Sunday...

Another day of good things and a bad thing.

The bad thing that happened was that I dreamed I had an ear infection, and then woke up to find I actually had one. The last time I actually remember an ear infection, I was three years old. There was an earache about twenty years ago, memorable only because it existed - I think I had a cold. Well, that's a long time to go without an ear infection. And of course it's a long holiday weekend, no hope of going to a clinic or phoning a doctor. Having total ignorance of the matter of ear problems, I had no idea what to do. Cold compresses? Drops? Leave it alone? Take Aspirin? Exercise? Sleep? I keep just hoping it will go away. Meanwhile, I feel crummy.

The good things are immeasurably good. The first is that isagel was looking for a 'five things' challenge, and in answer to my request for Five Things Captain Jack Harkness wanted to say to the Doctor, she wrote this.

Now, quite frankly, there's nothing I want more right now than good Doctor Who fanfic, especially if it's about Captain Jack. And she got so exactly the right tone, so exactly the right type of action - and, more important, just the right relationship between the Captain and the Doctor and Rose - well, she has made me a very happy fan indeed. It's a story that shot straight to the heart of my love of the character, and made it better than I could have dreamed. Thanks, isagel, really. Thanks.

This only days afterI read a lovely piece of Captain-Jack fic by boji here. And I'm working on a few stories of my own, and thanks to these stories, I feel all the more inspired.

I am in a deeply emotive mood, having just read The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner. One of those few books in this world that I felt was just about perfect, as if it was written for me. It's a direct sequel to Swordspoint, a fantasy novel set in the district of Riverside, where Richard St. Vire, a champion swordsman and duelist for hire, lives with his lover, a mysterious student named Alec. This picks up Alec's story some years later - I'd have to reread Swordspoint to be sure how many years have passed, and yes, I intend to. There are numerous viewpoints, but the primary one in Privilege is that of Lady Katherine, young niece of the Mad Duke Tremontaine, who is trained as a swordsman in accordance with her decadent uncle's whim, in order to save her family's fortunes. From the back cover: "A well-bred country girl, Katherine knows all the rules of conventional society. Her biggest mistake is thinking they apply." In six months of training in the City, she learns about honour and sexuality and priorities, and a great many things change that can't be changed back. The back cover describes it as "a magical mixture of Dumas and Georgette Heyer", and so it is, and that would be good enough but that isn't what made me love it so. For one thing, there's a subplot about the theatre. Then there's the generous onmisexual viewpoint, the vividly varied characters - my favourites were Tremonatine himself, and the Black Rose, and Lucius Perry, and Kate's mother, and Kate herself - who often seemed younger than fifteen, but who was still delightful. The tone is fairly light, but the story was so perfectly written (as if just for me) that I did not react to it lightly.

I have many favourite scenes, but one I particularly liked was the Black Rose telling the Duke how and where they first met. I also liked the sword-training scenes, and Kate's first kiss, and the scene where Kate confronts the Duke regarding her duel over Artimisia's honour. And many other bits.

Thank you, Ellen Kushner, for far exceeding my hopes and expectations.

Now I must and reread Swordspoint. I think I liked Privilege of the Sword more, but I won't know till I reread, will I? I might add that there is another book by Kushner set in the same world, called The Fall of the Kings, which wasn't as memorable or as powerful in theme, and wasn't enarly as much fun.

The Illusionist...

I went to see The Illusionist at the Empire World Exchange Cinema with Donna and my painful ear. it seems neither better nor worse, and the movie was a nice way to forget about it as much as possible.

Good movie. I keep forgetting what I've seen Edward Norton in - what I fail to remember him in. I know he is imprinted in my memory as a 'good actor' - and it seems from looking at IMDb that I know him from Kingdom of Heaven and Fight Club. In Fight Club, of course, he was excellent. Kingdom of Heaven was a poorly-scripted, badly-conceived, disappointing movie in which there were only two good performances - one by Jeremy Irons, and the other by Edward Norton in a mask. He played the Leper King, Baldwin IV, who is one of my historical heroes. Played him very well, through body language.

The story is of an Austian magician around 1910 (judging from the clothes) who fell in love, in his youth, with a high-born girl. When he returns to Vienna with a spectacular magic act, he meets her again - she is now on the verge of marrying Crown Prince Leopold, sadistic son of the Emperor, who would rather kill her than lose her and the political advantage she would give him. The girl was played by Jessica Biel - currently my pick for Cordelia Naismith. So the Illusionist makes plans to get her away from the Crown Prince.

Once again Rufus Sewell played the villain - and he was magnificent as the evil Leopold, though I confess I'd rather see him play a hero. I hadn't known Rufus Sewell was in this beforehand; had I known, my eagerness to see it would have tripled.

It was convicing in its evocation of an era, and delightfully original. Visually beautiful, with a lot of sepia tones, colour-intensity contrasts, and close-ups. They had to do some odd things with viewpoint to make the plot work, but that was fine.

A clever movie.