Return of the Prodigal
So, how long has it been since I've posted? Well I do have an excuse. I was away and then I was sick. But I do have much to speak of today, albeit in brief.
Bunny's New Year's Gala? Beyond saying it was fun I'm not quite sure how to describe the whole thing. I mean really, the man covered every single surface, appliance and object in his kitchen in tinfoil. This silvery wonderland stood in direct contrast to the abject blackness of the living room, lit only by constellations under the black light. And I make no mention of the full bar in the back yard (the Red Baron) and the martini bar on the third floor.
So, um, yeah, we had fun. And as Heather's snaps show, we looked damn sharp. We also met the lovely and charming whisky pants, who was in attendance with her DC crew. She claimed there were six of 'em, but I only met the Alabama Slammer and the Multi Cultural Spitfire. Saturday and Sunday hangover recovery was held at Middleton's Tavern (where Heather's CS discovered the joys of $0.95 oyster shooters) and overall I think the first time visitors left with a pretty good grasp of the places the Bunny and I frequent in NapTown. As always, it was fun too catch up with the Castlebay crew and other Annapolis folk: Garrett, Ronan, Will, G-Money, Jason n' Kristen, Clark and lots of other folks I'll remember later.
That nasty cold bug making the rounds finally caught up with me and laid me low for a couple for days this week. On the down side, I still have the vague feeling of having been thoroughly worked over with a Louisville Slugger. On the plus side, if you can get past the whole feeling physically wretched thing, there's much to do when you're sick. Such as...
...reading. This was the first chance I really had to delve into Bodyguard of Lies: The Extraordinary True Story Behind D-Day by Anthony Cave Brown. Offhand I can't think of any bloggers who are espionage geeks besides CW (and his area of interest seems to be Elizabethan England, not WWII), but I'd recommend this book to anyone. Is truth stranger than fiction? Well, when the truth involves Nazi spies, the Count de Almasy (the basis for Ralph Fiennes' character in The English Patient and also a Nazi agent), Anwar Sadat, the Muslim Brotherhood and a plot to end British rule in Egypt, truth is definitely stranger than fiction. And keep in mind, the above is only a brief episode in the secret war described in Bodyguard of Lies - there's much more historical weirdness where that tidbit came from.
Naturally I spent some hours leaning back in the easy chair, remote(s) in hand, with some new DVDs. For Christmas, Heather gave me the three-DVD set of the first 100 Strongbad emails from homestarruner. Wholesome comic goodness - my personal favorites are techno, dragon, marzipan, guitars, and stunt double. Go check 'em out yourself.
I also watched the first two episodes of the 1979 mini-series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy starring Sir Alec Guinness as Smiley. It's excellent - so much so that I've already added the 1982 follow-up Smiley's People. I imagine that for most people of my generation - say those between the ages of 6 and 10 in 1977 when Star Wars hit the theaters - the enduring image, or memory, of Sir Alec Guinness, is his role as Ben Kenobi. And I can't help but imagine but the poor man somehow found this either distressing, or amusing, or both, considering the extraordinary body of work he created over a life time. Alec Guiness in Star Wars? That's comparable to the head chef from a Michelin Four Star slinging fries on the midnight-to-eight shift at the local IHOP. That's how much better he was than anyone else in any of the Star Wars films.
Much to my shame I did not quite realize the man's talent until I watched Tinker, Tailor... , since besides a long-ago viewing of Bridge on the River Kwai I hadn't taken in much of Guinness'' work. I know little or nothing about acting, the craft of acting, how actors go about bringing their roles to life. But there was one scene in Tinker, Tailor... that left me absolutely awestruck.
In the beginning of the production the viewers are introduced to Smiley. We learn that he was a spy - high-ranking member of an intelligence service referred to as 'the Circus' - and that he has been forcibly retired. We also see hints of marital problems - his wife's absence is frequently commented on. Most importantly, we learn that Smiley is some what a shell of his former self, a broken man, or at least a man in the process of breaking. We learn this not through expository dialogue - so far (i.e. through the first two episodes) Guinness-as-Smiley has had a minimal amount of dialogue - but through the way the man moves. Smiley shuffles down the street, haltingly, as if his body is no longer completely under his control , and he lacks the energy, or the simple desire, to bring it back under his command.
Without giving too much away, let me simply say that Smiley is called out of retirement to consult on a certain manner. During this consultation he interviews and questions an agent who has 'come in from the cold' and we see an abrupt transformation in Smiley's demeanor. Stopping the interview, Smiley breaks eye contact with the camera, dips his head slightly forward, dons a pair of glasses, and lifts his chin back up to make direct eye contact with the camera, which is shooting from the interviewee's point of view. (And I'm sure there's a technical film term for that but I have no idea what it is).
When Smiley resumes looking at the camera - at the man he is questioning - he is an entirely different man. No longer broken, or hesitant, or doddering, Smiley is now in charge. He is menacing, in complete control, not only of himself but the situation around him.
All from a single, brief look at the camera and the thing is, I have no idea how Sir Alec Guinness did it. There's no obvious dramatic gesture or line to scream out at the viewer "Here comes the transformation! Pay attention now! Smiley is now top dog!" Hell, I can't even remember if there's a score to that scene, so it wasn't done with a musical cue. Somehow in that one shot Guinness is convey to the camera, to project to the viewer on some visceral level that Smiley is not all who we though he was up to this point. One glance shatters the image of the broken old man and replaces with it something else entirely - some who is cold, calculating, ruthless... just plain dangerous.
Like I said, I have no idea how Guinness did it. But it was magic to watch.
Bunny's New Year's Gala? Beyond saying it was fun I'm not quite sure how to describe the whole thing. I mean really, the man covered every single surface, appliance and object in his kitchen in tinfoil. This silvery wonderland stood in direct contrast to the abject blackness of the living room, lit only by constellations under the black light. And I make no mention of the full bar in the back yard (the Red Baron) and the martini bar on the third floor.
So, um, yeah, we had fun. And as Heather's snaps show, we looked damn sharp. We also met the lovely and charming whisky pants, who was in attendance with her DC crew. She claimed there were six of 'em, but I only met the Alabama Slammer and the Multi Cultural Spitfire. Saturday and Sunday hangover recovery was held at Middleton's Tavern (where Heather's CS discovered the joys of $0.95 oyster shooters) and overall I think the first time visitors left with a pretty good grasp of the places the Bunny and I frequent in NapTown. As always, it was fun too catch up with the Castlebay crew and other Annapolis folk: Garrett, Ronan, Will, G-Money, Jason n' Kristen, Clark and lots of other folks I'll remember later.
That nasty cold bug making the rounds finally caught up with me and laid me low for a couple for days this week. On the down side, I still have the vague feeling of having been thoroughly worked over with a Louisville Slugger. On the plus side, if you can get past the whole feeling physically wretched thing, there's much to do when you're sick. Such as...
...reading. This was the first chance I really had to delve into Bodyguard of Lies: The Extraordinary True Story Behind D-Day by Anthony Cave Brown. Offhand I can't think of any bloggers who are espionage geeks besides CW (and his area of interest seems to be Elizabethan England, not WWII), but I'd recommend this book to anyone. Is truth stranger than fiction? Well, when the truth involves Nazi spies, the Count de Almasy (the basis for Ralph Fiennes' character in The English Patient and also a Nazi agent), Anwar Sadat, the Muslim Brotherhood and a plot to end British rule in Egypt, truth is definitely stranger than fiction. And keep in mind, the above is only a brief episode in the secret war described in Bodyguard of Lies - there's much more historical weirdness where that tidbit came from.
Naturally I spent some hours leaning back in the easy chair, remote(s) in hand, with some new DVDs. For Christmas, Heather gave me the three-DVD set of the first 100 Strongbad emails from homestarruner. Wholesome comic goodness - my personal favorites are techno, dragon, marzipan, guitars, and stunt double. Go check 'em out yourself.
I also watched the first two episodes of the 1979 mini-series Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy starring Sir Alec Guinness as Smiley. It's excellent - so much so that I've already added the 1982 follow-up Smiley's People. I imagine that for most people of my generation - say those between the ages of 6 and 10 in 1977 when Star Wars hit the theaters - the enduring image, or memory, of Sir Alec Guinness, is his role as Ben Kenobi. And I can't help but imagine but the poor man somehow found this either distressing, or amusing, or both, considering the extraordinary body of work he created over a life time. Alec Guiness in Star Wars? That's comparable to the head chef from a Michelin Four Star slinging fries on the midnight-to-eight shift at the local IHOP. That's how much better he was than anyone else in any of the Star Wars films.
Much to my shame I did not quite realize the man's talent until I watched Tinker, Tailor... , since besides a long-ago viewing of Bridge on the River Kwai I hadn't taken in much of Guinness'' work. I know little or nothing about acting, the craft of acting, how actors go about bringing their roles to life. But there was one scene in Tinker, Tailor... that left me absolutely awestruck.
In the beginning of the production the viewers are introduced to Smiley. We learn that he was a spy - high-ranking member of an intelligence service referred to as 'the Circus' - and that he has been forcibly retired. We also see hints of marital problems - his wife's absence is frequently commented on. Most importantly, we learn that Smiley is some what a shell of his former self, a broken man, or at least a man in the process of breaking. We learn this not through expository dialogue - so far (i.e. through the first two episodes) Guinness-as-Smiley has had a minimal amount of dialogue - but through the way the man moves. Smiley shuffles down the street, haltingly, as if his body is no longer completely under his control , and he lacks the energy, or the simple desire, to bring it back under his command.
Without giving too much away, let me simply say that Smiley is called out of retirement to consult on a certain manner. During this consultation he interviews and questions an agent who has 'come in from the cold' and we see an abrupt transformation in Smiley's demeanor. Stopping the interview, Smiley breaks eye contact with the camera, dips his head slightly forward, dons a pair of glasses, and lifts his chin back up to make direct eye contact with the camera, which is shooting from the interviewee's point of view. (And I'm sure there's a technical film term for that but I have no idea what it is).
When Smiley resumes looking at the camera - at the man he is questioning - he is an entirely different man. No longer broken, or hesitant, or doddering, Smiley is now in charge. He is menacing, in complete control, not only of himself but the situation around him.
All from a single, brief look at the camera and the thing is, I have no idea how Sir Alec Guinness did it. There's no obvious dramatic gesture or line to scream out at the viewer "Here comes the transformation! Pay attention now! Smiley is now top dog!" Hell, I can't even remember if there's a score to that scene, so it wasn't done with a musical cue. Somehow in that one shot Guinness is convey to the camera, to project to the viewer on some visceral level that Smiley is not all who we though he was up to this point. One glance shatters the image of the broken old man and replaces with it something else entirely - some who is cold, calculating, ruthless... just plain dangerous.
Like I said, I have no idea how Guinness did it. But it was magic to watch.
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