Reading/Watching Log
A pretty slow week, and unfortunately one that had me fall behind on my writing schedule. One chapter slipped through the cracks, so unless I really haul-ass and manage two in one day, I'm officially behind. The weekend is looming and I've already lined up a trip to the Pioneer Centre for a library sale (because more books is exactly what I need), a walk with my great-aunt Isabel, and a DVD night with a friend.
The Seance by Joan Lowery Nixon
Yup, another teen thiller. I'm not entirely sure who it was that told me JLN was a good writer, but I've clearly outgrown the subject material. Which is a shame, because I used to love these kinds of books when I was twelve/thirteen. Basically, a group of girls have a seance, one goes missing half-way through, and turns up dead the next morning. It's a good premise, but it's been simplified to young teen-level, and sadly I can no longer relate.
Cygnet by Patricia McKillip
Is there anything better than a Patricia McKillip book? How about two Patricia McKillip books in one? The Cygnet dulogy, made up of The Sorceress and the Cygnet and The Cygnet and the Firebird were two of her earliest works, which makes them rather challenging. She's still getting the hang of her dense prose, and sometimes it threatens to overwhelm her story, but it's just so darn beautiful that it just doesn't matter. It's quite fascinating to watch her hone her craft as she goes, and even though her technique in later books is more refined, I still enjoy the tangled complexity of what she manages here. You cannot read these books to relax or unwind - every word demands your utmost attention just to understand what the heck is going on, but it's so, so worth the effort.
Plus, those wonderful girls! You've never read a powerful sorceress and a stoic warrior-woman like this before.
Murder is Easy by Agatha Christie
One of her more obscure titles (featuring neither Marple or Poirot), I nevertheless enjoyed this one. And I got to feel all smart because I figured out the killer before the protagonists did! Okay, that's happened exactly twice in the entirety of Christie's canon, so I shouldn't gloat too much, but this one really got under my skin. Though it's a typical "cozy" in your usual English village, the characters seemed more vivid and clearly drawn this time around (sometimes they run the risk of blurring into each other), and the character of Bridget Conway was great - it's a pity she never turned up in any other novels.
Murder is Easy
So of course I had to check out the ITV adaptation. Urgh. I honestly don't know why they bother with these things - they twist and change the plot so much that the stories are not only unrecognisable but incomprehensible as well. They warped the motivation of the killer into something so horrendously NON-Christie (spoiler: she was raped by her mentally-impaired brother and went around killing everyone who knew about it) that I can say with perfect confidence, despite having never met the woman, that Dame Christie would have absolutely hated this.
But hey, a pre-Sherlock Benedict Cumberbatch was in it. Yeah, it surprised me too.
Captain America
Finally saw it! I'll admit, I'm not much of a comic-book fan, and the ones I do follow are in the DC universe, but I've been gradually picking my way through all the Marvel adaptations in anticipation of The Avengers...which I'll probably watch on DVD, but at least I'll know just what the heck's going on. I liked it, especially all the attention to the WWII atmosphere and the framing technique of finding Steve in the Arctic (though exactly how he ended in that condition is probably something I shouldn't be questioning). Hayley Atwell has been the most vivid female love-interest since Pepper Potts, and their separation at the end was genuinely poignant.
Oh, and hai Richard Armitage! I see you haven't gotten over your tendency to dangle children over high edges. Still, that kid got the best line in the movie: "I can swim! Go after him!" Brilliant.
My Fair Lady
Holy Values Dissonance, batman! I knew it was coming, but still - a love story where the man treats the woman like trash when he's in a bad mood and a dress-up doll when he's in a good mood? I think without the satirical edge and social commentary of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, the movie is essentially a comedy/musical with a romance at its heart that really, really isn't romantic. Unsurprisingly, I wanted Eliza to take the money and get her flower shop, and that final image of her returning to Higgens, at which point he smiles in satisfaction and asks for his slippers, was not a pleasant one.
Still, the dresses were frilly and the hats were enormous, and Rex Harrison definitely deserved the Oscar for the supremely arrogant professor. Plus there was that fantastic scene between Eliza and the elderly Mrs Higgens: "Eliza, if my son starts making up things, you have my full permission to have him evicted."
Oh, and this: "You see, apart from the things one can pick up, the difference between a lady and a flower-girl is not how she behaves, but how she is treated. I shall always be a flower-girl to Professor Higgens because he always treats me as a flower-girl and always will." Yes Eliza, stick with that thought.
Once Upon a Time Episode 2
So, the plot thickens... A good episode, which seemed to be just as much about the bond between parents and their children as it was the search for happiness (even if it requires the suffering of others). There were some fascinating dynamics at work here: at first glance I had bad "Merlin" flashbacks at the sight of two evil women plotting together, but then Regina refuses to kill Maleficent because: "you're my only friend." Then we have the sight of two women fighting over a man - but that dynamic isn't the same when the "man" in question is their ten-year old son. And then there was that intriguing moment when Emma and Snow seemed to "recognise" each other. It's not the most profound bond in the show just yet, but hopefully there's more (a LOT more) coming.
It's still a bit cheesy, and most of the dialogue is just characters sharing exposition with each other, but I was also surprised at some of the twists and turns. There's clearly more to Regina than meets the eye: what was it that Snow took away from her that made her so angry? What was the deal with Maleficent reminding her that the curse "can't bring back the dead"? What is the thing that she truly loved?
I'm not exactly sure whether to feel sorry for her or not (yet). If she's in Storybrooke with all the rest of the characters, does that mean she's forgotten who she is? Because if that's the case, then I can't help but feel that she genuinely cares for Henry, especially as she doesn't know where he came from, and named him after her father. Her comment to Emma: "I'm his mother" seemed to come from a determined rather than vindictive place - but we'll see.
I knew she'd end up killing her father (it's a pity they couldn't get a better actor for this part, as there wasn't enough time to have him established properly, and the actor couldn't really summons up enough pathos to make me care), but there were some rather interesting words said between her and Mr Gold at the end there. Two characters that have made deals with him; that can't be good.
I've still got my eye on that Sheriff: I don't trust him.
And now, my artist's model decides to go for a run: in the air.
