Miscellany

[rj_anderson]

I may be the last person in the world to watch Hornblower, and it's rather different than I'd anticipated. I thought it was an actual TV series with umpty episodes that would take me forever to catch up on -- didn't realize that it was just a few movies. But we're enjoying them very much -- the acting and production values are excellent, and by the time you've got Ioan Gruffydd and Paul McGann and David Warner on screen together in the fifth movie, it's pretty hard to complain. (Also, Cherie Lunghi in the third film belongs in the Really Smashing Middle-Aged Women club with Lena Olin and Lis Sladen, and now I think Horatio/Catherine might be my new May/December OTP.) But the really smitten one is my six-year-old son, who keeps begging for a chance to watch the movies again, and runs around the house with a plastic sword yelling "I'm Horatio!" I'd give it four stars out of five.

My husband and I also just finished the Gormenghast miniseries, and although it all fell apart at the end (much as the books do, alas -- once Titus comes to the fore, the story really loses interest and coherence), it got a lot more right than I'd expected. The Countess was perfect, as was Christopher Lee's Mr. Flay, and in spite of my initial misgivings about his dark hair and apparent good looks, I have to admit Jonathan Rhys-Meyers made a really fine Steerpike. Fuchsia just didn't work for me, though, and that's a real shame as she's one of my favorite characters in the book. And the whole Titus/Wild Girl thing, which is elusive enough in print, just ended up looking stupid and pointless on film. But then "stupid" and "pointless" pretty much sums up everything to do with Titus anyway, if you ask me. Since I'm feeling generous, I'll give it three and a half stars.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the BBC's just-finished adaptation of Jane Eyre. Ruth Wilson is by far the best Jane I've ever seen on film -- not only does she look the part, she really captures the essence of the character, not an easy thing to do with a heroine who is both reserved and passionate at once. And although I was only lukewarm about the scripting of Part One, it all came together beautifully in Part Two and just got better from there. Toby Stephens is rather too handsome for Rochester, which makes the occasional remarks about his ugliness seem rather bizarre, but apart from that one flaw both he and the script handle the character beautifully, capturing both his brooding angst and that perverse streak of humor that makes him likeable in spite of it all. In short, it's good stuff. Four and a half stars.

***

In other news, I heard back from one agent today, politely declining (on the basis of the query only, no writing sample). I wasn't too disappointed, though, because another agent's already asked to see the full manuscript. Since Knife is ahead of schedule at the moment -- I've just finished Chapter Fifteen, with either four or five chapters to go depending on whether I drop the Epilogue -- I'm feeling pretty positive about my writing at present.

***

lizbee, you might want to check out Margaret Atwood's last entry in the Wired Magazine Very Short Stories. Squid is the new black, I tell you.

***

Finally, after the on-list events of the last twenty-four hours I feel that it is my duty to inform you all that the Mary Russell fandom is a DELICATE HOTHOUSE FLOWER.

From MARS.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

I wonder if Howard Waldrop was inspired by the HP fandom icon, 'Rocks fall - everyone dies'?

[moorewr.livejournal.com]

We just discovered Horatio ourselves, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the episodes I've seen thus far -- although I was truly miffed when the DVD we'd borrowed from the library had a skip that couldn't be bypassed, thus depriving me of the second half of the story! Oh well. They have it on video, too.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

Um. The post from moorewr is actually from me... my husband was logged in and I didn't catch it. *embarrassed*

[harriet-wimsey.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I haven't checked RUSS-L in a few days. Do I dare? That Jane Eyre adaptation sounds good. I'll have to look out for it.

[rj-anderson.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not a big deal, just that somebody posted a long rambling message asking "What would Holmes and Mycroft make of my favorite shocking conspiracy theory about Princess Di being murdered by the British government?" It was manifestly an invitation to discuss the theory, with only the thinnest gloss of topicality in the form of Holmes, so I politely shut it down and suggested that anyone who wanted to discuss the subject with the original poster ought to do so in private e-mail.

I have no idea what the offending poster thought of all this, because she hasn't replied. But according to some other random person on the list, RUSS-L is the WORST GROUP EVER and I am INTOLERABLY RUDE for expecting that discussions on my Mary Russell list should actually have something to do with, y'know, Mary Russell. O noes!

Aside from that, though, things are good. :D

[harriet-wimsey.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, I did see that. I certainly don't envy your job as ListMom. The fandom is so unlike Holmes and Russell it's ridiculous.

I really enjoyed the Gormenghast miniseries.

[lydaclunas.livejournal.com]

I think the absolute perfection of Getrude was what impressed me most. Seriously, her character was awesome. And I personally thought Jonathan Rhys-Meyers ended up subtly creepy-looking despite the good looks -- and he handled the character extremely well. I was okay with Fuchsia, whose portrayal kind of grew on me as the series unfolded. But it wasn't what I have in mind when I read the books.

Agreed about Titus. Why did Titus have to suck so much? Why did Mervyn Peake have to go and die before getting a chance to redeem the series from the crapitude of Titus Alone? :(

[serenasnape.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked the Jane Eyre! It really is superb, and I agree that Ruth Wilson looks the part and really captures Jane's essence exceptionally well. Perhaps Toby Stephens is a little too attractive to play Mr. Rochester, but he also captured the character very accurately, with not only his tortured and angry moments but the dry sense of humour to match and temper it.

[tybalt-quin.livejournal.com]

On Jane Eyre, I enjoyed the adaptation right up until the last episode. Whilst it's not v. faithful to the book (a big bonus, in my view) Toby Stephens is my new fangirl crush because of the humour he brought to the part. In the last episode though, the happy family portrait at the end and Rochester's designer maiming was just a little too overboard for me. Still, I will doubtless get the DVD for evenings in with a glass of red wine. Ahem.

another agent's already asked to see the full manuscript

Congratulations! That's great news!

:keeps fingers crossed and blows raspberries at other agent:

[infiniteviking]

Ah, now HH goes in the queue with other serieses I haven't had a chance to see but really want to.

Yay on that other agent! It's great to hear about all the progress you're making. *cheers*

From MARS

Hee. ^_^

[kalquessa.livejournal.com]

Actually you're not the last person to see the Hornblower movies because *raises hand* I have yet to see a single one. A condition soon to be remedied by way of buying for myself for my Dad for his birthday.