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Le weekend
Nov. 9th, 2009 09:51 amAnother quiet weekend. Yesterday the weather was nice enough that I got out in the yard and raked leaves and transplanted some daisies. (A fitting coda to Experiment Perilous, which begins and ends in a field of daisies.) Once again it felt good to do something physical. There was a recent study that argued that getting dirt on your skin is actually good for your mental health, although I don't remember why. Anyway, it works for me, so there's your proof.
I'm reading Hope Mirrlees 1926 fantasy novel, Lud-in-the-Mist. It appears to be an answer to the question I had after my first reading of Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter back in the '90s: What are the other great novels about Elfland? Although it's called Fairyland in Mirrlees' novel, and we haven't actually entered the perilous realm directly yet. But the town of Lud-in-the-Mist is set on the border, and a river from Fairyland runs through it. The mercantile townfolk are trying to suppress the cross-border influence. Wonderfully eccentric and vivid, full of characters with names like Moonlove Honeysuckle. Reminiscent of Mervyn Peake as well as Dunsany.
I watched a 1980 BBC production of The Tempest, thanks to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ron_drummond. The actors were much more comfortable with the language than those I saw last Wednesday, which made what they said more comprehensible. Prospero was not such an imperious jerk in this version, and Ariel was feyer and less important. Miranda and Ferdinand were more vivid, Caliban less so. I'm not sure what I took away from this production. It seemed less fantastical than the UW's current version. It felt less eventful, yet precisely detailed. I think I actually preferred the UW production, despite the fact that the acting wasn't as good.
I didn't get to watch the UO football game on Saturday, which ended up being a good thing as they crashed back to earth, losing to Stanford 51-42. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted, and they're still in pretty good shape.
I'm reading Hope Mirrlees 1926 fantasy novel, Lud-in-the-Mist. It appears to be an answer to the question I had after my first reading of Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter back in the '90s: What are the other great novels about Elfland? Although it's called Fairyland in Mirrlees' novel, and we haven't actually entered the perilous realm directly yet. But the town of Lud-in-the-Mist is set on the border, and a river from Fairyland runs through it. The mercantile townfolk are trying to suppress the cross-border influence. Wonderfully eccentric and vivid, full of characters with names like Moonlove Honeysuckle. Reminiscent of Mervyn Peake as well as Dunsany.
I watched a 1980 BBC production of The Tempest, thanks to
ron_drummond. The actors were much more comfortable with the language than those I saw last Wednesday, which made what they said more comprehensible. Prospero was not such an imperious jerk in this version, and Ariel was feyer and less important. Miranda and Ferdinand were more vivid, Caliban less so. I'm not sure what I took away from this production. It seemed less fantastical than the UW's current version. It felt less eventful, yet precisely detailed. I think I actually preferred the UW production, despite the fact that the acting wasn't as good.I didn't get to watch the UO football game on Saturday, which ended up being a good thing as they crashed back to earth, losing to Stanford 51-42. Ah well, it was fun while it lasted, and they're still in pretty good shape.
