Josipa Lisac new song

Many lives of The Wicked Witch of West

 

The original was of course the fictional character from the beloved children’s book published in 1900. Because the 1939 film adaption became so ubiquitous, we all tend to go back to that  movie over and over again, so to be honest I am not even 100% sure that I ever read the original book - if I did, it was decades ago and probably the time is ripe to re-read it again. I probably should, as the author created the whole fantasy world that continues into other sequels that I am not familiar with. I read somewhere that it might count as the first originally American fairy tale.

Than came the 1995 book “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West “ which I bought, read, loved and talked to everybody all the time - it was the success of this book that catapulted Gregory Maguire to fame and he continued mining similar ideas ever since, with the books like “Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister” and “Mirror, Mirror”. It was a wonderful idea to re-invent a famous children’s story and approach it from a different perspective, simultaneously pondering some interesting ideas about the origin of good and evil, etc. The point is (as much as I remember), once you come closer to evil, you understand the behaviour, logic and the reasons - one of the most feared characters in the children’s literature might simply have been misunderstood. 

One way or the other, somebody thought it might make a great musical. Perhaps the shadow of the beloved 1939. movie looms so mighty over the horizon, it looked as a safer bet. The musical turned out to be surprisingly successful but to me it feels more because Broadway is starving for original story and fresh blood, instead of old American Songbook repertoire - I listened the cast recording twice and could not find anything memorable about it.

Than came the movies. 

The director Jon M. Chu explained that the script is so rich, powerful and amazing that it can’t be done in simply one movie, he needed to make two parts. OK, but honestly neither script or musical are such masterpieces that they deserve five hours in the cinema. I watched “Wicked: Part I” (2024) only mildly amused and noted that both Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were good, but everything else was bombastic, pneumatic and overblown. A friend who was sitting next to me loved it, but I was not convinced. Something about this version struck me as totally wrong and I missed the childlike sense of wonder that the original story/film had - this was all like 1930s Busby Berkeley big production, with things whirling around and Witch not riding her broom but running like a formula one, giving me vertigo. “Wicked: For Good” (2025) stumbles really badly, because a) the rest of the story is really not so interesting to need another full-blown movie sequel, b) depressing and darker sequel does not give anything funny to Ariana Grande to do (in the first part, at least she was funny, here the script goes dark so she can’t be) c) both main characters work very well together but second part keeps them separated. So it was two and half hours of same stuff we saw previously, with even more forgettable music. I had a very strange experience of noticing that people on the screen are singing, but was completely unable to remember one single song - and left the cinema wondering how is that even possible? Apparently movie is still very successful anyway and I have feeling they might continue to milk that idea in some more sequels and prequels, kind of Marvel Universe. Long live bombastic CGI and mediocre music that breezes through your head without leaving a trace. 

“The Murders in the Rue Morgue” by Edgar Allan Poe (1841)

I have not forgotten my old plan to read at least one classic per month. Sure, I get distracted from time to time, but here I am, adding another classic to my collection. The inspiration for this came completely accidentally, because I was listening a podcast “Unsolved murders: True Crime Stories” and they had a two-part series about the death of Edgar Allan Poe who might very possibly have been a victim of kidnapping and murder. This was so interesting that it stayed somewhere at the back of my mind, until I decided to read this short story, later immortalised in wonderful 1932. black & white movie with Bela Lugosi. 

Today we remember Edgar Allan Poe mostly as a ghost of forgotten 19th century America and his reputation is based exclusively on posthumous myth that somehow makes him a dark, sinister and supposedly alcoholic literary predecessor of later horror writers. According to this podcast that I have been listening, it is probably just a stupid story that people made after his death and poor guy was possibly just unfortunate soul who struggled to make any money at all and lived his 40 years in hunger & poverty, before he disappeared and was found unconscious on the street (very probably kidnapped and forced to vote, as it all happened during early electoral fraud). There is a very interesting book written about this, that I might even check out in the future. I would not be surprised if the whole myth about a sinister and mysterious writer is just a legend.

Well, I was familiar with Bela Lugosi movie but this was actually better - it precedes Sherlock Holmes so its very important as a one of the very first detective stories and Auguste Dupin clearly works very much like Holmes will do in the future, by paying attention to the smallest details and connecting the dots that lead him to the final conclusion. Its all very clever and enjoyable, I might read more about Dupin (there are apparently three finalised stories).

 

"The Secret of Secrets" by Dan Brown (2025)

 

I have lists on top of the lists what to read and everything got ignored once I heard about the new Dan Brown novel - somehow I have forgotten that years ago I had actually lost interest in his Robert Langdon saga, the only thing I remember is how much I enjoyed his "The Da Vinci Code" so I without any hesitation I dived into this latest novel. Sadly, it seems that in the thunder refuses to struck twice - while it might be interesting (and occasionally even gripping) read, ""The Secret of Secrets" circles around too many well-known clichés: Langdon runs around ancient European city and is pursued by mysterious organisations & weird antagonists. Without intention to be cruel or cynical but this is exactly what Brown brings to the table every time, kind of we already know what to expect.

I noticed with amusement how much Brown loves to spice up his writing with educational informations about everything, from the architecture and history of Prague to more technical details of the plot - not unlike Jules Verne who in his day was best selling author of literary hits and would often go on forever about smallest technical details that used to drive me mad - this particular characteristic might be endearing to some, but it does slow the plot a lot, as we usually stand in the middle of life threatening situation while Langdon muses about some encyclopedic information. It almost 700 pages, the novel feels bloated and overlong - it could have been easily edited and shortened, but ok, it turned a solid thriller with a surprisingly limp ending that just quietly fizzles away after all that pumped up excitement. 

Diane, Woody and Annie Hall

As my personal tribute to late Diane Keaton (1946-2025) last night I watched her classic 1977. Oscar winning "Annie Hall" directed and created for her by Woody Allen. Last time I saw it was decades ago, when Allen was still celebrated as a movie genius and to my biggest surprise, time had not diminished this beautiful movie, in fact I don't remember when was the last time I enjoyed a movie with all my heart - I watched it between giggles and tears, it really moved me deeply and I could not stop thinking everything in it feels so real even if I understand there had to be a script - it was one of those rare examples where the line between art and reality is completely gone, I would swear these are real people in the real situations and not actors following the script.

 

It was not her first time acting in a Woody Allen movie - in fact, it was their fourth movie collaboration and kind of goodbye gift to her, as they both moved on to different relationships - but this time the story was completely created and dedicated to Keaton and it feels so. Keaton herself would always say it was the easiest job of her career and this role not only catapulted her into stars, but also launched her famous "Annie Hall fashion" style and basically mapped the rest of her legend - with a few exceptions ("Looking for Mr. Goodbar"), her movie roles will be sweetly eccentric, urban women who bump into things, say wrong things at the wrong time and perpetually lose their car keys (a predecessor to Meg Ryan type of roles). While she continued on successfully, in my mind nothing matches the sheer genius of her movies with Woody Allen and in my heart I will forever associate these two. 

This is why I found so unsettling that majority of her obituaries try to brush Woody Allen and focus on anything else instead - it is almost forgotten now, but there was a time when Allen was a major movie superstar, a genre in himself, with one hit after the other and big stars waiting in line to be included in his work. Since early 1990s and a scandal about his leaving Mia Farrow for their adopted Korean daughter, conservative America basically cancelled him and he slipped into irrelevance - mention his name and 99% of people will tell you their opinion, based on tabloids and ideas about him as a child molester. While I admit that its unusual and quite bizarre that someone marries their adopted child, it must be pointed that she was 27 at the time and they are still married to this day. It took Diane Keaton's death that the world (and myself) suddenly remembers Alen who is still alive and working, thought I seriously had to stop and think when was the last time I saw any of his recent work. I do remember enjoying excellent 2005. thriller "Match Point" with Scarlett Johansson and a lovely romantic comedy "Midnight in Paris" but than slowly his star dimmed and nowadays he is hardly ever mentioned, thanks to conservative backlash and general public decision that he must be ignored and cancelled. I loved "Annie Hall" so much that I might as well go back and re-watch all Woody Allen movies one by one - I enjoyed his work much more than anything I saw recently. 

This is why I don't accept this recent perspective where Keaton is celebrated as a "star of Godfather" (where she played 3 seconds, supporting role) "and also played in some Woody Allen movies" (where she was the main female role) - I might have to do some more research but nothing of her later work hits me as much as her work with Allen, it was basically watered down Annie Hall, forever clumsy and giddy, but forever lovely. 

It is not possible to love Keaton without at least acknowledging her connection to him. 

A Beautiful Day in Haarlem

 

Last weekend a friend (whom I haven't seen a long time) suggested let's go somewhere out of town and we ended up in Haarlem - it is a prettiest little gem of the city relatively close to Amsterdam and easy to reach even with a public transport (we went with a car). I have always loved Haarlem, its much smaller and quieter than Amsterdam + it has less tourists and less pressure from international party crowd, truly a beautiful little historical town with old architecture and some brilliant museums, in fact if I am correct, the very first museum in the country is here, a famous Teylers Museum which this time we did not visit.

It also happened that it was a weekend of "Open Monumentendag" which is basically similar to "Open Museum" concept, but it happens trough the day - so we went to Frans Hals Museum which I always loved, the 17th century building used to be an orphanage (and old people's home) so one can still see the dining room where children used to eat and there are some spectacular portraits of sour-faced old ladies who were administrators back in the day. No one was smiling on those old paintings, probably they thought this was a serious matter and smiling was perhaps seen as too frivolous, who knows. Tons of beautiful art, many by enigmatic Frans Hals himself, who painted his own face on a group portrait of the St. George Civic Guard - this is how we know what he looked like. I was very intrigued by paintings from two female Dutch artists: 17th century Judith Leyster (her signature is in the corner of the painting) and 1928 portrait of lady in a black hat by Charley Toorop that I really, really liked. 

But the biggest surprise was the museum in the same street - Verwey Museum that one could easily miss, if not for "Open Monumentendag" so we went inside and it was delightful. It is even older building and it has a beautiful collection about Haarlem itself (and its famous citizens), including local painter Kees Verwey - the museum is named after him, as he left his whole collection to Haarlem. There was also interesting exhibition about what artistic studio looks like (mainly eccentric and chaotic, as expected), art by his wife Jeanne Tilbusscher and a very nice part about Haarlem - for me this was such a nice surprise that I decided right there and than to visit again soon.

We also had a very nice lunch (just in time to avoid rain) in a beautiful local Indonesian place Café Samabe where we had excellent little "Rice table" for two: this is usually a selection of choice Indonesian dishes, generally served as a group meal but this one was for only two of us and it was perfect. Afterwards the rain had stopped and we could still wander a little about the town and enjoy some more coffee in the sun - it was a lovely day and I was enjoying it very much. 

"Rage" by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) (1977)

 

This was a solid Stephen King psychological thriller but what is perhaps even more interesting is the story behind it - just as his career was started to getting steam, King was advised to keep his publishing to a minimum, as not to overwhelm the market. Apparently books are selling better if the authors make it looks somewhat more exclusive and rarified - too many titles by the same writer in one year just don't work.

"I was aware, eight years ago, that the production of my fiction was out of control. I'm also aware that publishers are reluctant to publish more than one or two books a year, and I've always been three or four books ahead. I've been feeling the frustration of having this stuff pile up for a long time."

So right after phenomenal success of "Carrie", 'Salem's Lot" and "The Shining", there came "Rage" advertised without much fanfare as written by a brand new writer Richard Bachman. No one suspected, though if you are familiar with King's writing, its very clear that this is exactly his style and his way of psychological manipulation - it took a few more Richard Bachman books until eight years later, the success of latest Bachman novel "Thinner" eventually spurred a ordinary salesperson in a bookshop Steve Brown to check publisher's records at the Library of Congress - Brown was simply blown away with similarities in styles between King and this Bachman guy. Afterwards, King himself contacted Brown and allowed to be interviewed, explaining that his next novel titled "Misery" was originally planned to be published under Bachman name. He even gleefully noted how critics praised "Thinner" and claimed "This is what Stephen King would write like if Stephen King could really write." 

Personally I perfectly understand why Brown made a connection because everything about "Rage" is a typical Stephen King, specially the way the story builds up to show the real danger is hiding under the faces of ordinary everyday people (in this case students in a high school). The story itself was shocking and disturbing back in 1977 - school shooting - in fact, King himself eventually started to dislike the way his novel depicts US social climate and after school shootings became more and more part of news circle in his homeland, he instructed his publishers to pull the novel completely out of print. It still can be found online and in second hand shops, but it is not printed anymore. 

It is also the first Stephen King novel that does not use any supernatural elements - where previously  there was telepathy, vampires and ghosts, in this novel the evil is pure human. The main character is high school student Charlie Decker who turns on his fellow students and teachers because he is filled with rage (in this case towards his father, but basically the whole world) - he keeps the whole class as hostages and things take unexpected turn as hostages became violent towards one of them. Because the novel deals with psychotic and disturbing subject, it is not something I see myself returning again, I simply might prefer King dealing with demons. 

Amsterdam Sail 2025

A wonderful thing is happening in Amsterdam now and its called "Amsterdam Sail" - it is a maritime event organised every 5 years and it brings historic ships and all sorts of sailing boats from all over the world into Amsterdam's harbour. It started in 1975 as celebration of 700th anniversary of the city and it continued every 5 years, except in 2020 due to Covid pandemic - this means that the last time this event happened was ten years ago, hence the excitement and enthusiasm of people watching it now. A wonderful thing is happening in Amsterdam now and its called "Amsterdam Sail" - it is a maritime event organised every 5 years and it brings historic ships and all sorts of sailing boats from all over the world into Amsterdam's harbour. It started in 1975 as celebration of 700th anniversary of the city and it continued every 5 years, except in 2020 due to Covid pandemic - this means that the last time this event happened was ten years ago, hence the excitement and enthusiasm of people watching it now.  

For me, it was the very first time to witness it. Can't think even have I ever heard of this before - my head was probably in complete other things earlier - however, this time I did not want to miss it and was very excited to see it. So we took a walk to the city centre but avoided the extremely crowded area behind Central Station and went instead to the area just before it - Westerdok, with its quiet houses and the neighbourhood that somehow feels completely forgotten by time, unknown to tourists, peaceful and serene - from here we watched the ships of all sizes arriving in Amsterdam and I must admit the excitement was palpable. You could see people everywhere on the windows and balconies, sitting around me on a beach chairs with their picnics, the whole families with dogs, it was quite a sight. What a beautiful day.

Gabi Novak 1936 - 2025

Seriously, it seems as I am only writing about passing of my idols here. Than again, it is my blog and I feel as I should note something that is also a part of life, namely that my favourites are slowly fading away and this is my own personal way of saying goodbye. The latest of goodbyes is Croatian singer Gabi Novak who was always amongst my favourites and her death really saddened me. Not because she was too young - she lived to almost 90 - but because she was heartbroken about passing of her only child, Jazz pianist Matija Dedić who died two months earlier - with them, the whole legendary Croatian music family is now gone. Her husband, a famous songwriter and composer Arsen Dedić passed away ten years ago, now the son and wife joined him. 

Novak was always part of my life - back in the days of my childhood she was one of the most popular singers in the country and she often performed together with her husband, they were inseparable and it was quietly understood that she knowingly put her own music career in the background to take care of her family. Longer before Arsen became known, she was already a big star of the popular music festivals - hence she kept her own name after the marriage - but the nicest story is how she was discovered: Novak was working on a cartoon movies where colleagues noted her singing and asked her to give voices to cartoon characters - just like Cinderella, Novak was heard by big Jazz orchestra leader who invited her to sing with his band and overnight she became a sensation, around 1959. Her music beginnings were jazzy (her idol was Doris Day) but with time she eventually embraced what was known as "schlager" (pop ballads and hits) and was known for her impeccable style, class and sense of fashion - she kept very high standards in everything she did, resulting in zillion awards and respect in the business that admired her integrity.

At her passing, it became clear how much audience loved her, specially female audience - Novak was easy to love, perhaps easier than others, since she kept decidedly low profile and always held herself as a classy lady: something appreciated in a still conservative country where female audiences loved to see a public figure devoted to her family and being so unashamedly motherly (and scandal free). Back in my youth, when I worked as a journalist, I met her several times and she was always a wonderful, supportive and warm person. Her music was always more like Croatian version of chanson and I even witnessed a beautiful open air concert where she performed with her pianist son under the shadow of a medieval castle, truly unforgettable evening. 

Rest in peace, dear Gabi and the whole family. 

Dame Cleo Laine (1927 - 2025)

Sad - but not unexpected - news that one of my all-time favourite singers just passed away at the grand old age of 97. I wrote about Cleo Laine here trough the years, since I listened her for decades and was admiring her voice forever. She will always be known as the British Queen of Jazz with fascinating and long career, mostly inseparable from her husband and musical partner John Dankworth with whom she criss-crossed continents, while experimenting with various music genres and selflessly encouraging potential musicians in the backyard of their countryside home - founded in 1970, what started as a free summer project it is called The Stables Theatre now (performers who played there include Dave Brubeck, Amy Winehouse, Nigel Kennedy and James Galway). Both Laine and her husband will be remembered for bringing Jazz to wider audiences and adding class to a genre that at the time was considered less respectable - even though they never strayed too far from Jazz, by working with wide net of musicians, they refused any pigeonholing and would enthusiastically embrace various music types (Dankworth in film music and classical, Laine in music theatre, pop, classical). Perhaps most significantly, they would set poetry in music (starting with 1950s they would set Shakespeare sonnets to Jazz and worked on this trough decades, resulting in three full albums in 1964, 1978 and 2005) and this surely speaks about their artistic merits.

Besides being totally in love with her voice and charisma (Laine was a very attractive lady with Caribbean father and British mother), I have always enjoyed the sheer wealth of her recorded music - trough the years it was always a pleasure to hear how skilfully she would approach anything from latest Carole King pop to Stephen Sondheim musicals, rowdy Bessie Smith blues to Porgy & Bess, from full-blown big orchestra to acoustic guitar or piano solo, she was always instantly recognisable and brilliant. With all these accolades, it is not surprising that her success in UK eventually opened doors to acceptance in US where she might have been the first Brit awarded with Grammy as Jazz singer of the year - her arrival cemented and immortalised as a guest in a hugely popular "The Muppet Show" that always hosted the biggest names. I watched this as a kid and I could watch it anytime again, its one of my favourite "Muppet Show"  moments. 

Interesting to note how UK media celebrates her, but avoids saying "the best British Jazz singer" - to avoid any possible arguments, they simply proclaim she was "the most successful British Jazz singer ever" which I guess can be no doubt. Her obituary in The Guardian is genuinely glowing and Brits are apparently really proud of her. Reading the obituaries and articles about Laine now, I was touched how many people remember the couple fondly - they were huge stars in their prime - this is perhaps the most important, this is what is left behind: not fame, not material success but to be remembered with affection for bringing beauty into lives of other people. I will love Cleo Laine forever. 

Documentary: "Enigma" by Zackary Drucker (2025)

Now this was something I watched with such a pleasure that I might even re-watch it again.

It is a story about two very famous transgender people who might have started together but drifted apart later in life, living completely different lives and following their own paths. It was directed by Zackary Drucker who is transgender herself and can be seen in the movie. 

The documentary contrasts lives of April Ashley and Amanda Lear and mainly uses archival interviews and excerpts from Ashley's own memoirs as a testament of how the life back in the 1950s and 1960s was: we are talking about the times when crossdressing was punished by law (but strangely enough, allowed as a part of the stage act) so small wonder many crossdressers gravitated towards famous and notorious Paris nightclub "Le Carrousel de Paris" where many of them found employment as a glamorous performers. The part of documentary that deals with "Le Carrousel" is genuinely the highlight of the movie and I would not be surprised if the club eventually get its own documentary because its really astonishing that in conservative post-WW2 Europe such a place existed, even if French love to think of themselves as free-spirited, but according to surviving performers, it was also a very, very buttoned-up place. Jet set would arrive to be entertained by sensationally attractive boys who posed as Hollywood glamour beauties: the illusion was cemented by actual surgeries some of them got in Morocco.

April Ashley died in 2021 so the movie uses her old interviews to confirm her perspective: he was a beautiful boy who did not fit in his Liverpool surroundings and was in fact, often beaten, harassed and bullied there. No wonder he fitted perfectly in "Le Carrousel" where everybody enjoyed the camaraderie, even though there was obvious competition and jealousy - they all shared backstage life and supported each other against the prejudicial outside world. Ashley was actually fairly successful until sex operation, when she decided to start a completely new life in UK as a photo model - quickly outed by salacious tabloids and destroyed in a court after a highly publicised divorce from a Baron Corbett (who claimed he was deliberately deceived). The scandal destroyed Ashley's professional and personal life and she had never recovered from it, though much later in life when social atmosphere changed, she eventually got some moral satisfaction from being recognised as transgender equality - but this was after decades of  criticism and media assaults. 

While Ashley and her contemporaries from "Le Carrousel" all claim that there was a young pretty boy (who also painted) working with them and who eventually also did sex operation - consequently starting a new life and rejecting old contacts - Amanda Lear absolutely refuses to admit anything about it and claims her own story. Now in her eighties, Lear is a true diva, living grand life and comes across as confident, entertaining, witty and totally in control of her life. Director Zackary Drucker tries all the tricks to corral her into admitting trans past but Lear is too clever to get caught - even when pictures of "Le Carrousel" are pushed in her face, Lear won't budge and to be honest, Drucker comes across as nuisance - simultaneously flattering Lear and claiming she was the biggest trans celebrity ever, the northern light, etc but watching like a hawk for any sign of capitulation. There is a fleeting moment when we see something going on inside Lear's mind - but more I think about it, more I am prone to understand it was probably sad realisation that after a lifetime of fencing off questions about her gender, she was fooled into expecting genuinely respectful interview which turned into just another same old scandal digging expose. 

At the end, it is a curious look at two lives that had completely different path. For all her late-life awards, Ashley is a tragic life because she was constantly haunted by tabloids. Lear used her notoriety to create intriguing stage image and became successful disco star with cult following across the world - journalists might have been annoying and repetitive but she knew how to deal with them. Director Zackary Drucker might say whatever she wants ("oh, I love Lear, she was always my idol") but the movie focuses heavily on unmasking Lear and eventually it became really distasteful - at this point, Lear is retired eighty year old who deserves to live her life as she pleases, there is absolutely no need to dig & unearth anything if she is happy to live whatever life she created for herself. She does not need to apologise or explain herself to anybody.