Carnival Links, Oscar reminder, and DW related clips

[selenak]

It's Carnival over here, and while I mostly hide from it - due to being busy with work - I'm not immune to the splendour and excitement it can have - elsewhere. I was lucky and able to attend the two most famous carnivals in years past, once in Rio de Janeiro, twice in Venice. Out of nostalgia and because I've gained some new readers since then, here are links to the photos and reports from these occasions:

Carnival in Venice I

Carnival in Venice II

Carnival in Rio

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artaxastra, check this out! First trailer for AGORA, a movie about female philosopher Hypatia, and the reconstruction of fourth century Alexandria looks amazing. The trailer starts with the lighthouse which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world...


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In case you missed the Oscars or just want to watch this particular bit again: Hugh Jackman's opening number, complete with Frost/Nixon duet co-starring Anne Hathaway.

Speaking of the ever useful YouTube: ever since the BBC named the actress who'll play the companion in this year's second Doctor Who special, I've been thrilled for two particular reasons:



1) I love the character of Evelyn Smythe in the Big Finish Audios and have often regretted that the laws of tv seemed to make it impossible for the Doctor to get a woman older than 50 as his companion on the screen as well. (Sarah Jane now of course fits the parameter, but now she's the heroine of her own show - a good thing, too, of course - while when she was a regular companion back in the 70s, she fitted the 20something general profile.) While ageism probably still holds a sway on the regular seasons, we'll get a break for the specials: Adelaide, the companion for the second special, will be played by the 57 years old and absolutely awesome

2) Lindsay Duncan. Whom some of you might not know, so I checked YouTube for clips featuring her and giving an impression of her range as an actress. Here are some results. Firstly, her death scene as Servilia in the tv show Rome. The feud between Servilia and Atia (the fabulous Polly Walker) in Rome serves as a driving force for the first and early second season. After the defeat and death of her son Brutus, Servilia calls out Atia for days, murmuring nothing but one sentence in front of her house - "Atia of the Julii, I call for justice". Eventually, Atia snaps, and this happens:

(Servilia isn't a sympathetic character on Rome, but a very compelling one. Here's a good vid capturing her overall storyline.)

Lindsay Duncan and Alan Rickman created the roles of the Marquise de Merteuil and Valmont in Christopher Hampton's stage version of Les Liasons Dangereuses (Glenn Close and John Malkovich in the film version). More recently, they teamed up again for Noel Coward's Private Lives, playing a can't live with/can't live without divorced couple, Amanda and Eliot. Here's a scene:

If you have the time, check out this medley of Noel Coward songs sung by them to photos of the stage production, and both of them accepting their best actor/best actress awards (which has a hilarious ad-lib by Rickman as Snape - Daniel Radcliffe was in the audience - for you Harry Potter fans).

Comments

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I predict great Alexandria icons at the very least. :) But I knew you'd be as excited about the trailer as I was.

Yes, I've thought about it, but I'd have a secondary character (and a female one) to survive, because the injustice of Hypatia's fate would otherwise make it too hard for me. (I mean, I've written tragic endings repeatedly, but there was always some hope, too...)

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

I know. Doing Hypatia would make Charmian feel like a birthday party! It's more than I could stand to write too. Charmian tore me up in little pieces and shredded me. I don't think I can go worse. But a secondary character, someone involved in this conflict but not Hypatia herself.... I'm still not sure I could go there, but maybe you could.

There's a reason why almost nobody does late Roman, isn't there?

With Thraustila there is at least an echo of hope. He lives, for one thing, and while Rome is sinking he's off to Koln to his family, who may get through this or not. But ultimately his way of life is not gone. Ultimately, he is the future. There's a direct line from him to Carolus Magnus, after all....

(And the sarcophagus in Aachen? The Persephone Sarcophagus? That is simply the most gorgeous synthesis. It's beyond breathtaking. I think I should have to write Carolus Magnus as That Guy!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Gillian Bradshaw does late Romans, and does them very well. I loved her novel The Bearkeeper's Daughter about Theodora, from the pov of her illegitimate son, and she wrote one set in late Roman Britain as well, contemporary to Marcus Aurelius.

Carolus Magnus as That Guy? That would be great, if you'd do it. Speaking of synthesis, do you know we had a Byzantine empress later, Theophanu? The Ottonians were a dynasty of powerful women. Otto I. was married to Adelheid who became regent after his death. Otto II was married to Theophanu - and she's called "empress" not "consort of the emperor" in the documents, which was really unprecedented - who as mentioned was a Byzantine princess - and died young, so she ruled for her son Otto III. Who also died young.

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

I've been thinking about Carolus Magnus as That Guy. Though the research is daunting, as I don't know Carolingian hardly at all. My classes mostly went straight to Britain and stayed there until the Renaissance, so I have a bunch of guys named Aethelred in this period. And I never could get into them.

Nor formulate any real ideas about the period. Why, in your opinion, does the Carolingian Renaissane not "take"? Why doesn't this stick? Why don't we go straight from 800 to 1300?

No, I didn't know about Theophanu! That's really interesting. I'll have to look for her.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, one reason would be the grand split between the sons - first time we've documents in medieval French and German as well as Latin - the aftermath of Alexander effect, in other words. All the fighting. And Ludwig, who was Emperor after Carolus, was deposed by his own sons twice.

Theophanu: Here she is with her husband (http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Otton_II_et_Th%C3%A9ophano.JPG&filetimestamp=20060206041356), and notice they're both depicted the same size.

The wedding contract (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Urkunde01.jpg), which mentions she was crowned as Empress in Rome by the pope. She scandalized the court somewhat by bathing once a day, and also because she used a fork, but most of all because she signed her documents as Emperor, as had been the case with earlier Byzantine empresses ruling for their sons in Byzantium, but most certainly nowhere in the German speaking territories. So she was Theophanius gratia divina imperator augustus and is counted as a ruler among the list of German emperors.

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

Funeral Games! He's so often undone by the funeral games, isn't he? Managing to do this without the bloodsoaked funeral games is the trick, it seems. Though the mid 19th century version was fairly mild compared to some bouts of that fever. And in fact we won! *g*

That's interesting with the same size. I've seen that at Cluny, but I didn't remember it.

The wedding contract -- also fascinating. It's really interesting to me about the script changes. I learned Latin cursive a long time ago, and it's interesting to see how this is a halfway point between those forms and more modern forms of the letters, with a clear Greek influence in things like the capital As. I know next to nothing about medieval script, but it's a fascinating comparison.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

See, this is one of several reasons why I appreciate Richelieu. He had an ego like all ambitious men, but he knew he was mortal and would need a successor, hence adopted young Gulio Mazarini as his protegé, worked with him for years, asked Louis to appoint him as first minister when dying (er, when Richelieu was dying, though Louis XIII survived him only by months) and presto, Mazarin there to oversee the years from Louis XIII to adult Louis XIII. Now if all statesmen had that kind of foresight and ability to find a good successor...

I know next to nothing about medieval script as well, but I figured you'd appreciate it!

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed. Rather than just let the chips fall!