dirac

Thanks, Rosa and Ostrich. And the ironic tone is not as evident as previously (not counting Mansfield Park). It's a lovely, tender book.

Not a writer here, but just as devastated! I relied on Mr. Segal's insight and views to keep me posted on the "whereabouts" of Los Angeles Ballet - indeed, I would eagerly scan the internet (as I live across the country) for any news after each of their performances and other activities. What a shame! As I have no other "use" for LA Times, I guess I won't be reading any more of it! I am also hoping this is not a sign of things to come for this young company Thanks to you for posting, and for everyone else chiming in. I didn't mean to suggest that only writers should put in their two cents. Sorry about that. Yes, exactly.

The timing is awful, isn't it - not that there is ever a good time for news like this. A post by Luke Jennings in The Guardian’s arts blog on the dismissal: We have a lot of writers who read and post to this board - does no one have any comments? I realize this speaks for itself, but I see people lurking and looking, but not commenting.

From the ARTicles blog. The Los Angeles Times has decided it doesn't need a chief dance critic.

Thank you for posting, Farrell Fan. Sad news, although no one can say he didn’t lead a rich, full, and long life.

So who's watching? Reports?

That may depend on how long the flap lasts over this.

Well, he’s a pundit, not a dancer, so we can cut him some slack, I guess. It wouldn’t stun me that twentysomething pitchers (or any other young aspiring athletes) aren’t necessarily conversant with that much history – they’re too focused. I’m sure some of them have heard of Mathewson and Johnson, although they’re more likely to know the older players who were role models for them. Novak Djokovic probably hasn’t heard of Little Bill Johnston, but I’d not think any less of him for it. I tune in only occasionally, but I think I may have seen that particular show.

An update from Ron Rosenbaum. Evidently the manuscript has already been shown around a bit, so Nabokov's wishes have already been violated to a degree. Regarding the e-mail, maybe Dmitri just forgot about the Caps Lock key....

I do take your point, but I actually think this was overall a very good year for American movies. No Country for Old Men, Michael Clayton, There Will Be Blood, and Juno were all strong nominees.

It is a minor point and I will not belabor it further, but Swinton played Elizabeth for Jarman,. She also played Isabella for him. Opinions can differ, but from my reading it sounds as if Henry was six feet or so. He wasn’t always stout, of course, and even allowing for flattery by all reports he was a magnificent young man. Henry would not have been among the tallest men by today's standards, but he would still qualify as tall and I imagine he'd still stand out in the crowd even minus the crown.

I hold no brief for the Oscar show producers, but they really can't win. Cavett is panning them for allowing the winners to go on for so long when others are critical of them for cracking down too much. I certainly wouldn't want to see a show where everyone marched up, said thank you, and walked off. Maybe Cavett's not interested in seeing somebody's mother getting a shout out on international television, but I bet it makes Mom feel pretty good, and it can provide some nice moments. I can remember shows from the past that were far more painful than this one. In terms of contemporary filmmaking it would make sense for the the Best Director and Best Picture winners to coincide, but for political and other reasons it's also reasonable to split the difference; it can provide a way to recognize a director who hasn't won before, for example, while giving the big kahuna to another movie for different reasons. I'm kind of surprised Cavett doesn't already understand this.(Anomalies do pop up -- Joe Wright was nominated as director this year while his movie was not.) And it's the Best Foreign Language, not Foreign, film. There's a difference.

In what movie was that? I remember her as the Queen in Jarman's "Edward II", but not as Elizabeth. Jubilee. It's not a conventional historical movie by any means, though

]Henry was a giant of a man in his day, and he would still be among the bigger men today. In his youth he was the most dazzling of Renaissance princes. Rhys Meyers is a bit on the twerpy side. I thought it was nice to see a movie about the era willing to suggest that the reformers had a point or three --most of them side unquestioningly with the conservatives -- and thank you for mentioning it, 4mrdncr, I had forgotten about it. I haven’t seen the film for some time but it’s perfectly acceptable in the terms of current historiography to suggest that Mary was the rebel against the established order and not Northumberland and Jane. There’s ‘presentism’ in any historical film – it’s just a question of degree and when too much is enough. It's quite true that Jane married Guildford more or less at gunpoint, but I thought the romance was acceptable dramatic license. I have no use for Bonham Carter but Cary Elwes was charming.

Thank you sidwich, for those additional comments. Yes, it's a fine line to walk – you have to show you care about winning, but not too much. Although there are exceptions. Christie has always been a bit aloof from that sort of thing, though. I’m sure she would have liked to win, but she certainly wasn’t as hungry as Cotillard. And the Coens have done well without being the most popular guys in town. Christie won before, years ago. That can make a difference, sometimes. And in recent years, save for Helen Mirren's award, they haven't been giving Best Actress to women over forty or so. I think offhand of Truffaut, who was nominated as Best Director for Day for Night, and he received nominations as a writer for the same movie and The 400 Blows. Day for Night did win the Oscar in the foreign language category.

Swinton has played Elizabeth, for Derek Jarman. Sorry, Karen. I didn't mean to suggest that Neill himself had died, God forbid, but that Wolsey was dead and so we presumably wouldn't see any more of Neill in the series unless he made a ghostly reappearance. As for Henry's appearance, why the hell not, I guess. Rhys Meyers doesn't look anything like him to begin with, and of course he's way too short.

KarenD, welcome to the thread and the board. I followed the show, too. A lot of it is, well, ridiculous, but I just relax and go with it and have a good time. I am apprehensive about what things will be like this season without Sam Neill as Wolsey, and the great Maria Doyle Kennedy as Katharine of Aragon won’t be around for too much longer, either. As for being inspired to read, I find the history books just as vivid about this period as the historical novels I've come across. And when is Henry going to grow a beard??

For Cate the Great? We can't have enough. Interesting tidbit, Andrew73. I hadn't heard that.

Thank you, Mashinka, for posting the link. An enjoyable article. We seem to be going through a bout of Tudormania. Fraser’s views did seem a little foggy in spots – she seems to approve of a freewheeling attitude toward historical accuracy except when she doesn’t, and not all of her details seem accurate. Offhand, I don’t recall the exchange she quotes in ‘Nicholas and Alexandra’ nor do I think John Knox makes an appearance in ‘Elizabeth.’ ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’ sounds like a garden variety bodice ripper. It’s possible to enjoy such things for themselves. Comparing it to ‘A Man For All Seasons,’ a work of serious intent whatever you may think of it, is really a business of apples and oranges.

I don’t think there’s an answer to that, miliosr, unless it’s ‘I know it when I see it.’ Clothes and buildings fulfill a utilitarian function as well as a potentially aesthetic one, and if the latter is privileged over the former that would seem to be a pretty serious flaw. (However, in many eras women’s clothing – often some of the most beautiful women’s clothing -- was not made for the comfort and ease of the wearer but in effect to restrain, imposing limits, sometimes severe limits, on women’s freedom of movement, even adversely affecting their health, as in the heyday of corsets. This occasionally holds true today, as well.)

Good points, Old Fashioned. Thanks for commenting. I think that’s what they thought they were doing with Cotillard. She’s hardly a newcomer, true, but she is new to the mainstream American audience. Also, she did a good job playing the kind of role that gets notices and nominations, and she is a very pretty woman playing a woman not so much, which made her good marketing fodder. I think what sidwich meant was that Zhang Ziyi is attractive in a way that is immediately familiar and accessible to Westerners, which is not always true of Asian actors. It’s true that many of the performers you mention are becoming better known to US audiences – but with qualifications. Yes, the rating hurt. I didn’t mention earlier that there was an inexcusable omission from the annual Montage of Dead Folks on the Oscar show. Charles Lane died this year at age 102. The name won’t necessarily ring a bell, but if you see a lot of old movies, you’ve seen Lane.

cubanmiamiboy, I don’t know the exact wording of the Academy rules offhand but I expect they’re available on the web somewhere. However, I’m reasonably certain that to be ‘U.S. based’ or a ‘ U.S. national’ is not a requirement. And the category is for the best foreign language film, which is slightly different, although I see what you mean. Films like the Olivier Hamlet, to give only one example, have won Best Picture before. This year, as it happens, only Marion Cotillard won for playing in a European picture. The others all gave their performances in American made films, and speaking English, obviously. I think you’re right about that, sidwich. Gong Li comes to mind, too. I didn't realize that till you mentioned it but that's absolutely right!

A little? I forgot to comment on this. Yes, I gazed in slack-jawed admiration at Clooney’s tie – it was just so perfect, truly the tie of ties. I was watching with my father, who normally doesn’t bother with the Oscars but he enjoyed this show, and he said, “That’s a great tie.” Kristen Chenoweth also earned one of my dad’s infrequent accolades. He doesn’t know her from Hillary Clinton, but when she came out for her song he wanted to know “Who is that? I like her. Very nice personality.”

Beresford is one of those fine directors whose excellent but unshowy work doesn’t get the attention it deserves; often as not his actors and pictures win prizes but his work is sometimes overlooked. Breaker Morant is one of my favorite films, Driving Miss Daisy you all know about, and Black Robe is well worth checking out, a gripping movie on an unusual subject. He also did a good adaptation of Joyce Cary’s “Mister Johnson.”

There have been surprisingly few obituaries. I suppose because she was not a famous Western dancer and never defected. It's a shame.