There's this thing we're always saying about changes

[sovay]

I could have done without the first thing I saw on the internet this afternoon being that David Warner has died. There is an outside chance it was really a guest shot on Star Trek or Babylon 5, but I am fairly confident I saw him first in Time After Time (1979), since it is the role with which I most strongly associate him in the same way that my default image of Malcolm McDowell has always been a sweet and bespectacled romantic lead. I never wrote about him, I was always glad to see him, most recently in The Company of Wolves (1984) and Black Death (2010). I should watch something for his memory. I miss my Linux-driven pseudo-TV almost as much as I miss my books these days.

My day started with tree surgery in the next yard over and a phone call from the library earnestly attempting to persuade me to pick up a DVD which I checked out week before last and returned last week and which seems to be persisting as a Kafkaesque ghost in the machine—I had already tried to clarify this situation over the phone—while a book which I actually ordered more than two weeks ago continues not to arrive. I am not sure it rises to the level of irony as opposed to stupidity that the DVD in question belongs to the one movie I have managed to watch so far this month, which I have not managed to write about. I wish I felt that my brain was hibernating as opposed to just stopped.

Aside from capitalism and exhaustion, the major events of the last few days have been installing an air conditioner with rushthatspeaks and reading Greg van Eekhout's California Bones (2014) and Pacific Fire (2015) while waiting for Dragon Coast (2015) to come in. sholio has an attractive introductory write-up of the trilogy. Unsurprisingly, my favorite characters are also the bureaucrat whose moral compass is primarily based on injustice offending his sense of professional ethics and his depersonalized partner in detection who has a much better sense of humor than he does. I would not call any of it so far L.A. noir, but it is excellent fantasy AU heist pulp in an acceptably deadpan style and now there's a dragon in play.

I would really just like to be less tired.

Comments

[minoanmiss]

*breaks my small disc of energy in two and gives you one half*

[sovay]

*breaks my small disc of energy in two and gives you one half*

That's priceless! You need it, too.

*hugs*

[sporky_rat]

My first thought was that finally Evil had gone on to his next world. I first saw him in Time Bandits and I have measured every other role he did by that.

[sovay]

My first thought was that finally Evil had gone on to his next world. I first saw him in Time Bandits and I have measured every other role he did by that.

I was never convinced that David Bowie was not every thirteen hours an owl.

[alexxkay]

I also imprimted on Warner as Evil. Time Bandits is one of my all-time favorite films.

As to David Bowie turning into an owl: I have headcanon that the owl is... not exactly the *true* form, but perhaps the *default* form these things assume in our reality. The owls are liminal beings that attempt to help humans, but have difficulty communicating accurately with them. So these "owls" are the same as "The owls are not what they seem" from Twin Peaks, one of whom manifested as a helpful(-ish) giant.

[radiantfracture]

my default image of Malcolm McDowell has always been a sweet and bespectacled romantic lead.

I think I rather envy you this. My core images of him are all "evil, but with striking hair".

my favorite characters are also the bureaucrat whose moral compass is primarily based on injustice offending his sense of professional ethics and his depersonalized partner in detection who has a much better sense of humor than he does.

Well I'm off to find this.

Oh, and my core David Warner memories are of him as the bad program in Tron, but I feel like I know him also as a middle-aged romantic lead in something that won't come back to me now and perhaps never existed.

I hope you rest better, friend.

[sovay]

I think I rather envy you this. My core images of him are all "evil, but with striking hair".

I mean, that's not an unreasonable image.

Well I'm off to find this.

Enjoy! Good luck! I am informed the series sticks the landing if I haven't gotten there yet!

Oh, and my core David Warner memories are of him as the bad program in Tron, but I feel like I know him also as a middle-aged romantic lead in something that won't come back to me now and perhaps never existed.

Should you recall it to mind or into existence, please let me know.

I hope you rest better, friend.

Thank you.

[yhlee]

*support support*

I offer you foxmoth hugs, if wanted.

(Foxmoth icon by ellenmillion.)

[sovay]

I offer you foxmoth hugs, if wanted.

Much appreciated.

*hugs*

[gwynnega]

I'm fairly certain I first saw Warner in Time After Time, which I must have seen in the theater when it came out. I'm pretty sure I first saw Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, but I must have seen it shortly before Time After Time was released, because I know I first saw A Clockwork Orange in 1979.

[sovay]

I'm fairly certain I first saw Warner in Time After Time, which I must have seen in the theater when it came out.

Nice! I have never seen it in a theater. I would like to.

I'm pretty sure I first saw Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, but I must have seen it shortly before Time After Time was released, because I know I first saw A Clockwork Orange in 1979.

That would be a hell of a close-range double feature.

[boxofdelights]

Kanopy has The Company of Wolves and Morgan - A Suitable Case for Treatment, as well as A Doll's House, Ladies in Lavender, Perfect Friday, and S.O.S. Titanic(1979). I have four Kanopy credits. Do you have any comments on the last four?

[sovay]

I have four Kanopy credits. Do you have any comments on the last four?

I bounced off that version of A Doll's House—partly because I had imprinted on another version and partly because dumping everyone's backstory in a prologue rubbed me the wrong way—but it is well regarded and has a stellar cast. I have seen none of the other three, although Ladies in Lavender has always looked like a fun way to spend an hour and a half with two DBEs and Daniel Brühl's English-language debut. Since I like heist films, I would probably opt for Perfect Friday.

[boxofdelights]

Ladies in Lavender is quite beautiful: beautiful landscape, beautiful faces, beautiful violin music. And it is set on the shore!

I resent that it never wavers from the view that of course a young man could not fall in love with an old woman. I mean, come on, she's Judi fucking Dench! The resentment is somewhat mollified by the existence of another pretty young foreigner for David Warner's character to be attracted to and rejected by, but he gets to keep his shame private: no one notices or comments on it.

[sovay]

Ladies in Lavender is quite beautiful: beautiful landscape, beautiful faces, beautiful violin music. And it is set on the shore!

Good to know! If I had known it had a sea-coast setting, I might have gotten around to seeing it.

I mean, come on, she's Judi fucking Dench!

Your point is incontrovertible. I will keep this caveat in mind if I give it a try.

Thank you for the report back!

[sholio]

I'm so glad you're enjoying the books and hope you get Dragon Coast soon! I'm having a wonderful time talking to you about them! And I am also really hoping your energy will rebound a little. *sends hugs*

[sovay]

I'm so glad you're enjoying the books and hope you get Dragon Coast soon! I'm having a wonderful time talking to you about them! And I am also really hoping your energy will rebound a little.

Thank you on all fronts!

*hugs*

[alexxkay]

Malcolm McDowell played such a sweet character in Time After Time that his co-star Mary Steenburgen married him! And she didn't see A Clockwork Orange until *after* the wedding. I once saw an interview with her where (IIRC) she recounted that, the night after she finally saw it, they were lying in bed when Malcolm quietly said, "Welly-well-well me droogies..." They eventually divorced, but not (I think) due to that :)

[sovay]

I once saw an interview with her where (IIRC) she recounted that, the night after she finally saw it, they were lying in bed when Malcolm quietly said, "Welly-well-well me droogies..." They eventually divorced, but not (I think) due to that

I knew about the marriage and the divorce, but not that story, thank you.

[thisbluespirit]

I am sorry. ♥ *sends hugs*

Also, I am sure I will have linked this before, but if getting to watch things is being harder than it should be, if audio is any use, here are all the BF S&S audios someone uploaded, with David Warner as Steel. If you did want to try one, Dead Man Walking is only 2 parts and has Silver as a bonus: https://all-irregularities.tumblr.com/post/182497156347/mega (The audios are no longer available from BF, because the license was withdrawn, so this is not doing anyone harm.)

[sovay]

here are all the BF S&S audios someone uploaded, with David Warner as Steel. If you did want to try one, Dead Man Walking is only 2 parts and has Silver as a bonus

That's incredibly kind. Thank you.

(I remembered he had done audio S&S, but had for whatever reason not gotten around to hearing any.)

*hugs*

[oracne]

I want to watch "Time After Time" again - I loved that movie so much, the one time I saw it.

David Warner was also Evil in Time Bandits!

[sovay]

I want to watch "Time After Time" again - I loved that movie so much, the one time I saw it.

I suspect there is going to be a run on it at the library, but I may still try my luck.

[moon_custafer]

Aw!

He was also charming as the voice of Supervillain “The Lobe” on Freakazoid, and more recently, as a Soviet scientist and British-New-Wave fan in the Doctor Who episode ‘Cold War.’

[sovay]

a Soviet scientist and British-New-Wave fan in the Doctor Who episode ‘Cold War.’

That sounds delightful.

[moon_custafer]

When he finds out the Doctor and Clara are timetravelers, his only question is whether or not Ultravox break up.

[vass]

No wonder you're tired, with the year you've been having. I hope that conditions improve and your brain can emerge from its bunker.

[sovay]

No wonder you're tired, with the year you've been having. I hope that conditions improve and your brain can emerge from its bunker.

Thank you.

[poliphilo]

Warner was also a great Shakespearian. I saw his Hamlet- which was arguably the definitive Hamlet of the 1960s. His turn as Henry VI in The Wars of the Roses (which the BBC wisely filmed) is a thing of wonder.

[sovay]

Warner was also a great Shakespearian. I saw his Hamlet- which was arguably the definitive Hamlet of the 1960s.

I kept reading that. I'm so glad you had the chance to see him.

His turn as Henry VI in The Wars of the Roses (which the BBC wisely filmed) is a thing of wonder.

I will look for it.

[rydra_wong]

It's on YouTube, although chopped into many small chunks:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL71808247F47E2A6E

[sovay]

It's on YouTube, although chopped into many small chunks

Fortunately for that channel, I have watched many film and TV productions in terrible quality on YouTube. Thank you!

[rydra_wong]

I saw this and thought of you:

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/jul/28/tacita-dean-david-warner-ben-whishaw-stephen-dillane-providence-hummingbirds

[sovay]

I saw this and thought of you

Thank you!

(I would love to see those films.)