Howdy. Joanna here.
This month I’m doing a little departure from the usual Wenches’ What We’re Reading. This month it’s What We’re Watching. What movie, what TV, what paintings, what real life scenes have impressed and moved us recently?
For me ... I love non-fiction. The life of the duckbilled platypus. The Mongol Empire. The genetics of cats.
Recently I’ve been filling my leisure time with BBC and A&E documentaries on British History. One of my exciting finds -- I get excited by history -- is Tales From the Green Valley. Five archeologists and historians live for a year on a farm on the Welsh border, wearing the clothing, eating the food, using the farming techniques and following the household customs of 1620. It’s exact, detailed, authentic
(Well ... I caught them in one bit of ‘folk etymology’ error -- the origin of the phrase ‘upper crust’ to mean ‘rich folks’. Not 1620. It’s Nineteenth Century.)
This Tales From the Green Valley is a nitty-gritty, hands-on-the-plough, realistic view of a way of life that continued in some aspects till Victorian times. Interesting for its own sake. Interesting as the background upon which our stories are enacted. Fascinating to watch.
Andrea also recommends a non-fiction TV series. She says:
I very rarely watch television. I know there are really good shows, with fabulous writing, but when I have some down time, I always gravitate toward curling up with a book to relax.
However, a friend of mine recommended that I watch the PBS special seven part series on "The Roosevelts—An Intimate History" (the wonderful thing is you can download and watch all the episodes on your computer!) So I tuned in for the first one—and was absolutely hooked.
Nicola takes us right to Real Life.
Nicola here. This month I am watching the sea at Bamburgh Castle on the north east coast of England. We've had the most glorious weather and calm seas so far but tomorrow there is a storm promised. I find the sea so soothing and refreshing and walking along the beach has filled me with ideas and inspiration. It's wonderful to be here and see the geese flying overhead on their journey north and the castle silhouetted against the sky.
Pat Rice brings us some fiction on TV.
It’s the new TV season! I don’t watch a great deal of television, but I have a few favorites, and I love to see what writers have come up with each new season. And make no mistake about it—it’s the writing that’s important to me. All the pretty scenery, leering hunks, and special effects won’t hold my interest for more than five minutes. I need good characterization, great dialogue, and a strong concept. And then I get picky. <G>
So far, I’ve only watched two new shows and only the pilot of each, but they both look promising. The Red Band Society is totally unbelievable if reality turns you on, but the writing of the first episode was exceptionally strong and the characterization could be appealing if played right. It tells the tale of teenagers with disabling illnesses forced to interact in a hospital environment, outside their familiar milieu. And it’s funny.
The other was Madam Secretary with Tea Leoni. This is not your Hillary Clinton type of secretary of state. The basic premise is that this woman is put in place because she’s NOT a politician. She’s ex-CIA and familiar with foreign politics and she’s accustomed to doing things her way. Again, the reality is not strong, but the characters are likable and the plot writing was tight. We can see the conflicts lining up already. If nothing else, Bebe Neuwirth is always good for a complicated plot turn or two.
Mary Jo brings us more great TV fiction. She says:
Pat is happily looking at brand new fall season shows. I'm looking at last year's shows. <G> I don't watch television--the last show I sat down to watch was Obama's 2008 inauguration--but there are things on TV I do like, if I can watch them when I want and with no commercials. If' it's a show I really enjoy and may well watch again, DVD's are perfect for now and future use.
And (drum roll!!!) last season's shows are generally released on DVD in September. So in the last week or so, I've received the most recent seasons of Castle, Death in Paradise, Bones, and best of all, the second season of the Miss Fisher Mysteries. Miss Fisher is made in Australia and based on a mystery series by Kerry Greenwood, an author I met right here when Anne Gracie interviewed her. I've been a fan ever since. Set in post-WWI Melbourne, the stories feature the Honourable Phryne Fisher, a smart, sassy jazz age heroine who has seen too much of the world. They're visually great, and with spot on casting. I hope this series goes on forever.
I'm also particularly fond of Castle, which features bestselling mystery writer Rick Castle who lives the good life in New York City with his mother and his teenage daughter. For research, he starts to shadow Detective Kate Beckett, who is as smart as she is gorgeous, and then can't bring himself to stop. I love that smart, goofy Castle is a writer, with all the vanity and insecurity that involves. <G>
Here's hoping I can eke the episodes out till next September.
(Joanna back again to second the recommendation for Miss Fisher Mysteries. Yeah Phryne!)
Anne points us to a unique, gorgeous visual experience:
Anne here. I'm head down heading toward a deadline, so I'm not going out to movies, or doing any traveling, and I don't have a TV and the only place I'm going to is the local supermarket. So I'm getting my gorgeousness fix from the web -- for instance, this blog post by writer Laini Taylor which tells of her visit to an amazing project in France, where they project photos of paintings onto the walls of an old quarry in a sound and light show. Doesn't sound much, does it, but have a look at Laini''s blog and see how people can experience the luscious and evocative richness of Klimpt paintings in this old quarry. I so want to go there to experience it.
Jo Beverley offers a bouquet of TV programs.
I regularly watch University Challenge, the Great British Bake Off, New Tricks, and Vera. All UK shows, and I'm not sure any of them make their way to North America. My indication of my preferences comes from watching nearly all TV from recordings, not live. If I've been away or busy and they've piled up, which do I watch first? The choice is complicated by programme length, but these days it'll be Vera if I have the time.
Vera Stanhope is a Detective Chief Inspector in Northumberland, and as a northerner I like it being set far from the center of power around London. We do get to see the glorious moors and long beaches, but overall the society portrayed is a bit grim, which I think only reinforces the southern view that it's a dark and dangerous world "up there."
As a woman I question it being called Vera. Foyle's War isn't called Christopher, Midsomer Murders isn't Tom or John. It's not purely sexism, as Prime Suspect wasn't Jane. Is it another aspect of prejudice against the north -- that up there in the remote hinterland even a DCI has to be the epitome of down-to-earth, with a bad haircut and sloppy clothes to go with it?
Despite that, and despite some odd mannerisms that I assume come from the original books by Anne Cleeves, it's a good series with plots based mostly on personality not violence, and excellent key characters in DCI Stanhope and Detective Sergeant Joe Ashworth. The first book is, I think, Silent Voices, available in the US here, and elsewhere.
As a bonus, in Joe Ashworth I find a man who looks a bit like the hero of my next book, Too Dangerous for a Lady. He's the type who always has stubble, but then, so does Mark Thayne when he's Ned Granger, undercover anti-terrorism agent in 1817.
(And Joanna pops up again to second Vera, Midsommer Murders, and Foyle's War. All great mysteries.)
So that’s What We’re Watching in September. A diverse array. Lots of mystery, interestingly enough.
Are any of the sights we mention favorites with you?
What sights, real or dramatized, have you been loving lately?