In case you, like me, need some distraction today.


Susanna Clarke does a book meme: Sure, the Guardian calls it something else, but that's what it is, and the author of "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" as well as "Piranesi" answers the questions.

Much Ado about Nothing/ Romeo and Juliet:

Second Act Comedy: in this Shakespearean crossover, Beatrice and Benedick save the day in Verona. And how!

Shakespeare:


There are many reviews of the Joss Whedon directed Much Ado About Nothing out by now - which we in Germany won't get to see for a while, hmph - but this is by far the most original and hilarious. In blank verse.


Hobbit:

We have a first trailer for the Desolation of Smaug. Comes with a lot of elves (Lee Pace has lines this time) and partial Smaug (but not voice of same). As I am not a Tolkien purist and enjoyed the first Hobbit film muchly, I am delighted.

Once Upon A Time:


Now has a rewatch community, starting their rewatch this weekend. Alas I will go abroad at the end of next week, for three weeks, no less, but I'll be able to discuss the pilot at least and then rejoin in a month.


That Sixties band I'm fond of:


Listen to John Lennon doing a hilarious Bob Dylan parody. (Bob did a Lennon parody, too, so you don't have to feel bad for him.:)


Orphan Black:

Naturally, I checked out the AO3 for fanfic. In additon to canonical Cosima/Delphine there's fanonical Alison/Beth; these seem to be the main pairings. As with every fandom, little gen. Here are the two vignettes I liked best so far:

Nameless : short but dense moment between Helena, Sarah and Mrs. S. Breaks one's heart for Helena all over again.


of lending existence to nothing : Alison portrait. Very bleak, but well written.

I'm currently at a conference in Marburg, which is a lovely medieval town that is known for, in no particular order, harboring a saint (Elizabeth), an inquisitor (Konrad) and the Brothers Grimm. (When they were studying, for two years. Jakob had a few sharp words about the place, but then he did about most things, and the house is exactly the type of timbery old house you expect the Grimms to have lived in.) Alas, the internet at my hotel is very wavery and throws me out every time I attempt to upload photos, so none of that until I'm back in Munich. (Also no tv, for obvious reasons.)

However, link time. Iron Man 3 yesterday brought to mind Being Human's hilarious set of webisodes set between episodes from its last season, as Alex declares her intentions towards Robert Downey Junior in this one. (My favourite tiny detail is that Tom has seen Iron Man and Hal has not, as opposed to the other way around. Also, as I recall, one of the BH writers in a post show interview told the story about how Alex fulfilled her RDJ dream, which they couldn't film for "budget reasons". (Read: RDJ too expensive. :)

The benefit of now being able to read Twitters: finding out about Bryan Cranston's next role will be now that Breaking Bad has wrapped up filming (though we fans will have to wait until August for the episodes, sigh). He's signed on to play Lyndon Johnson in a film called All the Way re: fatal decisions regarding Vietnam. Which I'm looking forward to see. LBJ with his contradictions (civil rights reforms and Great Society on the one hand, Vietnam on the other, the political professionalism and the crudity) is a great character for Cranston to play.

Here, someone lists their reasons why Darla is the best vampire in the Buffyverse. Some of which I'd even agree with (which usually doesn't happen when the internet makes lists about my favourite characters).

And lastly, the British trailer for the Whedonian Much Ado offers more details than the American one and makes me wonder more fervently than ever when we'll get to see the film in Germany.

Since Much Ado About Nothing, the Joss Whedon version, premiered at a film festival two days ago, the first reviews have been dropping in, and they are glowing. Clearly, filming Shakespeare with his favourite actors in twelve days is how Joss W. should spent all his spare time between big projects from now on. I vote for Richard III next, because it's going to take the BBC far longer to follow up The Hollow Crown with the York tetralogy, and also he can cast Enver Gjokaj as Richard. (Can't let have Alexis Denisof have all the leading roles, although, on second thought, why not? He still gets my vote for best male actor - other than the obvious ASH - to work with Joss Whedon.) (Sorry, James Marsters fans. He isn't bad. Just not in the same versatility department.)

Still on a theme of didn't-the-90s-give-us-some-fabulous-tv, since DS9_Rewatch reached the season 4 episode Bar Association, I had a lovely discussion about Quark. The "which fandoms to nominate for Yuletide?" debate has already started, which reminds me that during the last two years DS9 had been an option, and since it's an easy fandom for me to volunteer, I ended up getting two DS9 prompts in a row, with the result that one story which was supposed to be about Dax, Worf and Bashir ended up also starring Quark with as much page time as Bashir, and the other the other was basically How I Met My Ferengi: Odo's Tale. I'm going out on a limb here in guessing that if DS9 again makes the Yuletide cut and I again put it up as one of the fandoms I can write, my next Yuletide story will also include Quark. What can I say? He's just that irresistable to me.

Currently I'm definitely in Geek heaven. Arrived on Friday afternoon only to be greeted by London in sunshine, which is always nice though rarely the case, and proceeded to acquire mym coveted Much Ado ticket(s) for Saturday, about which later. I also went and watched Pygmalion on Friday evening, with Rupert Everett as Higgins, Kara Tointon as Eliza and Diana Rigg as Mrs. Higgins. It's always a pleasure to hear Shaw's words spoken out loud, and this was the first production I've seen which took him at his word in another sense, to wit. Now, the final scene of the play Pygmalion as written can be played ambigously and with the implication that Eliza despite her declaration will return to Higgins, which is of course also what the musical version, My Fair Lady does. But in the afterword (and in many letters during the original production to the actress who played the first Eliza in 1913, Stella Patrick Campbell), Shaw is crystal clear that she won't, that she'll stick to her declaration of independence, and that this is a good thing. As I said, this is the first on stage production which really takes him up on it and makes the Eliza-Higgins confrontation at the end as the heart of the piece, making it as a coming of age tale for Eliza rather than emphasizing the romance. Which is not to say that there is an absence of emotion. When Higgins says "I shall miss you, Eliza", there's no doubt he means it and that he does feel affection. But there is also no doubt that this is one jerk hero (tm) belonging to the school that eventually produced House and current Sherlock whom the heroine is far better without after having learned from him what he had to offer, because he won't chance, that that makes him stuck. Everett starts waspish (also it occured to me, not for the first time, that the first scene of Pygmalion where Higgins performs his naming everyone's place of origin by accent trick is Shaw taking a leaf from contemporary ACD's Sherlock Holmes and that in many ways, Higgins and Pickering are a reply to Holmes and Watson, with the difference that neither of them in the end are the heroes of their story) and ends very vulnerable and aware of his loss but also, finally, of the whys; Kara Tointon gives you a really strong sense of Eliza's personality and makes you actually believe her when she ways in the final confrontation that what she wanted from Higgins was never romance and that if they ended in bed together they'd hate each other five days later.

(A mother and her two daughters were next to and in front of me respectively, and the daughters hadn't realized until the play started that this was the version without the songs. And they were much insulted that "it didn't work out". Ah, teenagers. And also, Loewe & Lerner.)

Saturday started by me meeting kangeiko for breakfast, proceeded to meeting rozk for lunch, and then saw us spend a geekfest of an afternoon and evening by watching X-Men: First Class and Much Ado About Nothing. Reviews under the cut, thoroughly enjoying both.

( X-Men: First Class )

After a break at the rooftop of my hotel, we then went on to watch Tate 'n Tennant tackle Much Ado. It's modern dress production going in the Italian farce direction (or Mamma Mia the film - that kind of atmosphere), but glorious fun. Based on other people's reviews I was a bit afraid they'd play Beatrice's "Kill Claudio" moment for laughs, too, but they didn't. Justly so, this is the moment when things get serious in so many ways between them, and the contrast to the relieved giggles just before when they finally admitted they loved each other is all the more efficient. There is no farce there in that moment and no doubt Beatrice means it, and on Benedick's part DT plays it with complete awareness of the enormity as well; ditto in the subsequent scene where Benedick delivers his challenge.

There is a lot of slapstick in the scenes where first Benedick and then Beatrice are tricked by their friends, but then I haven't seen a production where there isn't, including the Branagh film; it just begs for it. Something I hadn't seen before and which our T & T duo carried off with aplomb was that the masked dance scene, CT is dressed as a man in suit (looks good on her!) and DT as a woman in a miniskirt. (He has great legs.) It's not just a visual gag, it also emphasizes the fluid gender dynamics between them, as opposed to the conventional couple of Hero and Claudio. I was amused that Leonato's brother Antonio is made into his wife in this production and renamed, no, not Antonia, but, wait for it, Imogen. As a reminder of how later Shakespeare would deal with this whole jealousy, fake death and restoration plot, it was neat.

Chemistry and comic timing: as excellent as ever. As with Hamlet a couple of years ago I was surprised of how much younger DT looks in person. As opposed to the other Shakespeare I saw him in, here he uses his Scottish accent, which works for Benedick. CT seems to have lost a bit of weight but still proudly owns her curves. The only times when I could not quite suspend my role disbelief was when she said "nooooo" because that drawn out "no" is a Donna mannerism (she didn't do it when I saw her in Under the Blue Sky).

Hero is in many ways a thankless role but I thought Sarah Macrae made the most of it, especially strong in scene after Claudio and Don Pedro have stomped off and her father attacks her. (One thing I always liked about Benedick in any production and during reading is that he's the only man at the aborted wedding who reacts rationally. Even her father is ready to believe the worst of Hero.) She's not tearful in her denials but quietly strong as she assures her father that she's innocent, and my attention at that moment was on her and not on B & B, which deserved kudos.

Finally: the funky disco rendering of Sigh No More at the end just about summed up the brash vitality of this production.