Books, Films and What I've Been Up To!
Apr. 6th, 2010 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spooky_missHmm, well I don’t seem to be doing too well in keeping up with this…I keep writing myself notes of what to write about, but as I end up with so many notes I never have time to write anything! There have been a few interesting things which I’ve done / read / seen recently, I hope they’re as interesting to other people! I originally was going to go on the communities I go on and ask people if they want to add me as a friend, but now I’m not so sure of that, it’s a bit like self promotion and I don’t like doing that – what if my writing is actually rubbish? But a few people have added me as a friend and seem to read this, so that’s good…if anyone wants to add me as a friend and continue to read, feel free! I hope my writing style has or will improve over the year, I sort of think my book reviews have already, but I’m not sure of the other bits. But anyway, on with the content….
Synth Britannia
This was an absolutely fantastic programme that was on BBC 2 recently, having been on BBC 4 before and I recorded it, but hadn’t got round to watching it. However when I saw it was being repeated on BBC 2 I thought I better watch it. It was 1 ½ hours long, and about the rise of “synth” music in the UK. Featuring bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Human League, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan and all their various members and side projects, it was a whole history of it. It also had a good bit about the influence of Kraftwerk on those kind of bands. The band members explained their influences (Sheffield and the North seemed to be a theme, haha) and how they bought or made their first synths. People say that these sort of bands aren’t that talented in terms of music (just button pressing, as they see it), but they seem to be very clever in other ways, as quite a few of them seemed to have made their own synths to start with. It was just such a great programme, and it really got me excited about the music. I wish I had been born then! It seemed like such an innovative time in music, not just with pop, but with goth and metal as well becoming more popular and more inventive at the same time. There isn’t really any genre of music nowadays, apart from the odd band or two, which make me actually excited to hear it, its all old stuff. But this programme was really great, and I definitely recommend it to anyone into music!
Film 21 – Mrs Brown
This is a film about Queen Victoria, played by Judi Dench, and her “faithful Scottish manservant”, John Brown, played by Billy Connelly. I don’t usually like Billy Connelly, but all other aspects of the film (history, good characters, Judi Dench!) made it one of my favourite types of films, so I really enjoyed it. It described how the Queen came to rely more and more on John Brown after the death of Prince Albert, to the dismay of her family. It showed how he became obsessed with guarding the Queen and making sure that she did not come to harm. It was good as it showed the relationship between them without making it soppy, and without going into too much regarding the rumours that they were “more than just friends”! It would be interesting to know if she really was buried with items of his (a lock of his hair and something else I think) that she was apparently buried with. Recommended for anyone who likes history and a good English film. 8 / 10
Book Thirty – The Last Curtsey by Fiona McCarthy
I have this book down here as book 31, but in the book where I write down the books I read, its only number 30, so I think I’ve made a mistake somewhere (my reading skills are good but maybe my maths isn’t so great!)
This is about the debutante season in 1958, the last year that debutantes came before the Queen to curtsey. It described all the preparations leading up to the presentation ceremony, the ceremony itself and the balls and parties which followed it to be the “London Season”. It also described the backgrounds of some of the debs, and what they went on to do afterwards. It was a good book, but I do think I would describe it as “self indulgent” – I’ve heard books described like this before but wasn’t sure what it really meant, but I think this sums it up – its just like a nice book which she has written about her nice time as a debutante, it doesn’t really assess the impact they had or anything like that, its just plain description. It is good, but just as a descriptive book, not as an in depth study of the debutante system and the impact it made on the country. Recommended if you’d like to read about it, but not for any deeper study. 7 / 10
Film 22 – Night at the Museum 2
This is one of the films that I bought with my birthday money. I had originally seen it in the cinema, and I think it’s great! Even better than the first one. It still features Ben Stiller as Larry, but he’s not a nightwatchman anymore, he’s become some kind of inventor and has his own company. He goes back to the museum and finds out that the exhibits are being moved, and put into storage. He has to go to the Smithsonian Museum Archives to find Jediadiah and Octavius, who have been taken there by mistake. There it all starts to go wrong as Kahmunrah (played by Hank Azaria, who is brilliant!) tries to take over the museum, and stop Ben Stiller from rescuing his friends. As this is set in another museum there are loads of other characters from history, such as Al Capone and his friends (all in black and white!), General Custer, Genghis Khan, and a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln, who all come to help him. One of my favourite bits is when he goes to the art bit of the museum, and all the paintings and sculptures come to life – there is a balloon animal one (possibly by Jeff Koons, if I have the name right?) which is always bouncing around, which is great, hehe. And they go to see the Thinker, who turns out to be stupid! A lot of people seem to give this film bad reviews, but I think its great. Hank Azaria plays the pharaoh with a lisp, and his voice is a bit like Stewie from Family Guy, which is great! I recommend this, it’s better than the first one. 8 / 10
Enchanted Palace, at Kensington Palace
I sort of don’t want to give too much of this away, but I do at the same time….Just one word of warning, don’t go here expecting there to be lots of history to take in, as it is much more of an art exhibition / installation than a history lesson. Which some people might think of as good, but I would have preferred a little more history as you walked around it. Each room is loosely related to a Princess who lived in the palace, or an event in the history of the palace. At the beginning you are given a map, which has a little explanation of what the rooms will be, and which rooms to look out for the princesses in. I thought it would be that there were clues about each princess (for example – for Victoria there could have been a picture of her family or something) and you had to work out which one it was, but it was actually just their names written somewhere in the room. In one of the room there was an amazing display of hats, hanging from the ceiling, and in another there was a lovely Vivienne Westwood dress. Another had dresses belonging to Princess Diana and Princess Margaret, displayed almost as if they were dancing, which was lovely. It was definitely more art than history. One brilliant part was that there were actors walking around the place, I’m not sure who exactly they were supposed to be, but at first they were walking around like they had to assess the rooms for danger, talking mainly to the other actors, but asking members of the public what they thought the danger was in a certain object. They all totally stayed in character, it was really great. Then in one room there were lots of toy soldiers, and the actress was inviting people to help her to set them up – in conversation with the other actor she said how because it was all ladies today they didn’t seem to have much help! In one of the rooms a couple of the actors were singing and playing instruments – well one was playing an accordion, and the other was using a saw and a violin bow! I don’t know much about steampunk, but from what I know it really reminded me of that. Katie emailed her tutor and recommended that everyone from her course should go to it, and I think it would be good for people on that kind of course. It is recommended for mainly arty people, but people who like history will enjoy parts of it as well, but its not as history orientated as I expected. So, I’d give it 8 / 10 overall, with 4 / 10 for the history parts.
Book Thirty One – The Necropolis Railway by Andrew Martin
This book was actually really disappointing. I saw it in Waterstones and asked for it for my birthday, as it was described as a mystery set in a Victorian railway. However, I think it should have been, a story about a Victorian railway, with a little bit of mystery. There was loads and loads of detail about how steam trains run, what all the jobs are to do on them, and how the train yard was organised, and the mystery part of it (people who worked for the railway suddenly ending up dead, mysteriously) was very weak and badly developed. There wasn’t much detail given about the people, who they were and why they were disliked or whatever, so I didn’t really feel like I knew them, or worried about them when they died. It was described as being about the railway which ran between London and Brookwood (I think that’s where it is) Cemetery, carrying dead bodies out to be buried, but apart from one part in which the main character is believed to be dead and is put into a coffin, it doesn’t really feature. It’s a shame as well, as I asked for it for my birthday, I feel bad when I suggest people buy rubbish things! Recommended for people who have an interest in Victorian and steam railways, and who like a bit of a mystery – but not much! 4 / 10
I’m currently reading “Phillip and Elizabeth – Portrait of a Marriage” by Gyles Brandreth, which is actually really good so far. The style is light and easy to read, and it has lots of anecdotes in it, which show that Gyles does really know them (well as far as the Queen and her husband can be known!) and knows what he is writing about. Next I shall probably read The Kite Runner – my mum has just read it and says that it is one of her favourite books now, so I’m looking forward to that.
Got a few things to look forward to actually – its my mum’s birthday tomorrow so we’re going into London for a surprise for her, which should be great :D And then on Saturday I have Gotham 11 and Slimelight – wearing my new boots out in London for the first time! Hopefully they (and my feet) will last that long. Its free entry to Slimelight after the gig, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to go. I wish Legion weren’t on first though – I really want to see them, and Clan of Xymox, but am not so bothered about the bands in between (although maybe I will be when I’ve looked them up on the internet!) so will be hanging around for quite a while. Hopefully I’ll see someone I know there though – I’m not very good at going to talk to people, but hopefully someone will come and talk to me!!
Synth Britannia
This was an absolutely fantastic programme that was on BBC 2 recently, having been on BBC 4 before and I recorded it, but hadn’t got round to watching it. However when I saw it was being repeated on BBC 2 I thought I better watch it. It was 1 ½ hours long, and about the rise of “synth” music in the UK. Featuring bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Human League, Depeche Mode, Gary Numan and all their various members and side projects, it was a whole history of it. It also had a good bit about the influence of Kraftwerk on those kind of bands. The band members explained their influences (Sheffield and the North seemed to be a theme, haha) and how they bought or made their first synths. People say that these sort of bands aren’t that talented in terms of music (just button pressing, as they see it), but they seem to be very clever in other ways, as quite a few of them seemed to have made their own synths to start with. It was just such a great programme, and it really got me excited about the music. I wish I had been born then! It seemed like such an innovative time in music, not just with pop, but with goth and metal as well becoming more popular and more inventive at the same time. There isn’t really any genre of music nowadays, apart from the odd band or two, which make me actually excited to hear it, its all old stuff. But this programme was really great, and I definitely recommend it to anyone into music!
Film 21 – Mrs Brown
This is a film about Queen Victoria, played by Judi Dench, and her “faithful Scottish manservant”, John Brown, played by Billy Connelly. I don’t usually like Billy Connelly, but all other aspects of the film (history, good characters, Judi Dench!) made it one of my favourite types of films, so I really enjoyed it. It described how the Queen came to rely more and more on John Brown after the death of Prince Albert, to the dismay of her family. It showed how he became obsessed with guarding the Queen and making sure that she did not come to harm. It was good as it showed the relationship between them without making it soppy, and without going into too much regarding the rumours that they were “more than just friends”! It would be interesting to know if she really was buried with items of his (a lock of his hair and something else I think) that she was apparently buried with. Recommended for anyone who likes history and a good English film. 8 / 10
Book Thirty – The Last Curtsey by Fiona McCarthy
I have this book down here as book 31, but in the book where I write down the books I read, its only number 30, so I think I’ve made a mistake somewhere (my reading skills are good but maybe my maths isn’t so great!)
This is about the debutante season in 1958, the last year that debutantes came before the Queen to curtsey. It described all the preparations leading up to the presentation ceremony, the ceremony itself and the balls and parties which followed it to be the “London Season”. It also described the backgrounds of some of the debs, and what they went on to do afterwards. It was a good book, but I do think I would describe it as “self indulgent” – I’ve heard books described like this before but wasn’t sure what it really meant, but I think this sums it up – its just like a nice book which she has written about her nice time as a debutante, it doesn’t really assess the impact they had or anything like that, its just plain description. It is good, but just as a descriptive book, not as an in depth study of the debutante system and the impact it made on the country. Recommended if you’d like to read about it, but not for any deeper study. 7 / 10
Film 22 – Night at the Museum 2
This is one of the films that I bought with my birthday money. I had originally seen it in the cinema, and I think it’s great! Even better than the first one. It still features Ben Stiller as Larry, but he’s not a nightwatchman anymore, he’s become some kind of inventor and has his own company. He goes back to the museum and finds out that the exhibits are being moved, and put into storage. He has to go to the Smithsonian Museum Archives to find Jediadiah and Octavius, who have been taken there by mistake. There it all starts to go wrong as Kahmunrah (played by Hank Azaria, who is brilliant!) tries to take over the museum, and stop Ben Stiller from rescuing his friends. As this is set in another museum there are loads of other characters from history, such as Al Capone and his friends (all in black and white!), General Custer, Genghis Khan, and a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln, who all come to help him. One of my favourite bits is when he goes to the art bit of the museum, and all the paintings and sculptures come to life – there is a balloon animal one (possibly by Jeff Koons, if I have the name right?) which is always bouncing around, which is great, hehe. And they go to see the Thinker, who turns out to be stupid! A lot of people seem to give this film bad reviews, but I think its great. Hank Azaria plays the pharaoh with a lisp, and his voice is a bit like Stewie from Family Guy, which is great! I recommend this, it’s better than the first one. 8 / 10
Enchanted Palace, at Kensington Palace
I sort of don’t want to give too much of this away, but I do at the same time….Just one word of warning, don’t go here expecting there to be lots of history to take in, as it is much more of an art exhibition / installation than a history lesson. Which some people might think of as good, but I would have preferred a little more history as you walked around it. Each room is loosely related to a Princess who lived in the palace, or an event in the history of the palace. At the beginning you are given a map, which has a little explanation of what the rooms will be, and which rooms to look out for the princesses in. I thought it would be that there were clues about each princess (for example – for Victoria there could have been a picture of her family or something) and you had to work out which one it was, but it was actually just their names written somewhere in the room. In one of the room there was an amazing display of hats, hanging from the ceiling, and in another there was a lovely Vivienne Westwood dress. Another had dresses belonging to Princess Diana and Princess Margaret, displayed almost as if they were dancing, which was lovely. It was definitely more art than history. One brilliant part was that there were actors walking around the place, I’m not sure who exactly they were supposed to be, but at first they were walking around like they had to assess the rooms for danger, talking mainly to the other actors, but asking members of the public what they thought the danger was in a certain object. They all totally stayed in character, it was really great. Then in one room there were lots of toy soldiers, and the actress was inviting people to help her to set them up – in conversation with the other actor she said how because it was all ladies today they didn’t seem to have much help! In one of the rooms a couple of the actors were singing and playing instruments – well one was playing an accordion, and the other was using a saw and a violin bow! I don’t know much about steampunk, but from what I know it really reminded me of that. Katie emailed her tutor and recommended that everyone from her course should go to it, and I think it would be good for people on that kind of course. It is recommended for mainly arty people, but people who like history will enjoy parts of it as well, but its not as history orientated as I expected. So, I’d give it 8 / 10 overall, with 4 / 10 for the history parts.
Book Thirty One – The Necropolis Railway by Andrew Martin
This book was actually really disappointing. I saw it in Waterstones and asked for it for my birthday, as it was described as a mystery set in a Victorian railway. However, I think it should have been, a story about a Victorian railway, with a little bit of mystery. There was loads and loads of detail about how steam trains run, what all the jobs are to do on them, and how the train yard was organised, and the mystery part of it (people who worked for the railway suddenly ending up dead, mysteriously) was very weak and badly developed. There wasn’t much detail given about the people, who they were and why they were disliked or whatever, so I didn’t really feel like I knew them, or worried about them when they died. It was described as being about the railway which ran between London and Brookwood (I think that’s where it is) Cemetery, carrying dead bodies out to be buried, but apart from one part in which the main character is believed to be dead and is put into a coffin, it doesn’t really feature. It’s a shame as well, as I asked for it for my birthday, I feel bad when I suggest people buy rubbish things! Recommended for people who have an interest in Victorian and steam railways, and who like a bit of a mystery – but not much! 4 / 10
I’m currently reading “Phillip and Elizabeth – Portrait of a Marriage” by Gyles Brandreth, which is actually really good so far. The style is light and easy to read, and it has lots of anecdotes in it, which show that Gyles does really know them (well as far as the Queen and her husband can be known!) and knows what he is writing about. Next I shall probably read The Kite Runner – my mum has just read it and says that it is one of her favourite books now, so I’m looking forward to that.
Got a few things to look forward to actually – its my mum’s birthday tomorrow so we’re going into London for a surprise for her, which should be great :D And then on Saturday I have Gotham 11 and Slimelight – wearing my new boots out in London for the first time! Hopefully they (and my feet) will last that long. Its free entry to Slimelight after the gig, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to go. I wish Legion weren’t on first though – I really want to see them, and Clan of Xymox, but am not so bothered about the bands in between (although maybe I will be when I’ve looked them up on the internet!) so will be hanging around for quite a while. Hopefully I’ll see someone I know there though – I’m not very good at going to talk to people, but hopefully someone will come and talk to me!!
