Sing me a story, laugh me a lullaby

Last year, I picked up a book from the discount rack at Chapters which was called 'The Lizzie Bennet Diaries' and I sort of knew the title as a thing that had been on YouTube, but had never seen it. But I enjoyed the book, which is standalone but also ties into the series, and ended up watching the series, and it was awesome. It's, as might be predicted, a modern take on Pride & Prejudice, told through vlog entries. The production value and acting can be a little subpar in spots, but it does a superb job of updating the story to make you feel what the original readers must have felt in the time it was written and uses a pretty diverse (and well-chosen) cast and creative storytelling.

They followed it up with an adaptation of 'Sanditon', Jane Austen's unfinished novel, which was more an experiment on their part and was a bit meh, but follows Gigi (Georgiana) Darcy on an adventure and fills in a gap until their next production, which was called 'Emma Approved' and was an adaptation of 'Emma'. I actually enjoyed it more than the first series, but Emma is my favourite Jane Austen novel. And now they're making another season of it! It just started last week, but I only spotted it last night on my YouTube recs. It looks like they are or will be folding in 'Persuasion' now. All the series take place in the same universe already, with some of the Lizzie Bennet characters appearing or being mentioned in Emma Approved.

I was very late to the party when I binged my way through the first three series, so it's exciting to be here at the beginning of this one. And they tend to be pretty short, fluffy episodes (though LBD can get a little heavy through Lydia's storyline on occasion), so it's good for my recovering self to have to enjoy. If you're interested in any of them, the playlists are below. It's best to watch via the playlists because the stories were told over multiple channels and the playlists make sure you get everything in the right order.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
Welcome to Sanditon
Emma Approved

And the new Emma season can be found here. It doesn't seem to have its own playlist yet.

They've also done adaptations of 'Frankenstein' and 'Little Women', but I haven't watched either of those so I can't comment on them.

So, I managed to work myself up to listening to the last two episodes of Cabin Pressure today. I got a little teary, but I'm very pleased by the send off it got. Lovely writing from John Finnemore.

( More thoughts )

Overall, I'm very, very happy. And a little bit sad. A lot of writers could learn from John Finnemore on how to develop characters over the course of the series. I wish everyone well in their future projects. And maybe it isn't too much to hope that maybe we'll get a Christmas special or two in the future?

I finally got around to watching Cap 2 tonight. Very enjoyable, though I have a headache now. Worth the headache, definitely, but I'm glad I didn't try to see it in theatres.

( Spoilery comments )

Now if I can get my hands on Iron Man 3 and I watch Guardians of the Galaxy when it is realeased, I should be up-to-date on my MCU. Except for Agents of SHIELD, because I could never get into that.

I was watching The Avengers tonight to get my Bruce voice back (last night was Iron Man 2 night, to get my Tony voice back), and Mum was on the iPad in the room with me.

Mum: Oh my God, I knew that was Captain America from the back. When did I turn into this person? This is ridiculous! I didn't even need to see his face!
Me:

Also, whenever she sees Loki, she always says 'I still can't believe that's Tom Hiddleston' in a voice like she knew him as a child and is baffled that he's grown-up to be a super villain. Though, we did see him in Cranford before Thor, so that's basically what happened.

Things one learns while listening to British radio: alarm clocks that made tea used to be very popular in the UK. The idea is that it will wake you up and you will have a cup of tea waiting for you.

I feel like Q is very sad that this isn't really a thing any more. Or perhaps he has made himself a better version.

In other, "I'm Sorry All I Talk About is Tom Hiddleston" news: this literally made my day. Followed closely by this.

Just when you thought Tom Hiddleston couldn't get more geeky or lovely:

I saw a film set today! Very, very randomly Crimson Peak is filming in my hometown tomorrow, and they've been building the set all week. I dropped by today to take a look. My aunt stopped in on Wednesday, so I have some of her photos from previous stages of set building, and I took some pictures today.

I don't know if Tom Hiddleston is in the scenes they're filming tomorrow and, after doing some serious agonizing, I have elected not to go down and see if I can watch. As interesting as I think it would be, and even with the potential chance to meet him, I don't think it's good form. I think it's a distraction for the actors. And I'm not sure if I'd even be able to get close; it took us ten minutes to find a road into the area that hadn't been blocked. Surprisingly, they allowed us right up to the actual set, though. But I doubt they will tomorrow.

Besides, I'm so very afraid if I did get to meet him, I'd fall down or say something like "I like to build houses for fictional versions of you to live in."

Anyway, it's terribly cool what they've done, and there are some pictures below the cut for those who may be interested.

( Not pictured: green screens. I saw green screens! )

All in all, totally worth battling my migraine for.

ETA: I found out the market has a webcam! I could take a peek, thought I. They've disabled it for the day. Well played, film crew.

ETA 2: Word from my brother, who went down today: Mia Wasikowka was the only actress there. They were filming outside where he works, so he was able to watch the filming, and get a video of one of the takes. Amalie spoke to the AD and she said Tom Hiddleston is on a flight back to Canada. She took a picture of Ama in her Loki hoodie and sent to it him, though, as the AD said he'd get a kick out of it. :-D My brother's going to send me some photos to add to my collection.

Me: *watching a video on tumblr* That was Tom Hiddleston singing.
Mum: Yes, I figured it was either him or Benedict, judging by the look of rapture on your face.

In Britain, the radio is still a valid form of entertainment, beyond music and news. I have something going from BBC Radio Four almost constantly when I'm on the computer, so I thought I'd share some of my favourites, for those who might be in Cabin Pressure withdrawal, or who are looking for some entertainment they don't need to watch.

All of the following air on Radio Four. Some of them can be listened to on the iPlayer, if they are airing currently, some can be found on YouTube if you're lucky, and I think all can be found to buy from iTunes or Audible. I'm sure there are less legal ways, as well, if you are so inclined to seek them out.

Some of these have been on for decades, so don't be alarmed by the number of episodes. And these are just my favourites, or those I thought people might enjoy. There's a lot more out there and I highly recommend looking for it.

( A Comedy Tonight. )

The last of my French Sherlock rantings. This week: La Chute de Reichenbach. 'Chute' (fall) has the same double meaning in French as it does in English. It can mean a waterfall, a literal fall or a fall from grace. Also, they pronounced Reichenbach like 'ry-shen-bock', which made the Richard Brook thing work really well, as the French pronounciation (Ree-shar Bruk) is much closer to how they pronounce Reichenbach.

Maybe I've just gotten used to the voices now, but I think the doubles did a great job. I like Moriarty's voice much better this episode and John's double made me tear up, which is hard to do since I normally feel a bit disconnected from the plot when the voices don't match. I always feel like there's a distinct layering over of the voices, rather than the characters actually speaking the words. But John's double's little whimpering made my heart break a little.

Translation Notes:
- Sherlock informs Lestrade that Miss McKenzie will need 'an oxygen mask', rather than to breathe into a bag.
- He also calls Jim Molly's 'fiance', instead of ex-boyfriend.
- I was wondering how they were going to handle the IOU thing, but they just put a little subtitle translating what it meant every time it came up.
- The translation of 'the side of the angels' thing is kinda of nice in French. 'I may be on the side of the angels, but don't think for a single second that you have an angel in front of you'.
- I also like that rather than calling him a machine, John tells Sherlock he doesn't have a heart. Which is a nice call back to The Great Game when it's Sherlock himself who says that he doesn't have a heart.
- For the curious (read: me) Sherlock and Moriaty call each other 'vous', which seems a little weird on Moriarty's part considering how intimate he considers himself with Sherlock. Maybe it's a sign of respect. John also calls Mycroft 'vous'.

Rewatching Notes:
I still love the handcuffed together moments. I also noticed that John has a hold of Sherlock's sleeve when they're against the wall together, which amuses me. They're joined together by metal handcuffs, but John is still obviously convinced that he's going to somehow lose track of Sherlock. Or maybe he just wants extra leverage to try and control his movement.

One thing that I've never understood: why does John go back to Baker Street when Mrs Hudson has been 'shot'? I know he needs to go there plotwise to see that she's alive and well and he's been tricked, but if she's been shot, why isn't he going to a hospital? Or does he think she's dead?