Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.
With the Democratic Convention front and center, tonight, I decided to do a short diary...don’t faint. That is why the title is what it is.
So this diary is a collection of thoughts, tonight, instead of having any one theme. The purpose as always is to open the door for comments on books and plays you have been enjoying.
First thought:
Older films that have made it to dvd.
From time to time, I check to see if some older movies that I loved in the past have made it to dvd. I discovered that David and Lisa has done so and I am really glad. I have put it on my wish list at Barnes and Noble.
First it was a book about real people, Theodore Isaac Rubin's true case history novel. It is one of three found here:
Lisa and David/Jordi/Little Ralphie and the Creature by Theodore Isaac Rubin
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/...
Synopsis
Drawing on more than thirty years' experience as a practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Rubin shows the reader the heartrending and hope-filled stories of emotionally disturbed children as they struggle to make it through each day.
Along with two classic stories in the literature of psychology, Lisa and David and Jordi, Dr.. Rubin has now added Little Ralphie and the Creature. Together they demonstrate the power of love and its ability to heal.
Meet these four extraordinary young people as they search for a place and time in the world where is it safe to be themselves.
David: Extremely intelligent, with extraordinary abilities in math, physics, and chess. He is passionately interested in clocks. he cannot bear to be touched, in petrified of germs and human contact. Suffers overwhelming panic attacks and obsessive-compulsive behavior.
Lisa: A schizophrenic who must constantly speak in singsong rhymes to avoid losing herself to Muriel--her moody, brooding, scowling, silent other self.
Then it was made into a film in black and white which makes it even more striking and adds to the mood.
Wiki says:
David and Lisa earned Frank Perry a nomination for the 1962 Academy Award for Directing and Eleanor Perry for her Screenplay.
One begins by not liking David very much and then as he grows and changes, you see him as very likeable. At first Lisa grates on the nerves, but when she smiles you can see what David sees in her, too. The actors are wonderful and the story makes you understand the fragility of being able to cope. We want the characters to find their way, to make progress and they do. David knows he has far to go, but there is hope.
Second thought:
Parties in films.
This one is from Cannery Row that starred Nick Nolte and Debra Winger. The party was at Doc's place.
Narrator: The party didn't slow down 'till dawn. The crew of a San Pedro tuna boat showed up about One, and was routed. The police came by at Two, and stayed to join the party. Mack took their squad car to go get more wine.
A woman called the police to complain about the noise, and couldn't get anybody. The crew of the tuna boat came back about Three, and was welcomed with open arms. The police reported their own car stolen, and found it later, on the beach. Things were finally back to normal, on Cannery Row. Once more, the world was spinning in greased grooves.
Third thought::
Gimmicks or changing the setting of plays.
I know that Hamlet has been done in a variety of settings, though I have never seen any of them.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/...
Synopsis: Ethan Hawke stars in this modern update of Shakespeare's classic play. He portrays a young filmmaker in New York City who struggles to gain power of his deceased father's company, even as the new boss (Kyle MacLachlan) manages to take total control of the proceedings. Michael Almereyda's (NADJA) film is another stylized adaptation of the Bard's words, featuring standout performances by the entire cast. For other modern Shakespeare adaptations, see Baz Luhrmann's ROMEO AND JULIET and Julie Taymor's TITUS.
I mentioned last week that Kenneth Branagh had made a film of As You Like It which I have seen on stage several times and have loved the productions. As someone else said and I agree, Branagh's version must be a great one and I have it on my wish list.
As You Like It Director: Kenneth Branagh Cast: Brian Blessed, Bryce Dallas Howard, Romola Garai, Kevin Kline
http://video.barnesandnoble.com/...
A reviewer named Grady Harp at BN explains:
...The 'gimmick' used here by Branagh in adapting Shakespeare's play is placing the action in 19th century Japan, and while other less sensitive directors might have opted to insert parody here, Branagh instead makes the story seem all the more plausible - the two feuding brothers (one dark and one light) whose struggle over their estate opens the play before credits with an ingenious silent drama of black leather feudal costumed men invading a genteel house party of lovely people enjoying a Japanese dancer's performance...
Kevin Kline offers a fully realized Jaques - the character who is given the most memorable soliloquies in the play. The settings and imagery (Tim Harvey) are artistic and beautiful and captured with style by cinematographer Roger Lanser, and as with all of Branagh's production the music score (here by Patrick Doyle) is letter perfect and atmospheric. But in the end the kudos go to Kenneth Branagh for his consistent courage and conviction that Shakespeare's plays are timeless, and his devotion to bringing them to the contemporary audience is to be applauded. This is a fine film - one to own!
I admit that placing the film in 19th century Japan gives me pause.
I am hoping that someone here may have seen the film and can help me decide if it really works or not.
The whole play is here:
As You Like It
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/...
A favorite quote or two or three:
ACT II
SCENE I. The Forest of Arden.
Enter DUKE SENIOR, AMIENS, and two or three Lords, like foresters
DUKE SENIOR
Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made this life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods
More free from peril than the envious court?
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,
The seasons' difference, as the icy fang
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind,
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I shrink with cold, I smile and say
'This is no flattery: these are counselors
That feelingly persuade me what I am.'
Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life exempt from public haunt
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones and good in every thing.
I would not change it.
ACT III
SCENE II. The forest.
TOUCHSTONE
Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good
life, but in respect that it is a shepherd's life,
it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I
like it very well; but in respect that it is
private, it is a very vile life. Now, in respect it
is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in
respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As
is it a spare life, look you, it fits my humour well;
but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much
against my stomach. Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd?
CORIN
No more but that I know the more one sickens the
worse at ease he is; and that he that wants money,
means and content is without three good friends;
that the property of rain is to wet and fire to
burn; that good pasture makes fat sheep, and that a
great cause of the night is lack of the sun; that
he that hath learned no wit by nature nor art may
complain of good breeding or comes of a very dull kindred.
TOUCHSTONE
Such a one is a natural philosopher...
ACT IV
SCENE I. The forest.
Enter ROSALIND, CELIA, and JAQUES
JAQUES
I prithee, pretty youth, let me be better acquainted
with thee.
ROSALIND
They say you are a melancholy fellow.
JAQUES
I am so; I do love it better than laughing.
ROSALIND
Those that are in extremity of either are abominable
fellows and betray themselves to every modern
censure worse than drunkards.
JAQUES
Why, 'tis good to be sad and say nothing.
ROSALIND
Why then, 'tis good to be a post.
JAQUES
I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is
emulation, nor the musician's, which is fantastical,
nor the courtier's, which is proud, nor the
soldier's, which is ambitious, nor the lawyer's,
which is politic, nor the lady's, which is nice, nor
the lover's, which is all these: but it is a
melancholy of mine own, compounded of many simples,
extracted from many objects, and indeed the sundry's
contemplation of my travels, in which my often
rumination wraps me in a most humorous sadness.
ROSALIND
A traveler! By my faith, you have great reason to
be sad: I fear you have sold your own lands to see
other men's; then, to have seen much and to have
nothing, is to have rich eyes and poor hands.
JAQUES
Yes, I have gained my experience.
ROSALIND
And your experience makes you sad: I had rather have
a fool to make me merry than experience to make me
sad; and to travel for it too!
And so my friends, it is your turn to say in comments what thoughts are passing through your hearts and minds.
plf515 has a wonderful book diary on Fridays early and all day.
sarahnity’s list of DKos authors has grown so much that she has her own diary on Tuesdays.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
sarahnity says:
It turns out that we have quite a few authors hanging out here who have published books in the real world. A while ago, I started keeping a list of books by Kossacks, former Kossacks and Kossacks-once-removed. I was posting it each week to the diary series What Are You Reading and Bookflurries, but the list has grown long enough, that I've decided to turn it into a diary and post it as a weekly series on Tuesday evenings.
Not all Kossack authors may wish to lose their anonymity, so I am only including the author's UID if he has outed herself here (gender confusion intended). If you'd like to be included on the list, or if you know of an author who is left off, please leave a comment or email me.
(sarahnity@gmail.com)