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Nov. 18th, 2012 11:41 pmIn the Case of the Missing Ativan, the bottle turned up, thank God. So now I feel terrible for being paranoid and suspecting the cleaning ladies of stealing it, instead of just tidying it away.
I watched about 20 minutes of Copper tonight, and found it...underwhelming. Part of it was the total lack of Franka Potente. Her name was in the credits, but I watched and watched, and no Franka. Which made me sad, because I've had a crush on her ever since the Bourne Identity. I like the *idea* of Copper. Having a Civil War drama that's set on the Union rather than Confederate side is welcome, for one thing. But over the course of the 20 minutes that I saw, none of the characters really grabbed me.
Also, and this will sound shallow, but it's just such a *dark* show, and I mean that in the literal rather than figurative sense. It's set in Civil War-era New York City, and it may well be historically accurate for everywhere to be poorly lit, and almost all the colours to be variations on grey and brown. But historically accurate or no, it's cheerless to watch a show that has so little colour in it. Everything seems drab and dingy and dirty.
On Saturday night I saw She Stoops to Conquer at the Arts Club. Not one of the great productions of the ages, but it was a lot of fun. Less fun was attempting to mediate sniping between the sister and the maternal unit, acting as a one-woman Switzerland all night. I don't think doing stuff with the three of us is workable, really. When my brother's there too, it's more balanced. Or, alternately, if I go out to stuff with *either* the sister *or* the maternal unit and not both at the same time.
I am currently reading All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings, which is a history of WWII and is enthralling. Bloody depressing in parts, but both well-written and as far as I can tell, meticulously researched. Anybody got any recs for other Max Hastings books?
I am also currently reading 1688: The First Modern Revolution by Steve Pinkus, and having a bit more trouble with it. He goes into great detail, often very compelling detail, about a period in British history of which I know very little. I hadn't realized the Glorious Revolution was so exciting. What I'm having trouble with is Dr. Pinkus's prose style. He's very bombastic and, "I am making the most original argument ever, so there!" It palls after a while. I mean, if you have to remind the reader twice on every page of just brilliant and revolutionary your argument is, maybe it's not that brilliant. How about a little less "I rock" and a little more letting his scholarship speak for itself? If the book really is as groundbreaking as Pinkus thinks, surely others will notice, and say it for him.
Not sure how I feel about Sir Pterry basically going into partnership with his daughter Rhianna Pratchett to write future Discworld books once he's no longer able to. It could turn out great, could turn out horribly.
I watched about 20 minutes of Copper tonight, and found it...underwhelming. Part of it was the total lack of Franka Potente. Her name was in the credits, but I watched and watched, and no Franka. Which made me sad, because I've had a crush on her ever since the Bourne Identity. I like the *idea* of Copper. Having a Civil War drama that's set on the Union rather than Confederate side is welcome, for one thing. But over the course of the 20 minutes that I saw, none of the characters really grabbed me.
Also, and this will sound shallow, but it's just such a *dark* show, and I mean that in the literal rather than figurative sense. It's set in Civil War-era New York City, and it may well be historically accurate for everywhere to be poorly lit, and almost all the colours to be variations on grey and brown. But historically accurate or no, it's cheerless to watch a show that has so little colour in it. Everything seems drab and dingy and dirty.
On Saturday night I saw She Stoops to Conquer at the Arts Club. Not one of the great productions of the ages, but it was a lot of fun. Less fun was attempting to mediate sniping between the sister and the maternal unit, acting as a one-woman Switzerland all night. I don't think doing stuff with the three of us is workable, really. When my brother's there too, it's more balanced. Or, alternately, if I go out to stuff with *either* the sister *or* the maternal unit and not both at the same time.
I am currently reading All Hell Let Loose by Max Hastings, which is a history of WWII and is enthralling. Bloody depressing in parts, but both well-written and as far as I can tell, meticulously researched. Anybody got any recs for other Max Hastings books?
I am also currently reading 1688: The First Modern Revolution by Steve Pinkus, and having a bit more trouble with it. He goes into great detail, often very compelling detail, about a period in British history of which I know very little. I hadn't realized the Glorious Revolution was so exciting. What I'm having trouble with is Dr. Pinkus's prose style. He's very bombastic and, "I am making the most original argument ever, so there!" It palls after a while. I mean, if you have to remind the reader twice on every page of just brilliant and revolutionary your argument is, maybe it's not that brilliant. How about a little less "I rock" and a little more letting his scholarship speak for itself? If the book really is as groundbreaking as Pinkus thinks, surely others will notice, and say it for him.
Not sure how I feel about Sir Pterry basically going into partnership with his daughter Rhianna Pratchett to write future Discworld books once he's no longer able to. It could turn out great, could turn out horribly.
