what's happening in the 'hood

The Batman stuff is kinda winding down a bit here and there- thanks to all those who linked to our review and commented as well. Not everyone agrees with my review, but that's what's great about the movies; we all have our perspective and we can talk about them and learn about what grabs us and what doesn't. Speaking of winding down, our Californiacation/Jericho contest ends tonight at midnight- so if you haven't sent us an email contest entry - do it now! Time's a'wastin!

Thought we would take another trip around the Shelf Community Neighborhood and point out some wonderful writing and articles that I've enjoyed lately. I hope you will enjoy them as well. So sit back and enjoy this trip through the Shelf neighborhood!

First of all, our good friend Laura has just passed the three year mark on her great blog, Laura's Miscellaneous Musings. She's got her finger on a lot of great topics and watches and reviews a lot of great classic movies. She keeps my Netflix queue full. It is one of my daily reads and a favorite- so be sure to stop on over and wish her the best!

Bird Dog over at Maggie's Farm vacationed in Italy recently and has been posting some great pictures and commentary. It's the internet equivilant of your relative's vacation slide show, only much better, more interesting and better pictures. You can find most of the posts at this link. If I had half of Bird Dog's great eye for photography, well I'd be a great one-eyed photographer, but I'd have some great pix.

Jacqueline at Another Old Movie Blog has a great tribute and article to singer Jo Stafford who died recently. A very interesting woman and interesting career. Go check it out. I remember her great numbers in DuBarry Was a Lady, which we reviewed last year. We don't make 'em like her anymore.

One of the best film reviews and articles I've read in awhile is over at TCM's Movie Morlocks site. It's a in depth look and review of one of my favorite Jimmy Stewart/Anthony Mann westerns: The Man From Laramie. It's nice to know I wasn't crazy to see a comparison to Shakespeare. It is well worth your time to read it.

Another great article (this time about some films I've never seen, but want to) is from the one and only Self-Styled Siren. She talks about movies, that have releases over in Europe, but alas no R1 release for the states. It's a common lament here at the Shelf. The Siren is one of my favorite film bloggers, if not just for her deep knowledge, but also her humor and warmth. Speaking of DVD no shows here in the US, I'm still awaiting a DVD release for The African Queen. Waiting...waiting...still waiting....

Finally, another Shelf favorite, John at Greenbriar Picture Shows, has written a review/commentary about The Dark Knight as well. It's a great article, wonderfully written (as usual) and he has a different take on the film than I do. So go check it out, if nothing else than to see a picture of John when he suffered from Batmania long ago! Did I mention it was John's 500th post at the Greenbriar? No? Well it is! Congrats to John.

That's it for this visit to the neighborhood kids. Thanks for taken a ride with us. Don't forget to come back for more Shelf madness- we'll have even more reviews coming up this week. Stay tuned!




I'm sorry. This is the fun-vee. The hum-drum-vee is back there.

sallie's back

Here is some welcome news- our old pal Sallie is back, blogging away at The Vintage Place. Shelfers will remember that Sallie pulled her blog down earlier this year - but we are glad to say she is back! We've missed her fun blog and look at OTR, pop culture, movies, soundtracks and more. So what are you waiting for? Go visit The Vintage Place and welcome her back. And tell her ol' Uncle Loophole sent ya'.




Tough beans buddy, 'cause that's the way it's gonna be.

we all scream for...whew! i'm tired.

Time was when making homemade ice cream meant strong backs and lots of patience. The churn above is a commercial version way back when, that was motorized and weighed 500 pounds. I have grown up on homemade ice cream. You know the kind. You had to have a family event just to justify the amount of ice, rock salt, ingredients, etc. Sure the results were heavenly, but it sure wasn't a "I have a hankering for ice cream" kind of thing. If you got such a hankering you usually have to trust the label when it said "tastes like homemade!" Of course my grandmother always told me we had it good, because the only motor they had when she was young were the arms of anxious kids and adults. There have been other ways of course, but convenience wasn't always the case. I treasure old fashioned things, but I'm no Luddite. I embrace technology. So for the past couple of years I've been eyeing Alton Brown's ice cream maker whenever it was featured on Good Eats.

Well, guess what. My mother-in-law recently gave us an early Christmas present: a Cuisinart 2 Qt Ice Cream Maker. Pretty cool. It takes the simplest of ingredients and the easiest of methods to get to soft churned homemade goodness in under half an hour. And it is no unitasker- it can make slushes, sorbets, etc. Cleanup is a breeze. All you really have to do is freeze the bowl part of the Ice Cream Maker the night before and then put your recipe together and pour it in. Place the bowl in the unit, the plastic "churn" piece and lid and place and just turn the thing on. That's it. 25 minutes or so later and it's ready. Eat or freeze for a harder texture. How simple can you get? And it takes no more room on your counter top than a food processor or mixer.

Trust me - I don't think to many people would be complaining if this was available back in the day. "A motor? Pshaw! I prefer to wring my arm out and pouring on the ice and salt and exercise for hours. Take your new fangeled thing outta here." Well, there might have been some who would say that. But you know what? Me and the kids would've been eating some delicious ice cream while he's getting "exercise".

Ok- I know this has nothing to do with classic films, but I wanted to post this anyway. I rarely post anything this private, but I am kind of excited about this - so I am reaching out to Shelfers everywhere. Besides I am trying to finish some new reviews for you guys, so I needed a break to post something fun! So far, we've tried Mint Chocolate Chip (with Mint Chocolate Oreos!), Vanilla and Root Bear floats with some Hires just for that old fashioned flavor. Well, this is where you Shelfers come in. I need some more recipes! I would love to make some Cherry Vanilla. Do you have a favorite recipe? Do you use a counter top churn like this? Share your favorites with us in the comments section. I'm also looking for a Halloween recipe? Share your ideas with us and we'll post our favorites for some of our Shelf Halloween Madness 2007 posts. Sure summertime is almost over, but ice cream is good stuff year round (especially on pie and cobbler) So don't be shy! Sound off in the comments section. We look forward to what you have to say and share!



I wanna go on the rides, I wanna go on the rides, I wanna go on the rides!