Sunday afternoon, lazy

[cleolinda]

I've been flipping off empty air a lot lately; it makes me feel better. Spent yesterday reading Philippa Gregory's The Virgin's Lover, which was enjoyably ridiculous; I've heard that The Queen's Fool is better, so I saved that for second. I am now in possession of The Queen and Notes on a Scandal on DVD, and my mother wants to watch the former this afternoon, if we can manage it; I've seen that one, but not Notes on a Scandal yet.



ankhet: "I know you probably already have this from your RSS feeds, but I wanted to ask you to put it in your next linkspam: Contaminated hogs may be in human food supply."

Man arrested in mugging of woman, 101. God, I remember when the Today show ran the surveillance video of this. Nothing like watching an elderly woman get punched in the face on a five-minute loop. GAH.

Report: Militants vow to capture Prince Harry.

Student arrested for imagining violence.

Liberia loses 'blood diamond' label.

RESCUE CAT.

Do we have to hear the kissing bits?

'American Idol' raises $30M for charity; Celebs Stayin’ Alive for Africa; Dion Stuns America With Elvis Duet.

Former MPAA Head Jack Valenti Dies at 85.

Scoop: Did Prince mock Paris Hilton's singing ability? God, I hope so.

Barrymore tops People ‘100 Most Beautiful.’ "Making the cover 'made my peacock feathers shine in the golden-hour light and extend to the heavens,' says Barrymore, who stars in the upcoming Warner Bros. film Lucky You, opposite Eric Bana."

Recovering Ebert soaks up fan adoration at film festival.

Hugh Grant arrested over ‘beans attack.’ Hugh Grant has been arrested and questioned by police after a photographer accused the actor of attacking him with a tub of baked beans. Which he did, by the way, because at some point I saw pictures of it.

Indian court issues warrant for Gere over kiss.

Alec Baldwin Dumped CAA because of Dora the Explorer?

trailer_spot: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Goya's Ghosts, Rise: Blood Hunter, Joe Strummer, Pirates; Elizabeth - Golden Age, Last Hangman, Boss of It All, Next, Hot Fuzz, Anchorman 300.

New POTC3 crew member designs. Includes variations on Crusty!Jack.

New WB "Dumbledore's Army" Website Opens.

Assuming it's true, do we have a Narcissa? Naomi Watts, Jack Davenport, Stephen Rea for HBP?

Tonner Spider-Man 3 dolls, or "Drunkst the Doll!," as the ever-classy ONTD puts it. I have heard rumors that Tonner may put out POTC and/or LOTR dolls, at which point I will start weeping and/or selling my blood plasma.

David Goyer to Direct Magneto. Sadly, it doesn't really sound like the kind of story they'd need Ian McKellen for; it's also been compared to Hannibal Rising, in terms of the Younger Version of Character Hunting Down Nazis, or Something plot element. Because God knows we need two of those, and both of them without the older actors who made the characters popular.

Natalie Portman Goes Blonde for My Blueberry Nights.

Cassidy: Blade Runner Reshoots Done? Wow, it's good to know that it's 1987.

Kate Beckinsale claims this is the first she's heard of the Barbarella remake.

Legendary Hogzilla to be portrayed in horror flick.

Bestselling author tackles Wonder Woman.

Emma Watson on Ron and Hermione: "A Perfect Couple." Oh, Jesus! Batten the hatches!

Comments

[pygmymetal.livejournal.com]

Lots of corgi cuteness in 'The Queen'. Good flick too.

Corgi love...

[mollyblack.livejournal.com]

My mom breeds Pembroke Welsh Corgis. I have one named Ein. She's a girl, and her brother is named Ein as well because of a huge mess involving familial politics that included a sister not telling me I had a dog waiting for me for over four months and me finding out the day after the boy Ein found somebody who really really really wanted him. So we named ours Zweite Ein and just call her Ein for short.

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

I read The Virgin's Lover too - I thought it was a bold choice to make Elizabeth so wishy washy and easily manipulated and generally weak in a girly sense. Ah well.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

No, I know what you mean. I think the Gregory books just crack me up because I can't keep a straight face through historical-figure sex scenes. That, and I had a really hard time believing that Elizabeth would dress up like a servant girl. I do think Gregory did a really good job making Elizabeth, Dudley, *and* Amy equally sympathetic and unpleasant--that is, there were times when you sympathized with each character, and times when each character looked bad.

[bitchola.livejournal.com]

I read The Virgin's Lover (and two other of her books) too, and found it a bit hard to believe that the woman who became one of England's most powerful and influential monarchs was so easily influenced. Especially because she kept protesting that she was only 20, and that she was too young-- during that time someone who was that age and unmarried was an old maid, not a college girl who wanted to fool around with her boyfriend before she settled down.

The Queen's Fool > The Virgin's Lover

[callie-girl.livejournal.com]

I think there's a mix up in one of the links. The Alec Baldwin link leads to pics of Hugh Grant and the beans (hmm, that would make a good band name).

[stagemanager.livejournal.com]

Also, the "Do we have to hear the kissing..." link goes to the same link as Rescue Cat directly above it.

[jaded-lady.livejournal.com]

in the vein of Philippa Gregory books -- I'm working my way through "The Constant Princess" (which is about Katherine of Aragon) and "The Boleyn Inheritance" (Katherine Howard, Anne of Cleves). Both of which are...well, kind of like all of her other books, but I've enjoyed both of them. "The Queens Fool" was the only one of her books I could never bring myself to finish. I don't know. I never really got attached to the main character, I guess?

[thunderphoenix.livejournal.com]

*clicks on goofy cat pic site*

Well, looks like my afternoon is booked now.

[mustang-bex1126.livejournal.com]

Yay for excellent link-spam! Hey- along the same vein of people being arrested for imaginations... did you see this? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18372103/

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Awww. At the same time, I think someone needs to learn a few things about privacy on the internet. Such as "don't post pictures of self drunk."

[la-petite-singe.livejournal.com]

Philippa Gregory rocks my life. Not sure what the best book is, although The Queen's Fool is fun because it deals with an original character and such. And both of those movies rock as well.

Naomi as Narcissa!! I approve! I've always sort of had Traci Lords in my head, I admit it, but Naomi could pull it off.

[alpheratz.livejournal.com]

My great-grandfather (age 97) got mugged a couple of months ago. Who does this? Like, how soulless do you have to be?

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, apparently this guy was literally on crack at the time, or his crack pipe was found, or something. Which starts to explain a lot.

[derangeddarling.livejournal.com]

I found The Queen's Fool on a shelf randomly and absolutely loved it, so when I went back for more I chose The Virgin's Lover, but I only read less than half before I put it down. It just...I don't know. I just don't like it as much. I have no problem with out of character protrayals of historical figues, I'm a fan of historical fiction. But this one was ugh. I think I am going to try The Other Boleyn Girl and see if my problem is just with Virgin's Lover and not Greggory overall (and Queen's Fool a fluke.)

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

I haven't read QF yet, obviously, but I think the reason I find her other books (Boleyn Girl, Constant Princess, VL, etc.) so ridiculous is the sex scenes between historical figures. Once you have Queen Elizabeth "gasping at his strength and power," or Mary Boleyn telling Anne how to give Henry VIII a handjob, I for one can't keep a straight face. Now, if QF is about an original character moving through that world with the real people as a backdrop, I could deal with that better.

I still enjoy reading the books, though, because I love reading about clothes and food and dancing and jousting, which you get no matter how ridiculous the sex is.

[ter369.livejournal.com]

I like "enjoyably ridiculous" as alternative to "this (film/book> is a guilty pleasure".

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, and I think it also tells you more about the book itself than "guilty pleasure," which can mean a whole lot of different things.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Indian court issues warrant for Gere over kiss.

Did you watch the footage of this, Cleo? He actually had her flat on her back on a table. I don't think he should be arrested, but it did remind me strongly of the Harlan Ellison groping incident. It was obviously meant to be funny, but still.

[daemonnoire.livejournal.com]

I watched the video of the kiss, and her expression through most of it was "Dear God, please let me get through this without hitting this man." It's obvious she's uncomfortable, and the fact that she's getting so much flack over something Gere did to her is utterly typical.

[kali921.livejournal.com]

Jodi Picault has already been taken off the Wonder Woman title, which is good news because her Wonder Woman was absolutely terrible and set the internet aflame with hue and cry from Wondy fans like me.

Gaile Simone is actually going to be writing Wonder Woman next, thank god. Picault took everything wonderful about Diana and cut it away from the character, leaving an emo, helpless shell in her wake. Words cannot describe how terrible her characterization was.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Huh--I'd been sitting on that link for a few days, but not that long. I have heard good things about Simone's writing, though.

casting rumors (link) for Half Blood Prince

[ter369.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one thinking that playing Merope Gaunt is a bigger challenge than playing Narcissa Malfoy? Just 'cause the actress is blonde and beautiful doesn't mean that's what she'd play onscreen .....

Re: casting rumors (link) for Half Blood Prince

[meandstuff.livejournal.com]

Here's hoping that's Naomi Watt's prospective role 'cause I'm not really buying her as the mother of a sixteen-year-old.

*claps his thumbs together for Ebert*

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

I hope I'd have the aplomb Ebert has if I ever have surgery like that. And the article's last Ebert line brings me joy.

[etherealshores.livejournal.com]

The Virgin Lover is probably her weakest book IMO...can't stand it.

[lauramcvey.livejournal.com]

Re: imagining violence
Oh, Christ on a freaking bike. What next? I have a short story about a French noblewoman being guillotined- will that get me suspended? How about my werewolf novel? My anti-war poems? GAH.
The "can we skip the kissing bits" made me chuckle.

[ironclad1609.livejournal.com]

Drew Barrymore?? What the...? Did I miss something?
Just during "Music and Lyrics" recently I thought again how average looking she is.

The image of you flipping off empty air made me smile, though.

[lotusbiosm.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey Cleo, do you know about Wishpot (http://www.wishpot.com)?
It's a website where you can make a wishlist of products from all over the Internet. You get a little button for your bookmark toolbar, and then when you see something you want, you click and it gets added. Complete with tags, priority levels, and privacy settings. (Though I don't know if you can sort by tags)
Mine's here (http://www.wishpot.com/public/users/?uid=695).

[confusedmuchly.livejournal.com]

Whoawhoawhoa waitwaitwait. Why is Jack all crusty and brain... hangy-outy?

What the heck kinds of POTO spoilers have I missed??

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

I know, right? *shakes fist in her job and school's general direction*

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

Where's Naomi Watts from? My first choice would've been Nicole Kidman, but as she's not allowed, I did like the idea of Naomi.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Well, here's the thing--Watts is also from Australia; she's been Kidman's best friend for years. That does kind of make me wonder if it's true, but on the other hand, I can't really imagine someone would just make up a rumor and include Stephen Rea in it. He doesn't seem very... rumorable.

[thegeneralerin.livejournal.com]

OMG PIRATES!

YAY Can't wait until this summer.