I saw Jodhi May in something today and suddenly got an urge to watch her in the TV version  of Sarah Waters’ Tipping the Velvet. I bunged in the DVD and starting watching it from when Florence (played by May) tells Nan (Rachael Stirling) about her relationship with Lilian (Cyril’s mother). The next morning, Florence suggests they go out together. Nan takes her to a pub where she has to tell Florence that some of the clientèle of the spacious pub are not, in fact, men. Subsequently, they overhear a conversation which puzzles Florence who has to ask what “tipping the velvet” actually means and Nan explains in words and mime. They then walk home and, in scene of astonishingly awful cheesy CGI, they kiss on a bridge over the frozen Thames while a man skates on the river below them. By this time I’m going “something isn’t right” (and I didn’t mean the terrible effects) so I rush upstairs to grab the book.

Anyway to cut a long story short, in the book the scene when Flo tells Nan about Lilian is pretty much the same sans the politics but it is Flo who chooses the pub (actually, a small room in a pub), it is Flo who informs Nan that not all the blokes are blokes (“to think…that I might have worn my moleskins, after all”), and much more importantly, it is Flo who tells Nan what “tipping the velvet” means to Nan’s great confusion.

What was the thinking of Andrew Davies here? Why did he swap the dialogue around? Maybe if I reacquaint myself with the adaptation I’ll understand what he was trying to do but otherwise it removes Nan’s essential naivety and places it on the sensible and straightforward and quite frankly wonderful Florence who doesn’t deserve that.

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I don’t need the money. Not needing the money puts me in a magical place because I can say no. I like the idea of having good movies made or having no movies made.

Neil Gaiman on The Anansi Boys, black characters, white Hollywood and ethics.

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to
stick to possibilities; Truth isn’t.

–Pudd’nhead Wilson’s New Calendar. in Following the Equator by Mark Twain (1897)

I really enjoyed this film starring one of my favourite people, Emma Thompson. Great music, fascinating story, good cast and lots of baked goods. I would have happily been one of Ana’s study buddies.

Best line “I brought you flours.”

I thought at first (due to her accent) that Margaret was confessing to be a writer of science fiction…

Here’s the deal:

1. Grab the nearest book (that is at least 123 pages long).
2. Open to p. 123.
3. Go down to the 5th sentence.
4. Type in the following 3 sentences.
5. Tag five people.

“Don’t you get tired of wading in mud and filth? – No, I can’t do that. Y’know it. Especially this coming week, there’s too much to do. I’ve already been away too much.” – Haweswater by Sarah Hall

I tag any five people who have left a comment on this blog.

Can a class of writer so institutionally and historically disengaged from a subject write a classic (or even a good) novel on it?

and

Why, with all those “women’s subjects” at her disposal, did Kennedy venture into this most exclusive of manly enclaves?

I shall certainly read Can Jane Eyre Be Happy? and Is Heathcliff a Murderer? in a different light now.

But still, a good thing has come out of it – I actually quite fancy reading Day by AL Kennedy now.

PS Even it is written in humour this type of article is all over The Guardian these days and they are serious.

• The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney. Stef came in for a hard time because she has never been to Canada and yet wrote a book about the place. I guess she has never been to 1867 either. Stupid, stupid criticism of a moody book which has maybe too many fascinating characters with their all too brief stories. Recommended and I am looking forward to her second book already.
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Ah, speculative fiction or sf as it is usually known. Despite Atwood’s lack of commitment to the genre, this is science fiction and very well written too, unlike:
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy which I could not get into due to the liberal chucking around of obscure words. I don’t know how it ends, I returned it to the library.
• Carol (aka The Price of Salt) by Patrica Highsmith. Apparently first published as pulp fiction. What a treat to read pulp this good. Trademark unsympathetic characters but entirely gripping.
• As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann. Slash fiction. Jacob is a pig of a man but I loved reading his story and his love for Ferris. Impeccable Civil War detail. Someone else whose next novel I am looking forward to.
• 1984 by George Orwell. First read at school, I read this every few years and never tire of it. It always seems particularly revelant. He was a genius.
• Observations by Jane Harris. Written in Scots and Northern Irish dialect, this was really easy to get into. However, despite the thrilling feeling that it was going to all Fingersmith on us, it didn’t and just ended poorly. Nice try though.

And the early issues of Runaways have made me love Brian K. Vaughan which in turn has led to more spending.

I have always enjoyed reading the work of Doris Lessing though I do know I haven’t read nearly enough by her. The Children of Violence series notably Martha Quest, A Proper Marriage and A Ripple from The Storm impressed me immensely when I was younger and I did enjoy The Good Terrorist though I fear a lot of the references were beyond me. I remember back in college watching a South Bank Show (tx’d 17/04/1988) featuring her and she talked about how people worry about approaching disaster and menace as if it was just around the corner and she simply pointed out that “we are living in catastrophe”. As we settle into the twentieth first century this is being more apparent as things set in motion decades ago are now really getting weird: bumblebees in January anyone?

Anyway, Doris, has a MySpace account which seems very strange. This is what she has to say on her main site: “I am so happy to be communicating with people on this newest of new wavelengths which to some older people must seem like a kind of magic.”: which is probably true.

As I have said before Buffy has ruined my life except what I actually meant was that Buffy has improved my life. And one of those improvements has been the encouragement to get further into the world of comics aka graphic novels aka sequential art. And it’s all Amber Benson’s fault and the fact that Ealing Libraries has a healthy collection of Buffy trade paperbacks. I slowly fell in love with Tara on BtVS and with Amber Benson: the more I know about her the more there is to admire.When I realised she had co-written a Buffy comic I had to get it. I liked it well enough but wasn’t that impressed. I have subsequently come to believe that the more sequential art you read the more you appreciate it.

However, it was Amber Benson’s afterword for WannaBlessedBe is the thing that did it for me:

“As someone unexposed to comics, I had no idea that there was such a plethora of genres out there. All I knew was the superhero. I think if I had been turned on to Promethea or Strangers in Paradise as a kid, my whole comic outlook would have been changed. Here are comics that deal with things that appeal to me as a female. As a kid, I could have so related.”

These are the comics I have read so far:

Buffy: The Death of Buffy – various (“Lost and Found” by Fabian Nicieza is excellent)
Buffy: Willow and Tara – various (the Terry Moore illustrated WannaBlessedBe has the classic line “My heart doesn’t stutter” but I thought Tara and Caitlin looked too much alike – in fact, my only criticism of Strangers in Paradise is the sameyness of some of the characters)
The Complete Ballad of Halo Jones – Alan Moore and Ian Gibson (it took a while for me to warm to this but by the time Halo got to Moab, I did not want it to end – the art work is dated which takes a bit of getting used to)

Ghost World – Daniel Clowes (I need to read this and to see the film again – “Ghost World” by Aimee Mann is one of my favourite songs)
Maus – Art Spiegelman (the subject matter is unforgettable but what I remember most distinctly is that Volume 1 just ended and it cost me a lot of money)
The Plot– Will Eisner (the story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion told superbly)
Preacher: Gone to Texas – Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (oh my word, this is unpleasantly gruesome and, well, graphic – intriguing story but the style is just too much)
Promethea Book One/Two/Three – Alan Moore and J. H. Williams III (this started off brilliantly and then got bogged down in philosophical and metaphysical musing and, quite frankly, by Book Three I was bored – fantastic art work though, it looks gorgeous)
Shadowplay: Demon Father John’s Pinwheel Blues – Amber Benson and Ben Templesmith (this is graphic and gruesome but unlike the traditional look of Preacher it has an arty quality (you can tell I haven’t done art appreciation) which I liked – the story itself is intriguing and tantalizingly brief)

Strangers in Paradise: Pocket Book 1 – Terry Moore (wonderful – worth a post of its own)
Strangers in Paradise: Love Me Tender – Terry Moore (I read this first and I just adored it – apparently I have been Katchoo’d but I do relate more to Francine)
Stuck Rubber Baby – Howard Cruse (I liked this but I couldn’t love it – Toland was too dull)
Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (I need to read this again)