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Well, we've dropped Sylvia off at the airport and she should be on her way back home by now, so I can blog a little about the fun stuff we did while she was here.

I mentioned attending a theatre adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame -- and yes, it was true to the book, which means that basically everybody dies at the end. Maybe the book manages to pull something meaningful out of this depressing spectacle, but the play unfortunately didn't. The acting was decent, the costumes were lovely, the set design was interesting... unfortunately the script was a clunker. Here's a review which is a good deal more harsh than I would have written myself: then there's this one which isn't quite harsh enough.

Neither review, however, mentions what I considered to be the best part of the play -- Stephen Russell (he's the fifth entry down on that page) as Dom Claude Frollo. Besides being the best actor on that particular stage and -- rather inappropriately considering he's supposed to be the villain -- the most engaging character in the play, I couldn't help but think he'd make a smashing Sherlock Holmes or possibly even Snape. He lives in town, apparently, so if I ever bump into him on the street I shall have to resist the temptation to wibble at him.

That was Thursday. On Saturday, we drove about half an hour into the countryside and went geocaching, which I'd never done before and quite enjoyed. The weather was perfect for it -- nice and sunny without being hot, and at this time of year the bugs were scarce, which was a definite plus on that particular trail. Since Sylvia knew how to read a GPS unit we didn't have any trouble finding the cache, and Nicholas carried home our "treasure" in triumph, though he was pretty tired after walking a mile through the bush both ways. I wouldn't mind trying it again some time, though it'll be better when the kids are old enough to do some real hiking on their own...

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Oh, and since talking about Stephen Russell reminded me... I really want to see The Gospel of John, which by all accounts is exceptionally well done and follows the text word for word. (The latter would be really nice for a change, since I'm sick of "Biblical" movies that take weird and/or blasphemous liberties with the dialogue and characterization.) My brother's best friend Jeff Danna did the music, and he's brilliant, so it'd be worth seeing for the soundtrack alone: but judging by the reviews even in the secular press, it's a very fine film all around. Unfortunately it's only in limited release, so the likelihood of me getting to see it in the theatre is slim, but it'll be out on DVD and video soon, I hope.

This entry was a bit of a mixed bag, so...

A movie rec and a play review, plus some wibbling about an actor I think might make a rather decent Holmes and/or Snape (not that anybody's asking me about either!) are over in the blog.

GIP!

Because I've just edited IWS 7 and came across this bit:

Imogen gave a theatrical sigh. "I suppose I'll just have to go on carrying a torch for your uncle."

"He does have a certain indefinable charisma," agreed Maud gravely.

And it reminded me of how much I lurve me some Alastor, plus this is probably the HP illustration of mine I like best, so why not?