delga | Entries tagged with lady coppers.

I was supposed to update this weekend and then somehow that never happened. What the hell?

Friday night I saw Nicholas Farrell and Anna Chancellor at the Harold Pinter Theatre. (Formerly the Comedy Theatre.) They were performing in a double bill that transferred from the Chichester Festival which is apparently the place to go for upcoming theatre; a lot of stuff transferred in the past year. Anyway, the plays were South Downs by David Hare and The Browning Version by Terrence Rattigan. Apparently the Rattigan is normally paired together with another play that no-one likes, so Hare was asked to script an accompaniment. South Downs is a funny piece about a school boy who doesn't fit in with his peers because of his social class, his sharp intellect, and complete lack of charm. In the space of an hour Hare covers social and religious discourse with a very light touch, though ultimately it feels like a commissioned piece. By which I mean: it doesn't really close up properly. Wonderfully staged, though, and Anna Chancellor was incredibly charming as the actress mother of the school boy's acquaintance. Pretty certain I heard Stella Gonet in the voiceover.

The Rattigan was crushing; an absolute blow to the gut. Set on a school master's final day it follows him as he uncovers his wife's infidelity, is denied a pension by the school board, and has to come to terms with the knowledge that for all his ardour for teaching, he is not well-liked and probably will not be missed. Nicholas Farrell was phenomenal. Rattigan is bald-faced with his characters; he doesn't let them delude themselves. The play was almost violence in its matter-of-fact tone. I really enjoyed myself.

Work has slowed down considerably because most of what I've built is sitting with someone else to be signed off. As a result I've been suck writing ops instructions (deathly) and building graphics for Adult Learning tests. Oh god. Stab me; we can confirm I haven't died yet and then put me out of my misery.

I don't have a lot to say on fandom. Enjoyed the heck out of the Scott and Bailey finale, and got knocked out by the Glee performance of F+tM's Shake It Out. Finding myself fairly invested in Game of Thrones; this series is a vast improvement on the last. I loved, loved, loved this week's Mad Men, especially Peggy and Joan's office smoke break and everything that is Sally Draper.

I am really enjoying Bron/Broen (The Bridge) which is both intriguing and entertaining. Kim Bodnia's belly laugh cracks me up. The majority Swedish was throwing me at first - especially because the show descends into Danish now and then - but I'm getting better with the switch up. It's neatly put together and doesn't take itself too seriously as of yet. Good stuff.

I finished Jeffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot on Monday. Hmm. I can't say that I actively enjoyed it, or that I think it ties up well (it really doesn't) but I found it compelling enough that I couldn't put it down. I didn't like the characters at all, but I enjoyed Eugenides' mad romp through critical and religious theory, and he still has a talent for pulling together real people. It doesn't have the heart of Middlesex or that keening wistfulness of The Virgin Suicides. It's a book about graduates and I think, in some way, it's a book for graduates. It's too close for an undergrad, and too far for anyone else. So. There's that.

And now I'm reading the sequel to The Hunger Games which I'm enjoying much more than the first book. I think this is because the outcome feels less certain. Or rather, the route to the outcome seems less obvious this time. I mean, there's a third book and it's YA lit so I doubt we're going to have a Psycho on our hands, but I'm still wondering, shit, what next? Also: I want to know this Johanna Mason character that tumblr keeps sticking Ruth Negga's face on. Yeah.

Ugh, flaked today. Trying not to dwell.

I came home on Friday to find cake on the table, and I was like, Mother, what the hell with this cake? It's not that I am not into cake, it's just that it was majorly unexpected and I was going to make brownies this weekend, but now that's redundant. And The Mother was all, The Dad was going to sell it off, and I told him we could have it! And The Dad said, oh, M will eat it! And I said, but I haven't eaten it and it's already a quarter gone. And The Mother said, The Dad must have eaten it.

Basically we have to give him excuses to enjoy things.

Anyway, ten minutes ago The Dad is all, M, do you want cake? And I'm all, no, thanks, maybe later, and The Dad was all, OH. BUT THE CAKE IS FOR YOU. And I was all, JESUS DAD I'M NOT REJECTING YOUR HUNTER-GATHERER INSTINCTS I'LL EAT THE CAKE LATER.

My house is so full of drama I can't even.

This weekend and last our floor has been undergoing a furniture refit. They're taking out our desks and replacing them with smaller ones, and some of us are moving to new seats, blah, blah, NO WORK GOT DONE YESTERDAY. There was a cake stall and then a network outage and then rain and then we left the office at three and went to the pub. Should have left at three last week, too, but I was building stuff, and it wasn't our side of the floor that was being worked on, so we eventually left at four thirty. By four thirty yesterday I'd already had a drink, some conversation (one very long one about chickens; my Polish lady co-worker is SO LOVELY you guys), and was on a train home. Good times.

Work on the whole has been weird. It was all BE BUSY GET THINGS DONE YESTERDAY PUT OUT THAT FIRE and then suddenly...zzzzzzzzzzzzip. Nothing to do. So I'm getting back to my "background" project: writing Ops instructions. Jesus, what a bore.

Last Friday I stayed back for drinks and then went to see The Ladykillers which was hilarious and fucking delightful. The set was amazing, and the cast had great chemistry. Peter Capaldi was fabulous. I wish it were still on because I would take all of you. SO GOOD.

Pro-tip: don't watch The Deep Blue Sea. It's a brilliant cast, but a) it's depressing as fuck, b) it's filmed in this soft focus which just adds weight to everything, and c) it suffers the exact same problem as Closer: you can tell it's a play. Rattigan is brilliant, as is the play script for The Deep Blue Sea; I'm going to see The Browning Version in a month or so. I have no qualms with him or the play. But it was poorly adapted. I liked the flashbacks as a mode of storytelling because they were especially effective, and the transitions were seamless. But neither Hester nor Freddie are sympathetic, and Mr. Miller is completely minimised in the film. It makes for a much better play than a film.

( The following wall of text is a paragraph of everything I've watched and found lacklustre this past fortnight. Whilst we're here, let's take a moment to comment on the new cut-tag design which, jesus, GO AWAY. )

Scott and Bailey continues to be terrifically entertaining stuff. I've always been partial to Gill, and her scenes this week were especially gratifying. Can't believe there's only two more episodes left. Going to be gutted when it's over.

I'm reading Jeffrey Eugenides' The Marriage Plot which, as I have said to a few people already, is different in tone to his previous works, and as of yet not as compelling, but I haven't been able to put it aside, which is saying something. It's incredibly meta, and feels both true and somewhat uncomfortable (in that I can relate to the general experience of the lit student, if not the specific). Looking forward to seeing where it leads me.

And then I forgot to complete my post before hitting save.

planning the revolution

(crying about it)

Entries tagged with lady coppers.

{ this subject was going to be a lyric but HOLY SHIT THERE ARE BATS OUTSIDE. }

{ I read a poem that was so good but I can't find it and now I'm worried that it was a dream. }

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