LILY NIAGARA, RHYMES WITH ...

Good morning, Intersluts.

It’s Monday. You need a reason to live, and yr out of cherry cheesecake.* Well, there’s cheesecake and then there’s cheesecake, yes?

So ...

Seeing as how popfiend  advises me that burlesque is back – and it must be true if the Associated Press actually noticed – I should probably get you up to speed on yr classic burlesque queens.

So here’s a photo of Lily Niagara performing at the Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris.



[via Pulp International]

What a great name for both a burlesque queen and a burlesque club.

Moulin rouge,

This is dF

*Old Cole Porter joke.

WE'RE IN THE BUSINESS OF KILLIN' NAZIS, AND BOY, BUSINESS IS BOOMIN'

So I went to the movies this weekend ...



Inglourious Basterds

Trust Tarantino to have the guts to come up with a WW2 movie that not only gives the Jews a chance for some payback, but also has no regard whatsoever for historical accuracy. It’s a wonder no one thought of it earlier.

First off, it has to be said that the movie feels uneven, unless perhaps you go in knowing that the Basterds really aren’t all that central to the film. Even then, Tarantino’s tendency to throw in things for the hell of it (the style of the Hugo Stiglitz back story and using David Bowie’s “Cat People” in the soundtrack, for example), fun as they are, make for a bumpy ride.

Also, while I’ve never minded Tarantino’s movies being heavy on conversation – and he uses that to mostly great effect here building up tension for the violence you know is coming – this movie could easily be a good 20 minutes shorter without losing anything vital.

Even so, the basic story is quite good, and there are some seriously great moments, most of them involving Christoph Waltz (as SS colonel Landa), who ends up being the most interesting character in the whole thing.

Overall, it’s flawed but worthwhile, if only to start an argument over whether the Basterds’ ethos of cruelty makes them no better than the Nazis (which is admittedly far more intellectual than the film merits).

That’s a bingo,

This is dF

KINDER, GENTLER RENDITION AND OTHER STORIES

PRODUCTION NOTE: This post is political and therefore no fun, so you might want to skip it. I’ll try to switch back to campy movie posters, burlesque cheesecake and MRI porn momentarily.

ITEM: The Obama administration will continue the Bush administration’s practice of sending terrorism suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation, but pledges to closely monitor their treatment to ensure that they are not tortured.

Uh huh. Well, that’s okay then. Except that I don’t think the problem with secret renditions was lack of oversight so much as the fact that they were happening in the first place.

( Bloggety bloggety shut up old man, yr keeping the kids awake ... )

Get in the van,

This is dF