Just finished this book last night:

The Firebrand & the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship

Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt & the Struggle for Social Justice

What an amazing read. Now of course I need to go back and read more about them both. Definitely a sense of true perspective on what’s important in life from a person on the outside nearly all her life, vs. one of the preeminent females in American history, if not also the world. Their friendship and decades-long relationship is an inspiration for us all.

Click for a video interview with author Patricia Bell-Scott.

other reviews:

NY Times
The American Scholar

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candybowl

So Amazon is trying to get on the ‘online studio/streaming’ bandwagon with a number of new pilots – most of which I haven’t paid attention to, but The Man in the High Castle is of particular interest, given that it’s based on a PKD book, one for which he won the Hugo back in the 60’s.

This the story of an alternate history where the Axis won WWI and divided up the world (specifically the USA for the plot of the book) between them. The story flips between the East Coast (dominated by Nazis), West Coast (run by the Japanese) and a central ‘neutral zone’ (I think it was called the Colorado Free State in the booK).

After some stupid tech issues, I finally got the video to run – the first episode is free, although it does make you log in with your Amazon account. Not sure if they are doing a miniseries (like the initial return of BSG was before it became a full-on series) or trying to extend the original story beyond that of the novel, but it’s an interesting start, and well-made so far. I liked the several Seattle ‘architectural cameos’ in it – nice touch, Bezos – and I liked that the actors aren’t big names – for a series like this, I think that in many ways detracts from the story, especially with an ensemble cast.

Definitely interested to see more – although now I may need to take a spin back through the original book too, as it’s been so long since I read it. Hoping they do this justice like A Scanner Darkly, Minority Report or Blade Runner – and NOT like the recent adaptations of The Hobbit (for which JRR T must be doing backflips in his grave about now) but time will tell….here’s a clip:

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saw something in the paper about this – very cool juxtaposition of old Seattle photos vs. modern, via the convenience and power of Photoshop. More on his blog, but a nice example below…..

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Saw the recent (2002) adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo late last week. What a great movie! Not only does it have Jim Caviezel and Guy Pearce as the two main characters (Dantes and Mondego, respectively), but one of the last performances of Richard Harris (English Bob, ‘original’ Dumbledore, among other recent notable roles before he passed away that year).

Of course, this is the classic Dumas story of a deceitful betrayal and revenge story set in Napoleonic France (he’s just been exiled to Elba but escapes back to France midway through the story). Napoleon himself appears at the beginning of the story but otherwise doesn’t really play a role. Each main character is compelling in his own way, whether good or bad, but Guy Pearce (chief bad guy) naturally gets to steal many scenes. There were even a couple last minute plot twists i didn’t anticipate, and it keeps you tense right up until the end, which is well done.

Another interesting thing here is Jim Caviezel later going on to play Number Six in the remake of The Prisoner (seven years later in 2009). Chateau d’if, where his character Dantes is imprisoned – is in many ways not unlike The Village – a prison of no escape, albeit one much harsher than even The Village. It really made me think about how brutal such imprisonment must have been in those times – simply lock them up in a lonely stone tower on a remote part of the French coast, throw them a bowl of gruel once or twice a day and whip them at your leisure. Better to not get in trouble at all – at least they could walk around and play chess in The Village!

Anyway, great movie, definitely worth checking out.

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Saw 1997’s Mrs. Brown Friday night. While a pretty ‘sedate’ movie compared to most of my usual fare, it was interesting and a tragic, human story nonetheless.

I originally wanted to see this because it has Billy Connolly and Judi Dench in it. They play Mr. Brown and Queen Victoria, respectively. I’ll pretty much watch *anything* with Billy Connolly in it, and having seen Judi Dench in a number of movies and shows over the years, she is one of those actors always worth watching, regardless of the subject matter. Geoffrey Palmer and even a young Gerard Butler play key surrounding roles also, amid the other supporting cast.

Here, Mr. Brown is a former friend called in from Scotland by the Queen to be a personal assistant while she continues her mourning in seclusion over her dead husband, Prince Albert. He rapidly shakes things up, being a brusque, non-nonsense Scotsman amid an otherwise huge group of bootlicks and suck-ups surrounding the Queen in her daily routine – this includes her large family of children (9) who seem to live there too.

This movie is as much about personal relationships, loyalty and ‘office politics’ as it is about the main characters. And as we see all too often in real life, the outsider is rapidly the subject of multiple attempts (both subtle and direct) to ruin him and roust him out of a position of influence.

But the tragedy here isn’t completely about Mr. Brown – the Queen bears responsibility for a lot of ‘drama’ here – both imagined and real. On the one hand, she’s already been in mourning/seclusion for several years before he arrives, and even despite his resulting positive influence on her, remains there for several years hence. But his devotion is unswerving and without exception, the only successful interruption to which is ultimately brought by Prime Minister Disraeli who makes an appeal to Brown directly.

It would be very interesting to have seen the real relationship play out in person (this movie is based on a true story) as the Queen here is all-too-often very harsh in her dealings with everyone around her – I wonder if that portrayal was accurate, exaggerated in the movie or worst case, understated? It is often painful to watch her switch back and forth to coming out of her shell vs. addressing everyone so formally while describing herself in the third person. I realize monarchies (well, from what i’ve read – monarchies in the USA are only created truly within the minds of the self-deluded, not that there’s any shortage) breed their family members to expect and demand complete ‘service’ wherever possible – it’s just still painful to see it in practice. Especially these days where the British Crown is even more a leech on the public finances than it ever was?

The performances here are great, imho. Billy C. doesn’t have to imitate any accent but his natural brogue (probably a good thing :)) and portrays the kind heart, blind loyalty and ultimately tragic figure of Mr. Brown very well. Judi Dench’s Queen V. comes across as frequently melodramatic and fairly black & white in her life outlook. She is sometimes on the verge of opening up back to humanity, but then quickly retreats into stiff formality and her role as Queen as a protective mechanism. It was also interesting at the start of the movie when Gerard Butler’s accent sounded forced and kinda fake compared to BC’s – he also plays a Scottish character in this movie – but in reading his IMDB bio, he’s actually also Scottish (but lived in Canada in his later childhood). Hmm.

Ultimately, this is a good movie and anyone who likes period pieces, these actors, or an insight into a completely different society (and historical period) than our own should like this movie. Be warned that it might be harder to find on DVD – we had to watch it on VHS.

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