OK, you figured it out. I’m taking Wednesday off. Well, it is my birthday month and I like to get as many “off” days as I can in this short, short month.
Plus, my web pick for Wednesday sort of fits into Movie Monday. Here’s how.
I like to multi-task. In the past, it’s been watching the tiny index card sized TV on the computer screen, knitting, and reading blogs. Yesterday, I found:
http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?title=&author=&status=complete&action=Search
This is a site for free audio, non-copyrighted books. The readings are quite good. Some books have different readers for each chapter and all the selections only run one chapter when you have to click again to continue (a small inconvenience.)
I started with two chapters of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. I’ve read a lot of Dickens but there is something special about hearing the cutting, bitter satire in Chapter 2 when Ralph Nickleby and his cohorts petition the city their United Metropolitan Improved Hot Muffin and Crumpet Baking and Punctual Delivery Company should take over the existing muffin business and run out competition. It’s such a silly topic to use as the microcosm for Dicken’s real targets but just because it is such, it’s most effective. There is no question as to the bitter disdain the author holds for Ralph and his ilk.
Last week, I mentioned that I’m watching Emma on PBS so I decided that my second audio book would be Emma (No, I didn’t finish NN but that’s the advantage of separate chapters; I can just pick it up at Chapter 3) because I wanted to see if my dislike of Austen was based on my movie introduction to her since though I’ve read Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion, I’ve seen the movie/TV version of those two, plus Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park.
Nope, it wasn’t; I still don’t like Austen. With Austen, it’s like: Wait, wait, wait....it’s coming....ah, here it is, one line of mild satire. The good, the bad and the ugly in Austen all seem to walk the same straight line. Oh sure, there are slight bumps in the road but all is righted at the end. Mrs. John Dashwood may have to acknowledge Elinor as a sister-in-law in the end of Sense and Sensibility but she is still Mrs. John Dashwood with all her wealth and disdain.
Dickens is so different with his characterizations. Take Mrs. Elton from Emma and Uriah Heep from David Copperfield. Both horrible people but Mrs. E. just moves along oblivious to the contempt around her while Heep, unctuous and cloying, is given a past (who can forget his mom?) You’re not going to like Heep anymore in the end but he is fleshed out beyond caricature.
Having said this however, the PBS production of Emma is good, albeit too long. Why have an hour and a half first episode followed by a 50 minute second episode? The Emma of PBS questions a lot of her motivations. Is this a sop to modern audiences? I would have to read the novel to find it. Not going to happen.
Other prize coming from all this is:
http://www.fancast.com/movies (click "N" then Nicholas Nickleby)
a free online version of Nicholas Nickleby with limited commercials. I haven't seen it so I don’t know how faithful it is to the novel.
And finally: Twilight, again. This movie has come onto Showcase and that's part of my movie package so I have watched Twilight about four times in the last week and a half. I've discovered it's a great white noise movie to accompany my knitting. I've also discovered that this is not a bad movie for the pre-teen, early teen girl who needs some variation of "bosom ripping" entertainment before entering the adult world. I'm liking the way Bella and Edward are played by older actors but still I see the angst of senior high school here. I know it is metaphorically (does it cheapen the concept of metaphor to mention it with Twilight?) laughable and that we're looking at a typical abused woman mentality here but I guess I'm lightening up.
It's like the kid who asks: Mom, where did I come from? And, after mom gives the big sex lecture, she discovers he only wanted to know if he was born in Chicago.
So, moms, don't write off Twilight. It's there for girls to dream and it's there as a good talking points for moms and daughters.
Before I say: See you on Friday, I know I promised a review of Towelhead. Am I procrastinating? Probably. I've seen the whole movie by now but I'm thinking about skimming Lolita again before I post a review. Short review before a longer one: See it. It's flawed (Aren't we all?) but it'll make you think.
See you Friday.
Plus, my web pick for Wednesday sort of fits into Movie Monday. Here’s how.
I like to multi-task. In the past, it’s been watching the tiny index card sized TV on the computer screen, knitting, and reading blogs. Yesterday, I found:
http://librivox.org/newcatalog/search.php?title=&author=&status=complete&action=Search
This is a site for free audio, non-copyrighted books. The readings are quite good. Some books have different readers for each chapter and all the selections only run one chapter when you have to click again to continue (a small inconvenience.)
I started with two chapters of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. I’ve read a lot of Dickens but there is something special about hearing the cutting, bitter satire in Chapter 2 when Ralph Nickleby and his cohorts petition the city their United Metropolitan Improved Hot Muffin and Crumpet Baking and Punctual Delivery Company should take over the existing muffin business and run out competition. It’s such a silly topic to use as the microcosm for Dicken’s real targets but just because it is such, it’s most effective. There is no question as to the bitter disdain the author holds for Ralph and his ilk.
Last week, I mentioned that I’m watching Emma on PBS so I decided that my second audio book would be Emma (No, I didn’t finish NN but that’s the advantage of separate chapters; I can just pick it up at Chapter 3) because I wanted to see if my dislike of Austen was based on my movie introduction to her since though I’ve read Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion, I’ve seen the movie/TV version of those two, plus Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park.
Nope, it wasn’t; I still don’t like Austen. With Austen, it’s like: Wait, wait, wait....it’s coming....ah, here it is, one line of mild satire. The good, the bad and the ugly in Austen all seem to walk the same straight line. Oh sure, there are slight bumps in the road but all is righted at the end. Mrs. John Dashwood may have to acknowledge Elinor as a sister-in-law in the end of Sense and Sensibility but she is still Mrs. John Dashwood with all her wealth and disdain.
Dickens is so different with his characterizations. Take Mrs. Elton from Emma and Uriah Heep from David Copperfield. Both horrible people but Mrs. E. just moves along oblivious to the contempt around her while Heep, unctuous and cloying, is given a past (who can forget his mom?) You’re not going to like Heep anymore in the end but he is fleshed out beyond caricature.
Having said this however, the PBS production of Emma is good, albeit too long. Why have an hour and a half first episode followed by a 50 minute second episode? The Emma of PBS questions a lot of her motivations. Is this a sop to modern audiences? I would have to read the novel to find it. Not going to happen.
Other prize coming from all this is:
http://www.fancast.com/movies (click "N" then Nicholas Nickleby)
a free online version of Nicholas Nickleby with limited commercials. I haven't seen it so I don’t know how faithful it is to the novel.
And finally: Twilight, again. This movie has come onto Showcase and that's part of my movie package so I have watched Twilight about four times in the last week and a half. I've discovered it's a great white noise movie to accompany my knitting. I've also discovered that this is not a bad movie for the pre-teen, early teen girl who needs some variation of "bosom ripping" entertainment before entering the adult world. I'm liking the way Bella and Edward are played by older actors but still I see the angst of senior high school here. I know it is metaphorically (does it cheapen the concept of metaphor to mention it with Twilight?) laughable and that we're looking at a typical abused woman mentality here but I guess I'm lightening up.
It's like the kid who asks: Mom, where did I come from? And, after mom gives the big sex lecture, she discovers he only wanted to know if he was born in Chicago.
So, moms, don't write off Twilight. It's there for girls to dream and it's there as a good talking points for moms and daughters.
Before I say: See you on Friday, I know I promised a review of Towelhead. Am I procrastinating? Probably. I've seen the whole movie by now but I'm thinking about skimming Lolita again before I post a review. Short review before a longer one: See it. It's flawed (Aren't we all?) but it'll make you think.
See you Friday.
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