usedtobeljs: (Loki drinking by Misbegotten)
Four unrelated things:

1) I am five days into a nasty cold. Of course I tested multiple times for Covid, but nope, it's just an old-fashioned streaming ugh of a rhinovirus. Worked all through it (wearing a mask for coming in contact with others, and making liberal use of hand sanitizer), and now I am so worn out. The cold is starting to fade, however.

2) I am so, so sad to hear about Matthew Perry's passing. In the 90s I did watch Friends (and was deeply invested in Chandler/Monica), and Chandler was my favorite; Matthew Perry invested him with so many layers, and his physical and verbal comic acuity was so specific and delightful that I enjoyed a character type I sometimes have trouble with. (See: Xander Harris.) I also enjoyed him on the short-lived Studio 90 on the Sunset Strip.

I recommend Daniel Fienberg's 'Critic's Appreciation' in the Hollywood Reporter for a beautifully drawn reading of Perry's gifts.

3) With a topic-shift worthy of one of Tom Hiddleston's Loki hairflips: Loki Episodes 3 and 4, oh my God. Spoiler-free: Episode 3 worked best for me when we were with Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie, but I also loved the visuals, the costumes and the sets for that ep; Episode 4 WHAT THE HELL WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME. Really well done, show.

4) I've been thinking a lot about Dalgliesh and what a relationship between TV!Dalgliesh and TV!Kate (who are different from the books) would look like. I also ran across several mentions of P.D. James's Dalgliesh and a quote from Graham Greene about the artist and the detective having a "sliver of ice" in his heart. Well then. I have written a little fic on the topic: "Sliver of Ice," wherein Adam thinks a lot, as is his wont, and makes a decision.

Look, I just like thinking about Bertie Carvel's Dalgliesh, it's a thing.

Anyway, happy Sunday to all, and I leave you with hugs and a quote from Loki in Episode 4: "Hope is hard." In these fraught days, it's true, but it's also something to hold on to.
usedtobeljs: (the Avengers LP cover)
Tonight here in the States, the penultimate episode of Endeavour airs.

It's bittersweet, this ending. Baby Morse (well, he's hardly a baby any longer) has been broken so that we see where the grouchy elder Morse has come from. Because I know the spoilers from when the series aired in the UK, I know that we'll learn (alas) why Fred Thursday is never mentioned in Morse. Still, as always I love the beauty of the show and the brilliance of Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, et al. I think the ending will work, and we'll always have nine series of wonderfulness to hold onto.

The other great British detective I've been spending time with is Adam Dalgliesh. I've rewatched Series Two of Dalgliesh -- I heart Bertie Carvel so, so much -- and I've managed to read five of the later P.D. James novels.

For many years I've bounced off the James novels, but now that I have BCarvel in my mind's eye and ear, I can soldier on (at least with the later novels). I realize why I've had such difficulty in the past, though: there's something not just austere but also rather humorless in James's work, which is also my only qualm with the Dalgliesh series. It's hard to understand how James would have liked Jane Austen so much, because those Austenian delicious ironies are just not present in P.D. James' work at all. Ah well, I'm still fascinated by the attention PDJ pays to enclosed societies (church, hospital, Cornish island, etc) and the way she analyzes the faultlines therein.

Still, I love the TV show more (you know, because Bertie Carvel), and unless or until the producers and writers give us Emma Lavenham, I am happy to ship TV Adam Dalgliesh and TV Kate Miskin.

So I've written this: "Proper Date," in a world where after Series 2's "The Murder Room," Kate Miskin goes off to work elsewhere and she and Adam try to date. If only their schedules would cooperate.... (This is also set in the late 70s, as is the TV show so far.)

Who's your favorite TV version of a great British detective? Whoever it is, may you enjoy the question. Hugs to all.
usedtobeljs: (Anya we persevere thoughtful)
Instead of talking about boring things like my life, let me say this:

The second series/season of Dalgliesh (Channel 5 in the UK, Acorn TV in the US) is EVEN BETTER than the first one.

Bertie Carvel as Dalgliesh is my everything: so solid and so good, so clever, such a good boss, so tortured and lonely. I love his portrayal of the character so much. (I need an icon!!) And I've just enjoyed the hell out of Carlyss Peer as DS Kate Miskin, also so solid and so clever, and pining like a forest for her boss. (This should not be a spoiler.)

The TV show is diverging from P.D. James canon in some interesting ways, taking cases out of book order, keeping everything in the 70s, and cutting out almost all the side-characters, including Dalgliesh's canonical love interest Emma Lavenham. Well! What can we do about that?

Fic, baby!

This is set after the last episode of Series 2, "The Murder Room," at which point it diverges from canon. If you're watching Dalgliesh, wait until after you've watched to read; if you're not watching Dalgliesh, I'd love you to read it anyway. I have taken a plot device from James and used it to a different end. ;)

Anyway -- "now come on baby let's start today", title taken from Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders' "Game of Love."

Cheers and hugs to all!
usedtobeljs: ("Dame" Emma C by Bouncy Monkey)
A few quick things in this time of excessive heat and bleah:

*I have taken my first group Reformer class in Pilates and loved it. When I told my youngest brother and his husband, however, they both started singing the old Snow song "Informer," and now I can't stop thinking of that whenever I think of 'reformer'. Goofballs.

*I really enjoyed Mr. Malcolm's List when I saw it last week, and if you're in the mood for a light, amusing Regency rom-com whenever it comes out where you are, I recommend.

*Variety reports that Dalgliesh has been renewed for not just a second season (which is filming now), but also for a third! So happy! Yay Bertie Carvel!!

*And on that note, while I realize that I am becoming ever more niche, anyway....

I've been glued to the ongoing Tory meltdown in the UK this week, and am hoping for the best outcome. But, perhaps because I've been reading Leupagus's "Treads on the Ground" fic with Finn/Liz from Babylon, I had to revisit my own Finn/Liz occasional saga to memorialize this political disaster: "Schadenfreude and Love". Also mentioned, Mycroft/Anthea and Fortnum and Mason, because I am who I am.

Whatever. Hugs to all. :)

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