Kermit the Frog (not the real one) reenacts the “Needle in the Hay” scene from The Royal Tenenbaums. Brilliant or disturbing? You be the judge.

The original:

(link)

From elloh’s Etsy store.

These are so fantastic. I hope you buy some.

Bottle Rocket has been confirmed as a forthcoming Blu-Ray release by Criterion. (article)

Thanks to Tom, Micah, and Michael.

Michael adds:

I also double-checked with [Criterion] to make sure it will also see a standard DVD release, and they assured me it would.

How does an asshole like Bob get such a great kitchen?

Ha! Brilliant! from: Pigeons playing roller derby

more soon…

Columbia College will be putting on Round 10 of its fantastic Cinema Slapdown series this Friday, April 18th. This edition features Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums followed by a spirited debate between Sheldon Patinkin and Tim Kazurinsky (Sweetchuck!) over the movie’s merits (or lack thereof). Previous entries in the series have included Crash, It’s A Wonderful Life, and SuperFly.

We’ve always considered ourselves fans of Anderson’s work (even his commercials) and have greatly enjoyed repeat viewings of this movie in spite of its shockingly dark turn. Where it falls in the cinema canon of “great works” we’ll leave up to Patinkin and Kazurinsky to decide.

Cinema Slapdown Round 10: The Royal Tenenbaums, Friday April 18, 7 p.m. - 10 p.m., Free Admission, Columbia College Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor. Call 312-344-6708 for more information. (link)

Readers in Chicagoland. If you go, send us a report! 

Thanks, Elaine. Posted on our Facebook group.

A nice post/recipe over at the All the Marmalade blog:

I was curious and surprised to find a new citrus in my local produce store: sweet lime. Another variation on the citrus theme, sweet lime is a juicy, sweet rather than acidic fruit reminiscent in flavor of grapefruit and mandarin oranges.

In the film Darjeeling Limited, sweet lime was served as a refresher to passengers settling into their cars. I did some checking around (i.e. Wikipedia) and learned that India is one of the largest producers of sweet lime in the world, where it’s both consumed for fun and medicinal purposes.

I’ve never personally had any sweet lime juice there, but a survey of websites suggest that it’s mixed with some honey or sugar similar to lemonade for serving. If anyone has had this drink in India, where it’s called mousabi (musabi / mosabi), please comment and let it be known how it’s typically prepared.

Turning Sweet Lime into a Cocktail
Never one to stand on tradition when it comes to mixology, I juiced a few sweet limes and tried them in traditional citrus cocktails. If you come a across some sweet limes, try substituting some or all of the lemon or lime juice in your favorite recipe with sweet lime. You’ll need about one third of the total sugar than when using lemons, and it delivers an interesting, subtle twist.

I’m a gin person, so I tried came up with this recipe. Try it for yourself and see what you think!

The Sweet Lime Limited
2 ounces of gin
3 ounces sweet lime juice
2 Basil Leaves
1 ounce simple syrup (a.k.a. sugar water, a tablespoon of sugar or more to taste dissolved in a little warm water will do if you don’t have simple syrup handy)
Pinch of salt
Splash of Soda Water

Combine and serve over ice in an chilled tumbler.

Now, if we only had a recipe for this Sweet Lime…

Costume designer for Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and The Royal Tenenbaums, Karen Patch is currently featured in an article on W’s website called “Dressing the Part.”

(Mary Zophres, Jacqueline Durran and Karen Patch, from W)

Nice post by Justin over at Tengumaster Chronicles:

Hi everyone,

So I’m late. In more than one way, actually. First and foremost, if you’ve been checking my movie log (and I know you have), then you will notice that I just recently saw The Darjeeling Limited. Forgive me, I know I have sinned, but it was earnest- I was at school, away from limited release theaters, when it came out and by the time I returned for Christmas it was out of theaters. When the DVD came out, they were all gone in the Blockbuster in San Diego, so I finally saw it while at home for spring break. Anyways- amazing movie. Every time Wes Anderson makes a film, it becomes impossible to rank it among the others. This film was absolutely amazing, but was it better than Rushmore or The Royal Tenenbaums? It’s hard to say, really, they are all just so great. His visual style as well as his use of deadpan humor, minimalist dialog and a number of common themes tie his films together, and sitting next to each other on a shelf, they certainly feel related. I will not go on and on about the movies, as Rushmore Academy (The net’s biggest and best Anderson fan site) has done that well enough. I will say though, that each of his movies has certainly impacted me personally, and the way I look at family, friendship and the human condition. The idiosyncrasies of his characters and the perfection and detail of his sets, wardrobes, and soundtracks certainly convey his own little beautiful world, utterly separate from our own, but it would be hard to call his work fantasy. In the case of his most recent work, I felt so connected to all three of the Whitman brothers, in different ways. I certainly feel that my obsessive compulsive nature can be similar to Francis, but I definitely feel that my attachment to women is conveyed in Jack. Strangely enough, as hard as it is to say (as always with Anderson), my favorite of the three is probably Adrien Brody as Peter. I am in total anticipation for 2009’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox (I loved Roald Dahl as a child.) It is a shame that this film, along with his previous four, didn’t win the oscar.

Thanks, Justin!

IGN U.K. interviews Mr. Wes Anderson (hulu.com):