Sitting in the dark, baby, it's an art
Earlier this evening ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spatch informed me of the tradition of drinking a health to Tolkien on his birthday, so we toasted the Professor with elderflower tonic water, which seemed like something that hobbits will like when they get around to inventing cocktail culture.
Autolycus remains a beautiful cat, stronger than his failing body. He purrs so loudly that he can be heard over the phone even when he's not specifically on the call. I woke this morning to find him lying in my arms like a kitten nestled into a mama cat. Things mostly are cat hospice around here. As long as he wants it, we are supporting him. In the meantime we reassure Hestia of how loved she is even as everyone's schedules go to hell.
I understand that the film version of Russell Hoban's Turtle Diary (1975) is highly regarded and it does have a terrific cast, but when one of the novel's protagonists is described by the other as a "tall hopeless-looking man with an attentive face and an air of fragile precision like a folding rule made of ivory," I can't help wishing it had been filmed in a year when Bill Nighy would have been a shoo-in for the part.
I am having a lot of trouble acclimating to the year.
spatch informed me of the tradition of drinking a health to Tolkien on his birthday, so we toasted the Professor with elderflower tonic water, which seemed like something that hobbits will like when they get around to inventing cocktail culture.Autolycus remains a beautiful cat, stronger than his failing body. He purrs so loudly that he can be heard over the phone even when he's not specifically on the call. I woke this morning to find him lying in my arms like a kitten nestled into a mama cat. Things mostly are cat hospice around here. As long as he wants it, we are supporting him. In the meantime we reassure Hestia of how loved she is even as everyone's schedules go to hell.
I understand that the film version of Russell Hoban's Turtle Diary (1975) is highly regarded and it does have a terrific cast, but when one of the novel's protagonists is described by the other as a "tall hopeless-looking man with an attentive face and an air of fragile precision like a folding rule made of ivory," I can't help wishing it had been filmed in a year when Bill Nighy would have been a shoo-in for the part.
I am having a lot of trouble acclimating to the year.
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He is still purring, still enjoying goat's milk, still seeking out people, still interested in human food. He is physically much, much more fragile than he was even on New Year's Day. However much time he has left, we are trying to make it good for him.
I had to go look it up, and although I don't know which character is the one you would have had be Bill Nighy, you're right, that really is a particularly awesome cast nevertheless.
William, who in 1985 was played by Ben Kingsley, who is probably great, it's just that I read that description without even knowing there was a film and Bill Nighy immediately cast himself.
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<3<3<3 Of course.
William, who in 1985 was played by Ben Kingsley, who is probably great, it's just that I read that description without even knowing there was a film and Bill Nighy immediately cast himself.
*nods* Well, he would. Ben Kingsley does not automatically meet that description in the same way, but also, being Ben Kingsley, probably will also be great nevertheless.
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"Frances" Russell Hoban? My goodness.
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I'm glad to hear it! I would expect Glenda Jackson to be, too.
What I remember about the performances in general (saw it big screen when it came out) is subtlety in the face of some odd circumstances.
The book is like that. The premise sounds as though it should be broad and quirky; the execution is slant and sweet and a little but not tragically sad. I loved its language and its voices. It isn't timed at all the way it feels it should be, either.
"Frances" Russell Hoban? My goodness.
The introduction to the NYRB reprint which
Emmet Otter
https://youtu.be/nZqYHS4uzWE?si=J_OPDgPYRuFwXgDL
Re: Emmet Otter
The source picture book was written and illustrated by Russell and Lillian Hoban and that's the part that blows my mind!
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-- I mean, just, why. And is it me or does nearly every critic seem to miss that William and Neara want to free the turtles because they are trapped? The first line of the book is "I don't want to go to the zoo anymore," and yes human loneliness, yes thwarted almost-romance, but there's a whole lot about nature and humanity despoiling it and suicidal depression. "Aww, it's like Eleanor Rigby." Well not quite.
Anyway.