I didn't know I could do this, but I fixed my blog so now
regardless of race, creed, gender or whether they have Blogger or not. Even old people can do it! All you have to do is click "anonymous" and you can sign your name at the bottom if you wish, unless your name is Anonymous, in which case you're taken care of.
Don't hesitate to leave me your comments! Love me like a CPR dummy! (sorry that's gross, don't comment about that)
Things my 98-year-old grandpa has bought in the last year:
- A tooth-whitening kit after seeing it work for my aunt. My grandpa has approximately half of his teeth left. He signed on for $90-per-month deliveries of this stuff and promptly forgot he ordered it.
- A home electrolysis kit to stop hair from growing on your face. He told my grandma that he had been shaving for too many years and he was tired of it. Apparently it only partially worked and now hair just grows in patches. My aunt had to talk him into shaving again because he looked crazy.
My DVDs of these BBC/Masterpiece Theater still haven't come. They've been caught up in customs and I may not get them for months. Fortunately, Cranford is on youtube in it's entirety. Unfortunately, I've discovered this a little late for my class tomorrow morning. I'm soaking up as much as I can, but it's 5 hours in total and it's already midnight, so... Whatever happens, I'm definitely not catching up with True Blood tonight.
The nice thing is that Cranford is actually pretty good (if you have five hours to kill I recommend it). After watching the execrable adaptation of Jane Eyre and enough of the adaptation of Great Expectations to know that it's execrable this is a pleasant surprise (for free!). And Dame Judi Dench is in effect, rocking a bonnet like it's 1846.
The best part about it is that it's actually true to the tone of it's source material - a Victorian novel about change in a small town - and actually improves on the scant story of the book by fleshing it out. Of course, improving on Bronte and Dickens is pretty tough, while improving on Gaskill is not so daunting - her writing is looser than the former and the loss of her authorial voice doesn't hobble the story like it does the others.
The other adaptations really labored under the duel purposes of staying true to their classic source material - knowing that straying too far would anger purists - and trying to make their adaptations stand out as new, culturally relevent adaptations standing out among the dozens of others; the fact that the books are so well-known and loved is a complete burdon on them. This leads them to wobble about, drolly hitting the expected notes, yet with an irritating attitude and need to prove that they're "not your father's Great Expectations/Jane Eyre." It reminds me of the less gifted son of a brilliant father trying to prove himself in his shadow - clinging to it sometimes and distancing from it at others (call it Sean Lennon Syndrome). The dirty-sexification of Victorian novels with the aim of filling pocketbooks - or worse, with the idea that because Charlotte Bronte couldn't write frankly about sex she really intended to and that by imposing it her true aim is fulfilled - it just makes dull, bad movies.
Except, of course, Alfonso Cuaron's Great Expectations starring Ethan Hawke, Gwenyth Paltrow and Robert De Niro. Get this: Pip's name is now Finnian Bell and Mrs. Havisham's is Mrs. Dinsmoor; Pip's not a lawyer he's a famous painter and Joe's not a blacksmith he's a shrimp fisherman! - how can you say this is not an improvement? It's so dirty-sexy!
Anyways, to sum up,Cranford the book is charming and Cranford the mini-series is pretty good and my grandpa's funny.
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4 comments:
what did we call it?? the "murder she wrote" of victorian novels??
Sometimes you post things and I have what I can only describe as a sensory overload and in thinking of all the great ways I could respond my brain short circuits and all I can come up with is a fart joke. Or a run on sentence, apparently. But I have two other discussion points for you, though not necessarily for your blog:
1. Scott Weiland's solo album ("Scott Weiland remembered where he was long enough to put together a solo album")
2. TV on the Radio's cover of "Walking the Cow"
hello my name is carmichael and i live in japan and i love your funny blog.
PSYCHE!
its just me. christina. I don't think you should have given non bloggers all this power. we will only abuse it.
It would have been terrible if your story about your grandpa had ended with him making your grandma use the teeth whitener since she can't see him but he can see her. I feel bad just saying it. I wish i could take it back but thats impossible.
Carmichael - That would be terrible, though my grandma's pretty easygoing so I doubt she'd mind too much.
Rachel - I know, this post is a bit much. I actually had Scott Weiland's solo album. He recorded it while detoxing from heroin (again) and it's really strange/abrasive/weirdbad. There's a love song to Barbarella on it...
And I've heard the TV on the Radio cover! I've been wanting to get the Daniel Johnston cover CD for a while. They really make it their own, don't they?
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