Beth Winter

Obligatory pre-review disclosure: I like Phantom of the Opera, a lot. I adored the small stage version put up by the Palladium Stage theatre (clips available here), and after the first two rounds of auditions for the full Roma theatre non-replica production, I was overjoyed to hear that my favourites were also the judges' favourites for Erik and Raoul. Then they were abruptly cut, due to in one case "not enough acting ability" and in the other, current engagements keeping him from attending the audition. On top of that, I heard a lot of rumours that the musical's main sponsor fancies himself a director and meddled immensely in both casting and directing.

I saw the show yesterday. Verdict: Very good show. Can someone put the first Phantom out of his misery?

( Detailed review )

Half the fun of visual design, for me, is getting sidetracked in all the little things. After a whole day devoted to layout (conclusion: width fixed in ems, single-column, sidebar widgets in a horizontal container between the banner and the main layout), now it's colour choices and colour theory. For the LJ redesign I'm considering, I've promised fyrie that I'll have a Maki Ichiro layout to match her Saki Asaji one. To match the picture, I'll need colours a little more varied than my current black and white. Cue way too much fun with online Pantone swatches.

Below, a quick mockup of the current top-runners. Saturation may still get put down, and I think I might opt for a grey background with the deep purple used for flourishes on it.

( Read more... )

Now to come up with matching colours for visited, hovered-over and active links. Then I can actually open a graphics program ;)

This has been your Content Nonstrike post for the day. And boy, is my f-list rocking.

I've been reading A List Apart, because at some point, I do have to do something about my website. The fanfic portion is fine, but the code could use a cleanup. The Discworld site will stay up as-is, for non-link-breaking, but I should add a disclaimer that it's no longer updated. Main index, of course, needs updating. Additions

And while my Greymatter installation broke ages ago, maybe I could use another blog. This "Wordpress" thing sounds interesting, even if learning another structure and language to play with its layout will be daunting. Does anyone have a Wordpress blog and can tell me how difficult it is to design it properly as opposed to designing a non-dynamic HTML/CSS site?

And as I read about things that changed in the last four years, since I last seriously took an interest in webdesign (no 4.x browsers, hallelujah), I find myself thinking about my LJ. Style systems are a bitch and a half, but Expressive *is* CSS-compatible.

I designed my first site in 1997. I've never dabbled in anything but the simplest Javascript, but otherwise I've gone through all the phases, tables, rollovers, image maps, you name it. CSS, once the browsers are halfway compatible, has a logic and beauty to it.

My fingers itch to code something.

Since the Amazon US publishing date was yesterday and jo_graham's first reading and signing is coming up, I think it's time to post this. Or at least the first part ofit. I've read the book twice now, once piece-meal as it was created and once in its whole bound form, but now that I've sat down to write about it, I see I'll have to re-read for a proper analysis.

The book is Black Ships.

It's a story of the Aeneid, narrated by a priestess of the Lady of the Dead. It's a whole and more than a whole: it's the first meeting with characters I've had the privilege of reading about in at least four other incarnations throughout history. It's a woman's story, and a mystical journey. The quiet narrative paints ink sketches that catch you and come to you again in dreams, months later. And did I mention it's all historically accurate Age of Bronze Greece?

You can't nail this book down as just historical, fantasy, roadtrip (seatrip?), literary. It's all of these. And it'll haunt you, but it's a beneficial spirit.

In the interest of full disclosure: I know jo_graham and I've had the privilege of following the tail end of the creation of Black Ships and now the next book, chapter by chapter, providing comments. I was wholly unsurprised it got picked up by a publisher. I have a review copy, but I was damn ready to buy my own thrice over.

(And yes, I recced it here when it was still nascent, two years ago. If you remember, she prefers her other name unmentioned ;))

Now, to force someone to cough up my copy and give it another read :)

Two weeks ago, I had no plans for the summer at all. Now it turns out I'll be out of the country two, possibly three times between May and June:

- May 1-3 in Berlin (Shopping and Elisabeth. Mostly shopping.)

- May 23-26 in Edinburgh (fyrie's birthday party and uh, more shopping?)

- Tentatively, June 21-25 in Budapest. Again. For the same purposes as last time.

Since the only other plans I have are for Vienna in the autumn, I need to find some new countries to travel to. Spain, possibly? Or Mallorca, I adored selenak's photos of her trip there.

So, cast for Elisabeth in Berlin is all but set. It's less dreadful than what I was fearing, but again they went for people who know the musical by heart.

Death: Uwe (who's looking and sounding very good on the promo clip) will be later replaced by Felix Martin, with Oliver Arno as understudy to both. Tried and true, but I like them both enough.

Elisabeth: Pia in the beginning, later to be replaced by Annemieke van Dam. I have to admit I'm in two minds about Annemieke - I've seen her in clips of 3 Musketiere, and while she's got great acting skills and a sweet voice, voice control could use work, and I'm not sure she's up to being first cast for such a demanding role.

Franz-Joseph: Markus Pol - he was FJ in last year's Japanese tour. Decent, though not one of my favourites. Cover's Peter Stassen, Louis and Richelieu in Stuttgart.

Rudolf: Oliver Arno - looks like a high point of the cast, judging by previous performances. I wouldn't mind seeing him as Death, either! Cover Rudolf is Martin Markert, cover on the Japan tour - looks decent, can't find any clips.

Still no news of Sophie or Max. Guess I should get around to reserving tickets...

One of the things that helped me last through the week in bed I had to undergo recently was the fact I had just received a stack of books. To wit, almost the entire Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, plus the two Lord John spinoffs.

I first read Outlander/Cross-stitch (depending on the US versus UK edition) when I got it from he library, in Polish. I do read silly romance novels on occasion, but the plot - a time-travelling woman from the 20th century ending up in the 18th century and marrying a Scottish rebel - sounded far-fetched even for those standards. If not a recipe for Mary Sue disaster flavoured with faux-Scots. It was only because I'd already read and adored Lord John and the Private Matter that I decided to give it a try.

Not only are the books readable, they're addictive. The mix of romance and adventure tilts heavily towards the latter, with political plotting added in Dragonfly in Amber. Then just as that formula threatens to tire, the series becomes a Caribbean adventure, then one of the American frontier. I'm missing The Fiery Cross, and I can't wait to read it and the last book. And then wait impatiently for the next volume in the series.

The one thing I appreciate about Outlander is that the usual romance tropes are either ignored or subverted. Rape is one (non-graphic, though chilling); LGBT themes are another. At first I was rather miffed by a certain gay villain, but the way he was developed was so non-stereotypical that I have to applaud. And then there is Lord John Grey.

Lord John, I gather, was supposed to be a brief cameo in Dragonfly in Amber that reappears in Voyager to explain Jamie's survival. The plot device turned out to be a lovely, sarcastic and elegant blade who incidentally is also gay (and this fact is a facet, not the entire definition of his character). As a slash writer, it's amusing to see the signs: "Look, I've got a nice plot device." "Look, there he is again." "You know, I should add him here, too." "I know, I should write a short story where he solves a mystery." "That was fun. I'll write another." "And it's 400 pages long.... ooops?" "And he wants another one. With smut. Quick, who can beta-read a gay sex scene for me????"

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade, in particular, is a delightful tapestry of emotions and adventure. It catches on so many themes, and manages to define the emotional web that supports high-class eighteenth-century males, from family to love to duty. It's a book I will read and re-read, and not only because the dachshund is perfectly characterised. It's a jewel.

(And for the record, I ship Lord John/Stephan von Namtzen. I really, really want to write a story where they're beautifully broken together, but it'd kill me.)

If you're interested in more:

Diana Gabaldon site

Excerpts from the Lord John series

I think I managed to break Von Krolock's brain.

SCORE.

Just a note that I'm safely tucked away in Budapest, in a gorgeous (and grandiose) apartment with fyrie :) Tomorrow, the Wacky Musical Adventures start.

At the seaside, I was purposefully out of my usual reading material, and thus raiding the grandparents' collection of Important Works of Literature. Isaac Singer's The Estate is a very nice insight into Belle Epoque Jews if only one can look past the characters, which are the whiniest bunch I've seen since Neon Genesis Evangelion. The Godfather would be a perfect read if at least three characters in my head weren't ogling Michael Corleone with illicit purposes. Mann's Buddenbrooks faltered a bit in the middle, but the teenage slash at the end redeemed them (okay, the other bits were interesting, too). Doctor Zhivago caused me to facepalm over my Russian ancestry.

All in all, it was a relief to come back to an open yuletide archive.

This year I've been damnably lucky with my gifts - I received two full-length stories and a vignette. No idea yet who they're from, but all are gorgeous:

Ourobos - Tanz der Vampire behind the scenes; a different interpretation than my own, but I can imagine Thomas Borchert and Jakub Wocial in these roles far too easily.

Conversations with the Dead - Elisabeth, the deaths of Sophie, Rudolf and Franz-Joseph: the amount of historical detail is delightful.

And Black And Black And Blacker Still - Elisabeth, a heartbreaking Rudolf moment that reaches to the core of his character.

And from other stories that I've skimmed, four so far had me glued to the screen and exclaiming with delight:

The Invisible City - a sequel to Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere that should damn well be official. It's like turning a page and finding a lost epilogue to the story. This could be Neil writing.

By No Miracle or Majestic Means - for all that I avoid Vorkosigan fanfiction like the plague, this story of a young Miles's caper is perfectly in tune. It suffers a little from rush - I know well the lack of time to balance the plot at the end - but the language is Ivan's, the characters are vividly themselves.

The Sixth Heaven - the Beauty and the Beast TV series has always remained with me, and this AU with Catherine and Vincent meeting as children captures the magic perfectly.

The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down - You've probably seen this Who Framed Roger Rabbit story recced by others. All I'm saying is, hold on to your hats.