Love Letters to Old Hollywood

Alright, guys and gals, it's time for my world-famous flimsy post. This summer, I've decided to try and post once a week--not only does it challenge me, it's (hopefully) fun for you. I have a few things I'm excited to put up, but while I'm polishing them, I needed something simple to post and what's more simple than a photo gallery? I've collected random pictures over the past few months, and they finally came in handy. So, behold...our favorite stars drinking tea and/or coffee! (I told you it was flimsy. Also, if you're really craving for this post to make more sense, just pretend that it's for National Iced Tea Day, which is June 10th. Yes, I looked that up .) Barbara Stanwyck and Dennis Morgan on the set of Christmas in Connecticut. William Powell and Jean Harlow. Is Cary ever not amazingly handsome?

About a month ago, I got the pleasure of attending the Orson Welles Centennial Symposium at IU, an event I've maybe mentioned on here once or twice . While I was unable to make it to many things thanks to my job, I did get to see quite a few panels and films that were certainly exciting. The celebration kicked off on a Tuesday night (April 28th) with a screening of Chimes at Midnight , or Falstaff , a film that Welles claimed was his favorite and many say compete with Citizen Kane as his finest piece. I had never seen Chimes before and while I certainly appreciated it, I would much rather watch Kane . Call me an uneducated peasant, but it just didn't hit me where Kane does. That's not to say that the film isn't great -- it is. The battle scene is surprisingly unrelenting and confined, making you feel as though you're actually there. And Welles is of course wonderful as the rotund, comical, and drunken Falstaff. The film was introduced by James Naremore, a g...

I'm on a blogathon roll, apparently. This post is part of the My Favorite Classic Movie Blogathon in celebration of National Classic Movie Day (May 16th). Go check out what are sure to be many amazing contributions here ! ********************************************************************************* You may have noticed that the blogathon's theme requires me to write about my favorite film, which if you've been paying attention, you'll know is The Wizard of Oz . I'm crazy about it, and while the rules say that I can re-post a piece if I've already written about my favorite, I felt weird doing that, especially since I hadn't written it that long ago . So, I wanted to recognize the one film that could potentially, possibly, maybe replace The Wizard of Oz . Like, if Oz was forever made unavailable (oh goodness, I think I'm having a panic attack), this is the film I'd turn to in an instant. Well, after the proper period of mourning. I'...

This post is part of the fantastic The Great Katharine Hepburn Blogathon, celebrating the lovely Kate's birthday, which is May 12th. Check out the other wonderful posts! ********************************************************************************* Katharine Hepburn. Just the name means a variety of things. To some, it's that old lady with the weird accent. To others, it's the tough-as-nails actress who accomplished a lot. To me, it's...hard to explain. Katharine Hepburn is someone whom I've declared as my favorite actress for a few years now. She's never been easy to put in a box, wrap up with fancy ribbon, and present as "This is my favorite. This is what I like about her. Ain't she grand?" It takes a little more than that.

Surprise, I'm back before I thought I would be! And with a brand new obsession to boot: '80s television. I can practically hear your confusion, but let me explain. I've been trying to catch up on good TV shows, but instead of gobbling up the latest Netflix craze, I like to relax and watch shows my parents used to love, such as The Rockford Files and Mission: Impossible (both available on Netflix and probably YouTube). Over a year ago, my parents got to talking about Moonlighting and they fervently recommended it to me: "Michaela, you'd love it. It's just your kind of thing." I found the first and second season cheaply on Amazon and whoa, were my parents right. But I'll get to Moonlighting later... Fast forward to a month ago. I was channel-surfing and suddenly realized that Hart to Hart was airing on the Hallmark Mystery channel, a channel I didn't even know we had. I had heard about this show before, so I immediately began recording ever...