Today is Tuesday, February 20, 2024. Yesterday I was absent from this page because I attended a horror trivia competition at Rockbar, a bar on Christopher Street. Even though I was sorely ignorant of most of the films mentioned during the almost three-hour competition, I still enjoyed my time there. I left with the impression that the questions asked skewed toward a much younger trivia contestant since many of the films I had knowledge of were rarely the subject of discussion. The one question that did refer to the classic 1931 Frankenstein I did not know. I should mention that I did meet the member from my book club group close to 7 and we both joined two other participants, a man and a woman. At first, we were a group of four and then shortly afterward, a friend of “Jerry’s” did show up, whose name was “Murray.” Most of the 50 questions referred to movies made in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. Very few were from the classical period of horror filmdom: like the classics made at Universal in the 30s and the British imports made at Hammer Studios, those featuring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee as Victor Frankenstein and as Count Dracula.

Oh, that question from Frankenstein was this: What was the name of the creator of the monster first portrayed by Boris Karloff in this picture? In the novel written by Mary Shelley, the driven scientist’s name was Victor but in the 1931 version of the enduring classic, he was given another first name by the director or other people associated with the film. It goes without saying I couldn’t remember his name since I might have thought it was “Victor.” Have you given up? The answer is “Henry.” I have to watch the film again to hear his name mentioned by other characters in the production.

I did know the answer, though, to another question revolving around an older film; this time it was the second version of the perennial classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, made the same year as Frankenstein, in 1931. The question was who won an Academy award for his role as the embattled doctor? Do you know? It’s the great Fredric March in a very early role. Did you also know that there was a silent version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella? The acclaimed grandfather of Drew Barrymore, John Barrymore, portrayed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in a 1920 adaptation of the horror story by the Scottish author. He wrote the Gothic novella in 1886 and called it The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and it still fascinates viewers of the various cinematic adaptations of it and those who have read the original horror tale. According to Wikipedia, Stevenson’s story is considered “one of the most famous pieces off English literature, and is considered to be a defining book of the gothic horror genre.” The citation goes on to say that the novella “has also had a sizable impact on popular culture, with the phrase ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ being used in vernacular to refer to people with an outwardly good but sometimes shockingly evil nature.” Those who know nothing about this famous author should know he was frequently ill since childhood and “suffered from a chronic lung ailment with symptoms typical of tuberculosis, including breathing problems and spitting up blood.” Stevenson died on Samoa on December 3, 1894 as a result of “apoplexy” due to the heat. It was also described as a stroke and a cerebral hemorrhage brought on by straining to opening a jar of mayonnaise. Or a bottle of wine. No one is sure. (This information is culled from The Grand Theatre/Blackpool.)

I’m taking a break from the usual content of this blog which is ranting against generally one person on the planet and why he’s unfit for political office anywhere here in the United States. So you know who that is.

I’ll just comment on just finishing HBO’s season 4 of True Detective: Night Country starring the formidable Jodie Foster, who portrays Police Chief Liz Danvers who teams up with Trooper Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis) to investigate the mysterious disappearance of eight scientists from a top-secret research station. Along the way, Danvers must face her own personal trauma owing to a devastating incident from her past, the specifics of which are never referred to throughout the season until the finale that aired this Sunday. Throughout the series, we have two strong-willed women conducting a murder investigation in icy, cold Alaska and all throughout the episodes, there is a tension between the two women. Navarro is an Indigenous woman who believes in spiritualism and there is strong sense of the supernatural weaving through the episodes. I just know that everyone time I watched an episode, I suddenly got very cold. Now the show is finished and I have to seek something else to watch.

I’m also reading Virginia Woolf’s Orlando for my men’s reading group and I’m on page 122 of a 329-page book. The book is allegedly a biography of a nobleman born in England during the reign of Elizabeth I. According to Wikipedia, the titular character “undergoes a mysterious change of sex at the age of about 30 and lives on for more than 300 years into modern times without aging perceptibly.” Sheesh! This could be the first gender-bending novel since it was published in 1928. As to whether it earns my appreciation, this is too early to say. I must say that Woolf is a brilliant writer, but the jury is out as to whether I like the major character or not.

The novel, I’ve heard, has been inspired by the tumultuous family history of aristocratic poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West, Woolf’s lover and close friend. It is also arguably one of her most popular novels.

Today Elliot and I enjoyed a fine early dinner with our cross-country companion, “Patricia,” at Italian restaurant Park Side, located in Corona. We haven’t dined there in at least 15 years or more. Today we all enjoyed our filling meal enormously in that we all took home large doggie bags containing our uneaten food. I started with a tasty walnut salad, followed by veal parmigiana. Elliot hugely enjoyed a veal chop, while Patricia chowed down on veal Milanese. For dessert, we all shared a pistachio tartufo and had tea, decaffeinated cappuccino, and coffee. Who do you think ordered coffee?

During dinner, we discussed what we were reading and Patricia noted that she hasn’t read Woolf’s Orlando, but she has read her nonfiction A Room of One‘s Own, which I have somewhere in our apartment. This work is definitely an early feminism tract since Woolf argues in her book that women need financial independence for creativity and that women need to claim both financial and intellectual freedom to write. She also complains about the underinvestment of society in women’s education and decries a lack of women’s voices telling their stories. You have to remember that this book was first published in 1929 and that’s why her theme resonated with women – and men – back then.

Stay safe and be well.

Here is the latest pic of Atticus staring up at us from the card table Elliot found downstairs. I think it’s an adorable pic, if I do say so myself.