Natasha Richardson

1963-2009

Sadly, Ms. Richardson has succumbed to her injuries.  By all accounts a warm and wonderful person, at least we have her performances to remember her by.  "A Handmaids Tale", "Parent Trap" or "Patty Hearst" would be excellent ones to remind yourself of how talented this lady was.  One of my favorites is the 1993 version of "Suddenly, Last Summer".  Her portrayal of Catharine Holly is suffused with a delicate sensuality that's mesmerizing, and as sublimely Southern-Gothic orchidaceous as Sebastian Venables garden.

While the loss to the world of the Theater is great, I'm sure that our thoughts are with her family and most especially her children at this time.

Photo: Google

Hooray for Hollywood!

I love having people visit and showing them parts of town that they might not otherwise see.  March and Patty from PerfumePosse were in town this weekend and were wonderful company; I showed them Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Beachwood Canyon and Hancock Park.  They were as lovely and fun to be with as you would imagine from reading their blog, and seemed delighted with the parts of LA I showed them.  I even learned something- there's a great Farmer's Market in Larchmont Village I had no idea existed until today: even better than the Beverly Hills one that's a block from my house!

Photo: VisitCalifornia.com

The Haunting in Connecticut

I saw a poster for this new movie starring one of my favorite actresses, Virginia Madsen. From the title I did have a few snide thoughts as to what the haunting would be. The ghost of under-ripe brie? The horror of plaid pants worn with pink polo shirts? The specter of watery gin? But no. it's based on a true story you can read about here.

Like most people I love a good ghost story. However I wouldn't want to live one. Finding out your new home used to be a funeral parlor is weird enough. Finding out it's haunted? Less than fun. For people who think the family is doing it for profit, I think being labeled the town kooks make that an undesirable option for monetizing your life.

The original documentary, called "A Haunting in Connecticut" is available from Netflix and Amazon.

Photo: carmenreed.com