Michele Bachmann Provokes Spit-Take from the Alfred Hitchcock Geek

Update: I just realized that this whole thing is a satirical joke. (Thanks to "Crispy" below for enlightening me.) Bachmann never actually said any of this. But I'm leaving the post up because I'm not sure which is funnier: Craig's faux interview, or the fact that I fell for it.

"My hero!" -- Michele Bachmann.

Not to politicize this blog or nuthin', but I had to pass this nugget on from the November, 2011 issue of Vanity Fair: In an interview with Craig Brown, Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann listed her top eight heroes. In addition to the usual suspects on such a list (Jesus Christ, Gandhi, MLK), she added our favorite mama's boy:

“#7: NORMAN BATES

Here is a salt-of-the-earth guy who tends to his mom as well as single-handedly running a small family business. A proven thief books into his motel, so he humanely executes her. The guy's a hero. And what do the liberal elite call him? 'Psycho'! can you believe it?”

Make of her selection what you will. I'm sure she's just kidding around. This is, after all, the snooty-snarky Vanity Fair. (Disclosure: I vote democrat.) (Since I'm a Vanity Fair reader, you probably already knew that.) (Just don't hate me for being simultaneously smart and vapid. It's harder to pull off than it looks.) Nevertheless, if she gets elected, just to be on the safe side, we should probably keep all sharp objects out of the Oval Office!

Vogue Magazine Tips Hat to Alfred Hitchcock

Half a century after he made his best films, Alfred Hitchcock's place in pop culture is more secure than ever. The March issue of Vanity Fair magazine featured a photo tribute to Hitch, which I commented on and now the June issue of Vogue has put together a minor homage. In a fashion spread titled "San Francisco Chronicles," actor Pierce Brosnan and model Daria Werbowy 'wander about' the Bay area for a fashion shoot, posing at such locales as Bodega Bay (setting for The Birds) and the spot under the Golden Gate Bridge where Vertigo's 'Madeleine' jumped into the bay.

Lean and angular, Werbowy looks oh-so-Hedrenesque with her hair pinned in a towering French Roll and clad in ladylike 1960s-influenced silk skirts. Hitch was always a stylish director and it seems his films just keep becoming more important with age.

Vanity Fair's Hitchcock Scenes Compared with Originals

Fellow blogger Barefoot Cassandra has been doing a lot of heavy lifting lately. When the March Vanity Fair came out with those (I think) fantastic recreations of famous Alfred Hitchcock scenes, she set about scanning those images and then finding their parallel stills from the original movies. It's been interesting to compare them side by side - to see how the artists adhered to the original and where they exercized their creative license. Thanks, Cassandra! (Whoever you are....)

Later, today, hopefully, I'll deliver my wrap-up on Hitchcock's Films as Philosophy.

Vanity Fair Pictures from Alfred Hitchcock Scenes: Sneak Previews and Peeks

If you've been tracking the excitement (okay, MY excitement) at seeing Charlize Theron reprise Grace Kelly's role in Dial M for Murder or, for that matter seeing Gwyneth Paltrow walk in Princess Grace' steps in To Catch a Thief (am I the only guy who sees that obvious connection?!) then you'll definitely want to click here for a sneak preview of the upcoming Vanity Fair spread. This comes from my correspondent, the brilliant and talented radio DJ-slash-comic nerd Jill. Thanks Jill!

BTW, just so newcomers know, Hitchcock Geek isn't a fan site. Really. I'm here to talk about film and philosophy as it relates to Alfred Hitchcock's movies. That's my raison d'blog. I've got a post in the works that will dig into Oxford philosopher Stephen Mulhall's thoughts on film as philosophy and I plan to go Wittgenstein all over y'all, even ALL y'all. But, for now, there are some delicious actresses (and, okay, a few decent looking actors too) bringing famous Hitchcock images to life. What can I say? I'm a student and a fan. I think that makes me an aficionado. If that appeals to you, please, by all means, stay in touch and subscribe by clicking the chicklet or filling out the email form to the right. And I promise to return you to your regular (faux-) highbrow programming shortly. In the meantime, take a gander at the sneak peeks.