterday (April 25, 2016) I saw a screen capture from the "Book Job" episode of The Simpsons. In that drawing, a shelf of books about Southern vampires has one called Tru Blood. On the cover, Truman Capote is enjoying a blood martini.

Perhaps because of that cartoon doodle, I dreamed about Capote. In my brain's wacky scenario, I was in a 1960s prison with movie-Dick Hickok, as played by Mark Pellegrino.

I assume Perry Smith was also there, but I didn't see him.

Now, in theory, the male and female prisoners were supposed to be kept separate. In actuality, the prison looked a lot less like a prison and more like a coed dorm. My work detail involved cleaning rooms that women had vacated.

Ordinarily I was very scrupulous in my work. I didn't take any belongings left behind by the other women. But I take a small pink plastic bird and stick it in my pocket. I gave it to Dick because he told me he was saving up to buy a pigeon. He wanted to raise birds, like the Birdman of Alcatraz.

My Top 100 Songs 2024: Top 20

19. "Folsom Prison Blues - Live at Folsom State Prison" Johnny Cash

18. "Gin House Blues" Nina Simone

17. "pocket poetry" Sara Diana

16. "Helter Skelter" The Beatles

15. "Cherub Rock" The Smashing Pumpkins

14. "Joke's On You" Charlotte Lawrence - this is on the soundtrack of the Birds of Prey movie and therefore somewhat Joker-related, and therefore included on my Folie à Deux playlist

13. "Want You Bad" Bite Me Bambi - ska cover of the Offspring song from the year 2000

12. "I Want a Little Sugar In My Bowl" Nina Simone

11. "1979" The Smashing Pumpkins - probably my 2nd favorite SP song, lyrics-wise. It genuinely captures, impressionistically, the feeling set of teen years fading into dawning adulthood

10. "Malibu" Hole

9. "Pink Pony Club" Chappell Roan

8. "Already Gone" Kelly Clarkson - I very specifically associate this song with fictional Vicky in "A Broken Man & the Dawn."

7. "Drunk In Love" The Dan Band - this tongue-in-cheek Beyoncé cover slotted nicely into the Destiel playlist

6. "Poet" Bastille - I know I've been listening to this writing-themed song at least since September, when I shared in this Linda Pastan post. 

5. "Spider Pig" Hans Zimmer

4. "Cruel Summer" Taylor Swift. I came late to this song, but I was hung over from watching Good Omens season 2 and the line "Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes" pulled me in. (The Aziracrow of it all, yes, but also Gabriel and Beelzebub. I thought Gabe and Bub made a nice celestial couple.)

Taylor Swift really is a very talented lyricist. The more lyrics I learned, the more I liked this.

3. "Crazy For You" New Found Glory - Madonna Louise Ciccone was coming up in too many of my playlists, so I banished her and made a playlist exclusively of Madonna covers. This happens to work for Destiel playlist too

2. "Ava Adore" The Smashing Pumpkins - these are my favorite Billy Corgan lyrics; there’s a lovely symmetry to them. I love the guitar parts, and I love Ms. D’Arcy Elizabeth Wretzky’s bass part at the end. 

1. "Joyride" Kesha

My Top 100 Songs of 2024: 30-21

30. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth? Live at the Palace 1999" - R.E.M.

29. "20%" Hans Zimmer - instrumental, from the Rush soundtrack, went onto my Daniel Brühl playlist

28. "Come As You Are" Nirvana

27. "II Most Wanted" Beyoncé, Miley Cyrus - this was my favorite song on Cowboy Carter

26. "Red Wine Supernova" Chappell Roan

25. "One Night In Bangkok (US club remix)" - Murray Head

24. "Ralph Wiggum" - Bloodhound Gang

23. "Wicked Game (Live, Acoustic)" Stone Sour - Destiel playlist

22. "Fake ID" Riton, Kah-lo - I first heard this one when Tit Elingtin had Sirius XM satellite radio in his car and we listened to the Chill channel the first time we drove down to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to visit my cousin's son. That was Memorial Day Weekend this year.

Riton is a dj from the UK; Kah-lo is the Nigerian-born American singer

21. "Runaway Crush" Stella Soleil

https://thatwritererinoriordan.tumblr.com/post/697009137517723648/got-a-new-ls-450-aint-no-keys-in-this-doohickey

My Top 100 Songs of 2024: 50-31

50. "Disease" Lady Gaga - the song came out on October 25th and Spotify cuts off its metrics a week or two into November, so that gives some indication of how much I've had this track on repeat

49. "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" - R.E.M.

48. "'90s Baby" JT

47. "You're So Impatient" Pixies

46. "The Simpsons Theme" Green Day

45. "Father Figure" George Michael - Destiel playlist

44. "All Star Kansayasai" Onnen, Juicy JJ

43. "Heroes" Jill Sobule

42. "American Idiot" Green Day. You know why.

41. "Love Buzz" Nirvana

40. "Loverboy" Billy Ocean - I heard this song randomly in a CVS drug store and I thought, yes, that was a pretty good song from my childhood. So I listened to it some more.

Written by Billy Ocean, Keith Diamond, and Robert "Mutt" Lange, this song masterfully combines '80s synthpop with soul. It's really well-crafted, from the back-up singers' "oooh-waahs" to the galloping bassline. 

Also the video is giving Lando Calrissian and I love that for it.

Mutt Lange is Shania Twain's ex-husband. This recent podcast episode dives deep into the careers of two Canadian pop stars, Twain and Celine Dion.

39. "Till the World Ends" Britney Spears

38. "Batman, Wolfman, Frankenstein or Dracula" The Diamonds - Halloween playlist. Note that there was also a LVCRFT cover that came out this year. 

37. "Heart Shaped Box" Nirvana

36. "Wish I Knew You" The Revivalists

35. "Celebrity Skin" Hole - yeah, the original is lots better than the Doja Cat version. I'm a walking study in demonology; don't change the lyrics on me

34. "Ava Gardner" Superknova

33. "I'm On Fire" Bruce Springsteen

32. "Baby One More Time (from Kung Fu Panda 4)" Tenacious D

31. "Ava Adore (Remix)" The Smashing Pumpkins

My Top 100 Songs of 100: 60-51

60. "Buffy Theme" The Breeders - instrumental, on the Reading Playlist. My mom watched Buffy; I never did. But I know it had Anthony Head, the brother of Murray Head.

59. "Demons" Imagine Dragons - on the Destiel playlist

58. "Rebel Rebel" David Bowie

57. "Telephone" - Lady Gaga, Beyoncé

L-L-L-Lobster Phone

L-L-L-Lobster Phone 

https://www.tumblr.com/thatwritererinoriordan/750834452546125824/nacaru-cc-by-40?source=share

56. "Baby Daddy's Weekend" Elle King - fluffy summer party song about getting drunk and high

55. "Fictional Men" Peggy - is this the only song on the list that makes explicit mention of the COVID-19 quarantine? I hope so. I feel like I dug deep enough back into that trauma when I read Amanda Gorman

54. "Crush" Billianne - feels true. That IS what it feels like to have a crush

53. "No Ordinary Love" Deftones - Destiel playlist

52. "Stand Inside Your Love" - Smashing Pumpkins

51. "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" - Shaboozey - interpolates "Tipsy" by J-Kwon, which reminds me of the years I worked at a child & adolescent mental health facility and alternative school. It came out in January 2004