Sunday, February 8, 2009

My New Plan

From now on, every time a stranger around me is doing something really stupid and annoying, I'm going to immediately shake their hand. This way, I can be sure it's not Howie Mandel.

• Posted at 4:39 PM · LINK

Hitch Translated

An awful lot of folks who read this blog apparently also speak French. I got a lot of messages like this one from Jean-Daniel Brèque...

In the short Cannes 1972 feature you posted today, Hitch says, more or less:

"Hello, this is Alfred Hitchcock speaking from aboard the good ship, Michelangelo. I think this ship is a good place for a suicide, for there is a pool without water.

"I'm looking at the Palais du Festival. I think I see a woman without clothes. No, it's a man without clothes. I think.

"Hello, I see you have a tie. In my movies, even the women have a tie. But they wear it like this (mimes strangling)."

Thanks to all who wrote. Since you all said he said more or less the same thing, I guess you're all right. For all I knew, he could have been selling Amway products.

• Posted at 1:23 PM · LINK

Today's Video Link

Groucho Marx and Alfred Hitchcock were among those honored at the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. This clip shows a little less than three minutes from that event. The first part is Groucho arriving...and the lady you'll see with him is the infamous Erin Fleming. This was back when Groucho was still relatively coherent and Erin was relatively sane. Both those conditions would soon change and not for the better.

The second part is Hitchcock and it's all in French so I have no idea what he's talking about except that I think he's playing detective. Then again, I barely understood Hitchcock in English. I actually met Alfred Hitchcock once and wasn't sure what either of us was saying.

• Posted at 12:56 AM · LINK