Avant-garde

Gotta love it that someone with the name Avant-garde just won the Scripps National Spelling Bee: Zaila Avant-garde. Her winning word: murraya.

Los Beach Boys

Los Lobos cover “Sail On, Sailor” — and other songs from Los Angeles.

“Everything”

Sebastian Knight at Cambridge:

Vladimir Nabokov, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight (1941).

This novel, Nabokov’s first in English, raises, again and again, the question that runs through Pnin: how does the narrator (here V., Sebastian’s half-brother) know these things? Whose nostalgia is at work here?

Related reading
All OCA Nabokov posts (Pinboard)

Following a leader

Wow. But not surprising. And where do you think he, with his dim grasp of history, might have heard this kind of thing?

(The ghost of Fred Trump walks.)

Nor is it suprising when a hard-right congressional non-entity declares that “Hitler was right on one thing.”

Mr. H

V. has been going through the drawers of his late brother Sebastian’s desk. V. expects to find photographs of “lots of girls,” “smiling in the sun, summer snapshots.” But no:

Vladimir Nabokov, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight (1941).

Sebastian Knight never wrote such a work. But his intention to use photographs in the service of fiction anticipates W. G. Sebald.

Related reading
All OCA Nabokov posts (Pinboard)

The Los Feliz Murder Mansion

The Los Feliz Murder Mansion is a seven-episode podcast from Cloudy Day Pictures. It begins with a 1959 murder-suicide and goes on to explore one Los Feliz house’s history from its construction to the present day, chasing down rabbit hole after rabbit hole. Stick it out after the first-episode hype and you’ll likely be impressed.

Domestic comedy

“O body swayed to music, O brightening glance,
How can I know my trousers from my pants?”

Related reading
All OCA domestic comedy posts (Pinboard)

[With apologies to William Butler Yeats.]

Mystery actor

[Click for a much larger view.]

The actor with folded arms: do you recognize her? Leave your best guess in the comments. If you’ve seen the movie, you may leave more than a guess. I’ll add a hint if needed.

*

The answer’s now in the comments.

More mystery actors (Collect them all!)
? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ?

[Garner’s Modern English Usage notes that “support for actress seems to be eroding.” I use actor.]

Cartoon chef mansplains mayo

[Life, June 28, 1937. Click for a much larger view.]

“Now I’ll explain, ladies!” But Clara was doing just fine on her own. I like that Jane addresses her and not Mr. Chef: “You’re right, Clara!”

Daughter Number Three’s post of an ad about “sissy-sweet salads” made me think of a Hellmann’s ad about a “he-man ‘chef’s salad,’” which led in turn to this ad. And speaking of salad, or “salad,” look at that delightful plate: lettuce, cheese, cherries, grapes, and a big glob of mayo.

Related posts
Hellmann’s or Best Foods? : Mayonnaise vs. salad dressing

Vintage sardines

Zingerman’s Portuguese sardines are available in the 2015 and 2016 vintages. The small oily fish are meaty and delicious.

Thank you, Kevin!

[Since 2017, “small oily fish” has been my deliberately dumb inelegant variation on “sardine” — like “slender yellow fruit” for “banana.”]