Happy Oscar Nominations Day

January 22, 2026January 22, 2026 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to bring you the latest update on our catnapping situation. But first, my novelist wanted me to wish you Happy Oscar Nominations Day. Clearly, she thinks this is more important than what happened to Demeter, Edison and Madeline. Apparently, all the big holidays and events are happening on Thursdays these days. I might add it is also the first day of the Sundance Film Festival, making it a movie day all around. So, there it is, Happy Oscar Nominations Day. You can watch the announcement here. Let’s get to business.

As you know, last week we put a tracking collar on the last remaining feline member of our little motley crew. Edison put up a valiant fight in the park but still our dear Manx was carried off into the night by the evil catnapper. Charlotte the Chow followed the trail to one of the streets that leads to the main arterial with the rest of us in hot pursuit. The only clue we found was spilled Cherry Slurpee, which the twins Titus and Tyler lapped most of. The rest of us focused on the receipt that lay nearby. We now have a concrete clue to the identification of our predator.

We took the receipt back to the van and studied it. We found the villain paid with a debit card. We know there must be footage of this wretch on the camera at the 7-Eleven. But how would we get our hands on such precious information? Then it occurred to me that Wednesday was Squirrel Appreciation Day. Sergio! I told the others a dog could not sneak into a store without being noticed. But someone as small and as dodgy as a squirrel just might. My compadres agreed it was worth a shot and we all scampered home.

The next morning, and it was a cold and frosty morning, I went out and found Sergio up on a fence munching on a nut. I told him about the predicament and our precious Sciurus carolinensis was sympathetic to our plight. He said he would go to the 7-Eleven and view the previous night’s footage. He scampered off and I went back inside to brew a delicious cup of tea and await his return.

It took the better part of the morning but as I was perusing the comics in last Sunday’s newspaper I was delighted to look up and see the familiar furry grey face at the window. I hurried out and he showed me his phone. He had taken a picture of the brute: a burly fellow with mean eyes. Sergio sent the pictures he’d taken of the surveillance footage to all the other dogs, and we are studying the pictures as we speak. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: TRAIN DREAMS (2025)-NETFLIX**

This week’s movie was nominated for two Golden Globe awards and should have made a solid showing at the Oscars as well. It is gorgeously directed by Clint Bentley with cinematography by Oscar Nominee Adolpho Veloso. Though it is a profound and well-told story you’ve been forewarned, this is not for the faint of heart. It is a movie for grown-ups, and it may haunt you for days after seeing it. If you can’t handle that, go sit at the kid’s table and play on your phone.

Brilliantly adapted by Oscar Nominee Greg Kwedar from the 2011 novella by Denis Johnson, it is the story of a logger named Robert Grainier (another homerun performance by Joel Edgerton who clearly should have also received an Oscar nomination for his work here). We know at the beginning of the movie, he will live into his 80’s. The story opens at the turn of the 20th century where Robert starts out building the railroad in the pacific northwest. He headed out that way as a child and worked to survive ever since. After witnessing a shocking event he believes he might have been able to prevent, he turns to logging and floats through life without meaning. That is until he meets the luminous Gladys Olding (beautifully acted by Felicity Jones) at church. Throughout his life, Robert is haunted by dreams of things that are real and things that are not. Determining what is real and what is not real will become a harrowing challenge for him as the story unfolds.

Amazingly, the film was shot in the Pacific Northwest in Washington State in Colville, Spokane, Metaline Falls, Snoqualmie Falls, and Tekoa. This is marvelous and sadly shocking as Washington State has been a royal pain in the ass to film in thanks to its reputation of being too expensive and not lucrative enough. So, filmmakers have had to go to Oregon, Montana and Vancouver BC to get films made and I don’t blame them. It’s starting to get better but despite all it’s good points, Washington, though being the birthplace of companies like Amazon, Costco, Starbucks, and Microsoft is the ass clown of states when it comes to knowing how to make money.

Rounding out the cast is William H. Macy as explosives expert Arn Peeples, Nathaniel Arcand as storekeeper Ignatius Jack, Kerry Condon as forestry services worker Clare Thompson and Will Patton as the Narrator. The film also received an Oscar nod for Best Song for the title track “Train Dreams” by Nick Cave and the film’s composer, Bryce Dessner.

Pandemonium

June 26, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to tell you pure pandemonium has broken out. My novelist has had her eyes glued to the computer since this morning because the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Preview dropped today. This for me is one of the most heinous weeks of the year. It is a most dreadful event where she pays attention to the sale but not to me. Alas, I am left to fend for myself as she drills down page after page looking at clothing and bobbles until her eyes are bloodshot and she walks around like she is in a trance. I, in the meantime, have been working on my new story The Dog Doctor which I will be releasing chapter by chapter. But there she sits, absolutely addicted. There is something profoundly wrong with that. Anyway, I am now going to go fetch myself some tea and dog biscuits and stay out of her way until the fever breaks. Until next week I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: HITCHCOCK (2012)- NETFLIX**

Right now, Netflix has a fantastic array of Hitchcock films to watch including some of his very best work: Frenzy, Family Plot, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), The Birds, Rear Window, Vertigo and of course Psycho. And if you are a true cinephile you have seen them all, probably multiple times. If you have never seen these films, cinephile or no, all seven of these are required viewing. If you watch nothing else this summer watch all seven of these movies. Especially the last four as they are masterpieces. Movies don’t get much better than this. So, unless you are watching The Dekalog or all of Stanley Kubrick’s films, stop what you’re streaming right this minute and view every one of these.

Now to this underrated movie from 2012, which is about how Hitchcock went about bringing Psycho to life. One would think a director with as much success as he had would be able to make his next movie without much struggle. But alas, business jackasses are everywhere. Alfred Hitchcock (brilliantly played by Anthony Hopkins) reads the book Psycho by Robert Bloch and is immediately smitten. Not even his collaborator and wife Alma Reville (BAFTA nominee Helen Mirren) can convince him otherwise. He is so determined that no one knows anything about the book before he makes the film he sends his secretary Peggy (Toni Collette) out to purchase every copy.

Because he didn’t make enough money with Vertigo and the studio considered it a failure (If you can believe that. My favorite Hitchcock movie by the way.) they don’t want to finance the film. So, Hitchcock decides to put up his own money and goes to work hiring Joseph Stefano (Ralph Macchio) to write the script, Janet Leigh (Scarlet Johansson) and Anthony Perkins (James D’Arcy) to play the leads and Vera Miles (Jessica Biel) whom Hitchcock had a bitter past with to co-star. In the meantime, Alma Reville has gotten fed up with her husband’s dismissiveness of her contribution to his success and considers starting an affair with screenwriter Whitfield Cook (Danny Houston).

A Brand New Bunny

May 29, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to joyously welcome a new member of the Bunny family brood, Brendan D. Bunny, cousin to Bernard D. Bunny and Belle D. Bunny. I met him for the first time this morning. He is a whopping six inches from his head to his cotton tail and possibly three inches tall. He was rather taken aback by suddenly seeing a gorgeous parti poodle for the first time. I know how much beauty can be stunning to one so young and he scampered off into the bushes. Bernard has invited me to the family celebration, and I have saved the date. I am not sure what type of gift to bring. What should one gift for a baby bunny? I am looking into Bunnies by the Bay to see if there is something his family might find cute or useful. Perhaps a Roly Poly Bunny. That is always a good choice. And a bunch of parsley. I hear bunnies like parsley. At any rate, the whole event is quite joyous, and I cannot wait to attend. I have also alerted my novelist, so she is extra careful when backing out the car. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993)- AMAZON PRIME**

If you have never seen this movie, you really, really should. And it’s the perfect time of year to do so. Set in Texas in May of 1976, the movie is simply one day and night on the last day of school for both high school and junior high school students in a small town. But what a great slice of life this is. Funny, honest and accurately depicted in both costume and setting, this is Richard Linklater’s small masterpiece that sports an unbelievably talented cast of young up and comers, some who would become Oscar winning writers and actors, Golden Globe nominees, huge TV stars, and famous Indi Film darlings. Why can’t all teenage films be this good? They do not cost that much to make and the payoff, if the script is good and it’s filmed right, is huge. There are not enough teenage films about…teenagers. No teen is a superhero. Most teens are not the banal subject of slasher films. And most of them are not much different through the eras whether it be Rebel Without a Cause, Breaking Away, Napoleon Dynamite, The Edge of Seventeen, or The Breakfast Club. I would like to see a lot more of these types of films come out of studios and then I might go back to the theatre.

On the last day of school in May 1976, high school quarterback Randall “Pink” Floyd (Jason London) has been given a paper to sign he must turn into his football coach before the end of the year. It denounces using drugs, sexual promiscuity and in general breaking the law. To say the least, Randall is not pleased. His fellow football players Benny O’Donnell (Cole Hauser) and Don Dawson (Sasha Jensen) encourage him to sign it. His stoner friends Ron Slater (Rory Cochrane), Michelle Burroughs (Milla Jovovich), and Kevin Pickford (Shawn Andrews) tell him its bull and his intellectual friends Mike Newhouse (Adam Goldberg), Tony Olson (Anthony Rapp) and Cynthia Dunn (Marissa Ribisi) are just happy to be invited to the afterschool party.

In the meantime, junior high school students Mitch Kramer (Wiley Wiggins), Sabrina Davis (Christin Hinojosa), John Hirschfelder (Jeremy Fox), and Carl Burnett (Esteban Powell) are getting ready to be hazed and not enjoying it. Darla Marks (Parker Posey) ruthlessly leads the hazing of the girls while paddle wielding Fred O’Bannion (Ben Affleck) brutishly leads the raid on the boys. Already graduated ex-football quarterback David Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey) hangs out with the teens kicking back, saving the party and shelling out good and bad worldly advice.

Rounding out this stellar cast are Randall’s would-be girlfriend Simone Kerr (Joey Lauren Adams), and Mitch Kramer’s older sister Jody Kramer (Michelle Burke).

Cable Sugit

April 24, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my weekly blog post. I must tell you; internet cable is a nightmare. They are digging up the neighborhood to lay down Fios. And we are absolutely delighted by this as we have wanted fast internet for a while now. However, while they were digging up the ground and laying the cable we lost the internet. The Fios workers were kind enough to repair our cable so we have a television, but we could not bring back our internet for the computer. We contacted our provider who sent out a technician. Turns out whatever the Fios workers did fried our router which, if you have a router, you know they are not the cheapest toy in the Crackerjack box as it were. Anyway, our router was fortunately still under warranty, and we were able to order a new one at the cost of twenty-five dollars to ship. Dreadful. However, it is better than paying one hundred and seventy dollars. We are trying every workaround to use what internet we can. My novelist and I must be careful about using our phone for a hot spot because we would have run out of data for the month. Hopefully, our router will arrive soon, and we will be back to our regularly scheduled program. Until then, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: BEAU IS AFRAID (2023)-HBO MAX**

This week’s pick is without doubt one of the strangest movies I have ever seen. And that includes Blue Velvet which ironically makes complete sense to me. I will say Beau Is Afraid is not for all tastes, it is not for kids, and the ending is truly odd. But the first two acts of the film are downright hysterical, and they make it worth the watch. The film is wildly written and directed by Ari Aster.

The plot, if that indeed is what it is, is focused on a man named Beau Wassermann (bravely and brilliantly played by Joaquin Phoenix). Beau has reason to be afraid. He lives alone in the absolute worst neighborhood in America and is understandably seeing a therapist (Stephen McKinley Henderson). Today’s visit is extra special because Beau is going home to see his highly successful mother Mona Wassermann (played by both Zoe Lister-Jones & Patti LuPone) tomorrow. Beau has every intention of getting home to see her and has every intention of catching his flight and the therapist gives him some pills he absolutely must drink with water to survive the affair. But because an unknown person keeps slipping notes under his door all that night by an unknown person claiming he won’t turn down his music (Beau is not playing any music) he wakes up late to catch his early flight. In his rush to get to the airport on time he makes the dreaded mistake of leaving his suitcase and keys in the hall to run back and retrieve his beloved dental floss. When Beau returns to the hall both the suitcase and keys are gone. He then finds himself on a genuinely bizarre odyssey as he attempts to head home to his mother’s house and tries to get there in time before…well, you’re just going to have to watch it and find out for yourself.

Rounding out the cast of this whacky adventure are Parker Posey as Elane Bray, Beau’s childhood sweetheart, Nathan Lane as Roger, and Amy Ryan as his wife Grace. Also look for Bill Header in a small but crucial roll as UPS Guy.

Money by Gigi Floyd

April 4, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here once again and I must tell you I am feeling better. Through the course of the week, I have managed to gain back some of my novelist’s trust. She now allows me to go outside without a leash again provided it is light outside. I am, however, required to wear a leash in the dark. This has encouraged me, and I am delighted to have at least some of my freedom back. I am, however, discouraged about my financial portfolio. It is disheartening to say the least. However, the bright side is I am a parti-poodle with a financial portfolio and even though a recession is on the horizon, that must count for something. I am keeping my furry chin up and foraging on towards a hopeful future…who am I kidding? We’re all doomed. Until next week, keep your feet on the ground and keep fretting over your finances.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: ANORA (2024)-HULU**

This year’s Oscar Winner for Best Film, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Original Screenplay (all four for Sean Baker’s outstanding work) and Best Actress, Anora is a timeless look at how the wealthy exploit and extort from those less fortunate than themselves and the indifference they have in going about doing it. No, the film is not about tariffs, but the same idea applies.

Anora (Mickey Madison in an excellent Oscar winning performance) whose name means pomegranate, honor, grace and light (yes, this is important) is a stripper in a New York city club. She is clearly wittier and classier than her occupation implies. She prefers to go by the name Ani and is good at and very professional at her job. She has a sister and a mother we never meet whom she occasionally talks about. She is twenty-three years old and if one didn’t know she was a stripper one would assume she was an intern, a grad student, or something of that nature. Not to say interns and grad students haven’t worked as strippers, but essentially that Ani would appear to have a future outside her current occupation.

Ani is bilingual and speaks both English and Russian. Which is how she comes to meet twenty-one-year-old Vanya (Mark Eydelshteyn) who goes by the name Ivan. It turns out Ivan is the son of a Russian oligarch. After she does a lap dance for him at the club, he asks her for a date. Ani goes to his house the following day and the date of course turns sexual. Ivan then offers to pay her ten thousand dollars to be his girlfriend for a week, which she obliges. But Ivan is not all he seems and as Ani gets to know him better her world begins to spin out of control. Especially after she meets Ivan’s godfather Torros (Karren Karagulian) and his henchmen Garnik (Vache Tovmasyan) and Igor (Oscar Nominee Yura Borisov in a wonderfully nuanced performance).

Phobias

March 27, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce my weekly blog. Alas, I have not gotten over my sudden onset of phobias. My novelist refuses to let me go anywhere outside the house without a leash now. I am not happy about my newfound loss of freedom. Losing your novelist’s trust is not a joyful thing. Although I am aware I am not my usual self. I have begun writing a journal about my newfound fears involving humans getting too close to me. Which did get better temporarily when thunder showers came this week. I began to calm down. I curled up with a nice shot of Aquadent, took a nap and afterwards I began to write. I wrote about how I have not been out to see Bernard or his little sister Belle for a week and started making a list of what I would like the Easter bunny to bring. I would like a white chocolate bunny. I would like a stuffed chewy toy. And doggone it, I would like to get my freedom back. I despise this leash thing. I want to roam about on my little patch of grass like I used to. I must find a way to win back my novelist’s trust. Somehow, I must return to my old self.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE (2023) NETFLIX**

Nominated for an Oscar for International Feature Film in 2024, this film from Germany is a taunt and thrilling tale about a kind and moral teacher in one of the least kind and moral places in the world, a middle school. Leonie Benesch is fantastic as Carla Nowak, a young polish teacher starting her career teaching math and physical education in a German middle school. In her math classroom there is an exceptionally bright young student named Oskar Kuhn (Leonard Stettnisch) whom she likes and wants to assist him in furthering his education. At one point she presents him with a Rubik’s Cube which she explains requires math and not magic to complete the puzzle.

The school she teaches at has been struggling with issues of theft and Carla sees students and teachers alike taking advantage of opportunities all around her. One day she leaves her jacket and her laptop in the teacher’s lounge with her camera going. When Carla returns, she finds someone had gone into her wallet and taken money. When she reviews the video on her computer, she sees someone in a white blouse with yellow stars on it standing by her chair with her jacket on it, reaching into the pocket and taking her wallet. Oscar’s mother Friederike Kuhn (Eva Löbau) works in the student office, which is situated near the teacher’s lounge and when Carla goes into the office to report the theft, she sees she is wearing a white shirt with yellow stars on it.

Carla confronts Friederike and asks her to return the money and the conversation will be over. Friederike refuses to say she committed the theft and seems downright bewildered. Carla takes her computer to Dr. Bettina Böhm (Anne-Kathrin Gummich) who runs the school. Böhm calls Friederike into the office to try and elicit a confession and has a reluctant Carla show the video footage. Friederike refuses to confess to the crime and is put on leave. The event causes a rising tidal wave of schoolwide issues that come back to haunt Carla, including Oscar threatening to cause her harm.

Documenting

March 6, 2025March 6, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good morning. Gigi the parti poodle here to welcome you to another installment of my blog. As you know, I am continuing to take a break from my little stories I tell here while I continue to practice my writing and assist my novelist in penning her newest novel. This week, as is tradition, my novelist and I sat down and watched The Oscars. We have seen many of this year’s nominated films but not all and we are continuing to review them. This week we watched a couple of nominated documentaries together. I have come to find out that these are not comedies. I find myself rather disturbed after viewing them. Last night, for instance, I could not settle down to sleep. I had to shove and push my blanky in many directions. Nothing was comfortable. I also tried walking on my novelist. This did not help. She did not like it. I was finally able to settle down and listen to gentle music while I attempted to meditate and try and forget that the world is for lack of a better word, terrible. Which reminds me, I had a bath this week. I detest baths and yet I keep getting them. Perhaps I will film a documentary on that horror. Until next week, I bid you adieu.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: FLOW (2024) HBO MAX**

Hands down the best Oscar award of the night this past Sunday went to this absolute must see masterpiece. This was a tremendous year for animation with three powerhouse films, The Wild Robot, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Flow all competing for the prize. Honestly, all of them deserved the Oscar and if I had it my way it would have been a three-way tie with each of them taking home a statue. But if we were splitting hairs, Flow would have been my choice for the win. This visually stunning brilliantly told story became the first Oscar for the country of Latvia and a huge congratulations to them. If you see no other film this year, see this one.

Telling its tale with absolutely no dialogue at all, we find out that humans are gone. Empty houses, empty broken boats. Nothing. Animals, however, have survived. And one of them is a little charcoal cat with big bright gold eyes. The cat is suddenly startled by animals all running away in herds and it realizes something terrifying is coming. The cat runs into a friendly golden retriever who takes a shine to it, but the cat wants nothing to do with the dog. Especially since the dog appears to have other canine friends. The cat heads to its home, a beautiful place with cat statues all over the yard and a just finished sketch of it lies on a desk upstairs with no artist in sight. As the cat looks out the window, it finds the water is rising. Fast. It finds it must leave the house and climb up to the top of a gigantic stone cat structure much like climbing to the top of a large building. And yet the water continues to rise.

Much to the cat’s luck, a sailboat appears on the horizon. The cat struggles to swim to it and when it gets on board, it finds out it is inhabited…by a capybara. Turns out the capybara is kind as well as bright and resourceful. As they sail for awhile the golden retriever catches up to them as well as a meerkat obsessed with shiny things. The four begin to work together as they take a harrowing aquatic journey in search of food and dry land.

Never Leave a Poodle With a Babysitter

January 31, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. I am Gigi the parti poodle and I am upset. Yesterday, without warning my novelist took off and left me home alone. I couldn’t believe it. I was entirely by myself. I detest being left by myself. I heard all sorts of strange noises outside that horrified me. I had to bark at Alexa to play soothing music for dogs.

I was all alone from 9:45AM until 2:20PM. That’s when the Dogsitter arrived. I was taken outside and then returned indoors. The Dogsitter then prepared my lunch. I of course refused to eat. My novelist was not home, and I was not about to dine until she was. This young person, this Dogsitter, was not going to make me dine either. And I went on a proper food strike. The Dogsitter soon grew tired of me and left me to my own devices. I spent most of my time lying on the couch thinking about a nice slice of roasted chicken. I would occasionally wander over to the front door and whine wishing for my novelist to return. I penned my sorrows in my notebook. I could think of nothing creative to say except how heartbroken I was over this unspeakable act of abandonment.

It was not until almost seven thirty in the evening that I saw my beloved novelist again. I ran to the door and jumped up and down and up and down catching magnificent air. Joy had returned to me once again. But not before I reprimanded her for abandoning me. How could she do such a horrific thing? She said, “But I had the Dogsitter come and make sure you were well.” How does that account for you leaving me on my own for over four hours and then not returning home until after seven in the evening? Outrageous! She told me she needed to go visit a relative. After this heated discussion she prepared my dinner, and I ate it voraciously. Next time she had better take me with her. Until next week, don’t let your novelist run amuck.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: A REAL PAIN (2024)-HULU**

This week’s pick is an excellent, sometimes humorous, sometimes sobering buddy road picture nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Kieran Culkin and Best Original Screenplay for Jesse Eisenberg who in addition to writing the script also stars in and directed the film. The story opens in a New York Airport where laid-back Benji Kaplan (Kieran Culkin) calmly waits for his high-strung cousin David Kaplan (Jesse Eisenberg) to arrive. David calls Benji on his cell phone multiple times asking if Benji is on his way to the airport, tells him about the traffic, all the while suspecting that Benji may be running late. David is surprised to see Benji is already there. The two of them are about to embark on a trip to Poland courtesy of their late grandmother who has given the money for them to travel there as part of her will. Her hope, it seems, is to both reunite the estranged cousins and have them take a Holocaust tour to see the Majdanek concentration camp where she was held captive and miraculously survived.

The two board the plane and fly to Poland where they meet the rest of the members of their tour which include James, the tour guide from England (Will Sharpe), Marcia (Jennifer Grey), Diane (Liza Sadovy), her husband Mark (Daniel Oreskes) and Rwanda genocide survivor Eloge (Kurt Egyiawan). As the tour commences Benji charms the members of the group while David, who suffers from OCD, largely remains on the outside. But here and there Benji acts irrationally both with David and around the other members of the tour as the two cousins face some of the darker aspects of their present and past relationship.

Happy Oscar Nomination Day!

January 23, 2025 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the Parti Poodle once again. My novelist is better recovered from her RSV this week and continues to steadily work on her novel. We of course took some time this morning to watch the Oscar nominations. We were heartbroken not to see Pamela Anderson receive a nomination for her work in The Last Showgirl. We are, however, intrigued by some of the other nominations for the films we have had a chance to see and others we have not. Amongst the most fascinating films we have not seen are The Substance, Anora, Conclave, I’m Still Here, The Brutalist and Flow. Amongst our favorite movies to get nominations we have seen are The Wild Robot, Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and A Complete Unknown. This, of course, gives us an excuse to attend some more films. I relish this as I am a popcorn fanatic. That is the best part of going to the theatre. I love to sit in the dark and partake of the crunchy snack. I adore sitting in the plush seat with the extendable footrest where I lie down on my blanket next to my novelist and lean over and eat popcorn out of the bag as the movie runs. Ah, the life of a parti poodle. And with that, here is my novelist’s stream of the week.

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE ILLUSIONIST (2006)-AMAZON PRIME**

To celebrate Edward Norton’s well-deserved Supporting Actor Oscar Nomination for A Complete Unknown, here’s a smart fun stylish film of his from 2006 directed by Neil Burger and written by Neil Burger and Steven Millhauser who penned the short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” the movie is based on. Gigi and I happened to rewatch this gem last week and are delighted to have a chance to feature it as our Stream of the Week.

In 1900’s Vienna, a young illusionist named Eisenheim (Edward Norton) astounds audiences wherever he goes with his wildly popular, fantastic and complicated illusion shows. One night he asks for a volunteer from the audience and a beautiful young aristocratic woman named Sophie (Jessica Biel) steps up on stage. Eisenheim recognizes her immediately as his childhood sweetheart, but he keeps their secret and brilliantly performs his trick. Unfortunately, Sophie is engaged to Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). Leopold is a ruthless man with a reputation of killing women at his whim. He is a frighteningly powerful and possessive man and has his employed Inspector Uhl (the fantastic Paul Giamatti) and his policemen follow her around for her “protection” and of course to spy on her.

Inspector Uhl soon finds himself not only following Sophie but also investigating Eisenheim which ends up getting him pulled in deeper and deeper to the intrigue surrounding these three people until he finds himself on a collision course with his own conscience and an unexpected crime.

A fun fact about the film is instead of using CGI to create the illusions in the film Edward Norton trained under British Magician James Freedman and American Magician Ricky Jay. You can see one of the interviews about it here.

Certified Sadistic Accountant Chapter Twenty-Seven

May 23, 2024 ~ gigicatchesair ~ Leave a comment

Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to introduce chapter twenty-seven of my story Certified Sadistic Accountant. Yesterday my novelist got a couple of inoculations and is not her usual self today. I spoke with Bernard D. Bunny Wednesday, and he said he was sure my novelist would be down for the count. I said preposterous, my novelist can take a shot as well as the next human. But sadly, I am eating my words because Bernard has risen triumphant with his analysis. My novelist is not sick per say but she is unusually tired and worn out. She also pulled a muscle in her neck exercising and that makes her even more testy. And so, she is having me post both my story and her movie pic this week. I had to switch out her mouse for mine. She likes to use this large domed Microsoft mouse and I prefer the small purple travel one. Much easier for small paws. And as you can see, I was able to make it happen. Hoorah for me. After I finish, I am going to fix my novelist a nice hot cup of tea and invite Bernard out to lunch. I will have to make him a nice salad with the leftover iceberg as he is a vegetarian and all. Anyway, here is chapter twenty-seven of Certified Sadistic Accountant. Enjoy!

Certified Sadistic Accountant

by

Gigi the parti poodle

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Curtis checked his reflection in the vanity visor mirror. He put on the pair of his Aunt Odette’s glasses he’d grabbed before locking Fia in the attic. They were large thick rounded plastic aviator frames from the 70’s. They made the world blurry, but they also distorted his face enough to make whatever surveillance system they had in there recognize him.

He flipped the visor up, put on his leather gloves, grabbed the manilla envelope with the ransom note in it, got out of his Honda, and headed for the trading post.

The place reminded him of the bank from Dog Day Afternoon. There were two people ahead of him. He glanced at the distorted looking wall clock. Twelve-thirty in the afternoon. The lady at the front was trying to mail a package, but she didn’t have what she wanted packaged. The clerk was trying to help her pick out a properly sized box. Curtis marveled at how people with such minimal skills functioned in this world. The man behind her seemed remarkably patient but Curtis could tell he was starting to get annoyed. The woman was sweet enough. She just had too much air running between her ears.

Suddenly, Curtis noticed a small caramel and white kitten peek its head out of the enormous quilted calico bag the woman had slung over her shoulder. It looked at Curtis and hissed. Curtis furrowed his brow. First the delivery girl from the bakery and now this little furball. No one liked him.

“CeCe,” the woman said to the kitten, “behave.”

The clerk rang up the woman’s sale and handed her a slip.

“Thank you very much,” she told him. Then she turned around and looked at the man behind her. “And thank you for being so patient.”

“Certainly,” the man said.

The woman looked at Curtis as if she were about to say the same thing and got a strange look on her face and turned to leave. The kitten peeked its head out of the bag and hissed at Curtis again.

The man in front of Curtis stepped up to the desk and set what appeared to be a very heavy package about the size of two bricks stacked on top of each other down on the counter. “I need it there by tomorrow.”

The clerk weighed the package. “That’ll be three hundred eighty-five dollars and sixty-seven cents.”

“Jiminy Crickets!” the man said. “That’s highway robbery!”

“Do you need it there tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s what it costs when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight.”

“Listen wiseass, I could buy my wife a new engagement ring for that price!”

“I sincerely doubt it, sir.”

“Three hundred eighty-five dollars and sixty-seven cents is highway robbery!”

“But that’s what it costs.”

“I’m going to the post office. This place is a rip-off!”

Curtis watched the man storm out with his heavy package. He stepped up to the counter and set the manilla envelope with the ransom note down. The clerk weighed it on the scale.

“That’ll be twenty-nine dollars and sixty-seven cents.”

Curtis nodded, took out his billfold and slapped two twenties on the counter.

“I’m sorry, sir. Do you have something smaller? I’m running out of ones.”

Curtis pulled a ten dollar bill out of his wallet, set it on the counter, picked up one of the twenties and put it back in his billfold.

“Thanks. Sorry about that.”

Curtis nodded. He did not want to say anything or look up for fear the surveillance system could pick up his face or voice.

“Here’s your change.”

Curtis took the change off the counter, gave the guy a quick boy scout solute, and headed out the door.

Curtis returned to his aunt’s cabin just after two o’clock in the afternoon. He headed upstairs to the attic and knocked on the door. “Fia,” he called knocking on the attic door, “Would you like to come downstairs?”

“Sure,” she said.

Curtis opened the door. He saw she was in the middle of rehearsal. “Would you like some lemonade?”

“I can’t drink lemonade.”

“Are you allergic to that too?”

She smiled. “No. I’m just yanking your chain.”

Curtis shook his head. “Come on downstairs. I’ll go ahead and make it.”

“My dad’s coming to my place on Wednesday to pick up my aunt’s paintings,” Curtis said as he sat in the bookshelf chair in the living room.

“The ones you had me help you with?” Fia asked, taking a sip of lemonade.

“Yes.

Fia nodded. She wanted to leave on Friday to get back in time for spring quarter. And she just plain needed to leave.

“Thank you for curling my hair today.”

“Of course.”

“I am aware this situation I’ve put you in is harrowing. And you have surprised me with your kindness. I am not used to people being kind to me.”

“You’re not hard to be kind to, Curtis. You might just need some time to work through your grief.”

“Maybe. But first I must take care of business.”

“What business?”

“The business of settling the score.”

“You mean revenge.”

“Revenge is a dirty word.”

“So is business.”

“I loved Haven and Lance and Makenna, and those other two bastards killed her. Do you have the slightest idea what its like to lose the one thing in this world that makes you happy?”

“No. I guess I’m lucky. All that ever happened to me was I got kidnapped.”

“Getting kidnapped isn’t all that bad. I have cooked for you, given you a comfortable room to sleep in, and let you work on your performance art in the attic. It’s been a better spring break option than what your father set up for you.”

“I wanted to be his receptionist for a week. The point was to take a break from school.”

“So, you’re unhappy here.”

“Except for being pinned to the ground when I tried to leave it hasn’t been terrible. But you can’t keep me caged here. Putting stress on my mom and dad like this isn’t fair.”

“Your mother yes, your father no.”

“And you’re stressing me out too.”

“I don’t like doing this any more than you like having it done to you. But if I let them get away with this without retribution they will never stop.”

“Retribution is just another name for revenge, Curtis. It leads you nowhere. Except you ending up losing your job, your license, and your life as you know it.”

“I think you need to go back upstairs now,” he said rising from his chair.

“Right. Because if someone disagrees with you, you lock them in an attic.”

“If possible, yes.”

“Curtis, think,” she said standing up and staring him in the eye. “If you let me leave right now, you get off scot-free with no one the wiser.”

“What are you going to tell your parents? The police?”

“I’ll tell them I went off to spend time with friends.”

“They’ll never believe you.”

“Yes, they will. It’s a perfectly plausible answer.”

“No, it isn’t. You’re too responsible. I was at work when your father came into the office the morning after I delivered the first ransom note. He was certain someone had abducted you. And he did everything a reasonable father would do to get you back.”

“I’m giving you a way out of this. Let me go now before it spirals out of control. I’ll tell them my friends sent the ransom notes as a joke. A sick joke, but a joke. All you need to do is move on.”

MY BOOKS

**STREAM OF THE WEEK: THE SEARCHERS (1956)-HBO MAX**

Although it’s great to pick a newer film or show for my Stream of the Week, I like to feature a classic occasionally because I find there are movie enthusiasts out there who may not have some of these films.

One of the greatest westerns ever made, the legendary John Ford’s epic masterpiece is not a typical western story. And its subject matter is not for the faint of heart. It’s ugly and relentless and shows ruthlessness on both the side of the settlers and the side of the Native Americans.

Based on the book The Searchers by Alan LeMay it is the story of Civil War veteran Ethan Edwards who comes home after eight years to see his brother Arron Edwards (Walter Croy) and his brother’s family: wife Martha (Dorothy Jordan), oldest daughter Lucy (Pippa Scott), young son Ben (Robert Lyden) and youngest daughter, eight-year-old Debbie (Lana Woods). Ethan has a large collection of gold coins for which he gives no explanation as to how he acquired them. Ethan finds out his brother has adopted a young man named Martin Pawley (Jeffery Hunter) who is one-eighth Cherokee which does not go over well with Ethan.

Not long after Ethan’s arrival Arron’s neighbor Lars Jorgensen (John Qualen) finds his cattle stolen. Under the leadership of Rev. Captain Samuel Clayton (Ward Bond) Ethan, Martin, and a group of Rangers head out to find what happened only to realize they have been tricked by the Comanche tribe who has led them astray so they can carry out a murderous attack. Ethan and Martin return to Arron’s home to find Arron and young Ben killed and scalped and Martha raped, murdered, and scalped. But the two girls Lucy and Debbie are missing sending Ethan, Martin, and Lucy’s fiancé Brad (Harry Carry Jr.) on a long and brutal Odessey to find them and bring them home. A teenage Natalie Wood rounds out the cast.

Some critics have suggested perhaps Ethan and his brother’s wife Martha may have had an affair and Ethan having been gone eight years and Debbie being eight may explain why Ethan left originally and why he searches so tenaciously for Debbie.