(no subject)

[cleolinda]

A rambling entry, because I'm a little headachy:

So. I've spent the weekend reading (rereading Alison Weir's Elizabeth I bio, and reading The Other Boleyn Girl for the first time), and I have a crick in my back now. Ow. About The Other Boleyn Girl--it's a brisk, juicy read, and I'm not a stickler for absolute historical accuracy if the story's engaging, which it is. I do find myself nitpicking tiny things, stylistically and otherwise, like "Questioning glance would have fit there so much better than interrogatory glance," and "if Mary says that she's Just The Other Boleyn Girl™ one more time, I'm going to reach into the book and slap her," and "Oh God, please don't make me read about someone giving Henry VIII a handjob," but really, my biggest problem with the book is the basic premise that Mary Boleyn, the main character, through whom the story is told in first person, is this sacrificial ingenue. The birthdates aren't certain, but it's possible that she was the older sister; it's very likely she should be about 20-21, not 14, when the book starts; and it's generally thought that she was the French king's (Francis? Francois?) mistress before she came back to England and got involved with Henry. If anyone should be coaching her sister in the ways of the court and the world, it's Mary, not Anne (although you do get Mary giving her sister blowjob tips later in the book). I seem to recall one of Weir's other books on the Henrician court citing a quote that Mary was "the most infamous whore of all," or something to that effect. I mean, I like her, and I think that a book on the premise of "the forgotten Boleyn sister" is a great idea. It's just that Gregory creates a fictional persona that does not seem to match up with the historical one very much, and that character is the premise and foundation of the book. I mean, she can make up all she wants about Francis Weston, as far as I'm concerned; he's relatively peripheral. It's a little like writing a book about the loves of Elizabeth I and saying that she was a wallflower. You can fudge as to whether or not Elizabeth had this or that liaison, but her essential persona kinda needs to be there. But I guess Gregory can get away with doing a 180 on Mary Boleyn because nobody outside the history geeks really knew or thought about her much before this book.

That, and she uses the word "sexy" at least twice. Since the book is written in first person from Mary Boleyn's perspective, it's just sort of weirdly anachronistic for me. I can let a lot of subtly modernized speech go, but a word that pretty plainly wasn't in use at the time? (I mean, maybe it was. I don't have access to the OED online at the moment. But I doubt it.) It bothers me. Like "It's okay" at the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean. Even that still bothers me. Anyway, I'm not finished yet--Anne's just had Elizabeth--but I'll probably finish before I go to bed.

Speaking of movies, Jane Eyre (the Charlotte Gainsbourg version, which I really, really like) went over fabulously for Happy Grandma Movie Day. "I'm just going to keep thinking about that," she kept saying. That, and "Oh!" a lot. She got really into it. Very early on she had pinned the mysterious evildoer at Thornfield Hall as Adele's mother--this before we found out what actually happened on that score--which wasn't correct, obviously, but was remarkably close to the gist of the situation. So I now know that she likes Gothic melodrama as well as your Jane Austens and your genteel swashbucklers and your early Hitchcocks, which opens up the field a teensy bit. (Yes, we have already watched Rebecca. No, I don't have Mansfield Park or Persuasion, and I kind of think that the recent, loose adaptation of the former might be a little... earthy for her. No, I don't have Little Women, any version, on DVD, or I'd slap that bad boy on so fast it'd make your head spin. God, I wish I had the old Elizabeth Taylor Ivanhoe.) Mom thinks she'd like Pearl Harbor, which I kind of don't think she would (read: "Good God, don't subject me to three hours of that").

However, before we come to blows over Happy Grandma Movie Day, it looks like we won't be doing it for much longer anyway--my mother did, in fact, get the job at [University], and for more money than we expected. Still less than her old job, but things are looking good. Hell, I think my stepfather's more relieved than she is, he was that worried about it.

Anyhoo. Still writing, still working, mostly feeling good.

(P.S. Be sure you stay at the end of X-Men to see the little extra scene. It's not much as scenes go, but it'll make you feel better. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm going on Tuesday, which seems to be a propitious day for moviegoing at my house.)

Linkspam:

A few notes on the Lost tie-in novel Bad Twin, which seems to have Widmore (as in Penelope Widmore, Widmore Construction, and Widmore Labs Pregnancy Tests) family connections.

(A summary of Our Mutual Friend, as prominently seen with Desmond.)

Helena Bonham Carter to play Bellatrix in the next Harry Potter. I think Helen McCrory is dropping out to have a baby, it said?

First image of Young Snape.

Dame Judi Dench and Ewan McGregor on the street dressed as... well, "foodstuffs," is the only word I can think of.

Sweet Lord, Beth at BPAL has been through some tribulations. I think my favorite part, however, is Our landlord at the last location went batshit, most of which I'm not at liberty to talk about, and among other things, he decides at the last minute of our lease that he wants to give over our space to his son, who wants to put on raves there. 

Back to reading.

Comments

[etherealshores.livejournal.com]

Alison Weir's books are always a good read - she's one of my favorite historians.

You should check out the Princes in the Tower and the Six wives of Henry VIII - excellent works as well.

[thaliakat.livejournal.com]

Don't tell anyone, but I'm partial to the James Mason, Sam Neill, Olivia Hussey version of Ivanhoe. It's all so wonderfully melodramatic.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Is that also the version where Lysette Anthony is Rowena? Oh, my soul craves to see that version. The pictures I've seen look horrible and fabulous.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

I tried to read a Gregory book once. Well, I succeeded, but it drove me mad (mad, I tell you! Mad!) with crap like you mentoin. So, since I'd read it in an afternoon, and had done no damage to it (i.e., not reading while eating) I, uh, returned it to the bookstore.

*shame*




....*wicked glee*

[4492.livejournal.com]

Oh My God. Can I just say that Dame Judi Dench and Ewan McGregor dressed as a prawn and a tomato is just THE best picture I have seen in months. BRILLIANT!

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Proof of a Supreme Being.

[cyranocyrano.livejournal.com]

P.S. Be sure you stay at the end of X-Men to see the little extra scene. It's not much as scenes go, but it'll make you feel better.

Enh. I am of the opinion that if you're going to go out of your way to make the emotional impact of killing a character off, don't cheapen it by saying "Oh wait, well maybe not really..."
I know, if this is the case, I should stop reading comic books because G*d knows they can't stop doing that if you held a gun to their heads.
Brett Ratner. He's becoming a better director but he's still far from being a *good* director.

[mebfeather.livejournal.com]

Dame Judi Dench and Ewan McGregor on the street dressed as... well, "foodstuffs," is the only word I can think of.

Um...so yeah...what's with that?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I think they're filming an ad. I really don't know beyond that.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Speaking of your grandma, have you laid any Merchant Ivory on her?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Haven't--I don't have Room with a View, which I think she actually would like, and I don't know about Howards End or Remains of the Day--they're personal favorites of mine, but they're more complex and ambiguous than the everyone-gets-married happy endings she tends to favor. I try to go for things that are kind of feel-good.

[metonymy.livejournal.com]

I think you are the only other person I've heard of who has an issue with the "It's okay" in PotC. I MEAN FOR SERIOUS.

Speaking of which, Norrington? In Dead Man's Chest? Bearded! How did I not know about this? Sigh.

And - yeah, Ewan as a tomato. There's a joke in there somewhere involving the old slang of "tomato" for "hottie," but I don't know where to go with it.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

"IT'S ALL RIGHT." That's all she had to say for it to be not blatantly wrong! It takes you out of the movie before five minutes have passed! WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT?

[skyblade.livejournal.com]

Hey, congrats to your mother!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Thanks. She's relieved to have a couple more weeks in which she can be off but not have to worry.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

don't have access to the OED online at the moment.

'Sexy' was coined in 1925 according to the OED. Are you permanently finished with school, then?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

No, but I've been off a semester now. I'm not sure I'll have access again until I register for a new class.

[ladykatiewench.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah!! "Okay" really doesn't belong in Pirates, sadly enough. I think I read that it's origins were in the 1860s, which is a little bit later than Pirates, which was what? 1600's? 1700's? I don't remember when it was supposed to be. I guess I will just have to go rewatch the movie. Sigh. Poor me.

And if you are up for more Hitchcock, his absolute best is one that is often forgotten. Notorious is heavenly. Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains. One of my all-time favorite movies.

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

I cannot believe I am the first person to say that I find the first image of Young Snape being one of the kid on a teeny tiny rocking horse to be HILAAAAAARIOUS. Sevvy has a horsey!

[elyim.livejournal.com]

A teeny tiny rocking horse, AND A KNIFE. An ohso menacing combination. Really redefines the term "hardcore rocker".

[scornedsaint.livejournal.com]

(although you do get Mary giving her sister blowjob tips later in the book)

Oh God, I read OBG when I was 13 and that was very traumatic. I think even then I realized it was a crappy book with some weird soft-core porn and twisting of history.

P.S. Be sure you stay at the end of X-Men to see the little extra scene.

I am so pissed that I heard nothing about the extra scene until after I saw the movie. And then I got home and I saw it twice on LJ and in EW.

[xuntamedx.livejournal.com]

I second that, with the X-Men scene. Regardless, it still doesn't make the movie better for me. :/

[pygmymetal.livejournal.com]

That Dame Judy/Ewan McGregor pic is just so surreal! LOL!

[vkitty.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... The Other Boleyn Girl... Never read it. I've gone so far as the childrens' books about the Tudor family (Mary, Bloody Mary and the like). So sad.

Have you considered My Fair Lady for Happy Grandma Movie Day?

[robing.livejournal.com]

Conversational derail here, but I just have to say I thought your icon was from Firefly at first. It looked like Wash, Zoe, Book, and Inara to me. Then I realized that Zoe looked WAY too short. Still a funny icon, though. :)

[jigglykat.livejournal.com]

Ha, thanks for the link!

And I'm a terrible terrible Pirates fan for never noticing "It's okay." I must watch now.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, you can't miss it. Young Will is sort of gasping on the deck and Young Elizabeth says, "It's okay," something something I can't remember because the anachronism threw my brain off kilter.

(Most welcome!)

[bacardibreezer7.livejournal.com]

Awww, Ewan and Dame Judi look so cute!!

[delle.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry - did you say The Other Boleyn Girl has Mary as the younger sister?????

::boggles::

I know we don't seem to know as much about Mary as perhaps we should but *really*! Everything I've ever read has said she was older than Anne - she went to the French court first, and to the English court as well. (as well as bedding Francois and the first Boleyn in Henry's bed...)

/history geek.

I just saw XMen 3 tonight. I'm still percolating on it - I think there were things that were very well done; but also things that drove me nuts. The whole "well we've decided not to kill Jean Grey and here's a convoluted reason why" drove me NUTS (altho my Elder Son says he thinks the reason had roots in XM2, which I'm currently re-watching). The last scene? Was an audience mindfuck, pure and simple. Me, I'm not a big fan of playing the mindfuck game. Tell me your story, don't throw in stupid plot twists just for fun. JMVHO, obviously.

There's "okay" in POTC? Can you refresh my memory? 'Cos, yeah, that's just WRONG.

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

*dons geek hat*

The scene your Elder Son refers to is the shot just before X2's end credits, where there's a flyover of Alkalai Lake. You can make out the shape of a large bird 'flying' under the water - which your average X-Men geek, like myself, will recognize as a sign of the Phoenix. :)

There were signs of the Phoenix all through X2. Jean's power increases, most obviously, but also the fire that kicks up when she's holding the water back from the jet.

[crumpeteer.livejournal.com]

Have you tried reading Blood Royal by Mollie Hardwick? It's not exactly deep, but it is an interesting view of the Boleyn family. It too focuses on Mary, but as the older sister who became the black sheep of the family.

Have you tried the Ralph Fiennes version of Wuthering Heights for the Grandmama? Or is that too heavy?

Sadly, young Snape is rather attractive.


Dame Judi Dench and Ewan McGregor on the street dressed as... well, "foodstuffs,"

That picture wins at Teh Internets.

[http://users.livejournal.com/bellereve_/]

Yeah, he's a little too attractive to be Snape. 'Cause Rickman is awesome and all, but seriously.

[thegeneralerin.livejournal.com]

Dame Judi Dench and Ewan McGregor on the street dressed as... well, "foodstuffs

but...why Judi? why!?

it is a hilarious picture though. But why?

[callmesyd.livejournal.com]

The question we need to be asking is not "Why?", but "Why NOT?"

[sualocin.livejournal.com]

lol @ Judi Dench and Ewan McGregor. Not only foodstuffs, but red foodstuffs!

Have fun with the book! I think Greggory didn't want to make Mary out to be a total whore, which it seems like she was, because ... well, people aren't always into whores. Me, I happen to like them. If you haven't tryed it, I would suggest Sex with Kings by Eleanor Herman. It is fun and sexy and a quick read.

[ambiguousreason.livejournal.com]

Like "It's okay" at the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean. Even that still bothers me.

Omfg, I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed/gets annoyed by that. Every time I notice and usually end up yelling something at my TV about it. Lmfao.

[xuntamedx.livejournal.com]

The BPAL boards don't seem to be working.. what's going on with Beth?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I don't know what the deal with the boards is, but to summarize the Beth post: basically, their landlord at Satsuma Dr. or wherever was an ass (son, raves, previously mentioned, etc.), so they had to decamp and start looking for a new space. In the meantime, she said something along the lines of, we're having to run the business out of two apartments and a storage space. Well, then the location they were looking at crapped out--apparently it was "commercial restricted," contrary to what they'd been told, which meant they couldn't operate a business there. So they've finally found a location/building/whatever that might work, but they're still going to have to move into that.

[la-petite-singe.livejournal.com]

All of PG's books seem to be like that to me - engaging, with a fair amount of historical-ness, which in turn takes a fair amount of liberties. Have you tried The Queen's Fool? It focuses on a fictional character in the first place, so it's a little easier to swallow.

And HBC as Bella? Wait, really? EW suggested she'd make a good Merope, which I thought was sort of cool...

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, she's very Merope in Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. Relatively so, I mean--sort of poor and meek. Not, like, incestuous or anything.

I actually assumed HBC was always going to be Bellatrix, she seemed to be such an obvious choice, so I was shocked when Helen McCrory [i.e., someone I'd never heard of] got the part.

And actually, I may have The Queen's Fool--I got TOBG and possibly TQF for Christmas a year or so ago. I'll have dig through my books and see if I have it.

[raspberry-wench.livejournal.com]

Oh man, OBG. I just read it a few weeks ago and damn that book was like chocolate-covered crack. I mean, I knew it was bad when I wasw reading it, but did that stop me? Nah.

Have you watched Sense and Sensibility with your grandmother? That might be a good one.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Hee, same here.

And yeah, we watched S&S a few weeks ago. She loved that one.