A new month and a new graphic! Plus, this day only, you get to see it in animated form!

I saw "Waterloo Bridge" up at the Stanford Theater today. This 1940 Vivian Leigh film is one of those archaic love stories where the two want nothing but to be with each other, but past mistakes make the relationship impossible, due to firm rules concerning Virtue. Myra thinks fiancé Roy has died in the war, she has lost her job and has no family, so she must prostitute herself in order to survive. When Roy comes back a happy ending seems in order, yet Myra can't live with this terrible secret so she suicides, leaving Roy to age into melancholy, as no one could possibly replace her. A bit much, yes, but it was a diverting view into wartime England (I thought it was to be WWII, but the story only began & ended there; the bulk of the action took place during the first war). As ever, a good black & white film was a pleasure to behold; as some guy said in that Wim Wenders film <1>, "Real Life is in color, but black and white is more realistic."

So now I'm listening to "Waterloo Sunset" by the Kinks. Several of the movie's scenes took place at Waterloo Station or on the Waterloo Bridge - it's a district of London. Also I got a new CD on the way home, at Fry's - actually an old record, "Aftermath" by the Rolling Stones (1966). This was the "Paint It Black" and "Under My Thumb" LP, but I got it because I thought "High And Dry" might be a 'running song' <2> and I neglected to archive that song to tape ten or twenty years ago, whenever it was I unloaded that vinyl. (Unfortunately it's too fast, but "I Am Waiting" may be just right.) Anyway, I also wanted a pristine copy of "Doncha Bother Me". It's a great record - my feeling is this band's peak years were 1964 - 1967.