Fiend and the Forge, and Topsy-Turvy
Sep. 11th, 2011 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearI finally got around to starting the third Hound of Roan book by Henry H Neff in audio form last week - unfortunately, I only got about half way through before I decided to stop. Not even the delectable tones of Jeff Woodman could keep me invested in what quickly became a very dreary story. When I checked Wikipedia and discovered it is the third book or four, I decided not to persevere, since I wasn't sure I could take many more hours without it coming to a satisfactory conclusion. it's a shame, as I very much enjoyed the first two books - but this was was just too much doom and gloom without anything really to attach myself to in order to get through it.
Dave and I watched Topsy-Turvy last week - my latest DVD rental - and it was rather an odd film. It told the story of Gilbert and Sullivan writing, rehearsing and staging The Mikado. There were an awful lot of scenes that were extended sections of that and other productions, simply showing exerpts of performances, and the in between bits were very episodic, rather than telling a coherent story. It was still engaging, though, and very well acted all round. What I found most interesting was that it wasn't treated as a complete, neatly tied off tale - the main arc of the creation of The Mikado obviously had a beginning in its inception and a conclusion in its first night performance - but it was made very obvious that this was just a small part of all the characters' lives, which continued both backwards and forwards on either side of this particular interlude. This meant that various sub plots were introduced for various of the characters but never resolved - however, this didn't make for a less than satisfying film - somehow it worked as a snapshot and was quite effective.
Dave and I watched Topsy-Turvy last week - my latest DVD rental - and it was rather an odd film. It told the story of Gilbert and Sullivan writing, rehearsing and staging The Mikado. There were an awful lot of scenes that were extended sections of that and other productions, simply showing exerpts of performances, and the in between bits were very episodic, rather than telling a coherent story. It was still engaging, though, and very well acted all round. What I found most interesting was that it wasn't treated as a complete, neatly tied off tale - the main arc of the creation of The Mikado obviously had a beginning in its inception and a conclusion in its first night performance - but it was made very obvious that this was just a small part of all the characters' lives, which continued both backwards and forwards on either side of this particular interlude. This meant that various sub plots were introduced for various of the characters but never resolved - however, this didn't make for a less than satisfying film - somehow it worked as a snapshot and was quite effective.
