Brushing up on the French Revolution can have some eerie present day chill effects, especially with things like the September Massacres pepared, in hindsight, by a long time of wild conspiracy theories being believed, increasing hysteria in the social media of the day and the utter dehumanisation of anyone not holding one's own views in the respective media. It's all too familiar right now. As is the fact that yes, there's only a tiny percentage of people committing the massacre, but the truly disturbing element are the majority of people doing nothing to stop it and going along with it not so much out of lack of courage but because they partly or completely agree and see it as "necessary" for their own safety.

On a similarly cheerful note, the trailer for the second part of Villeneuve's Dune adaption has been out for few weeks, and I'm looking forward to it; I hope that the casting of Florence Pugh as Irulan means that as in the tv miniseries with Julie Cox, she has an expanded (to the book) role in this adaption. Villeneuve also gets credit for emphasizing in his first movie, and going by the trailer in the second one, how terrified Paul is by his visions of a future in which he wins. But where Herbert is justly given credit for the Dune novels, when taken in totem, deconstructing the Chosen One/Saviour narrative, it's hard how any adaption of Dune, the first novel, could avoid the ending not emphasizing the triumph over any discordant future note. ( Some spoilery musings ensue )

On to something unironically more cheering: by and large, I very much prefer reading/listening to and writing about media I feel positive about to talking in detail about media I dislike and/or that didn't work for me. There are exceptions, obviously - see the post about just why I think Secret Invasion failed so badly - but with so much "here's why this person/book/movie/tv show sucks" going around, I always perk up when finding enthusiasm instead. So imagine my delight when discovering the YouTube channel CinemaWins. I might not agree with all the examples the Vidder picks to praise, but I sure as hell enjoyed watching the praise much more than I would have any take down. The latest film he did is an old favourite of mine: Everything Great about The Prestige.

And lastly: speaking as someone who likes Good Omens (both the novel and the adaption(s)) fine without loving it, them, my first thought when watching s2 wasn't what you might think but: just how many of his family members did David Tennant manage to get into this series, and why no Georgia?

Yuletide is up, but the server seems to be a bit unstable, so I'm not sure whether my review for the story I received will get through yet, hence this entry in case my author checks. I got Prestige fic!

Jigsaw

( Spoilery summary is spoilery. ) Dear author, I really appreciate the way you capture grief here, and two survivors of a tragedy in the end being able to help each other. Thank you so much for this present!

Now off to the other stories! (And for the nervousness about my own story and its reception to start...)

Still coughing, still wheezing, and so without further ado, more Yuletide:


Neverwhere

The Invisible City: Dark, brilliant: the Marquis de Carabas and Richard Mayhew, and an adventure that like the original uses London geography and names in a stunning way.

Mad Lord Time: this one gives us New York Below, and Door and Richard visiting.


The Prestige

Red Ball Bounces: to put it as unspoilery as possible: Alfred Borden, after. Or is he?


Prince of Egypt

I Sayeth Unto Thee: Moses and Ramses. One of the elements that made the Disney film so suprisingly poignant was to present the early fraternal relationship between them as a positive one, and this story goes for the full tragedy of it.

Profit

Breaking Patterns: Profit and Bobbi. I think what I admire most about the story is that it fully conveys just how messed up this relationship is.

I went and saw The Prestige a second time, which led to additional notes.

( Spoilery ones, of course. )

Two movies which arrived on these transatlantic shores with the usual delay: The Prestige and The Queen. One has Christopher Nolan directing and a fantastic cast headed by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, the other is directed by Stephen Frears and also has a great ensemble, headed by the one and only Helen Mirren. Unspoilery: go watch both!

( The Prestige )


From late Victorian England to the one just a decade ago:

( The Queen )