Oh, I‘m so glad you could buy a cabinet - and such a neat one at that!- with the Substack money, and the whole crisis it averted - thanks for sharing this detail and risking it all (I.e. a night on the couch or a week of fasting) for us! I do hope the repercussions won’t be as bad as you feared, though. And indeed, I take away so much, getting a notification that there is a new post of yours truly always makes my day. And this time, because I‘m on holiday, I could actually just jump to it and read it immediately - what a delight! I still can‘t watch Mary and George so far, but I guess now I can rest assured that isn‘t a fate to deplore too deeply;-). But, as always, reading your thoughts and your takeaways was engaging and entertaining, and extra thanks for weaving in this movie I hadn‘t heard of yet that sounds so worth watching, and of course, the apparently always perfect Jakub Józef Orliński! But to the main point: That explanation of the Ganymede myth and those paintings was what I truly needed - I‘ve been puzzled by the Goethe poem and the song Schubert turned it into for years, but tbh I never read up on it. But then I recently read about the myth, and it klicked a little bit, but I still found it very vague and confusing. So reading this was such a lightbulb, and god, those paintings made me laugh! Can we maybe chat about the Schubert song, I mean the Goethe poem? That whole Winckelmann-Goethe story makes it even more, um, interesting, no? I would say the poem is vague enough to contain several meanings, but the last part? I mean, that’s got to be what you called interpretation number 3, no? I could basically never listen to the song without blushing, it seemed SO on the nose to me! But looking it up quickly on the internet, the short amateur „interpretations“ of it all contain themselves to saying it‘s about a love of nature - um, guys, do you believe your own worlds? It’s ridiculous!
And as for your question - do I like period dramas? Not necessarily, but sometimes. Not the blood-and-slaughter-kind normally, but DEFINITELY the Jane Austen/similar kind. Things set in the 20th century usually yes, too.
So glad to hear about the shelves. Hope the consequences of sharing that information weren't too dire!
I really enjoyed the art and mythological information provided and it was fun to see an image of the real George. I really like period dramas. I can't imagine what it was like to live in other time periods, so I like to image that they give at least a glimpse into life in different time periods. Although as you correctly point out and it is a completely inaccurate glimpse. You also motivated me to read a bit about the King James Bible, which I had never given much thought to. It is interesting all the phrases that came out of it and are common today. This show was fun, but not too deep. It was useful to hear your thoughts on why or where it lacked the substance that would have made it a more memorable show. Among other things that you pointed out, the show did rush through the later years.
Overall your analysis has completely changed the way I watch shows. Some shows are really easy to identify (Avatar the Last Airbender). Other shows I only catch a little, but it is fun to notice things (Breaking Bad, which I am finally watching a decade late). Then there is the show that I can't figure out at all is is driving me crazy, but I will refrain from continually mentioning it.
I am OK with period dramas. Don't love them, don't dislike them. Thanks for writing a piece we could benefit from without seeing all the episodes. I could only find them on daily motion and all the ads were driving me nuts. I only saw the first two episodes. I saw a summary on youtube and some excerpts of key scenes. Yes Nicholas Galitzine was okayish. I loved him in some of his movies. But I don't really like when he plays British aristocrats etc. He pouts, articulates in a kind of artificial way (?!? = I don't know how to put it) that is distracting for me. But I really loved Julianne Moore. I didn't know the French actor playing Jean. I have not read The Three musketeers. One of my regrets. I read lots of novels from the red and golden library ( Bibliothèque Rouge et or) in my childhood, Le Bossu by Paul Feval, Le Comte de Monte Christo etc. But I couldn't read the Three Musketeers ( long story). Thanks for the analysis of the Ganymede paintings. I know next to nothing about music and art history. It's part of what your articles bring me. About the part where we have to reevaluate our icons ( Oscar Wilde etc.) without cancelling them. I couldn't agree more. A French sociologist, Pierre Verdrager wrote a book ( L'Enfant interdit) about the necessity to think about the way pederasty has sometimes been minored ( or even encouraged) by some writers etc. in earlier ages. He especially focuses his study on the seventies when the moral compass was sometimes more blurred.
I liked Julianne Moore too, I think her role had a lot to do with it, the character of Mary was interesting and complex, as for Galitzine, we see too much of him, I've had an overdose. Pierre Verdrager is right, pederasty has been minored, the writer Gabriel Matzneff is a horrible example.
Have you read Vanessa Springora's book, Le Consentement, about Matzneff ? ( + La Grande famille by Camille Kouschner). It was gut wrenching but really enlightening at the same time.
Thank you, TVM, for your humour. I'm going to look at my baguette differently, with a broad smile.
I wasn't expecting anything from the Mary and George series, so I skimmed it.
I don't know if I'll be able to tell a cello from a viola da gamba, but I do now understand the phrase "avoir de jolies gambettes".
Vermeer : There are so many documentaries and analyses on this painter; he was so visionary, for example, with the subject of globalisation in his painting "The Officer and the Laughing Girl " and very intriguing with the astonishing discovery of Cupid hidden under a layer of paint in "The Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window".
I think this painter still has many mysteries to reveal to us.
To be honest, I hadn't made the connection with the myth of Ganymede, I'd forgotten his history and his beautiful ass, after all, in astronomy, it's a moon, everything is explained.
The hypothesis of a reference to Alexandre Dumas père for the character of Jean is interesting, perhaps they've changed the first name Juan to Jean? to recall the play Don Juan de Marana ou la chute d'un ange, or maybe the choice of Jean was simply made because it's a very common first name in France, but that's all supposition.
I'm working on your next little treat (and it marks a return to our well-explored or maybe not (?) 'Young Royals' territory, at least in a broader sense, so yay!). Thought I'd have the post ready by today, but apparently I was too slow for that.
So, it'll perhaps take a few days. I should be working faster from now on, though, because vacation time has finally arrived for me, too. (Phew!). I'm off to the sea tomorrow and hope to get some more writing done there. (I'm less of a beach person and more of a sitting-on-the-terrace-late-at-night-listening-to-the-waves-crashing-drinking-wine-and-writing kind of person, so I hope there will be a lot of that over the next two weeks.)
Anyway: next up something, something, Young Royals, and I even managed to cram some jazz music into it.
See you all very soon.
Yours,
tvmicroscope
P.S. I'm really enjoying reading all of your comments. Now I just need to think about what to reply.:)
I've just finished writing the next post. Now the proofreading part begins. So, I'll basically just spend a few nights sitting outside, listening to the seagulls and the wind and the waves crashing...and re-read everything I wrote to see if it still makes any sense. Should be fun!
Dear TVM-finally back here after vacation, summer cold :-( and family to see what you're up to. Happy to hear you will be sending us a YR post. Still fuming over season 3. Perhaps you'll spend time pointing out what was good about it. Because I just can't...Lovely to hear you have been sitting on the veranda sipping wine at some seaside somewhere.
As for Mary and George-I couldn't get over the odious characters. Maybe I already said this but Mary holding her bloody newborn and a knife...is she cutting the cord or her kid's throat? Umbilical cord symbolism and all that. I've cut many an umbilical cord so I just couldn't. Sometimes the action on the screen is too much for me to stomach. I've walked out of movies because they were too, too..I guess I'm too sentimental or as my parents said, too sensitive. Or maybe I'm just a sap. Anyway, await your next missive.
So, the good news first: The next post is finally, finally finished, proofread, edited and everything. And I'm going to post it ASAP.
Well, and as to why you haven't heard from yours truly in a while: I'm an idiot. I really, really am. (Thank you all for your kind messages, by the way. I really appreciate them! Sorry I had you worried there, but computer work was a bit of a challenge, to be honest.)
You see, I somehow got it into my head that it would be nice to take a long walk on a sandy (!) beach with my already banged up disc and hip and ended up in rather exquisite pain, I must say, unable to sit, walk, lie down or sleep, much less do anything computer-related for the last couple of weeks. (Note to self and to anyone who cares to read this: Walking on sand (!) is deadly for your knees, joints, hips and spinal discs. It's already pretty bad when you're a healthy person, but when you've already got a disc and a hip thing, these are your weak points, and then walks on sand beaches are absolutely out of the question.)
Anyway...so, I had originally planned to write you a nice little message about how I'm oh-so-busy sitting on a beach pretending to reread my old Latin grammar book while secretly checking out pretty life guards (okay, I still did that XD) and how I'm also pretty busy because of a piano playing engagement in an old historic building (did that, too; it was great). But then I had planned to finish proofreading the new post, which is when we took that long beach walk and I ended up swallowing more painkillers than wine for the rest of the holidays, and that's the opposite of a great vacation. It's hell. (Emergency room vacations are everyone's favourites, I'm guessing, right?)
At the moment I still can't really sit for long periods of time and lying down is a bit of a challenge, but I'm home now (don't ask about the drive home; I feel my lumbar region died somewhere on the motorway as I was yelling at my better half each and every time we drove over some uneven stretch of road) and I've found a way to work while standing upright. Yay! (Which is what I'm doing right now, and which is how I've managed to proofread that next post for you today. Phew.)
Thank you all for your messages. I really appreciate them. I would have written a little something earlier, but just the thought of sitting down with a laptop was about as enticing as the thought of shooting myself in the head, to be honest. But I'm on the mend now (I hope).
And hey, for someone who's never doing any ironing around here, I've just found a brilliant use for our height-adjustable ironing board: I've put that thing on the stairs, made sure to stand a few steps below it so it's about chest-level and could actually put my laptop on that thing and work like that while standing upright. It's perfect.
Anyway, I've got a thing tomorrow, so I'm not 100 percent sure I'll manage to post the proofread text tomorrow, as I'll only come home pretty late tomorrow night. In case, I don't, you're definitely going to get it on Sunday.
Again: Thank you for your kind messages. I understand that you were worried. But I promise I'm fine now (well, mostly, didn't get any Latin grammar revision done, but then...too many pretty life guards, what a tragedy, tsk...tsk...).
Big sigh of relief. We were so worried -- praying to all the various gods and goddesses for you. It is so interesting how the internet has enabled us to develop high levels of empathy for people we have never met. (Some sociologist has probably already written a PhD thesis on that phenomena.) But hear me out....hip replacement. I had both mine done youngish and I have never regretted my ceramic hip joints. You do not want to get addicted to painkillers or copious amounts of wine, and I saw that danger looking me straight in the eye. Hip replacements are very routine now and magical. Still, I hate walking on sand. Never do that. Also, once you have a hip replacement, if you have the right doctor, they will warn you (hopefully publically) against downhill skiing. Now I can go on ski trips again!! Sit by the fire reading, yoga, walks in the snow, enjoy the scenery from the terrace, with an excellent excuse to never suit up and get on that dreaded ski lift ever again.
I have no trouble whatsoever imagining a life without skiing because that is exactly what my life is right now.:D I mean...skiing, what is skiing? It's cold. There's snow everywhere. Ugh. No, thanks. And then you're even expected to exert yourself in the cold and pretend to like it. Bleurgh.
It's the fact that I'm an avid dancer that has me really worried at the moment. Oh, well, let's wait and see what the poor orthopaedist says this time.
Anyway, thank you for the well wishes.:) I'll try to be more punctual when it comes to my updates from now on.
Hi! I’m back at the club. Over the last few months life has been crazy and to fully appreciate and perceive these essays I need a quiet environment without being socially and mentally exhausted. For now, it seems that things calmed down so I can again indulge in everything here I tragically missed.
Nevertheless, I stayed true to this blog during this period of separation as I managed to visit Madrid before the 13th of October with a friend who is educated in painting and sculpture. The best possible companion for Museo del Prado. We spent like 5 hours there and would spend more but we were so hungry and she’s a celiac vegetarian who is furious when she has an empty stomach so we had to find something to eat outside of the museum. It was such fun as we wandered through the rooms and now and then she gave me some artistic info on the paintings. Or about the painters themselves. We stood in front of the self-portrait of Albrech Dürer when she admitted that she had a crush on him when she was young and we laughed because we agreed that her “hopefully soon to be a fiancé” has some resemblance with him. It was fascinating to see in real life all the paintings about which I previously read on this blog. And the Caravaggio… It’s forbidden to take a photo in the museum but you know what people usually do if it’s not allowed, right? So, I took some memories.
The first thing that comes to my mind regarding period dramas is those snow-white teeth I see in each and every, so I laughed when you mentioned exactly the same thing. Maybe it was because they all had perfect genetic background? Or the heavily processed food full of BAD refined white sugar hasn't been invented yet? Who knows?
I have a friend who was a part of a historical group before her maternity leave. They don’t just create/duplicate their dresses based on historic documents and paintings themselves, some even create jewellery to look as authentic as possible. She always grumbles when the topic of dresses in period dramas rise as a topic. I let her grumble and just make a small note that those extravagant clothes are a part of artistic expression of the creators. But now I have some more arguments to add to my totally unimportant notes as I let her fume as much as she likes, all thanks to this post. I never thought about them dealing with the problem of the time period when they are created, I just enjoyed them (if they were watchable). So, WOW what a realization. But it makes complete sense of course. If sci-fi is used to deal with current problems why not period dramas. On this matter, when I watched Star Trek: TNG years ago, even a subtext dumb person like me could get some of the episodes’ topics. Especially the ones about assisted suicide, abortions or sexuality. Perhaps creating a fictional alien society which is living far-far away from Earth gives more space to maneuver to make your point more visible.
Anyway… if someone will read this late comment and has an IG account you can check @fringia_renaissance and their stunning costumes made to look as authentic as possible using real materials not some fake synthetics. Costumes are 15th-17th century middle Europe style (winters were tough in this area so no tight breeches for men I’m afraid).
[SPOILERS] As for M&G, although it had a lot of fun parts it just left a weird aftertaste. Mary was a toxic person, George behaved like a spoiled brat and the king was a freak that was my prevailing impression. But that aftertaste reminded me of how I feel when I see old and abandoned seniors with a lot of pain in their eyes. It’s a terrifying feeling. The king lying in the middle of the rotting fruits in his literal “air castle” broken and alone was just too much for me. He ruled a kingdom. Did he use people? I guess so like every ruler. But people used him to gain what they wanted as well. They exploited him to the extent he didn’t know whom to trust anymore. And this is so sad. I wonder if George even liked him, not to mention if he loved him. I don’t think so. Or if anyone in his whole life ever truly loved him. And George too, he used his trauma he suffered from his mother (who of course suffered trauma from her marriage and presumably from her upbringing too) the worst possible way. This is something I will never ever understand… what is status, money, power for if you lack the basic thing human needs – love. In the current times it is the same. When I see men of power who do bad things I always express my concerns how unhappy and sad that person has to be in his core. So yeah, that end was really dark and gloomy for me.
Anyway… I enjoyed this article as much as I enjoy everything you write. I hope I will be able to continue reading the new ones and also keep up with the comment section. I still regret to not reply to your lovely reply the arguing in four languages (what is totally manageable for us multilinguals any time, haha), but thankfully Katrin’s reply was essentially what I was thinking, how much love it shows if someone is willing to learn the other partner's language.
I also missed the whole back pain tragedy so I hope your condition is much much better now. Oh and of course, congratulations on the cabinet! Yay!
Now back to reading… I still have a lot to munch on…
If you will get the opportunity don’t hesitate and go. For me, it was a similar experience as when I was in the Louvre, but perhaps not that overwhelming. I was in the Louvre two times and yet I didn’t manage to see everything. Prado is smaller, but the ambience was similar.
I hope you enjoyed your trip to Normandy and liked the castle.
That’s an interesting trivia about Sissi. And do you know what she had with them?
Sissi was self-conscious about her teeth because when she was engaged, her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, told her that she might be pretty but that her teeth were rotten. Her anorexia didn't help matters. Poor Sissi.
Oh, I‘m so glad you could buy a cabinet - and such a neat one at that!- with the Substack money, and the whole crisis it averted - thanks for sharing this detail and risking it all (I.e. a night on the couch or a week of fasting) for us! I do hope the repercussions won’t be as bad as you feared, though. And indeed, I take away so much, getting a notification that there is a new post of yours truly always makes my day. And this time, because I‘m on holiday, I could actually just jump to it and read it immediately - what a delight! I still can‘t watch Mary and George so far, but I guess now I can rest assured that isn‘t a fate to deplore too deeply;-). But, as always, reading your thoughts and your takeaways was engaging and entertaining, and extra thanks for weaving in this movie I hadn‘t heard of yet that sounds so worth watching, and of course, the apparently always perfect Jakub Józef Orliński! But to the main point: That explanation of the Ganymede myth and those paintings was what I truly needed - I‘ve been puzzled by the Goethe poem and the song Schubert turned it into for years, but tbh I never read up on it. But then I recently read about the myth, and it klicked a little bit, but I still found it very vague and confusing. So reading this was such a lightbulb, and god, those paintings made me laugh! Can we maybe chat about the Schubert song, I mean the Goethe poem? That whole Winckelmann-Goethe story makes it even more, um, interesting, no? I would say the poem is vague enough to contain several meanings, but the last part? I mean, that’s got to be what you called interpretation number 3, no? I could basically never listen to the song without blushing, it seemed SO on the nose to me! But looking it up quickly on the internet, the short amateur „interpretations“ of it all contain themselves to saying it‘s about a love of nature - um, guys, do you believe your own worlds? It’s ridiculous!
And as for your question - do I like period dramas? Not necessarily, but sometimes. Not the blood-and-slaughter-kind normally, but DEFINITELY the Jane Austen/similar kind. Things set in the 20th century usually yes, too.
Oh, but I also loved Poldark, and I guess that‘s a historical drama, too.
So glad to hear about the shelves. Hope the consequences of sharing that information weren't too dire!
I really enjoyed the art and mythological information provided and it was fun to see an image of the real George. I really like period dramas. I can't imagine what it was like to live in other time periods, so I like to image that they give at least a glimpse into life in different time periods. Although as you correctly point out and it is a completely inaccurate glimpse. You also motivated me to read a bit about the King James Bible, which I had never given much thought to. It is interesting all the phrases that came out of it and are common today. This show was fun, but not too deep. It was useful to hear your thoughts on why or where it lacked the substance that would have made it a more memorable show. Among other things that you pointed out, the show did rush through the later years.
Overall your analysis has completely changed the way I watch shows. Some shows are really easy to identify (Avatar the Last Airbender). Other shows I only catch a little, but it is fun to notice things (Breaking Bad, which I am finally watching a decade late). Then there is the show that I can't figure out at all is is driving me crazy, but I will refrain from continually mentioning it.
Hope you have a relaxing August!
I am OK with period dramas. Don't love them, don't dislike them. Thanks for writing a piece we could benefit from without seeing all the episodes. I could only find them on daily motion and all the ads were driving me nuts. I only saw the first two episodes. I saw a summary on youtube and some excerpts of key scenes. Yes Nicholas Galitzine was okayish. I loved him in some of his movies. But I don't really like when he plays British aristocrats etc. He pouts, articulates in a kind of artificial way (?!? = I don't know how to put it) that is distracting for me. But I really loved Julianne Moore. I didn't know the French actor playing Jean. I have not read The Three musketeers. One of my regrets. I read lots of novels from the red and golden library ( Bibliothèque Rouge et or) in my childhood, Le Bossu by Paul Feval, Le Comte de Monte Christo etc. But I couldn't read the Three Musketeers ( long story). Thanks for the analysis of the Ganymede paintings. I know next to nothing about music and art history. It's part of what your articles bring me. About the part where we have to reevaluate our icons ( Oscar Wilde etc.) without cancelling them. I couldn't agree more. A French sociologist, Pierre Verdrager wrote a book ( L'Enfant interdit) about the necessity to think about the way pederasty has sometimes been minored ( or even encouraged) by some writers etc. in earlier ages. He especially focuses his study on the seventies when the moral compass was sometimes more blurred.
I liked Julianne Moore too, I think her role had a lot to do with it, the character of Mary was interesting and complex, as for Galitzine, we see too much of him, I've had an overdose. Pierre Verdrager is right, pederasty has been minored, the writer Gabriel Matzneff is a horrible example.
Have you read Vanessa Springora's book, Le Consentement, about Matzneff ? ( + La Grande famille by Camille Kouschner). It was gut wrenching but really enlightening at the same time.
I read passages and saw interviews. I avoided reading his two books, I think my protective instinct took over.
Fair enough !
Thank you, TVM, for your humour. I'm going to look at my baguette differently, with a broad smile.
I wasn't expecting anything from the Mary and George series, so I skimmed it.
I don't know if I'll be able to tell a cello from a viola da gamba, but I do now understand the phrase "avoir de jolies gambettes".
Vermeer : There are so many documentaries and analyses on this painter; he was so visionary, for example, with the subject of globalisation in his painting "The Officer and the Laughing Girl " and very intriguing with the astonishing discovery of Cupid hidden under a layer of paint in "The Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window".
I think this painter still has many mysteries to reveal to us.
To be honest, I hadn't made the connection with the myth of Ganymede, I'd forgotten his history and his beautiful ass, after all, in astronomy, it's a moon, everything is explained.
The hypothesis of a reference to Alexandre Dumas père for the character of Jean is interesting, perhaps they've changed the first name Juan to Jean? to recall the play Don Juan de Marana ou la chute d'un ange, or maybe the choice of Jean was simply made because it's a very common first name in France, but that's all supposition.
Dear all,
I'm working on your next little treat (and it marks a return to our well-explored or maybe not (?) 'Young Royals' territory, at least in a broader sense, so yay!). Thought I'd have the post ready by today, but apparently I was too slow for that.
So, it'll perhaps take a few days. I should be working faster from now on, though, because vacation time has finally arrived for me, too. (Phew!). I'm off to the sea tomorrow and hope to get some more writing done there. (I'm less of a beach person and more of a sitting-on-the-terrace-late-at-night-listening-to-the-waves-crashing-drinking-wine-and-writing kind of person, so I hope there will be a lot of that over the next two weeks.)
Anyway: next up something, something, Young Royals, and I even managed to cram some jazz music into it.
See you all very soon.
Yours,
tvmicroscope
P.S. I'm really enjoying reading all of your comments. Now I just need to think about what to reply.:)
Dear all,
I've just finished writing the next post. Now the proofreading part begins. So, I'll basically just spend a few nights sitting outside, listening to the seagulls and the wind and the waves crashing...and re-read everything I wrote to see if it still makes any sense. Should be fun!
I hope you're all enjoying your summer, too.
See you all very, very soon!
Yours,
tvmicroscope
Dear TVM-finally back here after vacation, summer cold :-( and family to see what you're up to. Happy to hear you will be sending us a YR post. Still fuming over season 3. Perhaps you'll spend time pointing out what was good about it. Because I just can't...Lovely to hear you have been sitting on the veranda sipping wine at some seaside somewhere.
As for Mary and George-I couldn't get over the odious characters. Maybe I already said this but Mary holding her bloody newborn and a knife...is she cutting the cord or her kid's throat? Umbilical cord symbolism and all that. I've cut many an umbilical cord so I just couldn't. Sometimes the action on the screen is too much for me to stomach. I've walked out of movies because they were too, too..I guess I'm too sentimental or as my parents said, too sensitive. Or maybe I'm just a sap. Anyway, await your next missive.
-a devoted fan
Hey everyone!
So, the good news first: The next post is finally, finally finished, proofread, edited and everything. And I'm going to post it ASAP.
Well, and as to why you haven't heard from yours truly in a while: I'm an idiot. I really, really am. (Thank you all for your kind messages, by the way. I really appreciate them! Sorry I had you worried there, but computer work was a bit of a challenge, to be honest.)
You see, I somehow got it into my head that it would be nice to take a long walk on a sandy (!) beach with my already banged up disc and hip and ended up in rather exquisite pain, I must say, unable to sit, walk, lie down or sleep, much less do anything computer-related for the last couple of weeks. (Note to self and to anyone who cares to read this: Walking on sand (!) is deadly for your knees, joints, hips and spinal discs. It's already pretty bad when you're a healthy person, but when you've already got a disc and a hip thing, these are your weak points, and then walks on sand beaches are absolutely out of the question.)
Anyway...so, I had originally planned to write you a nice little message about how I'm oh-so-busy sitting on a beach pretending to reread my old Latin grammar book while secretly checking out pretty life guards (okay, I still did that XD) and how I'm also pretty busy because of a piano playing engagement in an old historic building (did that, too; it was great). But then I had planned to finish proofreading the new post, which is when we took that long beach walk and I ended up swallowing more painkillers than wine for the rest of the holidays, and that's the opposite of a great vacation. It's hell. (Emergency room vacations are everyone's favourites, I'm guessing, right?)
At the moment I still can't really sit for long periods of time and lying down is a bit of a challenge, but I'm home now (don't ask about the drive home; I feel my lumbar region died somewhere on the motorway as I was yelling at my better half each and every time we drove over some uneven stretch of road) and I've found a way to work while standing upright. Yay! (Which is what I'm doing right now, and which is how I've managed to proofread that next post for you today. Phew.)
Thank you all for your messages. I really appreciate them. I would have written a little something earlier, but just the thought of sitting down with a laptop was about as enticing as the thought of shooting myself in the head, to be honest. But I'm on the mend now (I hope).
And hey, for someone who's never doing any ironing around here, I've just found a brilliant use for our height-adjustable ironing board: I've put that thing on the stairs, made sure to stand a few steps below it so it's about chest-level and could actually put my laptop on that thing and work like that while standing upright. It's perfect.
Anyway, I've got a thing tomorrow, so I'm not 100 percent sure I'll manage to post the proofread text tomorrow, as I'll only come home pretty late tomorrow night. In case, I don't, you're definitely going to get it on Sunday.
Again: Thank you for your kind messages. I understand that you were worried. But I promise I'm fine now (well, mostly, didn't get any Latin grammar revision done, but then...too many pretty life guards, what a tragedy, tsk...tsk...).
See you all very soon.
Yours,
tvmicroscope
Big sigh of relief. We were so worried -- praying to all the various gods and goddesses for you. It is so interesting how the internet has enabled us to develop high levels of empathy for people we have never met. (Some sociologist has probably already written a PhD thesis on that phenomena.) But hear me out....hip replacement. I had both mine done youngish and I have never regretted my ceramic hip joints. You do not want to get addicted to painkillers or copious amounts of wine, and I saw that danger looking me straight in the eye. Hip replacements are very routine now and magical. Still, I hate walking on sand. Never do that. Also, once you have a hip replacement, if you have the right doctor, they will warn you (hopefully publically) against downhill skiing. Now I can go on ski trips again!! Sit by the fire reading, yoga, walks in the snow, enjoy the scenery from the terrace, with an excellent excuse to never suit up and get on that dreaded ski lift ever again.
I have no trouble whatsoever imagining a life without skiing because that is exactly what my life is right now.:D I mean...skiing, what is skiing? It's cold. There's snow everywhere. Ugh. No, thanks. And then you're even expected to exert yourself in the cold and pretend to like it. Bleurgh.
It's the fact that I'm an avid dancer that has me really worried at the moment. Oh, well, let's wait and see what the poor orthopaedist says this time.
Anyway, thank you for the well wishes.:) I'll try to be more punctual when it comes to my updates from now on.
Hi! I’m back at the club. Over the last few months life has been crazy and to fully appreciate and perceive these essays I need a quiet environment without being socially and mentally exhausted. For now, it seems that things calmed down so I can again indulge in everything here I tragically missed.
Nevertheless, I stayed true to this blog during this period of separation as I managed to visit Madrid before the 13th of October with a friend who is educated in painting and sculpture. The best possible companion for Museo del Prado. We spent like 5 hours there and would spend more but we were so hungry and she’s a celiac vegetarian who is furious when she has an empty stomach so we had to find something to eat outside of the museum. It was such fun as we wandered through the rooms and now and then she gave me some artistic info on the paintings. Or about the painters themselves. We stood in front of the self-portrait of Albrech Dürer when she admitted that she had a crush on him when she was young and we laughed because we agreed that her “hopefully soon to be a fiancé” has some resemblance with him. It was fascinating to see in real life all the paintings about which I previously read on this blog. And the Caravaggio… It’s forbidden to take a photo in the museum but you know what people usually do if it’s not allowed, right? So, I took some memories.
The first thing that comes to my mind regarding period dramas is those snow-white teeth I see in each and every, so I laughed when you mentioned exactly the same thing. Maybe it was because they all had perfect genetic background? Or the heavily processed food full of BAD refined white sugar hasn't been invented yet? Who knows?
I have a friend who was a part of a historical group before her maternity leave. They don’t just create/duplicate their dresses based on historic documents and paintings themselves, some even create jewellery to look as authentic as possible. She always grumbles when the topic of dresses in period dramas rise as a topic. I let her grumble and just make a small note that those extravagant clothes are a part of artistic expression of the creators. But now I have some more arguments to add to my totally unimportant notes as I let her fume as much as she likes, all thanks to this post. I never thought about them dealing with the problem of the time period when they are created, I just enjoyed them (if they were watchable). So, WOW what a realization. But it makes complete sense of course. If sci-fi is used to deal with current problems why not period dramas. On this matter, when I watched Star Trek: TNG years ago, even a subtext dumb person like me could get some of the episodes’ topics. Especially the ones about assisted suicide, abortions or sexuality. Perhaps creating a fictional alien society which is living far-far away from Earth gives more space to maneuver to make your point more visible.
Anyway… if someone will read this late comment and has an IG account you can check @fringia_renaissance and their stunning costumes made to look as authentic as possible using real materials not some fake synthetics. Costumes are 15th-17th century middle Europe style (winters were tough in this area so no tight breeches for men I’m afraid).
[SPOILERS] As for M&G, although it had a lot of fun parts it just left a weird aftertaste. Mary was a toxic person, George behaved like a spoiled brat and the king was a freak that was my prevailing impression. But that aftertaste reminded me of how I feel when I see old and abandoned seniors with a lot of pain in their eyes. It’s a terrifying feeling. The king lying in the middle of the rotting fruits in his literal “air castle” broken and alone was just too much for me. He ruled a kingdom. Did he use people? I guess so like every ruler. But people used him to gain what they wanted as well. They exploited him to the extent he didn’t know whom to trust anymore. And this is so sad. I wonder if George even liked him, not to mention if he loved him. I don’t think so. Or if anyone in his whole life ever truly loved him. And George too, he used his trauma he suffered from his mother (who of course suffered trauma from her marriage and presumably from her upbringing too) the worst possible way. This is something I will never ever understand… what is status, money, power for if you lack the basic thing human needs – love. In the current times it is the same. When I see men of power who do bad things I always express my concerns how unhappy and sad that person has to be in his core. So yeah, that end was really dark and gloomy for me.
Anyway… I enjoyed this article as much as I enjoy everything you write. I hope I will be able to continue reading the new ones and also keep up with the comment section. I still regret to not reply to your lovely reply the arguing in four languages (what is totally manageable for us multilinguals any time, haha), but thankfully Katrin’s reply was essentially what I was thinking, how much love it shows if someone is willing to learn the other partner's language.
I also missed the whole back pain tragedy so I hope your condition is much much better now. Oh and of course, congratulations on the cabinet! Yay!
Now back to reading… I still have a lot to munch on…
I'm delighted to see you again. You've made me want to go and see the Prado.
Your comment about white teeth made me smile.
I went to Normandy to see Sissi's castle. She had a complex about her teeth and refused to have them painted in her portraits.
In her photos, she never smiled.
Oh, thank you.
If you will get the opportunity don’t hesitate and go. For me, it was a similar experience as when I was in the Louvre, but perhaps not that overwhelming. I was in the Louvre two times and yet I didn’t manage to see everything. Prado is smaller, but the ambience was similar.
I hope you enjoyed your trip to Normandy and liked the castle.
That’s an interesting trivia about Sissi. And do you know what she had with them?
Sissi was self-conscious about her teeth because when she was engaged, her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, told her that she might be pretty but that her teeth were rotten. Her anorexia didn't help matters. Poor Sissi.
Oh my, that's so insensitive. Poor Sissi.