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If I press button A, all my pennies will go
I just had my first opportunity to shower in four nights, even without washing my hair, so I just had the same opportunity to free-associate in the shower.
I have no explanation for why I was singing the blessedly abridged setting of Kipling's "The Ladies" (1896) that I learned from the singing of John Clements in Ships with Wings (1941) except that it's been in my head ever since it displaced Cordelia's Dad's "Delia" (1992).
As a person who does think all the time about the Roman Empire, I am incapable of not associating Rosemary Sutcliff's "The Girl I Kissed at Clusium" (1954) with Sydney Carter's "Take Me Back to Byker" (1963)—as performed by Donald Swann, the only way I have ever heard it—even though Sutcliff was obviously drawing on Kipling's "On the Great Wall" (1906) with her long march and songs that run in and out of fashion with the Legions and the common ancestor of all of them anyway is almost certainly "The Girl I Left Behind Me" (17th-whatever).
Somehow I remain less over the fact that Donald Swann was the first person to record Carter's "Lord of the Dance" (1964) than the fact that he did a song cycle of Middle-Earth (1967) and an opera of Perelandra (1964).
Oh, shoot, Swann would have made a great Campion. You register the horn-rims and immediately tune out the face behind them.
Ignoring the appealingly transitive properties of Wimsey, Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter, I am not going to rewatch the episode of Granada Holmes starring Clive Francis, I am going to lie down before someone wakes me.
I have no explanation for why I was singing the blessedly abridged setting of Kipling's "The Ladies" (1896) that I learned from the singing of John Clements in Ships with Wings (1941) except that it's been in my head ever since it displaced Cordelia's Dad's "Delia" (1992).
As a person who does think all the time about the Roman Empire, I am incapable of not associating Rosemary Sutcliff's "The Girl I Kissed at Clusium" (1954) with Sydney Carter's "Take Me Back to Byker" (1963)—as performed by Donald Swann, the only way I have ever heard it—even though Sutcliff was obviously drawing on Kipling's "On the Great Wall" (1906) with her long march and songs that run in and out of fashion with the Legions and the common ancestor of all of them anyway is almost certainly "The Girl I Left Behind Me" (17th-whatever).
Somehow I remain less over the fact that Donald Swann was the first person to record Carter's "Lord of the Dance" (1964) than the fact that he did a song cycle of Middle-Earth (1967) and an opera of Perelandra (1964).
Oh, shoot, Swann would have made a great Campion. You register the horn-rims and immediately tune out the face behind them.
Ignoring the appealingly transitive properties of Wimsey, Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter, I am not going to rewatch the episode of Granada Holmes starring Clive Francis, I am going to lie down before someone wakes me.
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As a person who does think all the time about the Roman Empire... --LOL, I love that you can honestly start a sentence like this. Take that, internet bros.
I love Swann's Middle Earth song cycle. I remember borrowing the LP from the library as a kid.
V. glad you're home. Now to read your Robert Redford tribute Patreon movie review.
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I love that line. And I love how the song just bounces along. I'm pretty sure I picked it up after hearing it name-checked in Lal Waterson's "Some Old Salty" (1996).
I love Swann's Middle Earth song cycle. I remember borrowing the LP from the library as a kid.
That's wonderful. I never heard it till adulthood.
V. glad you're home. Now to read your Robert Redford tribute Patreon movie review.
(I am afraid I have not yet made it home and may not for another day or so, but please enjoy the review regardless!)
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I congratulate you on accomplishing the shower and the film review while still hospitalized, then! (I intend to watch the movie when I get a chance. It sounds VERY fun.)
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Huzzah that it got you singing and set your mind free to wander.
And yes, Swann would have been fabulous as Campion. Mild manners and a wickedly fantastical imagination.
Nine
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Btw, I had to go tire myself out having a Chinese takeaway with my cat-owning friend today so was not up to doing anything much after, sorry about all this inconveniently timed dissipation my end of the 'net, BUT in low level things, finally got my DVD of A Piece of Cake to work on the PC at last. Will see about giving you pictorial evidence of Nathaniel Parker and Jeremy Northam as the designated Pretty Ones of the squadron tomorrow, but made a start on one JN scene in gif form (attempting the bit where he nearly can't cope with talking about sex to Helena Michell while cycling but idk if it will work out tho):
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Thank you! It was pretty classy.
Will see about giving you pictorial evidence of Nathaniel Parker and Jeremy Northam as the designated Pretty Ones of the squadron tomorrow, but made a start on one JN scene in gif form (attempting the bit where he nearly can't cope with talking about sex to Helena Michell while cycling but idk if it will work out tho)
I accept it as a diversion! (He looks like he's not coping all that well with the cycling either.) I hope it was a nice Chinese takeaway.
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Thank you! It was way better than strip-washing at the sink with paper towels.
And yes, Swann would have been fabulous as Campion. Mild manners and a wickedly fantastical imagination.
Exactly! He only looks like he thinks it's about cake.
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Fools Flanders every time.
Nine
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Swann himself recorded "Bilbo's Last Song" in 1993.
(I couldn't find his recording on YouTube, but in the process I found one by someone I went to college with.)
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I am reminded of my reaction to the BBC radio adaptation of Lord of the Rings. While much of it was excellent, I *really* thought that the songs of the Rohirrim should sound less like opera.
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Counterpoint, I actually find myself singing Stephen Oliver's "In Western Lands."
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Thank you! Condolences and congratulations on your own delayed shower situation!
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The takeaway was enough that we will both be eating it today as well, and yes, very nice! Antonio the cat deigned to speak to me too, which he doesn't always once his proper human is back.
I accept it as a diversion! (He looks like he's not coping all that well with the cycling either.)
He was coping fine until people starting casually propositioning him and he had to say the word sex out loud!
As promised, some pics that actually contain some Nathaniel Parker as Flash, the other designated Pretty One:
Bonus Helena Michell (Keith's daughter) as Mary, who is quite happy to romanced, and much better at it than Fitz.
More Nathaniel Parker - Fitz tries to ask Flash if he got some of this awkward wanting to have sex thing happen, and Flash is just, yup, me and my schoolteacher, at it like rabbits, how about you?
Live Fitz reaction. (He has to go to Richard Hope for advice about it an episode later instead).
Slightly better giffage achieved this morning, although I suspect if I want to do a set for tumblr, I'll need the dialogue and that's a faddle, but at least now I can, so yay probably:
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Oh, most excellent cat. What kind of cat is he?
He was coping fine until people starting casually propositioning him and he had to say the word sex out loud!
I really enjoy how much of Jeremy Northam's early career seems to have been "very pretty" and "confusedly pursued."
As promised, some pics that actually contain some Nathaniel Parker as Flash, the other designated Pretty One
I've never seen him that young without Wilfred Owen's mustache!
Bonus Helena Michell (Keith's daughter) as Mary, who is quite happy to romanced, and much better at it than Fitz.
I just saw her and her father in The Deceivers (1988)! They were playing father and daughter, actually.
More Nathaniel Parker - Fitz tries to ask Flash if he got some of this awkward wanting to have sex thing happen, and Flash is just, yup, me and my schoolteacher, at it like rabbits, how about you?
Live Fitz reaction. (He has to go to Richard Hope for advice about it an episode later instead).
That pair of faces says a lot.
Slightly better giffage achieved this morning, although I suspect if I want to do a set for tumblr, I'll need the dialogue and that's a faddle, but at least now I can, so yay probably
Definitely yay! I am glad you have DVDs to do things with.
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A very handsome black and white cat. He was originally from a shelter, so he does get a bit stressed even these days when his human moves towns or goes away places.
I really enjoy how much of Jeremy Northam's early career seems to have been "very pretty" and "confusedly pursued."
Watching my way through his early/mid 90s stuff in particular was like constant whiplash, because he's mainly characters who wear 3 whole layers of starch & would faint off a bike at the idea of sex, and then a bunch of alpha arseholes who laze about wearing almost nothing & expecting everyone to ravish them and causing trouble if they don't.
I just saw her and her father in The Deceivers (1988)! They were playing father and daughter, actually.
Oh, how funny! And, oh, I have an interview with her from a previous BNA sub, talking about A Piece of Cake and she mentioned having been filming in India and spending her fee on beautiful carpets and things, and presumably that must have been what she was doing.
ETA: Yes, I did remember right, although, heh, the article didn't say it was with her Dad!
Definitely yay! I am glad you have DVDs to do things with.
I've had it a while, but my PC wouldn't believe it was real until recently. :-D
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I am glad he trusts you to take care of him.
Watching my way through his early/mid 90s stuff in particular was like constant whiplash, because he's mainly characters who wear 3 whole layers of starch & would faint off a bike at the idea of sex, and then a bunch of alpha arseholes who laze about wearing almost nothing & expecting everyone to ravish them and causing trouble if they don't.
I am picturing an entire era of telly powered by the matter–antimatter reactions of Jeremy Northam.
And, oh, I have an interview with her from a previous BNA sub, talking about A Piece of Cake and she mentioned having been filming in India and spending her fee on beautiful carpets and things, and presumably that must have been what she was doing.
It would have to be! The Deceivers had filmed on location the previous year. Ismail Merchant wrote a memoir of its production, Hullaballoo in Old Jeypore (1989), which I took home from a now-deceased used book store at least a decade before I finally saw the movie:
"By choosing Helena for the part of Sarah, Nick also indirectly solved another casting problem. In the film Savage's superior, Wilson, is also Sarah's father, and Nick thought it would be a great idea to get Helena's real father, Keith Michell, to play Sarah's father in the film. Father and daughter had a wonderful time working together, and Keith joked that he was delighted his daughter was now getting him work. They were both in India for the first time and went exploring whenever they could. On one occasion they took a rickshaw ride and the driver assumed that Helena was Keith's young mistress—and would not believe Keith's protestations that Helena was actually his daughter!
"When we first approached Keith with the part of Wilson he had a previous commitment to play the role of the painter Augustus John at the Savoy Theatre in London's West End. The play was to have a limited twelve-week run, but after that he would be available and was happy to take the role. At that time our schedule was such that Keith wouldn't be needed until halfway through the shooting, which coincided with the end of his play, so he was offered a contract. I was hesitant about finalizing the deal until after our recce in India, when we could confirm the schedule, which was still uncertain, but Nick insisted on settling the contract before the recce. Originally both Ken and I wanted to shoot the tiger hunt in Khajuraho, but there were difficulties about the availability of elephants and we had to shoot that scene in Jaipur, though that was a mistake from the point of view of location and both Ken and I were unhappy about it. Worse than that, however, was that by shooting the tiger hunt in Jaipur we would need Keith earlier than we had anticipated. We asked the producers of his play if they would be prepared to release him, but they were not at all keen. We had a firm contract with Keith which we would have to fulfil: according to Jean Diamond, Keith's London agent, the change of schedule was our problem and not Keith's. In the event, however, Keith's play closed before its full run, as it had not done as well as expected, and Keith just managed to get to India before the tiger hunt."
ETA: Yes, I did remember right, although, heh, the article didn't say it was with her Dad!
Blatant Keith Michell erasure!
I've had it a while, but my PC wouldn't believe it was real until recently.
Well, good for it for getting with the program!
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