bennet_7

This feels weird to feel but I am actually looking forward to a Ben Affleck film since I read this Wired article on the origins of the plot. Basically, during the Iran Hostage Crisis, six embassy workers managed to escape and hide out at the Canadian Embassy for a couple of months until the CIA orchestrated an escape plan involving a fake science fiction film to get them out. Naturally the CIA's involvement was kept secret so Canada has been taking the credit for the last thirty years (the wikipedia entry on the subject is entitled Canadian Caper). But Ben Affleck's film looks like it's going to redirect the spotlight back to the Americans involved, specifically the CIA and the Hollywood film industry (natch).

Here is a tutorial on how to get around Release 88.

( More Yuletide recs under the cut )

The thing about living in Australia is this: I don't quite understand the scheduling of American TV, nor do I know when a TV show is going to have a little mini-hiatus right in the middle of its season.

I mean, I don't really know what 'March Madness' is (I know it has something to do with basketball but I really don't want to find out more. If I can't give a damn about Australian basketball, no way am I going to care about it in the US), but is it followed by 'April Apathy', where everyone winds down from the crazy and forgets to put my shows on?

Like, all last week I was expecting my shows to appear on the internet, kindly uploaded by the good-natured pirates, as per normal, but the only one to appear was The Good Wife. And it's the same this week so I did some investigating and found out that none of them were supposed to air anyway which is very disappointing. There needs to be some kind of app for international downloaders to keep us aware of scheduling changes so that we don't get our hopes up like I did last Friday, expecting to come home from work and find all my Thursday comedies ready to watch; I'd been anticipating them all week, looking forward to The Office for the first time in a long time, but they weren't there.

A couple of new shows did air so I gave them a try.

Chaos had an decent premise (the three musketeers and their d'Artagnan in the CIA) but wasn't very good. If it does improve I imagine that it will develop a huge slash fandom thanks to its cast of attractive white males. Only one female series regular in the pilot (and she was a POC so yay) but Christina Cole has made the jump across the pond to play the other (still a ratio of five guys to two women, though. Disappointing). Apparently Christina Cole will be playing against type: her character will be nice. The only times I have ever seen Christina Cole not play an uber-bitch were her small role in Casino Royale and as Norah in He Knew He Was Right (though Norah had a few moments). It's kind of amusing how many of the great bitches of English Literature she's played: Blanche Ingram, Caroline Bingley, Mrs Elton.

Anyway, I might keep an eye on the reviews to see if it gets better. I do enjoy stories about spies and James Murray's face.

The Killing was much more impressive. I really like the main character, Sarah Linden, who is very thoughtful and speaks only when necessary, but doesn't come off as cold, aloof, or bitchy. If they pace it right, the murder investigation could be really compelling and I like watching these stories unfold over multiple episodes so I'm in for now.

( Spoilers for The Good Wife )

Honestly, I think we need another adaptation of Jane Eyre (this will make 22, 23 if you count I Walked With A Zombie, potentially 4 others in languages other than English) like we need another adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (11, potentially 12 if Pride and Prejudice and Zombies goes ahead) - not at all. Next year we'll also be getting our 16th adaptation of Wuthering Heights.

But, but...this new adaptation has Michael Fassbender as Rochester. Want. Badly.

Here's the new trailer.

I don't know yet what to make of Mia Wasikowska as Jane; as the character isn't supposed to be immediately appealing, it's hard to get an impression of her from a quickly cut trailer. I am glad to see that Jane's childhood is a big part of the trailer - hopefully that will be the same for the film.

But Fassy as Rochester has that undercurrent of dangerousness that I think was sorely missing from Toby Stevens' performance in the recent BBC version - he was a bit too hammy. Rochester is meant to be morally ambiguous, potentially a threat. He's never been a character that I've swooned over but he is fascinatingly complex, so yes, I'm looking forward to this.

Just checked out IMDB and the only adaptation of Vilette was in 1970 and you have to go back to 1922 to get an adaptation of Shirley. There has never been an adaptation of The Professor nor of Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey. Sure, none of those novels are as good as Jane Eyre but they're still great stories.

Current Mood: hopeful

Is there anything better than a DVD rip leaking a month before the official release?
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Well, Christmas is pretty good. So is winning the lottery. And getting into grad school (which is what I should have been trying to do instead of making icons).

Still, I was pretty pleased when Inception appeared on the internets last weekend as I've been enjoying the hell out of the fandom. Rewatching the film, the flaws I mentioned previously (characterisation, dialogue: Nolan, get better at these!) are still there but they don't diminish my enjoyment of the film overmuch and hopefully it won't fall apart the more I view it.

The quality of this copy isn't the greatest but it was decent enough for me to waste a couple of hours making icons.

( The fruits of my labour )

Current Mood: thoughtful

I haven't updated in ages for a couple of reasons, chief of which has been uni. I've been so busy lately with school, researching and writing, and I tend to feel guilty about posting to lj if I haven't finished the latest assignment. Fortunately, that hard work has been paying off as my current results stand at three high distinctions and one distinction, which isn't too shabby at all. One of those HDs was for an essay on the relationship between India and China since their independence and my prof said that it was the best essay he'd read in ages.

So yeah, very cool.

Unfortunately, all this hard work has had a deleterious effect on my health and I caught the flu. The worst part has been the headaches which were so bad I spent my 20th birthday (which was Tuesday) in bed. Not cool. Plus, I had an essay due the next day which I hadn't finished so I ended up doing that too. Yuck.

But I'm definitely on the mend now. I finished my last assignment this morning and spent three blissful hours sitting on the couch watching the 1996 BBC mini-series of Anne Bronte's The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

(Which was very good by the way. While there were some diversions from the novel which slightly irked, it did succeed in capturing the spirit of the novel which is better. Helen was just as kickass awesome as she is in the novel, but I didn't immediately warm to the way they wrote Gilbert. They took away his narration of the story which disappointed me, but as Gilbert comes of as very smug in both the novel and series, it might have been a good idea. Anyway, the camera work was a lot less staid than you generally see in period mini-series and I for one was thankful, and the performances were great. It isn't as good as Pride and Prejudice or North and South, but I recommend this one).

Anyway, I have been sort of keeping up with the TV shows because I watch them while eating. That way I use the excuse "Hey, can't eat and type at the same time!" and my conscience is ok with that.

Here are my thoughts on:

( Pushing Daisies )

( Chuck )

( Gossip Girl )

( Dirty Sexy Money )

( Heroes )

( The Office )

I haven't been watching Dexter so far, but I plan to catch up. I've avoided Friday Night Lights but I am going to give the second season a shot, despite my misgivings.

Finally, my icon: great or greatest?

Current Mood: headachey
Current Music: Thornton's walk - Martin Phipps

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Entries tagged with bronte

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Where is all my TV?

Trailer for new Jane Eyre movie

Inception: icons and meta

Shouldn't I be taller?

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November 2020

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