Sudden Stop
Jun. 9th, 2003 11:15 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
itsallovernowMy hectic life has come to a grinding halt - the frenzy, not the life -which is a good thing, since I haven't had a decent night's sleep in a month and am going on vacation on Wednesday. I rarely get to go anywhere that doesn't involve visiting someone, and while I love catching up with friends and family, I also love to travel and this will be the first time in years that I get to go someplace I've never been before, so yeah for me.
The party was lovely. I have many kind and generous friends, one of whom sought out and bought Songbook for me, so now I have my very own copy. I wandered around all of Friday night showing it to people, making them ooh and aah over it's design and it's cleverness. One of my many flaws is trying to rope people into my enthusiasms by describing why I love something loudly and repeatedly. My friends have learned to filter me out, because for the most part, they don't share my enthusiasms.
Songbook is so engaging not so much because of Hornby's take on specific pieces of music, but because of things that he talks about in reference to that piece. His commentary on the actual songs sometimes gets lost completely, but along the way, he's fascinating. Talking about Rod Stewart's version of Dylan's Baby, You Been on My Mind, he says he likes the Rod Stewart version because of the reverence. When Dylan sings it, he tosses it away, knowing that he can create another such song without effort and Stewart engages himself completely in the lyrics.
Cairo Carnivale went off without a hitch - at least or performance did. We looked good, we smiled, we danced well and people responded well to us. That's usually all I can ask for and at least for a few months, I can return to my normal exercise routine - hello teachers at Krav Maga, yes I am coming back even though I know you will make me cry - and get to dance because I love it, not because I've obligated myself to a major performance.
My father did me proud as well, in the birthday present vein. He sent me Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer, Lawerence of Arabia and Chinatown on DVD and a Bob Dylan Concert film from Australia.
I saw Lawrence of Arabia at the Cinema 70 in Colorado Springs the year that they'd remastered and rereleased it. I was a teenager and wish I could remember just how old I was. I'd seen a lot of movies at this theater, it was an old Cinerama theater with heavy red velvet curtains and was just wonderful. They tore it down a few years ago, completely breaking my heart.
I went with my dad, who is as big a movie buff as I was at the time, and we just sat transfixed and in awe for the whole three hours. Peter O'Toole's eyes are bluer than blue. And his face, set against the backdrop of all of that sand is so haunting. When he goes into the sandstorm for the young bedouin, I wait, heart in throat until he returns, and when Lawrence has to shoot the boy afterwards, you can literally see him transform into the man he needs to be. At the very beginning, after the funeral, when the American talks about him being a showman, creating spectacle, and you dismiss it until you see him up on the train, robes flapping, desert outlining him, setting explosives with that look of pure joy on his face.
Very few movie going experiences, for me, have ever topped seeing this.
And because I finally got a chance to watch my DVD's last night, Different Destinations. Stealing a line from Cretkid's blog (and Happy Belated Birthday btw),
The tagline to Farscape has always been that they take scifi cliches and turn them on their heads. This is possibly the best example of that technique and it is beautiful and painful, and the agony of the last scene never fades, for me. Hell, I wrote a whole episode filler for that scene, although![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
crankygrrl kindly calls it an episode bridge.
I love the small look that passes between John and Aeryn as he is trying to help Stark forget about Zhaan. And poor Stark, so unhappy, lost and now forced to look at death. I love what he says to the nurse as well, anger is good, keep that, but forget hate.
The whole thing is so well paced. It's visual, it's angry and clever and you feel for everyone so deeply. John screwed up by not sharing his plan. He was trying to prove himself, make up in some small ways for his past actions in SIW. And he fails. As he says to Harvey, I'm in a hell of a slump.
Aeryn falls immediately into soldier mode, but in the best way possible. She is calm, kind, direct and competent, and when she has to let Dacon die, you know that she will not forgive John easily for forcing that decision. She thinks he's right, but she respects this young cook trapped in a war. These are the Peacekeepers that Aeryn believes in, and even they are a lie to a certain extent.
D'Argo's grace with the child, his kindness and gentleness perfectly offset her lack of fear, her very adult situation of what is going on around her. I just adore D'Argo. "I'm not going to kill anyone, oh maybe this guy."
And finally, of course, turning the course of history. It doesn't effect Moya, still falls along the framework of what happened, but the nurses are senselessly and brutally murdered, and they all have to deal with that, share the burden of blame.
I'd also like to talk about how this episode falls into the series as a whole, but I think I'll wait until the series run is over.
The party was lovely. I have many kind and generous friends, one of whom sought out and bought Songbook for me, so now I have my very own copy. I wandered around all of Friday night showing it to people, making them ooh and aah over it's design and it's cleverness. One of my many flaws is trying to rope people into my enthusiasms by describing why I love something loudly and repeatedly. My friends have learned to filter me out, because for the most part, they don't share my enthusiasms.
Songbook is so engaging not so much because of Hornby's take on specific pieces of music, but because of things that he talks about in reference to that piece. His commentary on the actual songs sometimes gets lost completely, but along the way, he's fascinating. Talking about Rod Stewart's version of Dylan's Baby, You Been on My Mind, he says he likes the Rod Stewart version because of the reverence. When Dylan sings it, he tosses it away, knowing that he can create another such song without effort and Stewart engages himself completely in the lyrics.
Cairo Carnivale went off without a hitch - at least or performance did. We looked good, we smiled, we danced well and people responded well to us. That's usually all I can ask for and at least for a few months, I can return to my normal exercise routine - hello teachers at Krav Maga, yes I am coming back even though I know you will make me cry - and get to dance because I love it, not because I've obligated myself to a major performance.
My father did me proud as well, in the birthday present vein. He sent me Drinking Coffee Elsewhere by ZZ Packer, Lawerence of Arabia and Chinatown on DVD and a Bob Dylan Concert film from Australia.
I saw Lawrence of Arabia at the Cinema 70 in Colorado Springs the year that they'd remastered and rereleased it. I was a teenager and wish I could remember just how old I was. I'd seen a lot of movies at this theater, it was an old Cinerama theater with heavy red velvet curtains and was just wonderful. They tore it down a few years ago, completely breaking my heart.
I went with my dad, who is as big a movie buff as I was at the time, and we just sat transfixed and in awe for the whole three hours. Peter O'Toole's eyes are bluer than blue. And his face, set against the backdrop of all of that sand is so haunting. When he goes into the sandstorm for the young bedouin, I wait, heart in throat until he returns, and when Lawrence has to shoot the boy afterwards, you can literally see him transform into the man he needs to be. At the very beginning, after the funeral, when the American talks about him being a showman, creating spectacle, and you dismiss it until you see him up on the train, robes flapping, desert outlining him, setting explosives with that look of pure joy on his face.
Very few movie going experiences, for me, have ever topped seeing this.
And because I finally got a chance to watch my DVD's last night, Different Destinations. Stealing a line from Cretkid's blog (and Happy Belated Birthday btw),
The tagline to Farscape has always been that they take scifi cliches and turn them on their heads. This is possibly the best example of that technique and it is beautiful and painful, and the agony of the last scene never fades, for me. Hell, I wrote a whole episode filler for that scene, although
crankygrrl kindly calls it an episode bridge.I love the small look that passes between John and Aeryn as he is trying to help Stark forget about Zhaan. And poor Stark, so unhappy, lost and now forced to look at death. I love what he says to the nurse as well, anger is good, keep that, but forget hate.
The whole thing is so well paced. It's visual, it's angry and clever and you feel for everyone so deeply. John screwed up by not sharing his plan. He was trying to prove himself, make up in some small ways for his past actions in SIW. And he fails. As he says to Harvey, I'm in a hell of a slump.
Aeryn falls immediately into soldier mode, but in the best way possible. She is calm, kind, direct and competent, and when she has to let Dacon die, you know that she will not forgive John easily for forcing that decision. She thinks he's right, but she respects this young cook trapped in a war. These are the Peacekeepers that Aeryn believes in, and even they are a lie to a certain extent.
D'Argo's grace with the child, his kindness and gentleness perfectly offset her lack of fear, her very adult situation of what is going on around her. I just adore D'Argo. "I'm not going to kill anyone, oh maybe this guy."
And finally, of course, turning the course of history. It doesn't effect Moya, still falls along the framework of what happened, but the nurses are senselessly and brutally murdered, and they all have to deal with that, share the burden of blame.
I'd also like to talk about how this episode falls into the series as a whole, but I think I'll wait until the series run is over.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-06-09 01:24 pm (UTC)I remember watching LoA as a young'un with my father and listening to him explain how George Lucas based all his Tatooine scenes on it. Then, later, watching it in the living room with my younger brother, talking about how Peter O'Toole and Omar Sharif had gotten absolutely stinkin' on a bottle of Brandy before filming the charge into Akaba: they were both convinced that they would fall off their camels and break their necks; they decided that they wanted to die happy.
I've never analysed LoA-wait, that's a lie but when I do, it's always the section between being captured by the Turks and leading the advance on Damascus that attracts my mind.
That said, it's one of the best movies ever made-anyone who doesn't feel a shiver go up their spine in the moment when Lawrence gives in and screams "No Prisoners, No Prisoners" just isn't pay attention.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-09 01:25 pm (UTC)Re:
Date: 2003-06-09 01:43 pm (UTC)It seems like it would be a good father/daughter movie actually. There is no sex, although there is plenty of passion and idealism and spectacle and striving towards greatness, and it's just so frelling beautiful visually.
Lawrence was one of my first movie crushes -after Han Solo and Indiana Jones - and I was just devasted to realize that he'd much rather sleep with the nice Bedouin boys, but he was still so beautiful and passionate and filled with fervor.
It made me want to ride off into the desert in a grand romantic gesture, something I've never quite given up on despite the fact that I dislike camels and really could live happily without ever sleeping outside again.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-09 01:58 pm (UTC)I am sooooo not a camping-girl. Bugs and going to the toilet in the bush are not for me.
Although I never had a crush on Lawrence (skinny white boys have never worked for me-I found Athony Quinn more appealing) I think what Lawrence of Arabia gave me was an appreciation of morally complex and deeply flawed characters from a very young age.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-09 01:59 pm (UTC)How far in are you? I started with the end of the series first and have been recently catching up on the reruns, and saw Different Destinations last night as well. Due to my out-of-orderness I had a moment of, "OH, so that's what he was talking about when..." But I don't want to spoil you unnecessarily.
no subject
Date: 2003-06-09 02:16 pm (UTC)I'm desperately trying to keep Haphazard Method and any newbies spoiler free, though, so just pop in warnings if you don't mind.
Otherwise, please, please share the Oh! moments. That's one of my favorite things about the show. I had a huge oh!! moment -as did nearly everyone, I think - during Unrealized Realities in relation to DD.
Re:
Date: 2003-06-09 02:19 pm (UTC)Also, I adored Harvey's red boots like crazy. Especially that they had "ANDY" written on them.
Re:
Date: 2003-06-09 02:32 pm (UTC)I know, the boots are priceless aren't they. It's the little things:)
And, honestly, I can't imagine how you kept watching if UR was your first ep, but am certainly glad you did. That's like throwing you out smack dab into the middle of the bulls.
Re:
Date: 2003-06-09 02:35 pm (UTC)That's probably true although I am a huge sucker for lanky blue eyed English men. Actually, now that i think about it, blue eyes and a grin attached to any nationality or hair color has gotten me in a boatload of trouble.
But yeah, knowing he's flawed, that he is conflicted and complex, and still wanting to see the rest of his journey, sympathizing with the conflicts, those things never stopped being important to the way I viewed films or books or TV.
Re:
Date: 2003-06-09 02:39 pm (UTC)Persistence. I've had a ton of oh! moments re: UR as I watched the rest of the series and got the context.
Also, I fell in love with John when he uttered the line "I am not Kirk, Spock, Luke, Buck, Flash, or Arthur frelling Dent. I am Dorothy Gayle from Kansas." He has not disappointed me since. I love a geek in leather.