jeblog

verisimilitude game

This is a little game I play--maybe you do too?--when I consume media, in this case a film (sometimes I do it with a book). I call it a "verisimilitude" game--trying to expand my enjoyment of a narrative by playing with commodities of the time in which the narrative was composed. An example (already):

Before I went into the theater to see Pride and Prejudice (review below), I was thirsty. So what did I order? Tea, of course! Because everyone drank tea then, it was the drug of choice, and a status and cultural symbol. I thought for a moment if Elizabeth Bennett, for instance, in Pride and Prejudice, would take milk and sugar in her tea? I decided yes--not at home perhaps, but certainly while visiting one of those fancy homes she was always being invited to (or inviting herself).

I also smuggled in a chocolate cookie bar. That was not very verisimilitudinous, but it went well with the tea.

And now I'm trying to remember if there were any tea scenes in the film. I don't remember any...

review: Pride and Prejudice

A quite wonderful film--much better than I expected. A delightful love story (at least three-hanky). I give it the Joseph "Lord" Byrne Romanticist Golden Seal of Approval.

The acting is very fine, especially Keira Knightley as Elizabeth (she earns her top billing) and Donald Sutherland as Mr. Bennett. The direction by Joe Wright was "right on" (OK, that was a little too blurby), with some nice scenes (I especially like the moment when all the dancers evaporate and its just Darcy and Elizabeth dancing--a dance that is also a fencing match). The music, composed by Dario Marianelli, was quite stunning--though not really true to the period (late European Romantic, rather than English Romantic--Romantic music is generally later than the literature). More on that below.

WARNING: I WILL BE GETTING ACADEMIC "BELOW THE FOLD"

What really interested me about the film, as a Romantic, was its nearly over-the-top attempt to romanticize a not-particularly-romantic book and author. Romanticists are very divided over whether Jane Austen was a Romantic. Her sly, drawing-room comedies of manners do not really fit with the Romantic Ideology: near-anti-heroes, lonely, half-crazed, secret geniuses, champions of the Imagination. She is, as many Janeite will attest, truly sui generis, and a lot nicer than those nutty Romantic poets.

Which I guess is why the filmmakers worked overtime to make her so Romantic, so that they could tap into the Romantic market (which, in film, seems to consist mostly of Romanticized Jane Austen adaptations). The film is replete with tongue-tied heroes with mooning eyes, lonely promontories, swans-a-swimming, bonfires reflected off of dark pools--all Romantic, and none of it in Austen's books.

Books are in Austen's books, and there are a few here, but mostly just for fetish-value, to announce that this is a book adaptation, such as in the opening scene where we first meet Elizabeth, carrying a book, her (and the film's) bona fides. Books, I think, are a much bigger deal in the book than in this film, and that's to be expected, I suppose, given that Austen's was a book-crazed time, and ours is not. But in the film the book is really just a floating signifier, a cheap symbol--and a product placement harkening back to the original source of the film.

The romanticization of Austen, in this film, is best explained by the depiction of Darcy, played (quite well, I might add) by Matthew Macfayden. When we first meet him he's an uptight, brainy, cold, 18th-century-style aristocrat (whom we're meant to dislike intensely)--but by the end of the film, liberated by Elizabeth, he's a Byronic hero, flourishing his lush chest hair, couple-day's growth of beard, and aforementioned moony eyes. In fact his transformation, and the films, can literally be measured by the cut of Darcy's jib--he's all buttoned up at first in a fairly short and stiff coat, but by the end he's wearing a long, flowing coat, looking very Byronic (though not as Byronic, or sexy, as James Purefoy's Rawdon Crawley in last year's Vanity Fair).

Though it romanticizes Austen, Darcy particularly, it does not romanticize--in the terms of papering-over--the dire situation of women without property in the Romantic (and almost every other) period, and the realpolitik of the marriage game. The film might be described as feminist in that regard--as might Austen as well.

The movie website is quite well done (I like the scrambled letters that form when you mouse over; there are no books referenced here, though there do seem to be some Rowlandson prints incorporated into the design--a nice touch). There are nice still images, and samples from the soundtrack (playing now, still making mewl like a baby--I'm a sucker for sappy soundtracks, as long as they're not in a Spielberg film; I don't trust him with sappy soundtracks). Explore:

http://www.prideandprejudicemovie.net/splash.html

welcome to ridgeland (elevation: 11 thousand inches)

I've spent the last five days house-sitting on a mountain overlooking Frederick, MD. It's a house called "Ridgeland," and it's where a tribe of us gather four or more times a year to drum and run around n the woods. It's where I first put my hand to a drum--a momentous moment. I cherish the place for all that, and quickly said "yes" when Patti (doyenne of the place, along with David, the doyen) asked me to house-sit. Dog-sit really, since they have four dogs who need to be fed a couple times a day and let out. I did a lot of that.

It's a big, though drafty, house on quite a few wooded acres. It has some nice paths through the woods, with some nice views of the wooded hills and pastures (mostly undeveloped, so far). It was especially lovely when it snowed last Saturday. But then that made it too risky, too long a drive in bad road conditions, for me to drive to DC for an event. Oh well, that's the trade-off when you're out in the country: you get peace and quiet, but then you also get peace and quiet (when you'd rather be riotous).

Last night David and Patti came back from their trip to Amsterdam. We had a almost-19th century evening: building a fire in the living room (closing off the other sections of the house), talking, having tea, having dinner (risotto--thanks Patti!), playing my dulcimer, singing, drumming (to David's flute), reading--even spinning some alpaca by the fire with my drop spindle.

But, as I said, it was an almost 19th century evening. David did play a little bit on his computer, there in the living-room (he has it set up there so he can record music-jams), downloading and showing their pictures from Amsterdam. And I realize that not many people, or very Europeans or North Americans anyway, spun alpaca int he 19th century.

It was a nice little retreat for me, though I only cracked a couple of the 15-or-so books I carted with me to Ridgeland. I spent a lot more time trying to figure out a way to read my email and FTP on one of Patti's computers. So even being out in the woods, with snow on the trees and baying hounds and the whole catastrophe, I was still wrestling with machines...

I sure did enjoy being with those dogs, though, maybe because they got me out of my desk chair and got me to open the door, where I could breathe the chill air...

machine intransigence and transience

I tried to take a picture last night and my digital camera wouldn't work, even after putting re-charged batteries in there. I thought maybe it was the delayed effect of my dropping it in a river not so long ago (see my September 7 entry).

I panicked. It was like one of my arms had fallen off, or one of my eyes had popped out. I guess I really am a cyborg, if the feared loss of one of my gadgets caused such a panic.

So I recharged a different set of batteries over night and tried again. It worked! I guess that creek didn't kill it afterall! (But it looked like the other set of batteries was toast).

So now I could take a picture of my djembe (see below) and a picture of my newly (festively) decorated room, but the colorful lights wouldn't work.

Oy! Another toy is toast! And I had just bought the lights. WHY DO THINGS HAVE TO KEEP BREAKING DOWN?

Central to buddhist teaching is the idea of impermanence: nothing lasts for ever (and many things last no more than a moment). Everything passes.

The cybuddhist in me needs to apply the same notion to computers and other electronic gadgets, viz. EVERYTHING BREAKS DOWN.

I know that's quantum physics too. The more the merrier.

It took me about ten minutes to go from a Luddite's rage to a cyborg's acceptance of the vagaries of machines.

Central to buddhist teaching is the idea of impermanence: nothing lasts for ever (and many things last no more than a moment). Everything passes.

The cybuddhist in me needs to apply the same notion to computers and other electronic gadgets, viz. EVERYTHING BREAKS DOWN.

I know that's quantum physics too: the more the merrier.

I'll just have to buy some more lights and strive to face with equanimity the next biocybernetic breakdown.

new media moment 06:01:07:14:13:09

[Here's the entry I blotted out when I HIT THE "NEW ENTRY" BUTTON WHEN I WAS SUPPOSED TO HIT THE "SAVE" BUTTON (see below). Luckily the computer that is my memory retained most of it.]

For the entry introducing my new djembe (see further below), I had to find the name of the drum maker, which was somewhere buried in one of my four email accounts.

I thought he might be in Yahoo account, because that's where my drumming stuff usually happens.

So I searched for "djembe" in my Yahoo email inbox and found the name of the drum maker right away.

I was also hoping to find the URL of his web site in the email, which I visited once. But I couldn't find it. I might have found it in my browser bookmarks, but I my bookmarks are unorganized and scattered across three browsers.

Then I noticed his email address was "earthtribepercussion@yahoo.com." I thought I remembered that "earthtribepercussion" was part of his URL. So I typed "www.earthtribepercussion.com" and sure enough, there he was.

P.S. If you can decipher the meaning of the numbers in the title, you get a prize (my own crazy sudoku).

P.S.S. I just Googled "sudoku" to see what it's all about. I've been hearing it in the air lately, it's becoming popular, though I've never done it. My question is: is this numbers-based logic game popular because, of rampant computer use, we're becoming computers, even in our leisure?

button blues 1

I KEEP HITTING THE "NEW ENTRY" BUTTON INSTEAD OF THE "SAVE" BUTTON.

Thus wiping out the previous entry which it typically takes me ten to fifteen minutes to compose.

Why am I doing that?

Willing blogging about it somehow inscribe it upon my memory so that in the future I WILL *NOT* KEEP HITTING THE "NEW ENTRY" BUTTON INSTEAD OF THE "SAVE" BUTTON?

introducing: MY NEW DJEMBE

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen and all sentient beings. My new djembe.

I used it last week at a New Year's drumming-and-dancing thing. Wow. Some drums make you an eloquent drummer, they almost play you: this is one of those drums.

I bought it cheap from an acquaintance of a friend. He makes drums out in California and had some shells, with slight imperfections, which he was willing to head and sell for $150. That's a great deal, folks. Though I'm broke, I had to go for it. Especially after I told the drum maker that I was looking for something smaller and lighter (so I could carry it at marches and on my bike). And he delivered (though it's still too big for bike transport).

And he did a great job heading it. It sounds great. The one problem, as with all djembes, is that it's loud, which makes it difficult to use when you live, as I do, in a row house full of other people. And you really need a car to transport it. For New Year's, I didn't have a car, so I had to borrow my house-mate's, and it stalled on me and wouldn't start again. But that's another story.

Anyway, the drum maker's name is Michael Goude and he has other drums 'n things at this web site:

http://www.earthtribepercussion.com/