Into the light and out of the dark, to be with his red-haired lady

[sovay]

1. I am pleased to see that there is now an award named after the childhood author I had to keep describing to people, because rushthatspeaks is the only other person I've met who's read her. Apparently I was just in the wrong country. Maybe now I'll be able to find a copy of Devil on My Back (1984).

2. I am sad that my first week as a thirty-year-old has been mixed at best and all my plans for this weekend have disintegrated. Fortunately, I will be able to console myself on Sunday with Case Histories—Peter Pan (2003) reminded me that I do not have enough Jason Isaacs in my life. I was also reminded by Dreamchild (1984) that I've never written about that film, but it won't be happening this afternoon.

3. Have an interview with Tilda Swinton.

I'll be proofreading.

Comments

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Ah, it would seem you've encountered the 'famous in Canada' problem. I have that one a lot, usually when I invoke some cultural touchstone of my childhood and people look at my blankly.

[sovay]

I have that one a lot, usually when I invoke some cultural touchstone of my childhood and people look at my blankly.

Just out of curiosity, like whom?

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Robert Munsch is a chief example of this phenomenon, Gordon Korman also falls into this category, though both of them have had relatively substantial crossover since.

Other examples, say from television include Megan Follows and just about anyone who's renowned from the Stratford Festival, which is also world famous in Canada.

[sovay]

Robert Munsch is a chief example of this phenomenon, Gordon Korman also falls into this category

This is firing off all sorts of long-dormant connections in my brain. I didn't recognize either of their names, but I have distinct memories of The Paper Bag Princess and the Macdonald Hall books. And the one lampshading the entire genre of children's books where somebody's dog dies. Whoa.

Other examples, say from television include Megan Follows and just about anyone who's renowned from the Stratford Festival, which is also world famous in Canada.

Heh. I don't really think I can count the Stratford Festival, because mostly I looked everyone up after discovering Slings & Arrows in 2009 (and imprinting on Stephen Ouimette, who now confuses me slightly whenever he doesn't have a British accent), but I can say the first version of The Mikado I ever saw was the taped production from 1982, Richard McMillan as Pooh-Bah.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

but I can say the first version of The Mikado I ever saw was the taped production from 1982, Richard McMillan as Pooh-Bah.

That was my very first formal exposure to G&S! I saw it on television with my parents when I was seven. Probably CBC or TV Ontario.

I went to Stratford to see Romeo and Juliette when I was nine or so, with my mother, and back again to see A Midsummer Night's Dream when I was twelve, which left me more theaterstruck and spellbound than I already was (which was some feat, given that I had grown up reading and rereading Ballet Shoes and wanting to be Pauline. I thus adore Slings and Arrows and have been showing it to various people over time.

I love the Macdonald Hall books, particularly Go Jump In the Pool and The War With Mr. Wizzle. I also imprinted heavily on Our Man Westing, No Coins Please, Don't Care High, Son of Interflux and A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag, to say nothing of the Bugs Potter duology. :)

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

I went to school with Megan Follows. My Mom know her Mom, Dawn Greenhalgh.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

That's funny! I know her primarily from the television productions of Anne of Green Gables, though I did read an interview with her in TV Guide ages ago at the height of her early fame, where she talked about being on a nude beach in France and being approached by a fan who thought that she and the actress who played Diana were 'the sex goddesses of Green Gables'. That she was utterly naked at the time did not help the tone of this encounter, though she did play it for laughs in the interview, which gave me a favorable impression of her sense of humor.

What is she like in person?

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Gordon Korman also falls into this category, though both of them have had relatively substantial crossover since.

I read the McDonald Hall books in the US during the mid-80s.* Do you think he's had more extra-Canadian exposure since then?

*I have to admit that I'm not sure many others did--I don't remember those books coming up as a common specimen of childhood reading in the same way as, for a sample, crummy Mercedes Lackey novels stand as a common specimen of early-adolescent reading, but that might just because most of the people I'd talk about books with would be fen.