Dreaming of Philip Augustus...

I dreamed that I was in another city with my cousin George, and we were shopping at antique shops, flea markets, and other stores, including second-hand bookstores. I was looking for a biography of Philip Augustus.

I woke up and thought: what is my subconscious trying to tell me?

Philip Augustus, if you were wondering, was king of France from 1180 to 1223. He went on crusade with Richard Lionheart, and had a messy divorce. (These two facts are unrelated.) I've always found him interesting, and not just because I picture him as looking like the young Timothy Dalton in The Lion in Winter - Jonathan Rhys Meyers hasn't had time to supersede that image yet, but he's just as good.

The Ottawa Public Library lists only one book about Philip Augustus, in English, by William Holden Hutton - great name! - published in 1896, and not available. (So why is it listed?) Philip is described as a 'foreign statesman'. Heh. Ottawa U has the Gesta Philipi Augusti, a bilingual French/Latin edition, which looks interesting. And why does a search of his name bring up a title, Homosexuality and Civilization? There seem to be a number of hagiographic works about Philip from his own lifetime, which is handy but not necessarily surprising. Just when I was despairing of finding more modern biographies of Philip I found one in English (by Jim Bradbury) and one in French (by Gerard Sivery), I'll give them a look.

Doctor Who: Army of Ghosts and Doomsday...

Beulah, Pat and Sandi came over last night to watch the last two Doctor Who episodes on my computer. I think I love them more each time I watch them, and I would be embarrassed to say how many times I've watched them now. Sandi kindly passed around the kleenex at the end and a good time was had by all. Pat, bless him, managed to fix the zipper on my jacket - he's brilliant that way. We also had got talking about the War of 1812, which was fun - Beulah couldn't remember studying it in school, but she must have. She admitted that history wasn't her best subject.

We also discussed vinegar, and looked up its health benefits. Funny how conversation wanders.

The Firday Five..

From thefridayfive:

1. What's your favorite line from a movie, and why?

From Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (from memory, may be innacurate):

Benedick: I tell thee I love thee - bid me do anything for thee.
Beatrice: Kill Claudio.
Benedick: Hah! Not for the wide world.

2. Who's your favorite villain from a movie, and why?

Here I, who have so many favourite villains, have trouble thinking of one. My favourite movies don't have villains, or at least, not good ones. I'd say Lex Luthor from Smallville, but that's TV, not movies. I don't like Lex Luthor in any of the movies - he's not scary, he's silly.

There are other villains in movies whom I like - Lucius Malfoy, or the guy played by Jason Isaacs in The Patriot, or any of Rufus Sewell's bad-boy roles - but it makes no sense to mention villains from movies I didn't like so much. Magneto from X-Men - ? But my love is for the Magneto of the comics, in all his wonderful facets, and for Ian McKellen, who is one of the gods of my pantheon - not particularly for the movie version of Magneto. So, who?

Once again I'll fall back on Shakespeare, or semi-Shakespeare, and say Ben Jago, played by Christopher Eccleston, in Othello. And heck, since I'm cheating with Shakespeare anyway, I'll add Keanu Reeves as Don John in the Branagh Much Ado. If I give the impression that I loved that movie... it's because I did.

Oh - I just thought of a great alternate pick of villains - Arnold Vosloo and Lance Henriksen as (respectively) Pik van Cleef and Emil Fouchon in John Woo's Hard Target.

3. Name one movie everyone else loves that you hate.

"Hate" may be too strong a word, but I disliked the original Star Wars.

4. Name one movie everyone else hates that you love.

The Sound of Music. I adore that movie. I love it more every time I see it. I think it's clever, exciting, romantic, snarky, snappy, visually striking and insightful. Okay, I know a lot of other people like it or love it too, it isn't universally disliked, but I know many people who think it's sappy. It isn't.

5. What's your favorite Pixar film, and why?

Oookay, deep breath here, and big confession: I don't think I have ever liked a Pixar film and I hope I never ever have to watch another one.