reviewing reviews, mostly

Due to the talented saava, I have a change of default icon. Having given Darla a Lady Lazarus quote as well in The Haunting, Hunted Kind, I couldn't resist. Servalan is not permanently retired, however. She'll probably return as Sleer soon.

Speaking of Lady Lazarus, seems the Sylvia Plath biopic got another good review, this one in The New Yorker; also, this time the screenwriter gets mentioned. The following quote might illustrate that the literary set is not that different from TV fandom, after all:

When I worked for the book-review section of a newspaper, we had a vague preminition that hardened into a single, inflexible rule of office procedure: Do not, under any circumstances, write or publish anything on the subject of Sylvia Plath, especially if it concerns her marriage to Ted Hughes. At the merest mention of his or her name in print, winged covens of family members or acquaintances, backed by defenders of either the Plath camp or the Hughes clan (but never both), would descend from the hills, baying for blood.

Anyway, I feel increasingly less nervous about watching this movie. Otoh, rozk's review of the massacre committed on The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen made me glad I remained firm despite having had the chance to watch it for free in Frankfurt. What I did watch, yesterday, was something kathyh taped for me a brief while ago - The Deal, a TV play directed by Stephen Frears, about... well, let me quote another review: The most heavily ploughed emotional furrow in British matrimony since Charles and Diana came to blows: Tony and Gordon. Tony Blair as Diana is inspired casting, I've got to say. You can read the entire review, which is full of good lines ("David Morrissey...gives us a very good Brown, gruffer and more gravelly than the great man himself, but conveying that reproachful intensity that makes us all feel we should be cleverer and work longer hours"), here. As for my own impressions, I enjoyed it very much and only wished it was longer, so that characters like Mandelson could have gotten fleshed out more. Though I did like rozk's interpretation on why he switched sides ("Gordon was more butch, but Tony was cuter"). Seriously now, it was good political drama, and made me wonder which writer, which director could possibly come up with something for that present-day odd couple, Tony Blair and George W. Bush. There is a scene in The Deal when young Blair wants to induce Gordon Brown to some talk about his private life, and Brown absolutely doesn't want to (a salute for the scriptwriter who thus neatly avoids the distraction from the main subject, btw), saying he finds it difficult to... "Share?" suggests wide-eyed Tony B., the bambi double. "That's what the Americans call it."
Well, they do, but I'm still at a loss to imagine a conversation between Dubya and Mr. Blair when no advisers are present. May a future scriptwriter be not so lacking of imagination. Because surely the utter bizarreness of the last year and the present day deserves some dramatization.

Next: a link mostly for raincitygirl who as I recall had a stupid teacher/lecturer who refused to see any sexual ambiguity in Twelfth Night. Here is a review of a current performance from the Globe Theatre of London, currently starting its American tour.

Lastly:


Discworld: Which Ankh-Morpork City Watch Character are YOU?
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