Kate Violette

Time to read: 11 minutes

In this week’s newsletter:
The Timbit Times
Kate Film Club, 13 of 52: “Stage Door”
Kate Film Club, 14 of 52: “Bringing Up Baby”
Kate Film Club, 15 of 52: “Holiday”
Book Review: “Arsène Lupin: Gentleman cambrioleur”
French Study

I’ve missed two weekly updates since my last one because it’s been quite a rougher time here recently! My best guess is two-fold. One, we started me on a new treatment for my stubborn sinus infection: a particular probiotic that’s known to break-up biofilms, to produce glutathione locally (better than taking it orally and hoping it systemically gets to the right place), and has activity against some microbes that aren’t great for us humans. It was working well (I was shooting not regular mucus but what looked like baby jellyfish out of my nose), but was also disrupting my sleep with nocturnal MCAS attacks, so I had to pause it. So we’ve sort of kicked up the infection and paused the only thing that was really working. (We do intend to give the probiotic another try soon; more on that next time.)

My other guess for the recent worsening is that I had intentionally gone longer than usual between physical therapy visits—a specific form of physical therapy called fascial counterstrain, with a therapist who is well-versed specifically in tethered cord issues. The reason for postponing my next visit was I had an MRI with contrast last weekend to examine my pelvic vasculature for abnormal compression. (I don’t have any symptoms of this other than my general “molasses muscle” symptom being even more pronounced in my legs—but that could be caused by the suspected tethered cord itself, as I understand it.) In any case, it’s great news that I was doing absolutely terribly by the time we did the MRI, so we won’t get a false negative thanks to any benefits the tethered-cord-specific physical therapy work may be providing.

It’s additionally good news that my subsequent physical therapy visit a couple days later helped me improve a little, rather rapidly. It was getting pretty grim before that visit, with me having reached a point where it was becoming truly impossible for me to stand enough to simply feed myself and take medications. This is a rather serious state for me to be in since I live alone, am single, and do not have much local support. (I have a couple folks, but I don’t want to burn them out!) So if I become too ill to take my meds, I worsen even more quickly.

For the moment anyway, I have yet again escaped the worst, thanks to my physical therapy at least regaining me the ability to somewhat putter around the house ok. I do hope I can figure out a better support system before the next such crisis occurs.

I have however managed to keep up with my Katharine Hepburn movie watching while I’ve been “away”—I’ve got three Hepburn movie reviews for you this week! Don’t worry, two are shorter than usual. And I even have a book review! I finished reading my first ever book in French! (Cue whatever your personal favorite GIF is of excitement and celebration.)

The Timbit Times

I was actually feeling a tiny wind of energy and mobility in the afternoon after my MRI appointment. Was this because of the extra antihistamines I’d taken that day? Benefit of some IV saline along with the contrast? Who can say. But like a chump who just woke up with ME/CFS yesterday, I (unwisely) spent the sneaky fake energy by planting some seeds in the half of a garden box my friends set aside for me. I could tell by the time I was wrapping up that I had made a terrible mistake, and I then paid for it in a terrible crash the next couple days.

On the bright side, at least my tiny garden is started and I look forward to seeing some sprouts soon! I can see the garden from where I lie down on my couch, so I’m looking forward to that nice bit of nature this summer, to keep me company while I’m stuck horizontal. I also hope that getting interesting varieties of things from the garden will help liven up my still-heavily restricted diet, things like purple mustard greens that I wouldn’t necessarily find at a regular grocery store.

Kate Film Club, 13 of 52:

“Stage Door” (1937)

In contrast to Hepburn’s other movies so far, this was a real star-studded ensemble film. Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball were also in it, and it was fun to see Hepburn banter and co-create with other powerhouse actresses. If you like the tv show “Gilmore Girls”, you’ll enjoy the conversational velocity and style of this film.

“Stage Door” focuses on a boarding house for aspiring women actresses in New York City. The tight-knit community of residents is skeptical of the arrival of Hepburn, a well-to-do newcomer who seems like she’d have enough money to stay elsewhere (read: somewhere much nicer) if she wanted to. The story follows the arcs of several residents, with varying luck in getting roles and seeing their careers get off the ground or fall flat. There’s humor, mild subterfuge, and drama. This movie has a bit of everything: a gently thought-provoking time that oscillates between the light and heavy sides of both art and friendship.

Rating: No numerical rating for this one (same as with “Alice Adams”); the line about something like “if my grandfather hadn’t been enterprising and moved out West, there’d still be Indians in Wichita” really killed the vibe.
Where to watch: Streaming on Apple or Amazon.
Quote: “You speak of love when it’s too late. Help should come to people when they need it. Why are we always so helpful to each other when it’s no longer any use?”

Kate Film Club, 14 of 52:

“Bringing Up Baby” (1938)

This movie answers the question, “What if the Abbott and Costello sketch ‘Who’s On First?’ was turned into an entire feature length film?” Had I known this in advance, I would have at least been prepared to dislike it as much as I did. It’s interesting to compare my dislike of the banter in this film with my positive review of the banter in “Stage Door”. I think the difference is this: whereas in “Stage Door”, people banter to make points, in “Bringing Up Baby”, people banter for the sake of banter. It’s the 1930s version of the modern phenomenon where a Reply Guy hops in your mentions just to make an insufferable joke that brings absolutely nothing to the conversation—he just had to show everyone there is a joke that could be made and he is the one to make it. Ok buddy.

I laughed exactly once the entire film, when Hepburn busts into the room where Cary Grant is calling the zoo, and breathlessly exclaims, “Don’t call the zoo!”. (She had just told him in the prior scene to call the zoo.) This one funny joke won’t make sense unless you watch the movie, and it’s not worth suffering the whole movie for that one joke. Were I not on a determined mission to watch every Katharine Hepburn movie, I would have ejected from this movie halfway through. You, on the other hand, have now been warned to save yourself entirely and use these 102 minutes of your life for something else.

Unless, of course, your idea of comedy is precisely “Who’s On First?”, in which case, have I got a movie to recommend you!

Rating: 1.5/5 – Overall, remarkably unenjoyable. Grant as an autistic-coded scientist was endearing but nerd eye candy is not enough to save a movie this awful.
Where to watch: Streaming on Apple or Amazon, if you must.
Quote: “This is probably the silliest thing that’s ever happened to me.” Me too, Cary Grant, me too.

Kate Film Club, 15 of 52:

“Holiday” (1938)

Luckily we round out this trio of Katharine Hepburn movies with a great one! This is one of two Hepburn movies I watched in December of last year, when I decided I should at last watch some movies of the actress I was named after. (The other was “Desk Set”, which I will also be excited to re-watch and review for you when we get to that point in the chronology!)

“Holiday” starts out with Cary Grant’s character visiting the home of a lady he recently met on vacation, mutually fell for, and became engaged to. But it quickly becomes apparent—to the audience, if not to the main characters—that the lady’s sister, Katharine Hepburn’s character, is a much more compatible match. Grant’s character wants to take a few years off of working and see the world while he’s young, while his whirlwind fiancée wants him to simply be another high-earning financier like her father and grandfather, falling in line with high society expectations. Grant and Hepburn’s characters become good friends themselves, until it is quite obvious they could perhaps be more.

What is everyone to do in such a pickle? You’ll have to watch to find out. “Holiday” explores the tensions between taking the comfortable, easy way out versus forging your own unique path. Everyone including the supporting cast are great, there are some good if understated laughs, and the fashion is engaging to boot. (Maybe not everyone’s top priority when picking a movie, but for me, I’m always very interested in the clothes!)

Rating: 4.5/5 – I love this movie so much, for obvious following one’s heart and living out loud reasons.
Where to watch: Streaming on Apple and Amazon.
Quote: “Stubborn?” “No, right. And knows he’s right.”

Book Review:

“Arsène Lupin: Gentleman cambrioleur”

(By Maurice Leblanc; English translation available, links below.)

Some quick background for those who only know Lupin through the Netflix series: Arsène Lupin is a famous character in French literature, on par with Sherlock Homes in English, but on the other side of the law. The series of stories was originally published between 1905-1939 as a series of novellas and novels, which have since been assembled together in various collections. “Arsène Lupin: Gentleman cambrioleur” (English: “Arsène Lupin: Gentleman burglar”) is a collection of the first nine of these stories. I had to hunt for quite a while for an equivalent English version that contained the exact same 9 stories—I hope the links below are helpful for someone(s)!

I enjoyed every minute of this collection of stories. (So much so that I have shelved my grand 2024 reading plans for the year for now, and instead delved into another Lupin book!, more on that in a future newsletter.) Some stories are written in the 1st person, some in the 3rd, and you never quite know who Lupin is going to show up as, narrator or not. I appreciate that the story structure itself keeps you on your toes the same way you’d be forced to if you were interacting with Lupin in the flesh. My favorite such reveal was definitely that in “Le Mystérieux Voyageur” (“The Mysterious Traveller”)—I laughed out loud for that one.

One thing that repeatedly struck me was how spot-on the vibe was, the character of Arsène Lupin that comes through in the pages compared to how Omar Sy plays Lupin fan Assane Diop in the Netflix series “Lupin”. There is sort of freewheeling gregariousness that both men have, of an unmistakably similar note. By the end of the book, however, I gained an appreciation for how exhausting it might be to be personally close with such a character, bringing me a new understanding of the character Claire in the television series and how she seems to be perpetually exasperated by Assane.

All-in-all, if you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan, you’ll find much to be delighted by in these tales. And instead of an incorrigible misanthrope for a main character, you’ve got someone a little easier to like. (Worth noting that Sherlock Holmes himself shows up in one tale—as, hilariously, “Herlock Sholmès”, for copyright reasons.) If you enjoyed the Netflix series, it’s definitely worth picking up the book, whether to better understand Assane’s character in the television show, or to simply to enjoy more hijinks in another fun universe.

Links:

• The version I purchased (French)
• An English translation, with supposedly the same 9 stories
• Another English translation, that possibly has a 10th story added in from later in the canon
• A free e-book English version, from a 2004 translation for Project Gutenberg, that I can confirm has the same 9 stories

French Study

No word yet on my B1 DELF results! My prior class (“Revue de Presse” through the Alliance Française Boston) has also wrapped up, and I’m not taking another class at the moment since there will be some rapids to navigate in the next several weeks in the form of medical treatments. I do hope to do some independent study in the meantime, however—more on that next time.

My Year of Ne’er-do-well-ism

This week’s edition is already quite long thanks to the backlog of movie reviews; this section will return next week with a tasty drink recipe.