Thanks MB!  Yes, I mean Mr. Starr.  I'm sure Ms. M. (I will never, ever be able to spell her last name, much less pronounce it) has her fans and they appreciate knowing about this opportunity to, shall we say, commune with her in all her glory.

I appreciate your keeping a lookout, so to speak, on my behalf with regards to Mr. Starr's appearance in the deleted scenes. I realize just how purely altruistic your motives are.  Altruism, yeah, that's the ticket.

DS content... speaking of Ms. M it looks as if the WB DS pilot has been buried in some bypass somewhere (obscure Wicker Man joke) so those who can't attend the DS conventions aren't going to be getting the chance to see her work as Our Favorite Witch?

cheers, G.

I wonder whether American Film or Video Watchdog or something similar will ever do an article on the technical aspects of Depp Shadows.  I am really very curious about the process used for the realization of what we're seeing here.  The snapshots are underlying just how unusual the look is achieved by Burton in this one.  It often really does look like an animated painting.  I may have to get the DVD back from Netflix at some point to try to see if I can tell myself through the film just which sequences were done this way.  It seems as if the process was used in its fullest form for certain scenes.  HBC looks as if she wasn't just made up but CGI'd for her role in this, and if it was done for Alice Cooper, why not for others?  But this is a kind of CGI that's new to me.  Then again, I don't see very many current films...

I just may drop Tim Lucas a note and ask him about this...  Had it not been for the series of captures on display here, I would never have noticed this aspect of the movie.  It's intriguing me much more than anything to do with the actual content.

cheers, G.

Lighting a candle for Philippe's safe and smooth healing, and may the cancer prove benign and heal completely and finally from his system.

Best,

Gothick

I have to say, that's a GORGEOUS shot of Julia's lab in today's capture.  I totally missed that phantasmagoric lampshade to the right side of the image.  I do find myself wondering how the family were able to afford some of the more elaborate and expensive decor elements although that lampshade has a very 1960s look to me and could have been derided as "dated" at the time.  Hard to say.

Or perhaps Julia paid for the furnishing and fitting-out of her own lab in the mansion...

G.

Hi Annie, thanks for your nice note.

Just to clarify, Felice has not written a book about Joel.  I inquired if Felice would be publishing more of his diaries from the late 70s and 1980s but his response was somewhat evasive--I gather that if more is published, there may have to be some editing involved to protect some reputations!

Felice has published two books of short stories that are fictionalized versions of material he has selected from the diary, but he specifically told me that none of the stories has Joel has a subject.

Best, Gothick

Thank you all for your gracious comments.

David, I wouldn't bother buying the book if your motive is to learn more about Joel.  He is mentioned maybe 3 times in the diary excerpts published in it.  The mentions are sort of like this:  "Joel Crothers came over and we baked cookies together. He was quite chatty, as usual."  Another entry speaks of Joel being around when Felice was staying on Fire Island one summer in the Seventies.  It was pretty clear that Joel was very much on the scene in the gay community of the time.  I didn't even know from these references that Joel and Felice had shared a sexual dalliance, although it was hardly uncommon in those circles back then (and, perhaps, some other circles more recently... but I'm going WAY off topic here).

Anyone who wants to "bully" Your Humble Servant is welcome to try. From my years of watching DS and the work of the incomparable Miss Joan Bennett, THE Mistress of Collinwood, Now and FOREVER, I've mastered the art of the "the freeze."  LOL!

cheers, Gothick

Fans, this evening I went to the one remaining gay bookstore in the area to hear veteran gay author Felice Picano read from his new book.  Felice's 1970s diaries were excerpted about 20 years ago in a book entitled The Violet Quill Reader.  I remember what a surprise it was to learn that Joel Crothers was a good friend of Picano's (and, he revealed this evening, an occasional bedmate).  I wish I had had a tape recorder with me this evening so I could simply transcribe Felice's words verbatim, but this was the gist of what he said.

During the Q&A, I explained my surprise when Joel turned up in the diaries.  Felice said that Joel was an amazing man, not only because he was so handsome and gifted, but also, he was something of a super-intellect--he gave Joel's IQ and it was quite high (I can't recall the number Felice cited).  He said that one morning he woke up in bed next to Joel and suddenly was seized with an urge to strangle him (very DS, isn't it?) because they were chatting and Joel "simply knew EVERYTHING."    He also recalled helping Harvey Fierstein get the first production of "Torch Song Trilogy" (a play which won awards and subsequently became a film with Matthew Broderick) and persuading Joel to act in the original production (I believe at Off Broadway's La Mama theatre).

He said that Joel was so brilliant that he eventually became bored with everything.  Joel was a huge star in the 1970s and 1980s on his various soap operas and Felice witnessed Joel being mobbed by women after a taping one afternoon, all seeking his autograph.

He said that Joel's work on DS could be considered "real acting" because the last thing Joel ever was was a "boy next door" type.  He said that Joel came from "a family of over-achievers" and he was just following in the family tradition.

Despite Joel's brilliance, he was a very kind-hearted and loving man and was popular among his friends.  He had a certain physical attribute that made him highly sought after among gay men but his friends cherished Joel because he was just such a nice person to be with.

I found this conversation quite fascinating since I have never read anything about who Joel was as a person.  I hope you enjoy reading these notes.

Best, Gothick