Back again... on the road

[selenak]

The working road, though, with a brief break between Leipzig and Oldenburg at Bamberg, my hometown.

Trying to catch up with everybody's posts, I discovered the following highlights:

- andrastewhite finished season 3 and has a flat - or should that be the other way around ? - yay!

- there is a casting spoiler or two for AtS which makes honorh happy, but I still won't read the entry and shall remain spoilerfree

- the new trailer for Prisoner of Azkaban appears only in stutters on my laptop viewscreen - curses! (Not Unforgivable ones)

- fernwithy wrote one of her usual insightful takes on Star Wars, this time on characterisation through action.


In other news, I met Rolf Hochhuth yesterday evening. He's one of our most famous playwrights, an Angry Young Man (TM) of the 60s being an Angry Old Man now. You might know his breakthrough play, Der Stellvertreter, since it recently has been made into a film by Costa-Gravas. Can't remember the English title, though - it deals with the Pope's silence on Hitler persecuting the Jews, and was, back then, the first work to tackle the subject. Now of course there have been endless copies. The other Hochhuth play from his younger days that used to be quite famous was one about Churchill, though that one never really made it abroad, proving that you can attack a Pope but not Winston C. His most recent play, "McKinsey Kommt", had its world premiere a short while ago. He's an odd bird, still burning with revolutionary fervour on the one hand and quite conservative in some other matters, making a case for the monarchy, of all things, and is prone to switch topics at a moment's notice. An excerpt of the dialogue:

RH: Even bloody Wilhelm II knew his artists, and supported them. Can you tell me one German Chancellor who had an intense connection to art? Just one?
Self: Willy Brandt? Via Günther Grass, I mean. That was a rather strong relationship.
RH: Well, yes. (Ponders this.)
Publisher: But that was politics - he needed Grass for his campaigns.
Self: Well, the monarchs did it for their image, too. And the question was about an intense connection.
RH: Did I mention I found out the truth about Mayerling? (Earnestly) Murder changes you into a different person, Ms selenak. He shot that 16-years-old girl and sat there all night and couldn't do it to himself. He just couldn't, because he was changed. He had to ask his aide to shoot him.

It's a strange experience, talking to someone whose plays you read at school. I did like him, though. Not least because I won the Bismarck vs Richelieu battle (for Richelieu).*g*

Comments

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

You mean Amen? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1834183.stm) ((boggle boggle boggle))

Wow, that's....that's....cool.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Yes, that would be the film version in question. Mr. Hochhuth told me the rather entertaining backstory of Carlo Ponti buying the film rights way back in the 60s, and then revealing he didn't actually intend to film it at all - he bought them to keep it unfilmed, so the Vatican would go easy on his union with Sophia Loren. Of course after a few years the rights went back to Hochhuth's publisher, but according to R.H. Ponti figured by then nobody would be interested in an old play anymore.
Which they weren't, until it was Costa-Gravas to the rescue.

No, I have no idea whether he was kidding me. But it is a good story.*g*

[livinglaurel.livejournal.com]

he bought them to keep it unfilmed, so the Vatican would go easy on his union with Sophia Loren.

Ha! OK, that's a GREAT story. I've loved Costa-Gravas ever since Missing. Really looking forward to the movie....

[raincitygirl.livejournal.com]

Sounds like an interesting conversation.

Incidentally, I *howled* with laughter at your wonderful icon. Is it new?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

More or less. It's another fernwithy creation which she generously donated to share.

And yes, it was an interesting conversation. With the odd surreal moment, but that only heightened the interest.

First I love yer icon...

[illmantrim.livejournal.com]

'on the road again...'

have you stopped at yer hometown yet? and how was it?

Travel like this is amazing and I am glad you are letting us all see yer world. Tis a nice little glimpse outside ourselves.

Re: First I love yer icon...

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and yes, I have. It's good - I really like my hometown, and would visit regularily even if my parents weren't living here. It means not much time on the net, though.*g*

Re: First I love yer icon...

[illmantrim.livejournal.com]

Aye that is a loss to us here but a gain to thee-- tis worth it for you to be happy lass

[artaxastra.livejournal.com]

You have the coolest job! And get to talk to the most interesting people in a substantive way. *dies of envy*

That's one of the oddest takes on the Mayerling Affair I've ever heard. What do you think of it?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on, whereas you fight the good fight to protect people from the evils of Dubya bigotism. Much more important than my gallivanting about.

Hochhuth's interpretation of Mayerling: who knows. Could be. His two chief reasons to suspect it, though, could have other explanations - i.e. yes, Rudolf got a Catholic burial which is a no-no for suicides, but then the Habsburg clout could have been enough for that, and yes, his hands were injured, but who knows what happened that night.