friday surprise

I got a treat in the post today! I have been checking the mail box obsessively all week, which was disconcerting because I couldn't think of WHY I would be so worried about the mail since it is usually just junk or bills. But not for the first time, my subconscious was smarter than the rest of me. I forgot that I ordered last year's music issue of The Believer a couple of weeks ago, and today's walk to the mail box found it crammed inside. I'm listening to the CD that came with it now. Hooray!

(Friday Surprise was a slogan for local department store Meier & Frank. Something EXTRA and SURPRISING would be on sale, I guess. They have been bought by Macy's and will be changing the name and all that jazz by the end of the year. This makes me sad and nostalgic despite the fact that I rarely shop there. The only explanation I can come up with is that I am more sentimental and sappy than previously suspected. ::cries::)

Last night I had made (extremely tentative) plans to go watch Xanadu on top of the hotel deLuxe's parking lot (it's fun, really!). But, as they will sometimes do, the plans never really materialized so I stayed home and watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes instead. I don't have a lot of deep thoughts about this movie (possibly more than I would have had about Xanadu, but who knows? That one had Gene Kelly and ROLLERSKATING!) It does lend itself to some shallow commentary, though:

+ marilyn wore pinkish lipstick with her red dress and it looked GREAT. (take that, you matchy matchy lipstick purists -- or worse yet, you nude lipstick at all time people!)
+ even though she and Jane Russell were be-girdled and bullet-bra'd within an inch of their lives (lung capacity had to be severely restricted), they still look more natural than today's silhouette of crazy-skinny with giant breasts. I suppose the fashionable silhouette of any era will have its supporters and detractors, though.
+ I didn't really love the music in this musical, except for the opening song and the big Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend number. Both of those were so good it makes it easier to overlook the rest.
+ that orange dress = fantastic!
+ I love Jane's halter in the gym/pool scene, but seriously -- are we to believe that those olympians are interested even a little in what she has to offer? They seem far more interested in cavorting around in their flesh-colored swim suits beneath the greek mural if you know what I mean, and I think that you do!

+ Hey, look -- it's the olympic team from the ship who are strangely now dancing back-up to Dorothy and Lorelei's cabaret act in Paris. Did they not win any medals and now must earn their way back to the states, or is this one of those instances where I should suspend some disbelief already? I will assume the latter.
+ don't get me started on the french street urchins
+ likewise the convenient taxi driver
+ I did like Dorothy and Lorelei's friendship -- they each brought something to it (Dororthy's 'loosen up and have fun' sensibility, and Lorelei's pragmatism and 'ooh, diamonds' sensibility). They were also genuinely supportive of each other and it didn't seem like either one of them had to do all the heavy lifting in the relationship, which is refreshing to see!