Meeting Lyn's brother...

[fajrdrako]

Lyn has been my good friend since the 1970s, but I have never met her brother Michael or his wife Heli. They have lived in Calgary for a very long time, and have never come to Ottawa - until this week.

Lyn wanted her local friends to meet them, so she rented the party room at her condo building and invited us all over. We made it a pot-luck supper, and had a wonderful time. It was a bit like a Who Cares revisited.... A Who Cares was a kind of party we used to have every second Saturday night in roving locations, in which anyone associated with local fandom was welcome to turn up, and bring their friends.

Those days of easy socializing are behind us, but we had a wonderful time. There was a vast amount of food, and Beulah brought some delicious carrot cake.

I liked Michael and Heli, too. I expected Michael to resemble Lyn's father, whom I'd met, but he didn't. Nor did he resemble Lyn. He was just... himself, I guess, which is fair enough.

Afterwards, Beulah drove me home and we dropped in on maaseru to share some of the leftover carrot cake with her and maaboroshi. (Amazing, that there should be leftover cake, with that crowd!) We chanced on the beginning of the Kenneth Branagh As You Like It which instantly charmed us (and hooked us) with its multicultural melange of nineteenth-century Americans in Japan, Tudor England dialogue, ninjas, and Star Wars ambience. (And, muttered maaboroshi and I to each other, all this and femslash too. Gotta love Branagh.)

I didn't see more than the first third of it; dying to see the rest.

maaseru said that As You Like It was the first live play she saw, and that marked the moment when she fell in love with Shakespeare and with theatre. And she hasn't seen that particular play since, not even in movie form.

I don't think I've ever seen it at all - I've just read it.

Comments

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

We chanced on the beginning of the Kenneth Branagh As You Like It which instantly charmed us (and hooked us) with its multicultural melange of nineteenth-century Americans in Japan, Tudor England dialogue, ninjas, and Star Wars ambience. (And, muttered maaboroshi and I to each other, all this and femslash too. Gotta love Branagh.)

Drool. I don't have HBO so have to wait till the DVD comes out. I cannot wait. The Branagh list has been talking this one up for months.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

There's a Branagh list? I should probably be on it.

I really didn't want to tear myself away!

HBO doesn't exist in Canada, but maaseru gets a cable movie channel that often shows movies that HBO makes. She said she'd been considering dropping the channel and saving the money, and then a movie like this comes on and she changes her mind.

The ninja attack at the beginning was worth it in itself. I loved it.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

There is: http://movies.groups.yahoo.com/group/kenlist/ It's my oldest online fandom and the longest I've ever been on a mailing list -- I think I joined in 1994-5. Somewhere in there, anyway. I got my first computer in 1993, and was on the list at least a year before Hamlet was released, anyway. It's not a high traffic list, and there is some fundraising for Ken's charities (we sell something for his birthday every year, and do auctions of Ken-related stuff, and we work with his assistant to see that it goes to charities that help young actors get started), but it's also the best source for information on his latest projects and so forth. www.branaghcompendium.com is the companion website. They're a nice bunch of people.

I sure hope they don't wait long to release the AYLI DVD...

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I joined. One more time, giving way to temptation - !

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Enjoy! See you there.

[filkferengi]

While you're waiting, check out the Laurence Olivier version. I thought it was pretty hot, when I was 12. [The local PBS station used to show Shakespeare once a week; I haven't seen it since.]

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I hate to admit this, but Olivier is one of the things that ruined Shakespeare for me before I discovered Branagh.

I still haven't forgiven him for his Hamlet (Hamlet the play is not about a man who couldn't make up his mind!).

[filkferengi]

To add insult to injury, he was all peroxided-out in that one. Conjugal company excepted, blonde is not generally my male hair color of choice.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I generally perfer dark hair on men, but Francis Crawford of Lymond has converted to me to a delightful tolerance, and perhaps even appreciation, of fair-haired men.

However, I draw the line at Olivier. I saw his Hamlet in a theatre as a teen - remember that I was already madly in love with Hamlet - and I wasn't sure whether to walk out or throw up. I don't think I did either, but it was a close call.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

You obviously haven't seen the Branagh version. He was, too [g].

But it was still a much better version. Trust me. Even topping out at slightly over four hours.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, you know, I loved the Branagh Hamlet, and not just because of Fortinbras. I loved Branagh's portrayal of Hamlet - no, not my top favourite, but good. Very good. Despite being blond. He made being blond look good.

So obviously I can't blame my distaste for the Olivier version entirely on the hair.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

and not just because of Fortinbras

Although he was rather lovely, wasn't he [g].

Who's your top favorite stage Hamlet? Top favorite film Hamlet?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I still haven't forgiven him for his Hamlet (Hamlet the play is not about a man who couldn't make up his mind!).

No. It's about a lot of things, all of which I love... and I also love the way there are umpteen different ways to interpret his character, most of them right, some of the dead wrong.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Yup. Whoever tried to introduce Freud into the equation has a lot to answer for, too (another "interpretation" Branagh dropped for his film, bless him).

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Funny how something that looks innovative one moment can be a cliche the next.
Depends how it's done, of course, but some bright new ideas are harder to pull off than others.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I have yet to see a Freudish production of Hamlet that actually worked. I remember watching the Mel Gibson version and wanting to hang Franco Zeffirelli by his toenails because of it. Which is saying a fair amount because I adore his version of Romeo and Juliet.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I do want to see the Olivier version again. I saw it when I was - I'm not sure - 14 or so - and I hated it. I thought it was stilted and pretentious. I thought at that time that Shakespeare really could not be successfully filmed - it was Kenneth Branagh who changed my mind, but I've seen other good movie versions of Shakespeare since. The Ian McKellen Richard III springs to mind.

I'm still very fussy.

After Hamlet I refused to see another Olivier movie for decades. Then I saw him in Pride and Prejudice, and thought, hmm, not half bad - so I think I'm ready to try Hamlet again.

Come to think of it, the first time I ever saw Hamlet was in a film - a Hallmark Special on TV. It was horribly cut (but I was only about eleven then, and didn't notice the difference) and starred Richard Chamberlain, in spiffy Regency costume. I was a goner.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I did mention the Trevor Nunn filmed version of Twelfth Night to you, didn't I?

Highly recommended.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes - I just saw that a couple of weeks ago, and absolutely loved it.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

Oh, good. I thought I had during our last Bardish discussion, but I couldn't remember.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I want more like that!

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

Sigh. I wish I could have come, but I was in training class.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What are you training for?

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

A new tech support group that's supporting a new product. It suffices to say the bosses expect a low volume of traffic, so they are only assigning a few people there as of yet.

See my latest posting (a YAJU) for more details.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Will do!