you and i
So last night was awesome. I don't know what I expected, probably nothing for once. I was just happy that I'd get to see xeyr and shaula82.
As it was, there was enormous hilarity and much alcohol and I inadvertantly had whisky for the first time in my whole life. Wasn't nearly as nasty as I'd feared but the horrible associations are still there so I prolly won't be having it again. I just happen to trust xeyr completely which is why I also for the first time in my life said "Bring me whatever you want." Anybody else? Fuck, no. Too wary for that. And he didn't know, no. Which also made me realise probably nobody knows why I won't touch that particular kind of alcohol. Isn't that curious? The inadvertant secrets you keep.
I wish we had gone to the cemetery. I haven't been to one at night since I left Bombay and I used to love walking through that one, all the tangled greenery and stone shapes of it. Another time, no doubt. It was such a great evening. I also got to try Guzman y Gomez for the first time and am planning to go back and have something a little less tastebud-searing.
Ah good, some Active Child. *turns volume up* That would be the niggling sense of something missing all day. It was a source of much relief to find shaula82 likes them/him too. Now I have someone to drag to a gig if and when the opportunity ever arises. So weird that's there a December gig in Japan but nothing else in Asia or here that I can find. Oddness.
I really want that Leslie Howard biography that came out last year. Yesterday at work, I was looking at the Amazon listing and Lady Who Sits Next To Me said "What's that you're looking at?" cos she had gotten to the point in the day when she didn't want to work any more. When I told her, she did not in fact say "Who's that?" or "Who's she?" or "Eh?" She said "Gosh, you really like the old ones, don't you?" and I practically fell off the chair. "You know who Leslie Howard is?!" with increasing joy. So we proceeded to discuss the colour of his hair because she was sure he was a redhead and I had always assumed his hair was very fair pale gold.
*sigh* It's so nice to find people who know what you're talking about. Like last night at the swings when I was ranting on about my deep and abiding hatred for Zooey Deschanel and was flailing for the name of that film she did with Jim Carrey and one of the lads said "What, Elf?" and I was like "YES! That's it! Wait, that wasn't Jim Carrey but yes, that's the one I was thinking of!" And there was laughter. Hee.
People are funny.
I always forget how fat my face is until I see a whole set of candid pictures and then I'm cringeing and wondering why on earth I wasn't conscious of it at the time. It's so utterly bizarre, that disconnect between the mental image you have of yourself and the reality, so much so that sometimes I look at pictures of myself and wonder who the fuck that imposter is because I certainly don't look like that! Like the Aunt says about her ID photos, "Was somebody standing behind me? Is that who you took a picture of?" Bahahaha, god so true.
I watched the 1982 version of The Scarlet Pimpernel today and fell in love with them and him and it all over again. Now it's actually got me curious about Eldorado cos clearly that's where the whole Dauphin subplot is from. I'm so glad they thought to combine the two novels, it makes for such a meaty thrilling adventure, where the solidness of the plot fully fits the luxury of the costumes and sets. Whereas Leslie's version, honest and faithful as it is, does make for a slightly thinner flimsier story. And I do love that the 1982 version is so heavily influenced by Leslie's that they even do the firing squad thing.
I prefer Jane to Merle. *nods* Mostly because I think Jane's gorgeous and she's so much fiercer but then she gets to be so much more cos she has so much more story to work with. And I could look at Jane all day whereas Merle looks slightly inbred to me. I have no idea why, I just keep having that thought when I look at her big big face with that tiny tiny mouth and the blankness of her eyes. And okay, yes, I have a slight fondness for Jane cos she's a fellow Aquarian and I love her diction. I love looking at her mouth when she talks, it's so beautifully shaped and she seems so thoroughly unconscious of how gorgeous she is.
Anthony Andrews' staccato speech did irk me as it always does but my god, he's so beautifully expressive, so wonderfully vulnerable. He quite literally makes my heart stop when he visibly melts and yearns towards her. And, as I said on Bookface while I was watching it, I love that we actually see them fall in love in this version. I have no idea why Orczy chose to start her novel at the point a year into the marriage. Perhaps it was the constraints of page space. No, it was a play first, wasn't it? Okay, yes, then that makes sense. And Leslie's version was going to be faithful to that.
But I do love that the luxury of a made for television movie gave us that time and space, gave us the invention of them meeting which I also adore, and oh god that moment when he looks at her for the first time from the deepest moment in his bow and all his affectations just drop away because he's so arrested by the sight of her. Unf. Like the moment Montgomery Clift sees Elizabeth Taylor in the living room in A Place In The Sun. Yegads, there's nothing like that moment done well.
I found myself so wishing we could have Leslie in a story that lush and romantic. In terms of events rather than just tone. Leslie and Jane even though I lovelovelove Anthony Andrews and want to cuddle him so much. I may even watch The King's Speech to see how he's aged. *blinks*
And gad, Ian. For some reason, I haven't seen Ian McKellen in anything but The Scarlet Pimpernel for the past few years, don't ask me how. It's fascinating how he plays Chauvelin, all the uncertainty and anxiety of his ambition, the almost fearful deference to Robespierre, that utterly intoxicating desire for Margeurite. Jesus, it's so much of a threesome, the fact that he walks in on them, attends their wedding and watches them dance, closes the door on them then watches through the window aperture. He just can't help himself, it's brilliant. And he really does have the best last line from a villain ever, so totally works it for all its worth. Hee.
I find it very interesting how they time the revelation between the two versions I've seen and the book. Both book and Leslie's version say Percy found out about the St Cyrs twenty-four hours after the wedding. Which means they would have consummated it. But the 1982 version has him finding out at the wedding itself and that makes me wonder if they ever actually had sex in that whole time before the happy ending. I really like to think they didn't, that he just couldn't bring himself to because he was so disillusioned and so betrayed by her. My god, I love how Jane plays the ambiguity just that fiendish little bit. Sometimes in those scenes when she looks at him, you can see exactly why she can't be trusted, why he can't trust her. Ooh. *shivers all over* Fuck, I love their relationship.
I started watching The Animal Kingdom far too late a few nights ago because I totally did not know it was originally a Phillip Barry play, he who wrote The Philadelphia Story and Holiday. And now part of me wants to go back to watching it on YouTube but part of me wants to wait and order it from Amazon so I can watch it on a proper screen with proper sound and everything. Already, it's deliciously scandalous in that 1930s way when they talked about sex without actually talking about sex.
"We've been everything possible to each other, of course."
If I had heard that line as a teenager, it would flown right over my head and I would have thought "Aww, he's so sweet." Now I'm like "Whut? He said whut? He said whut to his fiancee?! Jesus, what's she going to say to that?! What? She's fine with it?! WHAT?! Eek."
*lol* I'm so easily scandalised. More so by euphemism rather than the obvious.
So totally have to watch The Man Who Gave A Damn, the documentary with all that home movie footage of Leslie. I theenk it's all on YouTube, shh don't jinx me. Yesterday at work, I googled images of Leslie for my desktop and put this one up from The Petrified Forest, my first Leslie film. God, it's so deliciously huge. Look at the detail of his eyelashes, the sweetness of his mouth, the fact that he's looking up at her. I don't even care that they may not have got along. I like to think they adored each other and damnit, I love them together. I wonder if he was one of those actors who made everyone around him better actors too.
Of course he was a total whore. They all were back then, weren't they? It's really making me think this whole notion of expecting upstanding morality and marital fidelity from our celebrities is a relatively recent invention. I wonder when it exactly came in. Possibly the Sixties? Cos as far as I can tell, it was pretty glamourous for every decade before then since the dawn of cinema. How thoroughly confusing it must have been for all the movie stars who crossed the transition, to be censured and judged for what they were previously admired for, the men and the women.
I'd have him. Unmarried. In a heartbeat. If I actually looked like I do in my head, you understand. *snort* I'd 'ave him. And I bloody well would not agree to him taking a mistress. Hell fucking no, Leslie, you will belong entirely to me and I won't share you with anyone, you hear?! Hee.
How curious it is to see someone else's name above his and have absolutely no idea who that person is. The rise and fall, eh? Pity. Ugh. It sucks that I'm going to have to watch Ingrid Bergman with him at some point. I don't like her at all. Blankfaced martyr. Well, maybe she'll surprise me. Especially if he's the one who gave her the big break.
I should eat.
I still have no idea what the words of this song are but god I love it.
As it was, there was enormous hilarity and much alcohol and I inadvertantly had whisky for the first time in my whole life. Wasn't nearly as nasty as I'd feared but the horrible associations are still there so I prolly won't be having it again. I just happen to trust xeyr completely which is why I also for the first time in my life said "Bring me whatever you want." Anybody else? Fuck, no. Too wary for that. And he didn't know, no. Which also made me realise probably nobody knows why I won't touch that particular kind of alcohol. Isn't that curious? The inadvertant secrets you keep.
I wish we had gone to the cemetery. I haven't been to one at night since I left Bombay and I used to love walking through that one, all the tangled greenery and stone shapes of it. Another time, no doubt. It was such a great evening. I also got to try Guzman y Gomez for the first time and am planning to go back and have something a little less tastebud-searing.
Ah good, some Active Child. *turns volume up* That would be the niggling sense of something missing all day. It was a source of much relief to find shaula82 likes them/him too. Now I have someone to drag to a gig if and when the opportunity ever arises. So weird that's there a December gig in Japan but nothing else in Asia or here that I can find. Oddness.
I really want that Leslie Howard biography that came out last year. Yesterday at work, I was looking at the Amazon listing and Lady Who Sits Next To Me said "What's that you're looking at?" cos she had gotten to the point in the day when she didn't want to work any more. When I told her, she did not in fact say "Who's that?" or "Who's she?" or "Eh?" She said "Gosh, you really like the old ones, don't you?" and I practically fell off the chair. "You know who Leslie Howard is?!" with increasing joy. So we proceeded to discuss the colour of his hair because she was sure he was a redhead and I had always assumed his hair was very fair pale gold.
*sigh* It's so nice to find people who know what you're talking about. Like last night at the swings when I was ranting on about my deep and abiding hatred for Zooey Deschanel and was flailing for the name of that film she did with Jim Carrey and one of the lads said "What, Elf?" and I was like "YES! That's it! Wait, that wasn't Jim Carrey but yes, that's the one I was thinking of!" And there was laughter. Hee.
People are funny.
I always forget how fat my face is until I see a whole set of candid pictures and then I'm cringeing and wondering why on earth I wasn't conscious of it at the time. It's so utterly bizarre, that disconnect between the mental image you have of yourself and the reality, so much so that sometimes I look at pictures of myself and wonder who the fuck that imposter is because I certainly don't look like that! Like the Aunt says about her ID photos, "Was somebody standing behind me? Is that who you took a picture of?" Bahahaha, god so true.
I watched the 1982 version of The Scarlet Pimpernel today and fell in love with them and him and it all over again. Now it's actually got me curious about Eldorado cos clearly that's where the whole Dauphin subplot is from. I'm so glad they thought to combine the two novels, it makes for such a meaty thrilling adventure, where the solidness of the plot fully fits the luxury of the costumes and sets. Whereas Leslie's version, honest and faithful as it is, does make for a slightly thinner flimsier story. And I do love that the 1982 version is so heavily influenced by Leslie's that they even do the firing squad thing.
I prefer Jane to Merle. *nods* Mostly because I think Jane's gorgeous and she's so much fiercer but then she gets to be so much more cos she has so much more story to work with. And I could look at Jane all day whereas Merle looks slightly inbred to me. I have no idea why, I just keep having that thought when I look at her big big face with that tiny tiny mouth and the blankness of her eyes. And okay, yes, I have a slight fondness for Jane cos she's a fellow Aquarian and I love her diction. I love looking at her mouth when she talks, it's so beautifully shaped and she seems so thoroughly unconscious of how gorgeous she is.
Anthony Andrews' staccato speech did irk me as it always does but my god, he's so beautifully expressive, so wonderfully vulnerable. He quite literally makes my heart stop when he visibly melts and yearns towards her. And, as I said on Bookface while I was watching it, I love that we actually see them fall in love in this version. I have no idea why Orczy chose to start her novel at the point a year into the marriage. Perhaps it was the constraints of page space. No, it was a play first, wasn't it? Okay, yes, then that makes sense. And Leslie's version was going to be faithful to that.
But I do love that the luxury of a made for television movie gave us that time and space, gave us the invention of them meeting which I also adore, and oh god that moment when he looks at her for the first time from the deepest moment in his bow and all his affectations just drop away because he's so arrested by the sight of her. Unf. Like the moment Montgomery Clift sees Elizabeth Taylor in the living room in A Place In The Sun. Yegads, there's nothing like that moment done well.
I found myself so wishing we could have Leslie in a story that lush and romantic. In terms of events rather than just tone. Leslie and Jane even though I lovelovelove Anthony Andrews and want to cuddle him so much. I may even watch The King's Speech to see how he's aged. *blinks*
And gad, Ian. For some reason, I haven't seen Ian McKellen in anything but The Scarlet Pimpernel for the past few years, don't ask me how. It's fascinating how he plays Chauvelin, all the uncertainty and anxiety of his ambition, the almost fearful deference to Robespierre, that utterly intoxicating desire for Margeurite. Jesus, it's so much of a threesome, the fact that he walks in on them, attends their wedding and watches them dance, closes the door on them then watches through the window aperture. He just can't help himself, it's brilliant. And he really does have the best last line from a villain ever, so totally works it for all its worth. Hee.
I find it very interesting how they time the revelation between the two versions I've seen and the book. Both book and Leslie's version say Percy found out about the St Cyrs twenty-four hours after the wedding. Which means they would have consummated it. But the 1982 version has him finding out at the wedding itself and that makes me wonder if they ever actually had sex in that whole time before the happy ending. I really like to think they didn't, that he just couldn't bring himself to because he was so disillusioned and so betrayed by her. My god, I love how Jane plays the ambiguity just that fiendish little bit. Sometimes in those scenes when she looks at him, you can see exactly why she can't be trusted, why he can't trust her. Ooh. *shivers all over* Fuck, I love their relationship.
I started watching The Animal Kingdom far too late a few nights ago because I totally did not know it was originally a Phillip Barry play, he who wrote The Philadelphia Story and Holiday. And now part of me wants to go back to watching it on YouTube but part of me wants to wait and order it from Amazon so I can watch it on a proper screen with proper sound and everything. Already, it's deliciously scandalous in that 1930s way when they talked about sex without actually talking about sex.
"We've been everything possible to each other, of course."
If I had heard that line as a teenager, it would flown right over my head and I would have thought "Aww, he's so sweet." Now I'm like "Whut? He said whut? He said whut to his fiancee?! Jesus, what's she going to say to that?! What? She's fine with it?! WHAT?! Eek."
*lol* I'm so easily scandalised. More so by euphemism rather than the obvious.
So totally have to watch The Man Who Gave A Damn, the documentary with all that home movie footage of Leslie. I theenk it's all on YouTube, shh don't jinx me. Yesterday at work, I googled images of Leslie for my desktop and put this one up from The Petrified Forest, my first Leslie film. God, it's so deliciously huge. Look at the detail of his eyelashes, the sweetness of his mouth, the fact that he's looking up at her. I don't even care that they may not have got along. I like to think they adored each other and damnit, I love them together. I wonder if he was one of those actors who made everyone around him better actors too.
Of course he was a total whore. They all were back then, weren't they? It's really making me think this whole notion of expecting upstanding morality and marital fidelity from our celebrities is a relatively recent invention. I wonder when it exactly came in. Possibly the Sixties? Cos as far as I can tell, it was pretty glamourous for every decade before then since the dawn of cinema. How thoroughly confusing it must have been for all the movie stars who crossed the transition, to be censured and judged for what they were previously admired for, the men and the women.
I'd have him. Unmarried. In a heartbeat. If I actually looked like I do in my head, you understand. *snort* I'd 'ave him. And I bloody well would not agree to him taking a mistress. Hell fucking no, Leslie, you will belong entirely to me and I won't share you with anyone, you hear?! Hee.
How curious it is to see someone else's name above his and have absolutely no idea who that person is. The rise and fall, eh? Pity. Ugh. It sucks that I'm going to have to watch Ingrid Bergman with him at some point. I don't like her at all. Blankfaced martyr. Well, maybe she'll surprise me. Especially if he's the one who gave her the big break.
I should eat.
I still have no idea what the words of this song are but god I love it.