Drive-by distraction video post because I’m getting ready to take ye hubby out to see Star Trek: Into the Darkness, where I can revel in Benedict Cumberbatch’s screen presence (and voice OMG!) and shriek in fury at stupid, gratuitous, sexist bra-and-panties moments involving female officers. I also saw Iron Man 3 last week and will yammer endlessly about that movie later. Okay, maybe not endlessly…
So – since I’m firmly on entertainment mode, I thought I’d fangirl the fantastic combo of Florence and the Machine and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
I haven’t seen The Great Gatsby as I’m not that keen on the book even if I appreciate Fitzgerald’s style and the book’s point. I’m also not too keen on anachronistic soundtracks, either, but Florence and the Machine’s song works. Brilliantly.
Speaking of novellas, lordy, lordy, lordy! I wants! I wants! I’m actually surprised that Candide is a novella. I read that book for an English Lit. class before, and I don’t remember it being less than novel-length. Then again, I think I’m getting the text mixed up with all the annotations, etc., that came with the book. I wouldn’t be surprised if all that extraneous information was about the same length as the story itself. Still – a worthy and crazy read. Eighteenth century satirists were the ultimate masters of snark.
Yes, I know it’s from his Christmas Oratorio, but I’ve never been one to follow the calendar where music’s concerned. I’ll listen to traditional holiday music in the spring or summer, heck, yeah!
Speaking of calendars, I got a bit confused at first when looking up Bach’s birthday. Apparently he’s got two (see Wikipedia entry) because of the shift from the Julian to the Gregorian calendars. I tend to default to the Gregorian calendar (well, duh…), but if the local classical music station’s celebrating his birthday via the Julian schedule, I’m not complaining. If anything, it’ll give me more reason to celebrate his birthday again on March 31 following our current calendar. XD
I’m such a nerd, it’s painful.
And since we’re looking at German artists, I’m in the mood for some historical fun, and I just remembered that Netflix streaming finally has this available, for which I squee to the high heavens:
Critics have been lukewarm about the film because of the liberties it took on Goethe’s life, but at the moment, I don’t care. I’ve watched so many staid or melodramatic historical shows or films through the years*, and I’m in the mood for period pieces that are a little more – how does one say it without enraging purists? – irreverent in their treatment of their subjects, even great figures in art like Goethe. Besides, judging from the trailer alone, one can pretty much see that it’s not going to be a deep, thoughtful exploration of his early years as a fledgling artist.
I’m hoping, anyway, that I won’t DNF it the way I DNF’d Mozart’s Sister. We shall see…
* I watched the first episode of Downton Abbey to see what the fuss is about, and massive Anglophile I might be, I just couldn’t, COULDN’T get into it.
