Today self had to work in the Writing Center. She actually had students come in, even though it is practically just the beginning of the semester.
On the way home, self considered stopping by Chocolate Mousse in San Carlos and picking up strawberry shortcake. But she desisted. Thank God.
Back home, self did a little watering, a little browsing of literary websites, a little more writing (a new piece! Yay!). She tried to calculate how long it would take her to reach the City if she took the BART as opposed to if she took Caltrain (for Luis Francia’s play reading at the SF Main Library’s Koret Auditorium, this Saturday). She did a little riffling through Vanity Fair and saw that they had a kind of Hollywood section, much reduced from previous years: The gimmick was that the actors had to pose like characters in one of seven “Depression-era” films (But, hello: no Chris Pine or Zach Quinto, no Jeremy Renner from “The Hurt Locker” or anyone from the cast of “Inglorious Basterds” — what’s up with that?). That is, the films weren’t necessarily shot during the Depression, but the stories had to be set in that period.
Self earlier wrote a rather glib post about who looked good in the pictures and who didn’t, but her mood changed drastically when, around 4:30 p.m., she went back to San Carlos to satisfy her cake craving and found that Chocolate Mousse had gone out of business. Not only that, Claire de Lune, the clothing store next to it, where self used to spend hours browsing the Sale racks, was also out of business (or, at least, had butcher paper all over the display windows and was apparently closed).
So self went home, and looked at her Vanity Fair post in a rather darker mood. Here are the movies that were “re-cast” in the Vanity Fair photo shoot:
- “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” (1969): a classic. The movie where self fell in love with Michael Sarrazin. The Vanity Fair photo featured the following young actors: Kat Dennings (of “Forty-Year-Old Virgin”), Anton Yelchin, Maya Rudolph, John Krasinski, Elizabeth Banks, and Hugh Dancy. Hugh Dancy looked like a 12-year-old. Self tried imagining John Krasinski in the Michael Sarrazin role. Hmm . . . results inconclusive.
- “It Happened One Night” (1934): James Marsden and Rose Byrne
- “Paper Moon” (1973): Josh Duhamel and Elle (younger sister of Dakota) Fanning
- “42nd Street” (1933): a whole line-up, the only actors self recognized were Moon Bloodgood (Yay!) and Rashida Jones
- “Letty Lynton” (1932): Self had never heard of the actress picked to channel Joan Crawford, but her name is Mila Kunis.
- “My Man Godfrey” (1936): Channing “Step Up” Tatum, dressed as a butler and holding a tray of hors d’ouerves, and Amanda “Mamma Mia” Seyfried channeling Carole Lombard (and doing it really well)
- “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940): re-cast with some of the actors in Ang Lee’s “Taking Woodstock,” but the only actors self recognized were Eugene Levy, Emile Hirsch (who, self is convinced, is good in just about everything), and Demetri Martin.
Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.
