At least this time my absence will be due to holidaying it up out in the winter wonderland and not just because I’m lazy or being forced to do actual work to pay the man. (I believe my New Year resolution will be to find out who the man is and then write him a taunting note.)
And since this will indeed my last post of 2008 I really should be taking advantage and squeezing out one more Bob Balaban tribute for maybe someone like Elsa Lanchester who is one of my all time fave actresses. In what movie has she not been spectacular?

As Charles Laughton’s nurse in Witness for the Prosecution, she manages to exude exasperation without being annoying; and in doing so, wound up taking what could have been an annoying character and transforming it into Dr. Watson to Laughton’s Sherlock Holmes.
During Lanchester’s even briefer turn as Katie Nanna in Mary Poppins,

But in choosing to emulate swans spitting and hissing for her portrayal as the Bride of Frankenstein, Lanchester is nothing short of genius. I love love love her!

AND HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE NEW YEAR'S TO YOU AND YOURS!!!!!!!