Around the Blogosphere This Week

Miscellaneous bits of news and fun stuff from around the Internet...

...Here's an interesting DVD release: the TV series THE OREGON TRAIL (1977), starring Rod Taylor, comes to DVD on April 13th. I've become a Taylor fan over the last year so I'm quite interested in this. There's a nice writeup on the show on The Complete Rod Taylor Site.

...Bookselling giant Barnes and Noble is currently facing myriad challenges.

...There's a very interesting site devoted entirely to Walt Disney's Alice in Wonderland, which I found thanks to the blog roll at Motion Picture Gems. The site's focus is strictly on Disney's classic 1951 animated version. The Alice site links to more interesting places to visit, such as a Kathryn Beaumont page; Beaumont was the voice of Alice and also voiced Wendy in Disney's PETER PAN.

...50 Westerns From the 50s has interesting news on a forthcoming film from VCI, SILVER LODE (1954), starring John Payne, Lizabeth Scott, and Dan Duryea. It was previously released by VCI, and this will be a restored edition with extras on John Payne and director Allan Dwan.

...First they came for the margarine...now the New York legislature is discussing a proposed bill to ban salt in restaurant cooking. Such a law, if passed, is not only a further encroachment on personal liberty, but it also shows that those in favor of the law understand nothing about cooking and baking chemistry. It's also rather interesting that states with huge financial problems, like New York and California, want to keep wasting time with nanny state legislation; I believe there's a connection with the fiscal problems in there somewhere...

...Speaking of food, reading this post by the Pioneer Woman on making donuts made me hungry!

...This new book, released in November, looks very interesting: LUCKY STARS: JANET GAYNOR AND CHARLES FARRELL. Gaynor and Farrell costarred in a dozen films. The book includes photographs from the Farrell Estate. The author is Sarah Baker; it was published by Bear Manor Media.

...I just came across a listing for a biography published last summer on actress Evelyn Brent: EVELYN BRENT: THE LIFE AND FILMS OF HOLLYWOOD'S LADY CROOK. The authors are Lynn Kear and James King. Longtime classic film biographer James Robert Parish gives the book a thumbs up in an Amazon review.

...Some of the latest interesting DVD reviews at Glenn Erickson's DVD Savant page: ABOVE AND BEYOND (1952) and George Bernard Shaw on Film. ABOVE AND BEYOND, which I reviewed here, airs again on Turner Classic Movies on April 21, 2010.

...The upcoming Hedy Lamarr biography, BEAUTIFUL: THE LIFE OF HEDY LAMARR by Stephen Shearer, has had its publication date moved from July 6 to September 28, 2010. Amazon has posted the cover, seen here.

...President Obama's second cousin, Dr. Milton Wolf, is campaigning strongly against Obamacare: "I must take a stand for my patients, my profession and, ultimately, my country. The problems caused by government will not be solved by growing government. Now that this new era of big-government takeovers has spread to our health care system, it's not just our freedoms or our wallets that are at stake. It's our lives." Dr. Wolf also has a blog, The Wolf Files.

...We like Nigella Lawson's One-Pan Sage-and-Onion Chicken and Sausage, which I just made for the second time last week. I cut down the number of sausages in the recipe to around four to six small sausage links (Farmer John, for you Westerners), which are just enough, along with the fresh sage leaves, to give the dish a unique flavor.

...Amazon's "Big DVD Sale" has some great deals, such as the 6-disc Busby Berkeley Collection Volume 1 for $27.99 or the 6-film John Wayne Film Collection for $24.99. The sale runs through March 30th.

...The Warner Archive is also having a sale this week, on TV-movies and miniseries. The price on THE AWAKENING LAND (1978) dropped by around $7.50 so I decided to splurge and pick it up.

...I've enjoyed checking out the site Charming Vintage Recipes thanks to a recommendation from Panavia999.

...No Hollywood star for Asta? That definitely needs to be rectified. :)

...A Turner Classic Movies programmer announced on their message boards that the late Kathryn Grayson will be honored with 24 hours of programming during this August's annual Summer Under the Stars festival.

...Moira Finnie has posted an update on TCM's April Festival in Hollywood at her blog, Skeins of Thought.

...Attention Southern Californians: a tribute to director Jean Renoir began last night at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Actor Norman Lloyd, Renoir's longtime friend, introduces THE SOUTHERNER (1945) on March 20th. (More on THE SOUTHERNER is linked in a past roundup post.) Other films include THE WOMAN ON THE BEACH (1947) with Joan Bennett and Robert Ryan, and MOONFLEET (1955) with Stewart Granger and George Sanders.

Have a great weekend!