Hokey Fritz! (This news means nothing to anyone who is not me.)

Bradley Whitford will again be delivering great dialog!

So I'm watching West Wing with my sister. And we're crazy about it. The writing, the cast, the feeling smart; the whole bit.

So then I'm thinking: What are these great actors doing now? (Except that I know what Allison Janney's been up to! She's Juno's stepmom! She was the voice of Peach in Finding Nemo! She's been doing other stuff too!)

So I start entering names into IMDb. And I find out (among other things — like that

John Spencer hasn't done a lick of screen acting since West Wing ended.) that Josh (Bradley Whitford) is going to be in a creepy-sounding movie directed by the guy who wrote Cloverfield. (The movie has "cabin" and "woods" in the title, so you know it's either going to be a feel-good prequel to the Bucket List, or a horror movie.)

And I think: "I hope this turns out not to be the worst movie ever made." Because, as I say, I like Josh. I am loyal to Josh. And I hope that he marries Donna. (If he does, don't tell me, because I'm only at the beginning of season four.)

Well, fast forward about a month, and I'm poking around on the internet, trying to see if I'm still going to be able to watch Dollhouse in a few months, and I see that Joss Whedon (who is of too much significance to me to sum up in a parenthetical statement) chatting up some movie with "Cabin" in the title.

And I think: Bradley Whitford/Cloverfield guy movie. And angels start singing.

A few clicks away confirms that "The Joss" as we (me and the fun people in my head) call him, is indeed involved in the project. He wrote it. He's not directing it, but he wrote it.

Before I enthuse any further, I should let you know that I may well not end up ever seeing this movie. It's a scary movie; it's a horror film, and I don't do scary. Bleh. I don't like it.

Sooo....

This is just me being happy for two people I admire, who's names would sound the same if your mouth was full of toothpaste.

Okay, a few more geeky details, rated in order of goodness:

Good:

Chris Hemsworth (the new captain Kirk) is in the movie. Curiously he plays a fellow named "Curt."

Better:

Anna Hutchison, also known as "Yellow Cheetah Ranger" from "Power Rangers: Jungle Fury" is going to be in the movie.*
Best:

Topher is in the movie. Fran Kranz. I know Fran sounds like a girl name; that's all I can think about right now too. Except for the fact I love him in Dollhouse and will be very excited any time I get to see his work in the future.

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*I'm listing this because I need a third fact. Oh wait, never mind: Another Dollhouse vet is in the film:
Amy Acker, aka, Dr. Saunders, aka -------. Yay! She's great too!

Séraphine of Senlis

I saw Seraphine a few months back with my cousin. I was dazzled by the work of the artist in the film and made note to try to find some of her work online. But I negleted to at the time.

But reading this review by Jeffery Overstreet reminded me of my search.

So here are some of the painting of Seraphine of Senlis. Enjoy.

And if you get a chance, go ahead and see the movie.

I watched this last night in class...

I think my kids are going to watch it:


Richter's goal was to create images that were abstracted enough ("pure") to where they could be understood universally. He wanted to create visual music.

What do you think? Does he succeed?

Here's another film by a filmmaker with similar goals:

By the way, best to watch both with the sound off. These were not meant to be watched with music, they were meant to be music.