sovay: (Lord Peter Wimsey)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2015-09-20 04:20 pm

What do you do? You can't make nothing out of nothing

I am definitely still sick. Everything about my head that can hurt appears to be hurting.

This morning I had my first non-nightmare in weeks. It was incredibly frustrating. I dreamed that I went to see a kind of variety program incorporating silent and classic film—not at the Somerville, I think it was a dream-version of the Chevalier Theatre in Medford—and the stage component included a Leslie Howard impersonator. I suppose at this point I should have guessed it was a dream, but at the time I just thought it was awesome. Leslie Howard in film star mode rather than private life, so we're talking white tie and tails rather than tweeds and trenchcoats, but they had the fair hair and the quizzical profile and the long-lidded eyes and something very like the voice, by turns dry and dreaming. There was some audience interaction, which now reminds me of Pygmalion but didn't when I was watching it. It wasn't until I saw the actor offstage, still in costume, that I realized they were physically female. We had a conversation about pre-Code Hollywood and British musicals and I invited her to the next silent-with-sound at the Somerville and we were bonding cheerfully when I woke up. I don't even remember her name now. I'm looking at enough loss in my ordinary life, I don't need to get it from dreams. And it was a nice conversation.

1. Speaking of silent movies at the Somerville, I keep forgetting to mention that Rex Ingram's The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) is screening in November. Pop-culturally, this is the movie that shot Rudolph Valentino to stardom and popularized the tango in the United States. Personally, I have an interest in it because Valentino's co-star was Alice Terry née Taaffe. I only learned about her last month. It's definitely the same family and she seems to have been very clear about the pronunciation, which we associate with my father's branch of the family in this country. I consider this fortuitous timing.

2. Speaking of movies in general, it appears that Tilda Swinton is playing a punk musician in the upcoming A Bigger Splash (2015) and has given an interview to AnOther Magazine in the persona of her character, accompanied by photos that look like this. I kind of want to see this movie immediately.

3. Speaking of art that isn't movies, the Strange Horizons fund drive continues apace. The latest published tier of bonus content comprises the first three poems: Jane Yolen's "The Truth of Briars," Sasha Kim's "The Changeling's Gambit," and Carlos Hernandez's "Saturn Devouring His Young." If you want the rest of the bonus poetry and the podcast, donate! Also, as someone who was just blown away by "The Vishakanya's Choice," I can confirm that you really want to unlock the story by Roshani Chokshi.

I started packing up my office last night. I've moved out eight boxes of CDs and DVDs. The cats ran around the room afterward crying for their familiar topography, their nests and hiding places. They're really helping.
yhlee: Fall-From-Grace from Planescape: Torment (PST FFG (art: maga))

[personal profile] yhlee 2015-09-20 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Thinking of you and I hope you get better soonest.
gwynnega: (Caligula)

[personal profile] gwynnega 2015-09-20 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
That is an excellent dream, although it is too bad it was a dream.

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-09-22 11:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Won't it be interesting if they turn up at the next silent-with-sound screenings in Somerville....

[identity profile] ladymondegreen.livejournal.com 2015-09-20 10:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I hope you feel much better soon. I expect stress is probably compounding things.

At least you're having R.E.M. cycles and dreams that are pleasant enough that you'd want to return to them. I'll take that as a good sign.

*sending you new hinges for your head*

[identity profile] nineweaving.livejournal.com 2015-09-21 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
That is a fabulous dream. I hope you meet that actor again somewhere, soon.

Those Tilda Swinton pictures are amazing.

If there's anything I can do for you or [livejournal.com profile] derspatchel or the little cats, let me know.

Nine

[identity profile] jinian.livejournal.com 2015-09-21 12:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I can't approve of racebending generally, but Tilda Swinton as Osaki Nana has now taken over my head completely.

[identity profile] jinian.livejournal.com 2015-09-21 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
From the beloved and incomplete manga by Yazawa Ai, Nana. Osaki Nana is a punk singer who has a difficult romance with a musician who left her for a rival band. She is delicate and catlike and brash, sings transcendently, and wears a whole lot of Vivienne Westwood. The story centers on her relationship with Komatsu Nana, a fluffy, dreamy, caretaking type she met by coincidence and wound up rooming with. Their friendship is very romantic and central to both of their lives.

It's a soap opera, but a very good one. I have no idea if you would like it or not, and, as I said, it's unfinished. I hope Yazawa gets well enough to come back to it someday.

(Google Images Osaki Nana (https://www.google.com/search?q=osaki+nana&tbm=isch))

[identity profile] cucumberseed.livejournal.com 2015-09-21 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
That is a dream only you could have had. Excellent. I hope more come with better sleep.

[identity profile] asakiyume.livejournal.com 2015-09-22 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
I can imagine a world in which the Leslie Howard impersonator, you, and Tilda Swinton's character are all hanging out.