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Apr. 21st, 2019 06:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Goblin Emperor and A Natural History of Dragons are on sale for $1.99 at Amazon.
Why should I be the only one who needs a chaperon while buying books?
2. Television
In the Dark -- is interesting. It's the new CW series by Ben Stiller about a 20 something, snarky blind gal, who is investigating the death and disappearance of her best friend, Tyson. A 17 year old drug dealer. Sort of femme noire with a twist.
Very dark and snarky.
I like the main character quite a bit, which surprised me.
Fosse/Verdon -- this focuses more on the relationship, specifically the spousal relationship between Fosse/Verdon than their corroboration. But it does still focus heavily enough on the later to make the series highly entertaining and insightful. Also it's rather innovative in how they are telling the story -- which is in a series of out of sequence flash-backs. We see them now, then flashback to the event that led them here, and finally to how they met. The now in this instance -- is their breakup during Cabaret. (Suffice to say, Bob Fosse was his own worst enemy, most of us are.)
The musical numbers and banter between the two corrobators, along with the performances -- Rockwell and Williams have never been better and are sort of doing an interesting tango throughout. The series emphasizes what it is to be a dancer, a professional dancer, and the pain involved -- and how hard it is to perform in an industry that is constantly evaluating you.
A Discovery of Witches -- somewhat hokey in places (but that's in keeping with the genre, unfortunately) -- yet it is saved by the understated performances.
Not to mention understated production. I rather like the casting, and the story is different than most of these things -- in that it's not clear who the bad guys are, if any. Also there's a clear metaphor about how if we aren't careful we can destroy our own magical way of life.
Why should I be the only one who needs a chaperon while buying books?
2. Television
In the Dark -- is interesting. It's the new CW series by Ben Stiller about a 20 something, snarky blind gal, who is investigating the death and disappearance of her best friend, Tyson. A 17 year old drug dealer. Sort of femme noire with a twist.
Very dark and snarky.
I like the main character quite a bit, which surprised me.
Fosse/Verdon -- this focuses more on the relationship, specifically the spousal relationship between Fosse/Verdon than their corroboration. But it does still focus heavily enough on the later to make the series highly entertaining and insightful. Also it's rather innovative in how they are telling the story -- which is in a series of out of sequence flash-backs. We see them now, then flashback to the event that led them here, and finally to how they met. The now in this instance -- is their breakup during Cabaret. (Suffice to say, Bob Fosse was his own worst enemy, most of us are.)
The musical numbers and banter between the two corrobators, along with the performances -- Rockwell and Williams have never been better and are sort of doing an interesting tango throughout. The series emphasizes what it is to be a dancer, a professional dancer, and the pain involved -- and how hard it is to perform in an industry that is constantly evaluating you.
A Discovery of Witches -- somewhat hokey in places (but that's in keeping with the genre, unfortunately) -- yet it is saved by the understated performances.
Not to mention understated production. I rather like the casting, and the story is different than most of these things -- in that it's not clear who the bad guys are, if any. Also there's a clear metaphor about how if we aren't careful we can destroy our own magical way of life.
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Date: 2019-04-21 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-21 10:36 pm (UTC)Curious to see where they go with it. It's so unlike everything else on at the moment.
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Date: 2019-04-22 10:22 am (UTC)I think the choices for the leads was excellent but I'm having trouble with Marcus. Mainly because book Marcus is blond American with a fondness for high top sneakers and t-shirts and tv Marcus is none of the above. And also Miriam should be Linda Hunt tall.
But Knox, Gerbert, Dominico, Juliet etc were good choices.
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Date: 2019-04-22 01:41 pm (UTC)Yep - as I told co-worker (who hates the casting for Matthew) -- it helps when you haven't read the books. Seeing an adaptation of a book you read is always going to be problematic. (Well, except for situations like Game of Thrones, where I actually prefer the television version, after reading the books. But a lot of book readers don't agree with me.)
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Date: 2019-04-22 04:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-22 07:05 pm (UTC)As he wades into fresher, darker territory on Cabaret, Rockwell's Fosse seems distracted and lost at times. So he does what he always does--leans on a woman to give him a boost of self-esteem. (Ironically, the woman he sleeps with in Germany is literally a translator.)
But it's not enough. He needs Verdon's talent, her rapport with dancers, her vision of the project that nearly matches his own. So he brings her over, and she immediately straightens out the production; professionally, they are magic together--and then, he betrays her personally, the same way he betrayed his first two wives.
This is what fascinates me about F/V: the particular combination of factors that turn radical ideas into great art. Verdon seems to realize that Fosse's concept of dance gives her the greatest opportunity to express herself as an artist--but she pays a horrible price for it, exposing herself to his insecurities and his selfishness.
I don't want to watch the Gwen Verdon Misery Parade for ten episodes, though. I want to see her dance! Bring on the jazz hands!
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Date: 2019-04-22 10:25 pm (UTC)Although Fosse's not the only one at fault here...I liked how her friend (Neil Simon's wife) informs her that part of Gwen's problem with Fosse, is they are always competing with each other for center stage. From the moment they met they were competing and auditioning each other. They might as well have done their dance routine to the song..."I can do it better than you can.." (can't remember the name of the song, just that it goes ...I can do it better than you, no you can't, yes I can..).
When they work together they are phenomenal. But Fosse wanted to be the "star". So he doesn't cast Gwen in Cabaret (although it's unclear if he had a choice, I think he did because the producer wanted them both), and he is reluctant to bring her on board -- until he's close to getting fired and has no choice. Then when she does come on board, she immediately sees how to fix everything -- but he's sleeping with the translator (who isn't in competition with him and strokes his ego). He's not really in love with the translator -- just in love with being the center of the translator's world. It's notable that he's done it before. On Sweet Charity -- Gwen fires the dancer he's been sleeping with. And she's warned by Joan McCracken that that's who he is -- he wants her to make him into a star, and sit back and applaud, be the star's wife. And Gwen Verdon can't do that.
But it's also the world they are in -- which weirdly pits them against each other. And doesn't award the choreography so much as the dancer or front man. Fred Astair was the "star" not his choreographer. (Although I think he may have done some of his own choreography.) The problem Bob has, is unlike Gwen, he never is allowed to go on stage to get the applause, to be the entertainer. He wanted to cast himself in "Damn Yankees" but the producers refused. Gwen was offered the part before he arrived. He'd have loved to play the MC in Cabaret, but they'd never let him. This is a man who was a dancer -- and loved to perform on stage, relegated to the sidelines as a choreographer. He resents Gwen, in part, because she does both.
Ironically what draws them together, and makes them great together, is also what splits them apart and makes them miserable -- that passion to create, to entertain, to be the star. And it's in a fickle business, where you are only as good as your current project.
I don't want to watch the Gwen Verdon Misery Parade for ten episodes, though. I want to see her dance! Bring on the jazz hands!
I think it's just eight? But doesn't matter -- I agree, I want more dancing from them both and a lot less on the "misery parade" or 8 Scenes From a Marriage.
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Date: 2019-04-22 10:32 pm (UTC)I am enjoying it though.
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Date: 2019-04-23 03:30 pm (UTC)