Andrew Weber

@noplot

Mostly harmless random stupid stuff (citation: my wife). Confusing relatives, coworkers, spouse, and cat for decades. Probably at the movies as you read this. He/him.

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Andrew Weber@noplot· 15d

Director Gottfried Kolditz also made "Snow White" (1961) in this set, and while the design of that was somewhat realistic, this film's design is very minimalist, almost like a pop-up book or the drawings of a child. It's a striking look that I really enjoyed. The film also has a few fun songs.

Goldmarie (Karin Ugowski) leaves through the gate from Frau Holle's realm. The gate is an arch of gray stone, with two elaborate detailed gates, one on each side. The gates are mostly open and Goldmarie is at center, entirely covered in gold except for her face and looking back. The ground around her has fluffy fabric representing clouds and large daisies that look like they were made from paper by hand

Andrew Weber@noplot· 15d

While the film was marketed to smaller children, there's a lot of fun features in it. All of the performances are good, but Katharina Lind as Pechmarie is quite funny at times, without being annoying. Her character's laziness is impressive (watch her "effort" at making stew for Frau Holle!).

Daughter Marie (Katharina Lind), soon to be Pechmarie, sits in a chair at Frau Holle's house in a scene from "Frau Holle" (1963). She is polishing a brown metal pan lid with a cloth and visibly yawning with her eyes closed, looking like I might on a conference call if I turn the camera off. She has long black hair in pigtails with gold ties near the ends and is wearing a yellow dress with black shoulder pieces and a black center of the bodies. The chair behind her is blue with gold designs, and a stark white wall is behind her and the chair.

Andrew Weber@noplot· 15d

When Goldmarie returns, the widow and daughter Marie scheme to meet Frau Holle and get their gold. However, daughter Marie ignores the bread and apples and barely bothers to work for Frau Holle, and when she heads home, she earns her name of Pechmarie, where "pech" can mean bad luck...or pitch.

Daughter Marie (Katharina Lind) returns from Frau Holle's realm as Pechmarie in a scene on a lobby card from "Frau Holle" (1963). She is by a well with a bucket and crank to the left, bricks at the top, and a stone design below, and a wooden top above with an arch. Behind her is a light blue background. Pechmarie earns her name by being largely covered in black pitch; you can see her light brown long skirt in places, a dark green blouse, and her messy black hair is now even messier. Her arms are away from her sides, probably to keep from sticking to all that pitch.

Andrew Weber@noplot· 15d

When she reaches Frau Holle, Frau Holle asks stepdaughter Marie to work for her, which she gladly does; it's hard work, but she's a lot nicer than her stepmother and stepsister. But she becomes homesick and wants to go home, and Frau Holle lets her do so, rewarding her work with a shower of gold!

Stepdaughter Marie, now Goldmarie (Karin Ugowski) smiles as she returns home after her time with Frau Holle. To her right is an abstract tree with light green paper needles representing pine and white snow covering that looks like a fabric cover. Behind her to the left is light blue unbroken background. In between is Goldmarie, smiling facing us with gold long hair with flakes of gold in is and her clothing--shawl, dress, everything--is entirely covered in gold.

Andrew Weber@noplot· 15d

She's fallen down (up?) into the realm of Frau Holle, who lives in the clouds and creates snow when she shakes out her down blanket. Stepdaughter Marie encounters magic on the way to seeing Frau Holle and helps along the way by taking bread out of an oven and shaking a tree full of ripe apples.

Stepdaughter Marie (Karin Ugowski) in a scene from "Frau Holle" (1963). She is at center right holding a peel and removing rounded loaves of bread from a brick oven. Her long blonde hair is in pigtails and she is wearing a white blouse with a patterned bodice, a knitted apron and a red skirt. The picture is from a perspective inside the oven, which is arched and made of brick. The loaves of bread have asked her to take them out of the oven as they are done. (The loaves are unnamed, but I'd like to think one is named Bernd.)

Andrew Weber@noplot· 15d

Meanwhile, stepdaughter Marie does all the work--cooking, bringing in wood, and being berated by both her stepsister and stepmother. When she goes outside to spin yarn, she works so hard her fingers bleed, and in an effort to clean the yarn, loses the spindle down a well, and she goes after it.

Stepdaughter Marie (Karin UgowskI) falls down a well in pursuit of a lost spindle in a scene from "Frau Holle" (1963). The background is blue with irregular shapes representing stones in a well; stepdaughter Marie is blonde with long hair billowing out as she falls down the well and wearing a light gold knitted shawl with a white short-sleeved blouse. Her left arm is almost straight up and her right bent but with her right hand still pointing upwards.

Andrew Weber@noplot· 15d

While the story isn't familiar to English-speakers, the concepts certainly will be. A widow (Elfriede Florin) lives with two young women, daughter Marie (Katharina Lind) and stepdaughter Marie (Karin Ugowski). But they couldn't be more different; daughter Marie is lazy and doted on by her mother.

Daughter Marie (Katharina Lind) and the widow (Elfriede Florin) in a scene from "Frau Holle" (1963). Daughter is at left being fitted for a hat for a ball; the dark green hat has a bit of a white brim, four sets of beads over the brim in a curved shape like a bleached rainbow and topped with a gred section with a single gold braid at the bottom, some curly ribbon at the front, and widens with two flaps at the side that make the hat look pretty silly. At least it matches her dark green dress with lace on the side of the lapels. Daughter Marie is looking left, as is the widow on the right wearing a simple green hat with white trim and a orange-red dress over a red blouse with a white collar and green trim on her shoulder; the widow is lookin left as well. Behind the widow to the right we see some kitchen shelving with dishes against a black background.

Andrew Weber@noplot· 15d

#DEFAcember 45 for #DEFAsommer: While the first two fairy tales on the "DEFA Fairy Tales" set from @deafcrocodile.bsky.social are well-known, the other three are less so. "Frau Holle" (Mother Hulda) (1963) is very well-known in central Europe but largely unknown in English-speaking countries.

The title character (Mathilde Danegger) in a scene from "Frau Holle" (1963). She is at center pointing to the right from her window, which is arched with a light blue arched frame at the top, painted squares designed to look like stones at the bottom, and two halves of an arched window open to her sides with gold frames and glass with decorative circles in various colors within the glass. She is wearing a blue and white hat with white fabric at the sides going under her shin and a blue dress with a white blouse underneath.

Andrew Weber@noplot· 24d

Off to see my first Portland Pride parade!

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jul 11

My wife at the Hells Canyon Overlook in northeast Oregon, from which you can see four states. Unfortunately, it's September 2020, and Oregon had massive wildfires. She is at left in the corner of the overlook parking lot in front of a low stone wall with short curly reddish brown hair and wearing dark gray pants, a blue blouse, and black sweater and is wearing a blue surgical mask on which she has drawn dolphins. She is using her left arm to gesture to the view, which is of brown grass, then about a dozen pine trees down the slope behind her, and then...gray smoke. Nothing but gray smoke. (The four states were annoyance, confusion, despair, and hilarity.)

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jul 6

In the end, of course, Red and Grandmother are saved, the wolf is captured and carried off by Father and Bear, and the family is back together. Meanwhile, the fox has skedaddled to another forest to sell animals NFTs of berries or get involved in Norwegian music videos or something...

Father, Bear, Mother, and Red are featured in a scene from the end of "Little Red Riding Hood" (1962). Father is at left wearing a green cap, his dark gray coat and carrying a stick over his right shoulder and his rifle in his left hand. Behind him at center is Bear, carrying the other end of the stick over his right shoulder. He has brown fur except for white fur on his chest and his shoulders, and has short round brown ears and a human face with a blackened nose. Between them tied to the stick is the wolf, tied by hands and feet and being carried off. His gray fur is looking mangier than usual and he is hanging down from the stick. At right are Mother and Red, with mother at near right with short blonde hair and wearing a light brown dress with white blouse underneath, and has her arm around Red, wearing a blue sweater, light brown skirt, and white blouse, and of course her red cap.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jul 6

Eventually, the fox comes up with a foolproof but humiliating plan: cover the wolf in flour to make him look like a white dog, have Grandmother take him in, then eat her and wait for Red to arrive. This holds close to the Grimm version; good thing Mother and Grandmother know how to cut and sew!

Grandmother (Friedel Nowack) and the wolf (Werner Dissel) in a scene from "Little Red Riding Hood" (1962). Grandmother is at left in her doorway leaning down at the wolf, who is disguised as a white dog looking for its master. She has short gray hair and is wearing a blue dress with a light gray blouse underneath. The wolf is at right on all fours in a submissive position, hoping to come in for a drink of water (among other things...).

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jul 6

Plans or not, Red and Bunny hold off the fox and wolf multiple times, learning lessons both old (stay on the path) and new (snuff makes excellent wolf repellent!) along the way. Bunny proves quite brave, knocking out the wolf with a stick at one point, but there are some definite scenes of danger.

Bunny (Jochen Bley), the fox (Harald Engelmann), and Little Red Riding Cap (Blanche Kommerell) in a scene from "Little Red Riding Hood" (1962). Bunny is at left wearing a brown bunny suit with white inner ears and looking at the fox at center, who is dressed like a traveler coming through the forest. He has a long gray cloak over his head, a long brown cloack on his body and a gray cloak underneath that; lace cuffs can be seen near his hands, and he is holding a natural walking stick. Red is at right holding the fox's left arm and wearing her red cap, a blue sweater, and a a light gray skirt and brown shoes. Red and Bunny think they are helping a traveler, but the furry hand around the stick should tip them off...

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jul 6

The animal characters (there's also a squirrel played by a nicely done puppet) are played by humans and look part animal, part human, part pantomime character, part furry, and all weird. The wolf and fox look especially odd and kind of mangy, but both are rather hungry and have plans to eat Red.

The fox (Harald Engelmann) and the wolf (Werner Dissel) in a scene from "Little Red Riding Hood" (1962). The fox is at left with reddish-brown fur on much of his head and white on the lower part of his face below his black nose, and medium long pointy ears. He is wearing a brown robe with lace cuffs, a disguise he plans to use to capture Red. He is looking at wolf at right, who is mostly dark great with some light gray fur on the upper part of his body near his shoulders, He has a long dark gray snout and long gray ears. He looks better in this shot than most of the film, but his fur does stick out in places randomly.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jul 6

The characters you'll remember, though, are the animals; yes, there's the wolf we all know, but he works with a cunning fox who's the planner among the two. Fortunately, Red has animal friends too; a bear who tries to be helpful but often isn't, and a bunny who's Red's best friend.

Bunny (Jochen Bley) in a scene from "Little Red Riding Hood" (1962). He is a young boy in a bunny suit but with human hands and a human face, and has a blackened nose and whiskers drawn on his face to look like a bunny. He has long brown ears and light brown fur with white fur on his front and shoulders. He is in Red's family cabin pouring milk from a wooden ladle into a jug for Red to bring to Grandmother.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jul 6

Based both on the Grimm fairy tale and a version by Russian author and playwright Yevgeny Schwartz, this features the characters we know, but also others. Red's father is the hunter, and her grandmother lives in the woods, but her mother is here as well as part of the hard-working loving family.

Little Red Riding Cap (Blanche Kommerell), her mother (Helga Raumer), and her father (Horst Kube) in a scene from "Little Red Riding Hood" (1962). Red is at left holding two pairs of small baskets strung on rope, one pair on each side of her; her arms are fully extended above her head to do so. She is wearing her trademark red cap and has black hair with long pigtails, and is wearing a white short sleeved blouse with horizontal light blue pinstriping, and is seen from the waist up. At center is Mother, who has short blonde curly hair held in place with a lace hairband atop her head. She is wearing a white blouse with a brown rough sweater over that, and we see the top of her white skirt with a brown square pattern, and a small brown bag is attached to her belt at her waist. She is helping Father at right, who has short brown hair and a beard but no mustache, and is wearing a dark gray cloak over a light gray shirt, and is having a large basket attached to his back with ropes over each shoulder. Soon he will also carry the baskets Red is holding as well over his shoulders as he heads off to market.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jul 6

#DEFAcember 44 for #DEFAsommer: the second film on the @deafcrocodile.bsky.social box set of DEFA Fairy Tales is "Little Red Riding Hood" (1962), though the original title of Rotkäppchen translates to "Little Red Riding Cap". In this version, she meets multiple animals, both enemy and friend.

Little Red Riding Cap (Blanche Kommerell) in a scene from "Little Red Riding Hood" (1962). She is facing us at center and looking slightly left with the right edge of her face in shadow. She has black hair with long pigtails and we can see the bottom of her red cap in the top of the frame, and the tied ribbon at the bottom of her head holding the cap on. She is wearing a short sleeved white blouse with light blue pinstriping horizontally across the front. She is in the corner of a room in a wooden house, with vertical wooden planks to her left and horizontal ones to her right. Her expression is determined.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jun 22

And yes, we do have a Märchenberater involved; my wife collects written fairy tales and illustrations from them and has a wide knowledge on them that I don't, so she'll be watching with me and providing insight that I don't have. (Spreading the films out works with her schedule better as well.)

An illustration my wife Kristi selected that's a favorite of hers based on "Little Red Riding Hood". Red is at front with her long hooded cloak reaching the snow below. Her eyes are nearly completely hidden by the cloak but we can see her nose and red lips. Behind her is the wolf, completely in black except for white eyes that are narrow slits at left; the wolf has black fur sticking out and almost seems to be surrounding Red at her back, kind of like a cat would do except the wolf is substantially larger than Red is. Behind them to the right is a mountain peak with a small house atop it; perhaps that's Grandmother's place? In the sky behind them is a detailed crescent moon in light gray showing craters and details. The picture is detailed and abstract at the same time. Their is a signature in the corner for something like "GVarga" which I can't quite identify (if you can help identify the artist, please do!).

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jun 22

#DEFAcember für die Kinder: As East Germans found out on a strange episode of "English and You", DEFA spelled sideways is "deaf", so it's no surprise that the physical media company that has released the most DEFA films on Blu-ray in North America has been Deaf Crocodile. @deafcrocodile.bsky.social

The front cover of the Blu-ray box for the DEFA Fairy Tales set from Deaf Crocodile. The cover is white and at the top is the title of the set in an old-style serif font kind of like Old English. The cover is slightly angled so we see the spine which has the same title going down the center of about the first third of the spine. Below that title is artwork by Beth Morris featuring elements of some of the films; at left is Snow White from the film of that title (1961) with long black hair wearing a white dress with blue collar and sleeve striping and a brown dress underneath holding half of an apple out in her right hand (don't eat that!). To the right of her head is the magic mirror from the same film, a round mirror featuring ten sets of three stones around the frame in extensions of the brown round frame that make the shape look like a gear. Reflected in the mirror is the vain queen with blonde hair asking whether she is the fairest in the land (hint: no). To her right is the wolf from Little Red Riding Hood (1962); we see his head, gray fur, and long snout with a black nose, but the area around his eyes makes him look like a person in a wolf costume (which he is in the film). Below him to the lower right are the seven dwarfs carrying picks over their right shoulders and heading home after a hard day's work; the lead is wearing a green cloak, then the next red, the next light brown, the next light green, the next light blue, and the next gold; the last few fade into the rest of the illustration. Rumbles is the lead dwarf, followed by Smarty. A rabbit in the forest from Little Red Riding Hood is on the illustration on the spine of the box, hopping through the forest; much like the wolf, he is shaped like a human in a rabbit costume.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jun 16

It took 27 years, but thanks to the Grant High School Cinema Club and the Hollywood Theatre, I finally saw "Dick" (1999) in a reasonably full theater. I'd forgotten how much I loved it! Bonus: I answered a trivia question and received the pictured prize. (The answer: 18 1/2 minutes.)

The front cover of the 50th anniversary paperback edition of "All The President's Men". The cover is cream-colored, and the top of the cover features "50th Anniversary Edition" in gold capital lettering without serifs. Below that is the title in a larger serif font, with "the" in lower case and the remainder in capital letters. "President's" is the middle line above "Men" and below "All the". To the right center in a dotted gold circle is "With a New Foreword on What Watergate Means Today" in gold italics in the serif font. At lower left in the same gold italic serif font, but a bit larger, is "The Greatest Reporting Story of All Time". The authors' names, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, are at the bottom in the black serif font, with "and" in italics. From center left to lower right is a line with five pictures of faces, with Richard Nixon in color and larger than the other four, who are John Dean and John Mitchell at left and H.R. Haldeman and...perhaps John Ehrlichman at right? The book is on a dark teak dining room table with diagonal boards, a wedding gift from my wife's sister.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jun 9

We don't usually see each other's headers. Here's mine. Quote-skeet with yours (if you feel like it). Mine is a picture of Joe Etzel Field at the University of Portland, facing from the stands just to the left of home plate and looking towards right field.

Andrew Weber@noplot· May 24

Uh... (attempts thought and/or snarky remark) (fails miserably) Uh...

A Cybertruck in a parking lot. It has been painted over its stainless steel body in an intense shade of deep orange. The wheels also have hubcap covers that look kind of industrial with seven wide bars coming from the center, raised over the rest of the hubcap covers, all in black. My wife has christened this car "The Annoying Orange".

A wolf's head design (at least we think they're wolves) on the back of The Annoying Orange Cybertruck. We see the right two-thirds of the design in a slightly lighter intense deep orange than the car, with the center wolf's head facing us with mouth open and another on the right facing right with mouth open showing fangs. To see the left wolf's head, put this picture towards a mirror.

Andrew Weber@noplot· May 17

And lots of bicentennial stuff to buy like bicentennial alarm clocks!

A screenshot of an auction listing for a Vintage 1974 Bradley Bicentennial Declaration of Independence Alarm Clock As Is. It's a round manual alarm clock made of brass with a white face showing the dial and numbers, but the 9 has been replaced with "July 4" and the 3 with "1776". The extremely small text of the Declaration of Independence is on the clock face behind the hands. On top of the clock is a single Liberty Bell replica for the alarm, and the two hammers to strike it are held by colonial figures in gold hats and pants and red coats (wait, aren't those the Brits?)

Andrew Weber@noplot· May 6

And it's out on Blu-ray and spelled correctly, which you wouldn't think would be an issue, but Kino Lorber should have sprung for one more proofreader.

A rack of Blu-ray discs from Movie Madness. At left facing us is the case for "Party Girl," featuring Parker Posey on the front. The remainder of the disc cases have spines facing us; in order they are "Pasolini", "Pufnstuf", "Police Academy 7", "Police Academy 5 & 6", "Police Academy 3 & 4", "Police Academy 1 & 2", "Prison Grils", "Please Don't Touch Me", "The Punisher", "Problem Child", "Pandora's Mirror", "The Pact", and "The Package". "Prison Grils" is actually "Prison Girls," but the spine is mispelled.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Mar 13

Everyone say "hi!" (or "meow!") to Gigi!

Gigi, a black cat, looks out from the round opening of a dark gray cat tree. Her left ear is tipped and she has yellow eyes and her front paws are on the surface of the next lower level of the cat tree. There is a purple blanket in her cubby and under that, an unseen electric blanket. The post of the cat tree in front of her has a section of light tan sisal for her to scratch, though she never does. She is looking at the camera with moderate interest.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Mar 8

I'll have to go with the cliché rented wedding tux, but this is the best my often-disorganized hair has ever looked. My best man brother used hair spray to stabilize it, and the bottle said 3 to 5 sprays. I stopped counting at 26. Sorry if my wedding caused climate change, but we're still together.

A picture of me in October 2001 on my wedding day. I have dark short hair parted on the right and held in place by an alarming amount of hairspray that came off in the shower in milky white droplets that evening. I'm wearing eyeglasses with metal frames that are kind of square but with rounded corners. The tuxedo has the classic white shirt and black jacket and I'm also wearing a boutonnière of white and gold autumn flowers and my bow tie and pocket square are a dark forest green complimenting my bride's dress. (She started making the dress long before Princess Fiona made it hip.)

Andrew Weber@noplot· Feb 12

My first DEFA film in a theater at the @cstpdx.bsky.social Clinton Street Theater! #DEFAcember

The marquee of the Clinton Street Theater in Portland, with red capital letters saying "The" (smaller) "Clinton" (larger) above a four row white display of slide-in capital letters, with the top three rows in black and the last row in red:

CHURCH OF FILM:
THE SINGING
RINGING TREE W7
ROCKY HORROR SAT 11

Andrew Weber@noplot· Feb 9

For those of you who guessed that my closest neighbor on the Bluesky user map would be the unofficial mirror account for the National Weather Service in Columbia, SC, I'm impressed but I do have a lot of questions...

The Bluesky map of accounts, which is a sea of scattered green dots against a black background, with my green dot for @noplot.bsky.social in the center circled by a pink circle. There are two labels on the map, one in the lower left for "Progressive American Media & Arts Workers" which looks just as scattered as the rest of the dots, so perhaps that label is near the edge of that galaxy/universe/dimension, and the other is a more clustered smaller group of green dots for "Progressive Idaho Community", which is interesting since I live in Oregon, not Idaho (states are next to each other, though). At least I'm not off the damn map...

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jan 3

#MST3K and Joel Hodgson, call your lawyers! You clearly came up with the concept first back in 1993! youtu.be/dUh85A4M4Ds?...

A bag of Brach's Wisecracks!® Conversation Hearts. The upper part of the bag is light blue and the lower part is pink, but the corners of the blue come down slightly from the center. At each side from the product title are blue and pink human-like figures, two on each side. Between them and in the center are closeups of the actual hearts with dot matrix printing on them. There are six hearts: "Salty" (purple lower left), "Let's Not" (orange upper left behind purple), "Dream On" (yellow lower center and with a corner just in front of orange), "Nope" (green behind yellow and to right of orange), "LOL" (white next to yellow at lower right), and "4 Never" (pink in upper right slightly behind white). They are more than a bit reminiscent of the Bittersweet Hearts features in an invention exchange in an episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000" that aired in 1993.

Andrew Weber@noplot· Jan 1

Hopefully, you can pull it off better than I can...