gentle escapism in Edinburgh - Love over Scotland

I am not sure why I started reading book #3 in the 44 Scotland Street series - by Alexander McCall Smith - in fact not even sure why I bought it, quite a while ago - but I did enjoy the read. It feels very contemporary - I even found myself looking up Google maps to see where these characters lived, compared to the parts of Edinburgh I know well! It felt like a little gossip - checking in with lots of different and interesting people - every few days - to see how things are getting along. Mostly it is totally believable and then there are a few idealistic escapes. And of course, love conquers all and all's well that ends well...

Les Miserables - an epic Movie

I remember seeing the musical over 20 years ago in Sydney - I loved the history, the choruses, the music and the story of love, dreams and second chances. So I was keen to see the movie - apparently it was created for fans to give us a little bit more - and I must agree that the actual story was more accessible with access to a lot more scenary than the stage. I also appreciate that the actors sang in real time to accentuate the full experience - and this meant that we often saw close up scenes. So I must conclude that the movie was a faithful reconstruction of every moment in those 50 or more years - there was a lot of detail and at times I was feeling a little bored. My favourite songs were there and I did enjoy the ultimate challenge between being able to use second chances as Jean Valjean was able to, or not as was the case for Inspector Javert.

the Deep Blue Sea - a beautiful tragedy

Terence Davies recreates the grey and despairing post-war London as a backdrop for the deeply passionate Hester Collyer, played by Rachel Weisz. She is hauntingly beautiful and tragically alone, trapped between a loveless and very respectable marriage and a tormented affair with the youthful but damaged cad. Every scene is deeply meaningful and indoor light and shadows somehow reflect the fragility of Hester and her passion.

indulging in a little Chocolat

What a wonderful escapist french fairytale - o to live in such an idyllic village and to be able to enjoy the taste of hot chocolate at a whim... So of course the fairytale presents a moral tale where the righteously catholic see the error of their limiting views and learn to invite all people to enjoy the simple pleasures of life and everyone feels accepted and able to live and be loved...

cinderella - my first pantomime

There is one English tradition I wished I had experienced as a small child - the pantomime...and it took me quite a few years of living here before I enjoyed the spectacle. I have always loved the very Cotswold village of Chipping Norton. I was invited as a last week replacement to see Cinderella in the small but superbly restored Chipping Norton Theatre. It was great to see that at least half of the Friday afternoon matinee audience were young families. Eager and enthusiastic children waiting to be entertained and engaged in the fantasy. But I also noted that a lot of adults also enjoyed the traditions of hissing, echoing, copying and singing along...the distributed sweets were an expected bonus and it was great to have some spontaneous chatter between the cast and certain verbal children. I was so impressed with the balance between the professional actors in great costumes and local teams of enthusiastic children called pippins. It was also fun to see the familiar fairytale produced in Venice during Carnevale. With superb masks and the usual cross dressing and twists of the plot, it was a truly engaging and entertaining tale, with a superbly happy ending!

Escape in 3D with the Life of Pi

I remember a mixed response to the book back in 2002; on the one hand I was unable to put it down, but then unable to define what was reality in the bizarre story of an indian boy on a boat with a bengali tiger, after the hyena had eaten the zebra and the orangutan! I concluded that it did not matter where reality began or ended and that it had been an enjoyable reading experience. So I remained uncertain about the movie, albeit knowing that I must see it. I think the choice to see it in 3D was the most important one. This technology is impressive and provides the perfect extension for this extended adult fairytale. The animals are so real and larger than life as they jump out of the screen, and it is ok to see the extended sequences of flying fish and flourescent jellyfish - the tiger, Richard Parker is seriously scary and he really seems to have lost a lot of weight by the time they make it to Mexico.

So I found myself asking the same set of questions about the film as I did about the book - and concluding that there may be a psychodynamic set of interpretations, but the difference this time, is that I did not mind - and I concluded that I really enjoyed the total escapism of the movie experience, for what it was, in the present! Later I heard a bookclub discussion with Yann Martel the author, who described writing a book with two interpretations of the 227 (a prime number) days at sea between the summer solstice and Valentine's Day. It seems that Yann wanted his readers to decided on a rationalist or mystical interpretation, and then reach the Mexican coast, representing acceptance and understanding... I really enjoyed that also!

almost ... My Colombian Death

I am a total advocate of using travel to escape from the routine mediocrity of everyday life... but when Matthew Thompson leaves his reporting job at the Sydney Morning Herald, his wife and new born baby to discover himself in Colombia, I was intrigued - had he gone too far? OK, so his excuse was that his dad was offered a job in Bogota and turned it down because he considered his family! So I remain unconvinced that was evidence enough to turn back the years and give up all his responsibilities to search for the life he could have had. All a bit egocentric really - while he does write well, the teenage escapist fantasies he engages in do not endear me to him as a person. I do feel sorry for his understanding wife and baby daughter. So while he does seem to look for and engage in authentic Colombian cultural activities, I really remain convinced that this is a country I do not need to visit! So I was quite relieved when he tried the hallucinogenic yage and somehow received some insight into his life purpose...as a father and husband!