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Dorothy Dunnette, X-Men, and a movie...
Jul. 3rd, 2004 10:20 pmFinished the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett today. The last book in the series, Checkmate may be my favorite and the tightest. Dunnett is a difficult read. To get through her books you have to be able to ignore certain things or know the classical languages. She inserts lots of French, Russian, Turkish, Spainish, Latin, Gaelic, and Greek verse in her books - understanding the verse is not crucial to understanding the plot or characters but it can be distracting.
The characters are worth the effort, well-drawn, complicated, multi-faceted. She never repeats characterization. She evolves pretty much every one over a series of six books that take place in a ten year period. The history is also fascinating and detailed - it chronicles the period of time between Henry the VII's death and Queen Elizabeth's succession to the throne.
Fascinating period.
( slight spoilers for Checkmate )
( Astonishing X-Men )
In other news, watched the movie Songcatcher on IFC
channel tonight. What I adore about IFC is no commercial interruptions. Fascinating film. It's about a musciologist or music folklorist who goes to the Applachian Mountains to record folksongs. They reproduce all the songs. In fact over half the movie is people singing these songs to each other.
There's an amazing scene where several different characters sing different stanza's of the folk song "Conversations with Death". We also get two versions of Barbara Allen. The plot of the movie is a bit haphazard and rambling. But the music is amazing. Particularly if you like old English ballads and have a background in folklore. It takes place in the early 1900s.
Deals with themes of homosexuality, displacement, the struggle between people wanting to buy up the mountain property and develop it and those who want things to remain the same. And at the center of it all is music. Not exactly a musical in the traditional sense of the word, but it does come close at times.
Speaking of music, also heard a CD of Common Rotation today, courtesy of pumpkinpuss. Yep, without a question, much better than GiTR. Nice blend of voices.
PS: regarding the Neil Young Tribute last weekend, I did enjoy bits and pieces of it quite a bit. Iron and Wine - with Kay Scrapetta on the cello, was quite good. As were pieces done by Cat Power and Jane Siberry. I also enjoyed a song performed by someone in a black dress, and glasses called Someday You'll Find Everything Your Looking For (at least I think that was the title).
The characters are worth the effort, well-drawn, complicated, multi-faceted. She never repeats characterization. She evolves pretty much every one over a series of six books that take place in a ten year period. The history is also fascinating and detailed - it chronicles the period of time between Henry the VII's death and Queen Elizabeth's succession to the throne.
Fascinating period.
( slight spoilers for Checkmate )
( Astonishing X-Men )
In other news, watched the movie Songcatcher on IFC
channel tonight. What I adore about IFC is no commercial interruptions. Fascinating film. It's about a musciologist or music folklorist who goes to the Applachian Mountains to record folksongs. They reproduce all the songs. In fact over half the movie is people singing these songs to each other.
There's an amazing scene where several different characters sing different stanza's of the folk song "Conversations with Death". We also get two versions of Barbara Allen. The plot of the movie is a bit haphazard and rambling. But the music is amazing. Particularly if you like old English ballads and have a background in folklore. It takes place in the early 1900s.
Deals with themes of homosexuality, displacement, the struggle between people wanting to buy up the mountain property and develop it and those who want things to remain the same. And at the center of it all is music. Not exactly a musical in the traditional sense of the word, but it does come close at times.
Speaking of music, also heard a CD of Common Rotation today, courtesy of pumpkinpuss. Yep, without a question, much better than GiTR. Nice blend of voices.
PS: regarding the Neil Young Tribute last weekend, I did enjoy bits and pieces of it quite a bit. Iron and Wine - with Kay Scrapetta on the cello, was quite good. As were pieces done by Cat Power and Jane Siberry. I also enjoyed a song performed by someone in a black dress, and glasses called Someday You'll Find Everything Your Looking For (at least I think that was the title).
