PRINCE POPPYCOCK

just recuperating from Spring Break, which ends today.

Meanwhile, some links for your general edification:

Via Vadim Rizov at The Independent Eye, a call to arms about the arrest of the great Iranian director Jafar Panahi. The Siren followed the links to the donation page and kicked in some money, and she suggests you do the same, if you haven't already. Direct donation link is right here. The maker of The White Balloon and The Circle deserves at least that much.

At Noir of the Week, the fabulous Sheila O'Malley writes up The Killer That Stalked New York and demonstrates how to start a review with a wallop: "We know right off the bat that the blonde woman getting off the train in Grand Central Station is a bad dame." Dear Sheila, we can only hope that people think the same thing about us as we're getting off the subway.

Rupert Alistair posts about Dragonwyck, the uneven but endearing Old Dark House entry from Joseph Mankiewicz. The Siren saw that one recently and was struck once more by the way murderous, drug-addicted, genealogically obsessed Vincent Price is still obviously the only guy in the movie worth sleeping with.

Ivan is back at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear (hip, hip, hooray!) and posting away, including this fond tribute to John Forsythe.

The Siren has read a lot of reviews of Shutter Island, but David Cairns has her favorite right here. Why? Well, look at the quote he starts out with.

Though it is only peripherally about movies, and movie gossip at that, the Siren still recommends this Lance Mannion post to anyone who yearns to see someone plunge a stiletto into the gasbag known as David Brooks.

Update: Siren favorite Dennis Cozzalio wins her heart by submitting half his answers to his own Christmas quiz...in April, with the words "there's tardy, and then there's tardy, and then there's jaw-dropping, passive-aggressive procrastination of a spectacular fashion." Well, Dennis, you've set the bar pretty high here, but the Siren still thinks she can beat you.

If anyone else has a link to tout (aside from the porn spammers, natch) please post in comments.