Various Things

[lost_spook]

1. One of the joys of Yuletide is stumbling over things you never knew about before. One this year that amused me muchly was the music video of Shakespeare's Sister's Stay. Now, this is a song that I recorded off the radio when I was a teenager (onto a tape, I'm a historical thingumy) and I was always fascinated by it - I reasoned that it was all

Comments

[swordznsorcery]

Oh crikey. Very familiar with the video, but I had no idea what it was actually about! That somehow makes it all the funnier. How very eighties! Nowhere else would Death look like that. Good song, anyway.

That other video is great too, in its different way. Are Brutus and Cassius supposed to be that flirty?! And I love that parade at the beginning. It's a constant stream of "Look! It's him! Off Thingy!" And Cassius posing in the tent doorway is a scream. :)

[lost_spook]

Well, I haven't looked it up myself, but that was what the requested had found somewhere - and it fits with what we see. (Well. Er. As much as anything does!) In the multifandom pantheon of anthropomorphised Deaths, none of them are as sparkly as 1980s Pop Death. Discworld Death finds it showy but secretly envies her that star tinsel crown. He wouldn't mind just one of those shiny stars where nobody can see it.

(Or maybe it was 1990s, if I was recording it on tape?)

Are Brutus and Cassius supposed to be that flirty?! And I love that parade at the beginning. It's a constant stream of "Look! It's him! Off Thingy!" And Cassius posing in the tent doorway is a scream. :)1978 BBC Julius Caesar is a thing of beauty for all these reasons plus some actual genuine awesome. I, er, don't know how flirty Cassius and Brutus should be, but in the 1978 one Cassius basically decides that Brutus is not paying him enough attention, so he will try and win him back with a proposed stabbing of his annoying friends he doesn't like because that

[swordznsorcery]

You did a post once that was all about David Collings posing in doorways, I think?! It's clearly something that he does particularly well, but he did look especially as though he was trying to be seductive there. Shakespeare is clearly a lot naughtier than they try to make us think in school. ;)

(And you were right - "Stay" was 1992).

[lost_spook]

Shakespeare is always a lot naughtier than they let you know in school! (They start confessing the truth by the time you do A-Levels, though. Yes, it is a rude pun. Obviously.)

[liadtbunny]

I'm glad you have finally been alerted to the greatness of the Shakespeare's Sister vid;) I too saw it a billion times back in the day.

Lol, the JC vid is genius:) All I need now is Peter Cushing's Cassius to be released to in the wilds as a treat for Halloween (it's extant).

Btw I have the full sized DVD case - I feel I am the only one!

[lost_spook]

I am the only one who didn't watch ToTPs! I would feel bad, but I just didn't like watching music. Music is there to be listened to! ;-p

It is pretty great, though, I agree.

I expect lots of people have the full-sized case. Do you know if it holds out better than the slimline under excessive hugging? You should find out, for science.

[swordznsorcery]

They're reshowing TOTP on BBC4. You should recapture your lost youth. ;)

They didn't often have videos on that though. I think you needed the ITV pop show for them - I missed most of them as well. TOTP was mostly (mimed) "live" performances. And cheesy as hell.

(If indeed hell is cheesy - I have no clear data on this subject).

[lost_spook]

I really don't think that's a plan right now! ;-)

[beccadg]

I reasoned that it was all one voice and maybe some fairy queen who seemed nice but wasn't (a la some Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer thing, because I had been reading Fire and Hemlock by that point), but NO.

On the one hand, I always got that the modulated voice was a separate character from the primary female singing voice. On the other hand, like someone else has said, I still think that, "you better hope and pray that wake someday back in your own world," still implies she's more like the fairy queen you were imagining than Death. The voices being separate just make it more Tam Lin than Thomas because the male is just a figure caught between two female ones, like Tam Lin between Janet and the Fairy Queen. How was Fire and Hemlock? I've never been able to read it, but have always wanted to because I really enjoy Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer stories

[lost_spook]

Yes, it really does work that away, but apparently human woman vs death is the 'official' interpretation.

I read Fire & Hemlock many times as a teenager (and since), as DWJ was my favourite author (and F&H my favourite books) so I can't really say - it's my growing-up book and my only Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer story I've read, really.

Yes, some of these people are just stupid about the whole copyright thing. Here's hoping that maybe they'll wise up sometime! Not that that helps you watch the vid now. It definitely wasn't blocked in the US last time I linked people to it, but that was a while ago.

[beccadg]

Yes, it really does work that away, but apparently human woman vs death is the 'official' interpretation.

Heh, well, not like it's the first or last time I'm not in agreement with "official" canon, or fanon.

...I can't really say - it's my growing-up book and my only Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer story I've read, really.

Ah. I've read Tam Lin: An Old Ballad, by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak (1990), Ellen Kushner's novel Thomas the Rhymer (1990), Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean (1991), and Winter Rose, by Patricia McKillip (1996). Fire and Hemlock, by Diana Wynne Jones (1985) is one of the related books I've heard about, wanted to read, but never gotten the chance to. Another one is The Perilous Gard, by Elizabeth Marie Pope (1974). At least now you know that Fire and Hemlock is on my "To Read" list? Howl's Moving Castle has been on it since I saw the Miyazaki film also.

[lost_spook]

Howl's Moving Castle is wonderful, but I gather they changed a lot for the film, so you need to go in expecting something very different - DWJ is much more stealth subversive than sweet, always.

:-)

And, hey, being at odds with canon is one of the states of being a fan!

[clocketpatch]

*Blinks repeatedly*

You weren't lying about the sparkles. That was premium level eighties sparkles.

[lost_spook]

:-D

Actually, they were 1990s sparkles! I did lie! (By accident. I was dazzled by the sparkles enough to forget that I never listened to the radio and recorded songs till it was at least 1991.)

[flowsoffire]

*muted cheer in the background for any Julia/Edward coming to life ever*

♥

[lost_spook]

Aw, bless you! ♥