Best Thanksgiving movies is a tough category. Garfield had a halfway decent special (spoiler: lasagna), but actual movies… Here are our favorites.

Fantastic Mr. Fox – This is autumnal perfection. The whole film is like a brisk early-evening sunset with colored leaves underfoot and good jokes. Highlight: Willem Dafoe playing a sinister Westside Story rat.

The New World – English ships arrive in Jamestown, native tribes investigate, transcontinental romance blossoms. It doesn’t get more Thanksgiving than this. Highlight: Incredibly beautiful “Injun” dresses.

Dad Movies – In asking a friend about this, he mentioned he and his dad always watched The Great Escape on Thanksgiving. This is perfect. Any movie that gets your dad pumped. Highlight: All the spice drops you can handle.

When mining for fashion among great leading men, we instantly think of Newman, and Grant, Redford and McQueen; but there are many who’s example we overlook.

Toshiro Mifune was the iconic grizzly faced muse of more than 14 of Akira Kurosawa’s films. He could say more with a dismissive grunt and samurai stare than many would with an entire scene. Off camera, he introduced 40′s Japan to a rumpled American swagger they would never get enough of (and arguably do better than us today). This itchy beard over collar feels so current and smooth, you tell me he’s not a menswear martial artist.

On occasions of elegance, Mifune was superb in tailored suits and decorum. In his later (grossly under-seen) films like High and Low and Grand Prix, these replaced his familiar ronin robes, but maintained an air of impeccable precision.

If you happen to find yourself in Oslo with a bag of dirty laundry and a penchant for reading, may we recommend Laundromat Cafe. Or perhaps you are in Strasbourg with an empty stomach and an appetite for white linens; try La Corde a Linge. Laundromat Cafe is laundromat, cafe, and library with a collection of over 4000 books and a retro look that will have you tickled teal. La Corde a Linge is a restaurant housed in a former laundry from the 1930s, watch your head and your food as the daily wash dries on a clothesline above you.

Both are places after Launderette’s own heart.

There once lived a French gazillionaire named Albert Kahn who collected over 72,000 autochrome plates from around the world. He sent photographers to the ends of the Earth at a time when empires were collapsing and World War I fell upon Western Europe. The poor chap lost his fortune in the crash of 1929, but his dream of promoting cross-cultural peace through photography and understanding lives on in his collection.

The beautiful red, green, and violets are created by microscopic grains of potato starch. Autochrome was the principal photography process used between 1907 and the 1930s. Thank you, inventors Lumière, you clever brothers you.

Movies Of 1984

I have long held 1984 as the “best year.” I remember how good it felt saying it was 1984. I remember how awesome my O.P. socks felt, and corduroy shorts looked. No evidence however, is more convincing of the year’s prowess than a simple list of movies from its 12 month period.

ed. In addition: Max Headroom made his first appearance in 1984, and When Doves Cry was a #1 hit. The Olympics were in Los Angeles, and I was wearing a beret a lot of the time.

Before he was president Andrew Johnson’s wife Eliza (17th), taught him how to write. Grace Goodhue Coolidge (30th) was a teacher for the deaf and gave speeches entirely in sign language. Rutherford B. Hayes’ wife was known as “Lemonade Lucy” (19th), because she didn’t serve liquor at White House parties.

Happy President/First Lady’s Day!

Most mornings, John Quincy Adams (6th) would swim the Potomac naked. Roosevelt’s (26th) six kids would roller-skate the halls of the White House and sled down the stairs on cookie trays. And Andrew Jackson’s (7th) pet parrot had to be taken away from his funeral because it was swearing.

Happy President’s Day!

Had our picture made @HitchedEvent by Smilebooth. Pinky out, and a fist. This actually embodies well the Launderette way – refined and mannered, but you don’t wanna step ta this.