feeling old old old as I approach this year's b'day

Let me fix that: feeling old old old hot hot hot as I approach this year's b'day

A.O. Scott at the NY Times likes John Travolta's performance in Hairspray:

What is missing from “Hairspray” is anything beyond the faintest whisper of camp. The original “Hairspray” may have been Mr. Waters’s most wholesome, least naughty film, but there was no containing the volcanic audacity of Divine, who created the role of Edna Turnblad. Divine, who was born Harris Glen Milstead and who died shortly after the first “Hairspray” was released, belonged to an era when drag performance still carried more than a touch of the louche and the dangerous, and was one of the artists who helped push it into the cultural mainstream.

Perhaps wisely Mr. Travolta does not try to duplicate the outsize, deliberately grotesque theatricality of Divine’s performance or to mimic the Mermanesque extravagance of Harvey Fierstein’s Broadway turn, choosing instead to tackle the role of Edna as an acting challenge. The odd result is that she becomes the most realistic, least stereotypical character in the film, and the only one who speaks in a recognizable (if not always convincing) Baltimore accent. (“Ahm tryna orn,” she complains when she’s trying to iron.)

What is missing from “Hairspray” is anything beyond the faintest whisper of camp.

God, that's sad. Expected, but sad.

You mean Mulholland Drive? Love that movie and her in it!

D'oh! Yes. I blame my own nearing-40ness and the tiny human and accompanying catastrophic sleep dep. I am tired and gray and stupid before my time and I can no longer tell the difference between a fall and a drive.

I am tired and gray and stupid before my time

Nuh and uh! Well, at least on the gray and stupid part. I'm sure Mommyness makes you tired.

You mean Mulholland Drive? Love that movie and her in it!

YES! (still hate it...it just seemed like a film school to me)

My (crazy genius) hair dresser also does Divine's mom's hair. ( / Smalltimore)

the only one who speaks in a recognizable (if not always convincing) Baltimore accent. (“Ahm tryna orn,” she complains when she’s trying to iron.)

My actress friend here (she's originally from Michigan) who kind of specializes in doing all kinds of accents is comically incapable of imitating the Baltimore accent.

Mommyness is really bringing on the gray, too, like woah. Speaking of which, I need to hop over to Bitches for hair advice.

I can no longer tell the difference between a fall and a drive.

Falls: [link]

Drive: [link]

I'm kidding around here, natch, but I really did love Mulholland Drive on second viewing after a fairly negative take on first viewing. The structure is so byzantine that you sort of have to know what's going on for the movie to make any sense, even dream-sense.

I enjoyed (and was creeped, in a good way, by) MD the first time around, but didn't really get it. Second time around, I got it (first half is dream, second half is reality) and ended up loving it. Of course, two hot women making out never hurts...

The structure is so byzantine that you sort of have to know what's going on for the movie to make any sense, even dream-sense.

You seen Inland Empire yet, Corwood? Makes MD seem positively straightforward by comparison, and I don't thinking knowing what's going to happen would make any more coherent. I loved it, but (I think as Lynch said) it's a movie you have to let happen to you rather than one you watch.

Haven't seen it yet, Frank, but it's on my radar. The mostly baffled reviews haven't really helped it move up in my queue, though.