Sunday, October 16, 2005

"Pardon me while I have a strange interlude."

The Movie: Animal Crackers, 1930 (Morrie Ryskind, screenwriter, from the play by George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby; Victor Heerman, dir.)
Who says it: Groucho Marx as Captain Geoffrey Spaulding
The context: Captain Spaulding steps out of his flirtation with Mrs. Rittenhouse (Margaret Dumont) and Mrs. Whitehead (Margaret Irving) to address the audience.
How you can use it: When you need a short break.

I got an e-mail yesterday from someone who said -- kindly -- that he doesn't find the new blog as entertaining as the old one. He is not the first person to have said this, and in fact, I don't always find it as entertaining, either. But everything becomes a parody of itself if you do it for too long, and I wanted to quit the movie quotes before I got tired of them. I like the Terms of Art, and am learning some cool things along the way, so I'm going to stick with it.

That said, my friend Gary suggested that I flash back to the occasional movie quotation, just to keep everyone on their toes. That sounded like fun, so I'll do that, at random intervals, whenever I feel like it.

"On one's toes" will be the theme of the day, because I'm heading down to Freeport for an afternoon of Cow Chip Bingo in the field behind Gritty McDuff's there. The Lechners and I will sit on the back deck, not down on the pasture, and wait for the cow to bless whatever squares we've bought.

It should be extremely entertaining, as long as the rain holds off, and I will bask in the company of four-year-old Grace, who told me last night that she thought I was funny and pretty. She can write my next personal ad.

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