Double damn
I keep trying to make a cheerful post but keep being stymied by events. David Bowie dying of cancer at 69 was bad, but Alan Rickman as well took my breath away. I still can't believe it.
After that I will try and talk about something cheerier! We finally managed to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens last week and I really enjoyed it. Being back in the Star Wars universe doesn't have quite the same emotional impact for me as being back in Middle Earth did but it was still very good to see old and new friends again. I was expecting a good performance from John Boyega, who I was hugely impressed with in Attack the Block and Half of a Yellow Sun (where he pretty much stole the film from Chiwitel Ejiofor), but I really liked Daisy Ridley too. I know The Hunger Games series has made it much more likely that an action lead character can be a woman, but it's still refreshing to see in such a major franchise.
The final scene hit pretty much all of my mythic buttons. It felt like Arthur finding Merlin, but in this case Arthur was a girl.
We've finally caught up with most of the Christmas telly. Sherlock was...OK, but if you go back into Sherlock's 19th century origins you come up against the ghost of Jeremy Brett for me and he is *my* Holmes. My favourite part of the whole things was Mrs Hudson and her meta complaints. Very nicely done.
Speaking of the 19th century I'm a few episodes behind but I'm loving Dickensian. It seems like a clever fannish mash-up put on screen in a way that extends the characters and I'm surprised no-one has thought of it before. I wouldn't want to look too closely at the timelines for some of the characters but
any series that allows Miss Havisham and Miss Honoria Barbary to be friends is going to be a hit with me. I hope the rest of the episodes hold up to the promise of the first few.
We also enjoyed And Then There Were None though I'm unconvinced that Aidan Turner really needed to take his shirt off. Terrific cast and very atmospheric production made for compelling viewing.
Haven't started War and Peace yet, which is pretty much what I say about the book too :)
I think that about ends my attempt at a mostly cheery post.
After that I will try and talk about something cheerier! We finally managed to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens last week and I really enjoyed it. Being back in the Star Wars universe doesn't have quite the same emotional impact for me as being back in Middle Earth did but it was still very good to see old and new friends again. I was expecting a good performance from John Boyega, who I was hugely impressed with in Attack the Block and Half of a Yellow Sun (where he pretty much stole the film from Chiwitel Ejiofor), but I really liked Daisy Ridley too. I know The Hunger Games series has made it much more likely that an action lead character can be a woman, but it's still refreshing to see in such a major franchise.
The final scene hit pretty much all of my mythic buttons. It felt like Arthur finding Merlin, but in this case Arthur was a girl.
We've finally caught up with most of the Christmas telly. Sherlock was...OK, but if you go back into Sherlock's 19th century origins you come up against the ghost of Jeremy Brett for me and he is *my* Holmes. My favourite part of the whole things was Mrs Hudson and her meta complaints. Very nicely done.
Speaking of the 19th century I'm a few episodes behind but I'm loving Dickensian. It seems like a clever fannish mash-up put on screen in a way that extends the characters and I'm surprised no-one has thought of it before. I wouldn't want to look too closely at the timelines for some of the characters but
any series that allows Miss Havisham and Miss Honoria Barbary to be friends is going to be a hit with me. I hope the rest of the episodes hold up to the promise of the first few.
We also enjoyed And Then There Were None though I'm unconvinced that Aidan Turner really needed to take his shirt off. Terrific cast and very atmospheric production made for compelling viewing.
Haven't started War and Peace yet, which is pretty much what I say about the book too :)
I think that about ends my attempt at a mostly cheery post.