The Slice After 44 Years, Stanley, Blanche Still Can Heat Up The Screen

You don’t have to go outside to feel the heat.

Among the other things it has going for it, 1951’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” - on cable’s AMC twice today - features some of filmdom’s best depictions of people sweating out a sultry summer. Another of our favorites in this category is “Body Heat,” from 1981. What movies would make your list?

Speaking of movies: What Spokane needs is a summer film series at some place like The Met, featuring flicks such as “The Thin Man” and “Double Indemnity.”

What Spokane doesn’t need: Is a perpetuation of the myth that everyone around here experiences on a personal level the feelings of loss and grief attendant to each and every local tragedy. Now nobody’s saying people here are cold and indifferent to the pain of others. Of course, not. Certainly the awful things that sometimes happen to strangers can hit you on a gut level. It’s just that pretending we are one tight-knit community of concerned neighbors fundamentally denies the reality of urban life. And thinking of Spokane as a small town, however appealing that might be to some, is a trap.

Name that brand: A twentysomething guy we know called to ask if The Slice’s readers would like to help name the alternative rock group he and three women have started. We said we would ask.

Yeah, right: Don’t you love it when people going on vacation leave long, detailed notes about all the crucial stuff that will have to be taken care of while they’re gone.

Unexpected comeback: “A couple of days ago, I was arguing with my 10-year-old daughter,” faxed Michelle Pingree. “Not a new experience for either of us. When requesting additional goodies prior to bedtime, she was was told ‘NO’. Being the 10-year-old she is, she pursued the issue. I eventually asked her, ‘What part of NO don’t you understand?’ She replied, with a smirk on her face, ‘The N’.

“I had a great laugh,” Pingree continued. “She got no treats.”

Overheard outside WSU’s Bryan Hall: “Then I opened a package the other day and it didn’t have any blue M&Ms.” - submitted by a friend who thinks someone ought to apply for a grant to study this.

Today’s Slice question: Does the Spokane area value conformity more than other places you’ve been?

, DataTimes MEMO: The Slice appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Write The Slice at P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; fax (509) 459-5098.