I'M HENRY VIII, I AM I AM, LUCY DACUS, AND A COUPLE OF FIZZY ROMANTIC COMEDIES


 Hello there!

How are you? I hope you are getting along okay.  This post is arriving on the heels of another, which is, perhaps, overkill, but I promised myself I would write a blog post every Friday so, TA DA, here we are!.

 Because I  made a couple of recommendations in my previous post, and because I am a little bleary from my booster shot, (thanks Moderna, work your DNA mojo on my immune system. Omicron be gone!), I will keep it short today.  

Here we go, a couple things that boosted my serotonin levels this week.

1. Lucy Dacus dazzles on Tiny Desk with full-on, homespun, small town realness. I could listen to her dense, buttery vocals all day. Dacus's friend and occasional collaborator, Phoebe Bridgers, gets all the limelight, and, don't get me wrong, Bridgers is great, but it is Dacus's vivid recollections, evocatively told, that keep me coming back.  



2. Writer director Whit Stillman never quite got the recognition he deserved for his effervescent comedies. The only thing I like better than movies about relationships are movies where characters, usually young adults, TALK about relationships. Stillman is a master of this sub-genre. His cerebral characters, acid tongued, striving to be erudite, are indelible.

Tinged with melancholy, Stillman's films share a unifying theme, that is each movie mourns the death of a particular cultural moment.  '

The Last Days of Disco was not enthusiastically received by critics on release but the movie has recently been re-apprised, and I, an unapolagetic superfan, could not be more pleased.  

Here are the trailers for Metropolitan and Last Days of Disco, both titles available on Criterion, i-tunes, or, if you live in Victoria, try Pic A Flic Video.  






In 2009, Hilary Mantel published the Booker prize winning novel Wolf Hall, the first of a trilogy. The titular hero of the novel(don't you love that word, titular?), Thomas Cromwell was Henry VIII's enigmatic pre-eminent administrator/fixer.  Cromwell, the low-born son of a blacksmith, rose to improbable heights within the Tudor Court courtesy of his remarkable intelligence, dogged work-ethic, and steely-eyed pragmatism. 

Mantel charts Cromwell's rise and eventual downfall in her series of books. The final novel, The Mirror and the Light, was finally published in 2021. I listened to this one on audiobook. Skillfully narrated, it was worth the decade plus wait.  I would  recommend Mantel's books for lovers of historical fiction (not just these, ALL of her novels are good, she is a great writer!) but, if you want the abridged version, check out the Wolf Hall series, available on i-tunes or Britbox. 

Stunningly acted and sumptuously filmed, this is the penultimate series for history buffs..  Claire Foy, adroitly plays cunning, sadly ill-fated Anne Boleyn, but the series true anchor is Mark Rylance. In a quiet, thoughtful performance Rylance plays Cromwell as I would have imagined him.  

Here is a trailer for this remarkable, compulsively watchable series:


That is all for now folks.  I hope you have a wonderful week. 

Do not hesitate to let me know what you think or to offer your own suggestions in the comments. Take care! Until next time. xx




Comments

  1. Steve Bailey (NEOS)16 January 2022 at 12:02

    I loved Wolf Hall. Managed to be meticulous, brooding and terrifying all at once. Mark Rylance was incredible. Those scenes where he stares almost expressionlessly at another character while conveying anything from deepest love to harshest threat without saying a word. Our actor friend Kelt told me that he was taught that great actors minimize their movements and facial expressions, rather than running around screaming with their hands waving in the air. This performance is a master class.

    Thanks for sharing the Lucy Dacus tiny desk performance. I love songwriters who can evoke those childhood memories so perfectly. It was interesting to me that she's 26 but I found so much in common with her stories and feelings about childhood. I know she's from a small town in the US. Maybe things are a little more old school there, or maybe childhood never really changes that much, not matter how technology and culture does. That last song is intense. It made we wonder if the father's crimes reach beyond the abandonment cited in the song.

    There's another young singer-songwriter I've been meaning to listen to more named Julien Baker. She came to my attention when a young singer who goes under the name Absentia covered her song Rejoice while playing at SubClub. How does such a small person make such a big beautiful sound?
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4C_UYJKoALs
    My interest is further piqued because she's touring with Sharon Van Etten (who I don't know) and Angel Olsen who I love. Too bad the closest they're coming is Seattle, would like to see that show.

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  2. Laurel31 January 2022 at 21:17

    Thanks for the Wolf Hall recommendation. I recently finished A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles on audiobook and have been suffering from that despondent, lonely feeling of having finished a long, engrossing book that had become a companion - in this case my washing the dishes/cleaning the house/cooking companion, as that is when I listen to a book. Wolf Hall was serendipitously available from the library to start listening to immediately! Happy me.

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