sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)
one

omg hello what if I stamp-printed designs onto fabric to make clothes with fun patterns instead of relying on manufacturers to make patterns I like

eg: https://www.dharmatrading.com/home/the-cameloozy-blouse-a-mad-mim-tutorial.html

I mean yes this would require me to pick up SEVERAL more crafting skills. but. do you see the Vision.

I could make myself so many bird-themed clothes! and dinosaur-themed! and more!!!


two

I haven't ever seen or read or studied Measure For Measure before, and having now done the first three acts with my zoom theatre troupe, I sure do see why it's so rarely performed! One of shakespeare's "problem plays" for sure.

Which isn't to say it's a bad play, because it isn't! It's just very.....oh boy.

content note: it's a play about sexual coercion and the use of powerI am playing the role of Angelo. As an actor this is a great role! A character doing a lot of mental self-deception to justify his own actions to himself, which is really meaty and fun to play.

Buuuut his choice to engage in sexual coercion is one of the main drivers of the plot of the play, and it sure is a lot!

My zeatre group is people I trust, so engaging with this theme with them is good -- but it is not the sort of play I'd imagine the average person would choose to go see for a fun night out at the theatre, and not the sort of play the average school board would think is a good choice to have teens study in high school, the two main ways people today might experience Shakespeare's works. I think relatively very few people today are familiar with measure for measure. I didn't even know what the play was about until I was reading up about it in prep for zeatre casting.

And it's too bad, really, that I didn't ever have previous exposure to it -- I bet it would be a very fruitful play to study and analyse! And a story that's remarkably relevant to today's politics in some ways too!



three

I enjoy buying things at international grocery stores that I have never cooked with before, to see what I think and expand my food options. This week: really enjoying something that the package calls "beancurd sheets"!

From a little research, this seems an ambiguous term that can mean multiple things, but the thing I have is tofu pressed into thin sheets, not a film lifted off the top of heated soy milk.

I tore some into strips and ate them with noodles for lunch and they are a lovely addition. I will definitely buy this again in the future, and would not be surprised if it becomes something I frequently have on hand!


four

Just started listening to a podcast about dragonriders of pern, a book series I was obsessed with when I was 12 years old, but haven't read any of for at least 15 years at this point. (I loved these books, but I cannot say they are GOOD books.) The podcast: Dragons Made Me Do It.

And in the first few minutes of the first episode of the podcast they already said something that goes a long way to explaining why I loved pern so much as a young person: it's a story very interested in the question of "when is legend legend, why is myth a myth." And in "exploring connections between history, myth, and present reality."

And stories that ask questions about the connections between stories and reality have always been extremely my shit!

(I mean. Also there are dragons who you telepathically bond with. That WAS also a draw for preteen Soph!)

Then the rest of the episode was a delightful discussion and analysis of the first pern book, excellent all the way through.

Even more excited to keep listening to this podcast now!

In case you're interested, btw, it's one of those podcasts you have to add to your podcast app via url, you can't just search within the app. Their website lists the rss subscription url, but to make it even easier for you, here it is: https://dmmdipodcast.neocities.org/rss.xml
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Roundup post of my recs for the month of December! Yuletide happened this month so there's a wide variety :D I'm not done going through the yuletide archive yet, too many other things to do in my life, so my January post will inevitably have some yuletide recs too.


3 SVSSS fic recs

defenders of the peak, by tshirt

➤ svsss post-canon bingqiu fic

➤ lbh realises that sqq needs more enrichment in his life. he needs to be able to go back to qing jing

➤ therefore lbh needs to make it possible for lbh to be allowed back at cang qiong again!

➤ he goes about this in the most luo binghe way possible

➤ as always, tshirt's sense of comic timing in this fic is PERFECT omg

➤ I love it

➤ 1k words in length


A Drop in the Drying Sea, by tuesday

➤ svsss moshang fic about the journey of developing trust that Mobei-Jun goes on

➤ I love mbj's pov in this, the way he thinks about sqh and what his priorities are!

➤ cute!!!!

➤ 3k words in length


Fight or Flight, by acernor

➤ an svsss liushen au where lqg is an injured gyrfalcon yao who sqq wants to help

➤ it's both so sweet and so fun! lqg's pov with his total mistrust of the human cultivator, slowly evolving over time to becoming willing to let sqq help, is great

➤ and how clear it is that sqq finds lqg both fascinating as a creature of the world of pidw, and very handsome as a man

➤ the parts with the wing repair were soooo good to me, I love how seriously this fic takes the bird and feather details!

➤ a delightful fic from start to finish

➤ 12k words in length



2 TGCF fic recs

Money, Time, Patience, Love, by eggfish

➤ TGCF fic about the era after xianle falls to yong'an, when Jian Lan finds work in a brothel

➤ Jian Lan's perspective on her developing relationship with Feng Xin

➤ I love the sharpness, the awkwardness, the quiet ground-down miseries - and yet the grasping onto what hope and beauty and love that can be found in the midst of it all

➤ Jian Lan and Feng Xin are doing their best! I'm emotions

➤ and I love the gentle femdom that Jian Lan leans into when Feng Xin's women issues make it challenging for them to have sex <3

➤ 5k words in length


What Springs from Warmth and Feeding, by breathlessadoration

➤ tgcf hualian post-canon fic

➤ god this is cute, they're so CUTE!!!

➤ hua cheng and xie lian happy and comfortable together, having fun teasing and playing a drinking game

➤ the vibes are sooooo good I'm so charmed!

➤ 2k words in length



2 MDZS fic recs

you get what you give, by verity

➤ an mdzs wangxian modern au set during the early days of the pandemic in 2020, with flashbacks to 2003

➤ this fic is everything to me. it's just. so beautiful & good? grounded and present to its settings, seeing its characters with open-eyed affection, funny and heartbreakingly painful-hopeful and so, so gentle

➤ I love how the fic is about many relationships at once - wwx & the wens, wwx & jiang cheng, wwx & whatever he had going on with nhs back in the day, and of course, of course, wangxian. and all of these are vital relationships in wwx's life; all of them make him who he is

➤ a "straight boy wei ying" type fic; I love how compassionately wwx is viewed as he goes through his years-long process of realisation. the fic is never mean-spirited about wwx's lack of self-knowledge. he had a lot going on & was doing his best!

➤ I've read this fic at least 3 times and it hits just right every time

➤ 25k words


for nought / except for love's sake only, by verity

➤ modern au f/f mdzs wangxian fic

➤ lwj and wwx are academic colleagues; lwj comes to wwx for help dealing with a minor curse

➤ I love the glimpses into their broader world, the way cultivation is a part of modern life, the dynamics lwj has with her family, etc

➤ the way lwj being a poet affects the prose of the piece, and her point of view!

➤ and the dynamics between lwj and wwx are soooo good <3

➤ 1.7k words in length



2 Hamlet fic recs

Improving Fortinbras, by a_t_rain

➤ post-canon fanfic of shakespeare's Hamlet

➤ from Horatio's pov as he considers how best to mould the new young king Fortinbras in useful directions

➤ I love the evolution of Horatio's thoughts over the course of the fic, and the brief glimpses we get of Fortinbras

➤ love the integration of various minor characters and OC's, to good effect!

➤ 9k words in length


As a stranger give him welcome, by morethanfantasy

➜ yuletide fic - for Hamlet

➜ taking an interpretation that Horatio and Hamlet barely knew each other before the start of the play, and running with it from Horatio's pov

➜ I love the way this interpretation shapes the story!

➜ And Horatio's pov is so good. the way he feels helplessly drawn into the mess by Hamlet's charisma, never sure what he can do or what he should do, but unable to make himself step back and leave Hamlet alone

➜ because Hamlet IS so charismatic, and so visibly struggling at the same time! and there's so much depth there that Horatio simply cannot have the context to understand, but he wants to, he wants to be there for Hamlet

➜ but in the end, of course, all he can do is tell everyone what happened.

➜ I'm so emotions!!!!

➜ 9k words



1 fic rec each for:
Nirvana in Fire
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water (Zen Cho)
Barrett's Privateers (Stan Rogers)
Mairelon the Magician (Patricia C Wrede)
Lord Peter Wimsey series (Dorothy L Sayers)
Fandom for Robots (Vina Jie-Min Prasad)
A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
Jeeves & Wooster (PG Wodehouse)
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Susanna Clarke)


the hero saves the beauty, by Nemainofthewater

➜ pre-canon Nirvana in Fire fanfic

➜ outside pov about Lin Chen being his bestworst self at unsuspecting people

➜ it's so funny. I love Lin Chen.

➜ 2k words in length


Beneath These Sparks and Stars, by Shadaras

➜ yuletide fic - for The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

➜ post-canon, Lau Fung Cheung runs into Tet Sang and Guet Imm at a festival

➜ lovely voice and povs! I really enjoyed this glimpse into their lives after what happens in canon

➜ 1k words in length


"God Damned Them All"? Documenting the Loss of the Privateer Antelope, by machiavellijr

➜ yuletide fic - for the song Barrett's Privateers

➜ omg it's an outside pov of the events of the song, told through the medium of correspondence and other written records in relation to the ship the Antelope. and it's SO GOOD

➜ I love the way all these letters build up such a picture of what happened! and there are so many fun details

➜ 2k words in length


hear the wrong and see the right, by etben

➜ yuletide fic - for Mairelon the Magician

➜ set mid-canon, a conversation between Mairelon and his mother about the realities of Kim being out in society and the male attention she'll attract

➜ Mairelon's oblivious focus on Kim's magical education and inability to follow where his mother is going with this line of questioning is so fun and so him

➜ what a cute and fun fic!

➜ 1k words in length


If our two loves be one, by phoenixflight

➜ yuletide fic - for the Lord Peter Wimsey books

➜ Harriet's POV on v-shaped polyamory negotiations, Harriet/Peter and Peter/Bunter

➜ the voice is so well done, of Harriet's whole pov but also every line of Peter's dialogue is dripping with the exact right kind of piffle he likes to talk, with all the casual references and so forth

➜ and the way they work out the relationship dynamics between the three of them, what is and isn't said, and what each of them is looking for, feels so right too!

➜ 10k words in length


Processing Time, by Toft

➜ yuletide fic - for Fandom For Robots

➜ Computron and bjornruffian work on their next collab, and Computron revisits memories of his creator

➜ and hello I had SO many sad robot feels and robot friendship feels! shrieking with delight

➜ 2k words in length


The First Morning, by genarti

➜ yuletide fic, for A Little Princess

➜ Becky's pov on the day after all the climactic reveals, when she gets to leave Miss Minchin's and go join Sara next door

➜ this does such a good job of capturing the tone of the book, the magic and wonder and the depths of emotions, and the kind of relationship Sara and Becky have

➜ these two young edwardian-era girls doing their best to navigate what they can be to each other within the bounds of societal understandings of power differentials, and their own internalized senses of such things.....I'm so emotions!!

➜ 3k words in length


Jeeves and the Birdcatcher's Costume, by WyvernQuill

➜ yuletide fic, for Jeeves & Wooster

➜ in which Jeeves and Wooster separately attend a masquerade ball, each in costume

➜ hidden identity shenanigans are such fun and this one is great!

➜ I love how much Wooster loves getting to interact with Jeeves without Jeeves's feudal spirit getting in the way

➜ and the vision of Jeeves at a party flirting with a flighty young master of unknown identity.....so good

➜ 11k words in length


Katharina Stellans, by yvain

➜ a yuletide fic, for Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

➜ About the tudor-era magician Martin Pale and his relationship with his tutor, Catherine of Winchester, from the golden age of magic

➜ gosh wow I am just -- so blown away by this?! it feels like it fits so perfectly into the interstices of canon. The undeniable weight of reality that the whole piece has, even as it is shot through with shards of the numinous....the characters all being people who are difficult, and real, and not altogether pleasant, but you love them for how real they are.

➜ Pale and Catherine are so different from each other, yet so connected, and though we get to hear much of Pale's life, Catherine remains as mysterious to us as she is to Pale. And yet we know her from who she is.

➜ idk, idk, I'm not sure how to explain this better! I just....really recommend reading this fic. it is so satisfying.

➜ 16k words

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My recs for the month of February! This month included festivids getting posted so there are a lot of small-fandom vids in this batch, as well as the usual run of various mxtx fanfic plus other stuff. The lineup:

Romeo+Juliet – 2 vids
Taskmaster UK – 1 vid
Jesus Christ Superstar – 1 vid
Catherine Called Birdy – 1 vid
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – 1 vid
Moby Dick – 1 vid
the Knives Out series – 1 vid
Shakespeare’s As You Like It – 1 vid
Hikaru No Go – 1 fic
SVSSS – 3 fics
MDZS/CQL – 4 fics


Romeo+Juliet

Trust+Fall, by sandalwoodbox

- it's festivids time!!! this is probably the first of SEVERAL vids I will be reccing today

- this one is for the film Romeo+Juliet, and focuses on the Romeo/Juliet relationship

- set to the song "Parachute" which I previously knew from an extremely cute Leverage vid, so it was fascinating to see how this vid pulled out very different themes from the song and made a much darker, more painful vid, though cut through with moments of cuteness and levity, as the tension ramped upwards towards Romeo and Juliet's inevitable end

- it was so good!

- 2:52 in length. Music only, no added sounds/dialogue. No subtitles.


Magnetic, by sandalwoodbox

- another Romeo + Juliet vid, this one focusing on Mercutio

- it's about how magnetic a character and a person Mercutio is and like. YUP. AGREED.

- 0:58 in length. Music only, no added sounds/dialogue. Subtitles are available.



Taskmaster

Blood in the Cut, by findmeinthealps

- Taskmaster UK vid focusing on Alex and the uhhhh dynamics in the show that he created

- I love the way the editing turns so many of the weird visuals into something that the camera has an erotic focus on. it's so effective! and the song really amplifies it.

- 3:13 in length. music only, not added sounds/dialogue. no subtitles available.



Jesus Christ Superstar

Hope on Fire, by aguntoaknifefight (swirlingvoid)

- a Jesus Christ Superstar vid which draws on many different productions of the musical, both stage and film, to look at Judas's relationship with Jesus

- I love how it gets across how intense and agonising a relationship it is, and the use of many different sources helps hammer home the inevitability of its tragedy too

- 3:45 in length. music only, no added sounds/dialogue. subtitles are available.



Catherine Called Birdy

Jackrabbit, by Tafadhali

- vid for the movie Catherine Called Birdy, about Birdy and her relationship with her parents

- I haven't actually seen the movie but I have loved the book for many years!

- and this vid felt like it exactly captured the feel and the mood of the story. It's lovely.

- 3:24 in length. music only, no added sounds/dialogue. no subtitles.



Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Disaster Party, by Scribe

- so I have not actually seen the dungeons and dragons movie yet but this vid about the adventuring party was just so fun and charming to watch

- upbeat and loving look at the characters and their various misfortunes as they make mistakes and keep going

- 3:12 in length. music only, no added sounds/dialogue. no subtitles.



Moby Dick

Here it Goes Again, by eruthros

- Moby Dick vid featuring as many different adaptations and inspired-bys as the vidder could fit in

- here it goes again! the story keeps repeating itself! you can't escape it!

- so much fun and so impressive

- 3:01 in length. Music only, no added sounds/dialogue. Subtitles are available.



Knives Out series

'Til You Hit A Nerve, by stardust_rain

- about the heroines of Knives Out and Glass Onion

- idk that I have anything insightful or interesting to say about this one but it's a good vid! I liked it!

- 2:27 in length. Music only, no added sounds/dialogue. No subtitles.



As You Like It

Boys Keep Swinging, by Tafadhali

- a vid about Rosalind in many different productions of Shakespeare's As You Like It

- a vid that is just having SO much fun leaning into being as queer about gender as it can manage

- and I had just as much fun watching it!

- 2:00 in length. Music only, no added sounds/dialogue. No subtitles.



Hikaru No Go

Dragons and Other Metaphors, by esama

- canon divergence genfic about Akira's pov on Hikaru, and like, it's been SO long since I've been in this fandom that I've forgotten all the contextualization to recognize what the point of divergence is lol

- but it's a REALLY good fic about how large a figure Hikaru is in Akira's life, and the rivalry experience Akira is so committed to

- 3k words in length

- I saw this fic thanks to a rec from Rozzychan on fedi so thank you!



SVSSS

Small Fish in an Unsettled Pond, Violent_entertainment

- this is part of a series of unconnected works the author is writing, each one focusing on the relationship between Shang Qinghua and a different one of the various Cang Qiong peak lords

- today's is about Shang Qinghua and the Ku Xing Peak Lord! yes, one of the peak lords who doesn't even get a name in canon

- sqh and the kx peak lord are friends and unlikely allies in the effort to make sure lbh doesn't destroy the sect and mash the realms together

- I love how the author comes up with so many different backstories for sqh in the different fics

- and I love this vision of the kx peak lord! and what lbh would be like under this lord's tutelage!

- 4k words in length


stuffed with fluff (and blood and bones and rage), by nyoomerr

- it's always a good day when nyoomerr posts a new svsss fic!

- this one is about original lbh, beginning in his abyss years, visiting shen yuan in his dreams

- lbh can't move or act or speak in these dreams but he gets to hear/read about everything sy says about lbh

- over years lbh gets more and more obsessed with sy (obvs)

- I love watching lbh's growing realizations of the nature of his frustrations, mediated through getting to hear sy express things that are so different from what anyone in his waking life ever says

- I love how much he craves someone who SEES him like sy does, and yet sy can't see all of lbh because the parts of lbh's life he gets to see are all mediated through the nature of what a stallion novel will focus on!

- and the ENDING. it is perfect! I'm feral at the thought of what will happen next

- 17k words in length


Help! My Ex-Boyfriend Transmigrated And Now He's My Shixiong! by kitschlet

- just reread this fic and it's as fun as it was the first time!

- in which sqq and sqh were exes back in the real world

- they figure out who each other are and immediately fall to bickering over what actually happened in their relationship

- these two are SO FUNNY and SO RIDICULOUS and my heart gave a pang anyway! truly the magic of cumplane

- I love them and they're the worst <3333

- 2k words in length



MDZS/CQL

The light that he brings, by raitala

- mdzs/cql modern au where wwx reappears after many years and lwj wants to keep him in his life in whatever way he can

- I love! how much they care about each other, and how they try to navigate the new/old dynamics between them with the additional perspective that being older will bring

- though lwj still hasn't entirely figured out the framework to understand his attraction to wwx

- they're both trying so hard to not overstep boundaries between them but they can both agree that whatever is best for a-Yuan is worth doing

- watching them slide into intimacy and intertwined lives, and how lwj comes alive with wwx and a-yuan in his life! endless delight

- impeccable under-negotiated d/s vibes between them

- I love the glimpses into all the other people in their lives as well!

- ahhh there are so many things I could keep saying about this fic! it's so good

- 106k words in length


the beauty of maturity, by hisevilforest

- mdzs/cql

- look this is uhhh not a common ship so I just smooshed the names together for the hashtag and called it good

- Lan Jingyi and Xue Yang run into each other alone in all the fog of yi city

- their dynamics with each other are SO fun, neither of them trusting each other and yet both having a great time in their various ways

- jingyi's pov is GREAT

- I think the author's tags are a great look into what the fic is like: hostage situations, poisoning, making out, frottage, mind-games, mouthy jerks who escalate, sexy swordfighting, being walked in on by hanguang-jun specifically, blink and you miss it glimpses of xue yang's angst, but mostly humour

- this is a reread for me and it's just as worth it the second time (or third, or fourth, or --- )

- 6k words in length


moored, by fluffysocks

- mdzs/cql

- Because Of Reasons, wwx and jc are both married off to lwj after the destruction of lotus pier. wwx is blissfully happy about it; jc struggles with it on a NUMBER of fronts

- from jc's pov, about him figuring out how to have a successful relationship with his husband, with his place in his new sect, with his brother and co-spouse, with himself and his struggles in cultivation these days

- jc's pov obviously doesn't like to think about any of these things straightforwardly, he's too busy being tsundere about everything lol

- I love seeing him finding his own way, figuring out how to have a life that works for him even if it isn't what he would have chosen!

- 17k words in length

- (also: fuck jkr and all, but if you also fondly remember helenish's hp fic "theft of assets, destruction of property" then this is the fic for you!)


Lans Never Kiss and Tell, by FeelsForBreakfast

- mdzs/cql modern AU wangxian fic wherein wwx finds out that lwj has kissed all of their friends except him
- obviously he immediately goes insane about this

- I'm very charmed that this is a "mutual pining" trope fic wherein the two of them never doubt for even a moment that they are each other's most important person

- the writing is extremely funny. such good comedy bits overlapping with the genuine emotions in ways that make both parts better!

- 31k words in length
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Back in the days after I'd started keeping a list of all the books I read each year but BEFORE I started posting reviews of them, I kept desultory personal notes (ranging from a single word to quite a few paragraphs) on some of the books. And I always vaguely forget I have, and forget where exactly to find them, and I'd like to just have them on my dw so they're FINDABLE again for me. And also some of you might find these interesting/amusing? (N.B. some of these contain what I would now classify as INCORRECT OPINIONS.)

SO HERE'S THREE YEARS' WORTH OF BOOKS IN ONE POST, OKAY GO.

expand this cut to see nested cuts listing all the books )
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Continuing my thoughts from yesterday - the other thing is, Coriolanus is such a political play! And I'm not sure how I'm supposed to interpret its politics either. cut for spoilers )

Coriolanus

Feb. 10th, 2014 09:41 pm
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)
Last night I started watching that new production of Coriolanus that Hadley Fraser’s in, because Coriolanus is one of those plays I don’t know enough about so I thought I should give it a try - and then I discovered I’d somehow missed that Tom Hiddleston’s in the lead role??? wow I’m really impressed that either a) the internet managed to keep this a secret for this long or b) I’m that oblivious. I was willing to bet it was the latter. (I was right.)

Tonight I finished watching! And then I was all HUH.

Going into this play the only thing I knew about it was that it had the gayest speech in the entirety of Shakespeare - and dudes, it's true, that speech is pretty damn gay. It's an odd experience, watching a shakespeare play that I don't actually know anything about. For the most part shakespeare is part of popular culture, such that you at least know SOMETHING of it when going in - and heck, when I saw Hamlet the first time I knew pretty much ALL of it already going in without ever having read it or studied it or seen a single bit of it before. But Coriolanus? Nothing. It's just...not a popular play.

And it's really frustrating! Because it means I don't have any previous knowledge of various interpretations to hang my understanding of the play on! I like knowing what other people think about things - because at the very least, even if I strenuously disagree, I at least know where I stand in relation to other interpretations. I have a lens through which to approach the work and say "yes" or "no" or "hmmm" to. But here? I am as a blank slate - and a bit of googling around has only turned up some shallow newspaper reviews, nothing really interesting or thoughtful.

and okay to start off with, for this particular production, I was really impressed - the acting was all excellent, the staging was really interesting, I liked how they did pretty much everything. Tom Hiddleston was magnetic as usual and Hadley Fraser was also fantastic. And I liked that this production cast some women and people of colour - including some cross-gender casting.

but the play itself...idk! I think most of my trouble is that I'm having trouble parsing the character of Aufidius. What are his motivations in everything he does? He's rather opaque! (unless I'm just being particularly slow in understanding.) Coriolanus himself is rather clearer - even though he doesn't ever have a proper soliloquy to explain his thoughts like most Shakespeare leads. But what the heck's going on with Aufidius?cut for spoilers )

maybe I should just go read through the Aufidius/Martius tag on ao3. Gay fanfiction always has the best Shakespeare meta, right? Right. (OOH IS THERE ANY SLINGS & ARROWS FIC INVOLVING CORIOLANUS? RECS PLS IF YES)

(and if you have any other thoughts/meta/scholarly analysis to send my way on the subject of Coriolanus, please do!)
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Romeo e Giulietta Act Two! again in comparison with Rome es Julia because that’s the only production I’m familiar with!

I should state for the record, by the way, that I don't speak a word of italian and the stream I'm watching does not have any subtitles. MY LIFE, MY CHOICES, ETC.

Read more... )
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)
So there's a new production of Romeo e Giulietta out! This being the Italian version of the musical Romeo et Juliette (the same one the Hungarian Romeo es Julia is based on). SO OF COURSE I HAD TO WATCH IT.

Tonight: just act one, as that's all I've had time for.

cut for spoilers or something I guess )
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I AM BACKKKK! Well actually I returned late sunday night but then I was exhausted and also I have work and also catching up on the real life things I wasn't doing while on vacation, so. I am still exhausted but I am at least nominally kind of here! AND I COME WITH LOTS OF BOOKS.

Look, my vacation was CANOE TRIPPING, which when you do it right (which obvs I do) leaves you lots of time to hang out in the beautiful wilderness with a book. So. I read NINE BOOKS while on vacation! Plus I had a couple I didn't post about from before the trip. Plus I read a book yesterday. So. Let's go!

Wired Love: a Romance of Dots and Dashes, by Ella Cheever Thayer )

Mable Riley: A Reliable Record of Humdrum, Peril & Romance, by Marthe Jocelyn )

Monks-Hood, by Ellis Peters )

Complete Fairy Tales of George MacDonald )

The Confession of Brother Haluin, by Ellis Peters )

The Android's Dream, by John Scalzi )

The Wisdom of Father Brown, by GK Chesterton )

Psmith, Journalist, by PG Wodehouse )

A Matter of Oaths, by Helen S Wright )

Murder Must Advertise, by Dorothy L Sayers )

Strong Poison, by Dorothy L Sayers )

Princess Academy, by Shannon Hale )

Gaudy Night, by Dorothy L Sayers )

Poor Yorick, by Ryan North, William Shakespeare, and YOU )
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)
Last night I went to see Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing with Essie! And it was FANTASTIC. My favourite thing about it is how much fun it was clear everyone involved was having. Also it did a really great job of highlighting the hilarity of this play. The audience (me included!) was constantly cracking up, which is as it should be! Also the actors are all great at their parts and did a good job of not falling into the trap of declaiming their lines, as well as doing a lot of excellent nonverbal characterization work in between the lines. Also, as Essie leaned over to whisper to me partway through, wow yes the events of this play makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE when you assume everyone is drunk, as this movie posits.

Also I am feeling very smug about my facial-recognition prowess right now because I successfully recognized Riki Lindholme out of the context I'm used to seeing her in! They cast Conrade as a female part, played by Riki Lindholme of the musical comedy duo Garfunkel & Oates, and the whole time she was onscreen I was like, "that actress looks so much like Riki, but it can't be her, there's no way it's her, I must just be doing that thing where I confuse people who have similar hair and body types," and then the credits came up at the end AND IT WAS HER. Aw yeahhhhhh.

(I cannot review Much Ado without mentioning Beatrice and Benedick: they are super super adorable and their verbal sparring is the besttttt the end.)
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)
Romeo es Julia is the Hungarian version of the French musical based on Shakespeare's play based on earlier versions of a similar story. I have never before in life cared at all about this story or the characters in it but either I am a sucker for musicals or the Hungarians did an exceptional job (or both) because SO MANY FEELS OVER EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE. AAAAAAAHHHHHH.

cut for spoilers? I suppose? Or something? )


In vaguely related news, I really want to watch the Hungarian version of the musical Elisabeth now. Apparently one of the main characters is a darkly sparkly bisexual personification of death? WOW I AM SO THERE. I would worry over how into personifications of death I am except for how I have no desire to actually meet any of them myself....
sophia_sol: Hamlet, as played by David Tennant, reading a book (Hamlet: Hamlet reading)
Is it -- is it *GASP* a post that's not about Les Miserables? IT IS! (reposted from my tumblr from last night.)

Last night Essie and I were hanging out, as one does, and we were talking about the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, as one does, and about what other classic literature one could plausibly turn into video blogs.

and we were saying we need a main character who would vlog all about their life OF THEIR OWN ACCORD

and I was like

HAMLET

HAMLET TOTALLY WOULD

and now Essie and I need this like burning. IT WOULD BE A MILLION UNWATCHABLE EPISODES OF HAMLET ANGSTING AT THE INTERNET AND IT WOULD BE SHEER BRILLIANCE

we weren’t sure how the final scene where everyone dies would go

BUT THEN WE REALISED THAT HE TOTALLY MAKES HIS BRO HORATIO FILM THE WHOLE THING because Hamlet needs his epic duel with Laertes to be on the INTERWEBZ

and then shit goes down and WITH HIS DYING WORDS HAMLET TELLS HORATIO TO POST. THE ENTIRE. THING.

“So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,
Which have solicited. The rest is silence.”


YEAH. YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT.

(also from tumblr from last night: I, perfume-hater to the degree where I don't even like mildly scented soap, review perfumes! And somehow manage to refrain from ever using the word "gross", unlike the last time I did this! Click here to read more!)
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)
I HAVE NO TIME right now so here let me throw this post up and run away. Henry IV Part One! My thoughts!

I, um, possibly have seen this twice already? WHAT. I had to watch it immediately ere I acquired it because OMG EXCITING, but my sister Mara wasn't available at that point to watch, so then I had to watch it again last night so that she could see it too. Such a hardship! :P

It's really interesting to compare my reactions to this production to how I reacted to the play when I read the text. I read it last fall in one of the shakespeare-reading parties Mara and Essie and I sometimes have, and the following is what I recorded of my thoughts in my list of books read:

Lololol so tonight I read Henry IV Part I, as is reasonable to do after having read Richard II relatively recently. Richard II had some interesting bits but was mostly meh as a play. [nb: clearly my opinions on Richard II have changed since I wrote this!] Henry IV on the other hand? LAUGHING OUT LOUD. A LOT. I mean, okay, the plot was totally boring, but the hijinks, and the sheer volume of insults, and the hilarious characters... yeah, GOOD TIMES. But come on, did Henry IV really need to be a character in the play? His scenes were all the most boring scenes. :P Probably because he was only involved in the Actual Plot. (Best line/insult: "Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend my life." LOLZ)


Which. Is nothing like my reaction to watching the play performed! Because okay, the plot is ACTUALLY INTERESTING? And I still did enjoy the hijinks, but thought there was too much Falstaff? SO YEAH, there's that.

So, my thoughts!

To begin with, Tom Hiddleston: amazing or AMAAAAAZING?

I think you'll find it's the latter.

cut for spoilers and length )
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Default)
So last night Mara and I watched the new Richard II. And GOSH THAT WAS INTERESTING. I've read the play before, and of course since I'm me I read fanfic of Richard II before I had any idea what the play was even about. And now I have seen a filmed version of it! It makes a bit more sense now that I can actually SEE what's going on, and when I don't have to work so hard to keep track of people's names.

Back like TWO YEARS AGO my fandom-of-the-week was Shakespeare and I wrote fic (King Lear) and did podfic (Richard II) and watched Hamlet for the first time in my life, and if this new bbc production had come out then I would have been OVER THE MOON. This is feeling weirdly like a mini fannish revival for me, this whole business with The Hollow Crown! I JUST HAVE ALL THESE FEELS NOW, FEELS I'D FORGOTTEN.

So okay I already knew I find this play rather interesting but HUH. Particularly: RICHARD. THAT DUDE OKAY. He just -- he absolutely steals every single scene he's in, and not just for those of us watching from the other side of the screen, but for the other characters who are there with him.

Cut for length and spoilers )

AND NOW NEXT IS HENRY IV PART 1 FEATURING TOM HIDDLESTON. Hopefully I get to watch it soon! I am excite.
sophia_sol: photo of a 19th century ivory carving of a fat bird (Hamlet: Hamlet: reading)
And now, for All Hallows Day, a fic about the dead.

This one is inspired by, of all things, something my Queer Theory prof said while explaining Butler's "heterosexual melancholia". (No, the fic has nothing to do with heterosexual melancholia!)


Title: To Be King
Fandom: Shakespeare (King Lear)
Characters: Edgar, and most of the other major characters
Rating: PG
Length: 876 words
Summary: The problem with the dead is that you can't shut them up.

No, Goneril says, a whisper in his ear, a voice nobody else can hear from a woman nobody else can see. )

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