The Small Town Metropolitan

Quick Shots

• The fam and I watched Room With A View on PBS's Masterpiece the other day.  Masterpiece was formerly Masterpiece Theatre and the name was changed because.... I have no idea actually, and can only venture a guess.  Was "theatre" considered too stodgy?  Was Masterpiece Theatre too long a phrase for stunted contemporary attention spans?  If so, I fear the change demonstrates a lack of understanding of their core demographic: people (even relatively young people, like myself) who yearn for the stodgy and have abnormally long attention spans.  But I digress.  The film itself was a joy: lovely to look at, marvelous performances.  The whole thing felt much more grounded in life, more warm flesh and blood than the Merchant-Ivory film of two decades ago.  I wasn't sure about the non-canonical book ends (I will not spoil, have no fear), but there is no doubt they add another level of poignancy and I quite warmed up to them by then end. 
• We're holding auditions for the theatre this weekend.  My father is pissed that they conflict with the NFL draft.  (We are an odd family, I've always known that).  Still, he plans to check in on the Steelers' progress during breaks.  If they aren't focusing on the offensive line, he's not going to be pleased. 
• From the Carbolic Smoke Ball: The Steelers combine all my father's interests by drafting Bill Shakespeare. 

Mine Is "The Mad Russian"

Get your Mob Nickname.

Me: Impossible Man would have loved this.
My Better Self: Stop it!
Me: I'm stopping. I'm stopping.

Via.

Out and About

The truth will out. Finally we have the real story behind that delightful "The Swiss are coming! The Swiss are coming!" episode.

Ms. Baroque has a lovely little quote about the limits of economics. (Yes, it comes from The Guardian. A stopped clock, etc).

Basil Seal visits New York. New York may never be the same.

My Most Beloved Sister, currently studying in the UK, sends me this from The Times. The basic thesis is that government over-legislation in Britain is a form of revolution, with the lower classes taking it out on the customs of the upper. Much food for thought, especially because it so often seems to play out in just the opposite fashion here, with elites sniffing about (and wanting to regulate) the tastes of the poor, misguided proles. Or are both countries just experiencing an assult on traditions of all sorts?

Finally, another link from the same source: Why do some plays that are hits in London, flop in New York(and vice versa)? The short answer: no one really knows. (Also, the author makes the mistake of ignoring all American theatre done west of the Hudson. Boils my blood and hurts the article. Alan Ayckbourn, for example, may never have hit it big in NYC, but his plays are staples of regional theatres all across the country).

So, a horse walks into a bar...

...no, really.  A horse walks into a bar.

Unmarketable Skunk Chowder

And other words added to Noah Webster’s A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language in 1806.

A few personal favorites:

succotash noun: a mixture of new soft maiz and beans boiled
whiskey noun: a spirit distilled from grain
conchology noun: the science of shellfish

Via Shaken & Stirred.

Out and About

Jenny Price's guide to Malibu's hidden beaches. I must have a go.

Rich mothers run amok. This aspect of "private school culture" (for lack of a better phrase) is so strange and, in my opinion, warping. I've seen it up close and at a distance, in PA, the UK, and LA - it is much the same all over. One gets the impression that the parents are putting their own ambitions ahead of their children's well being. Very strange. H/T 2 Blowhards.

Pick your bright side: "Well, it's all up hill from here". Or, "that's how we lull them into complacency. Brilliant!!"

Travis Prinzi warns against over-theorizing (about Harry Potter, but I think the principle could apply to other things).

Out and About

A Bronte Biopic:

In 1848, just as Charlotte, Emily and Anne gained fame, disaster came to the parsonage. Branwell, who had been regarded as the genius of the family, died of tuberculosis at 31. Within nine months, both Emily and Anne had died of the same illness, at 30 and 29. Charlotte died in 1855 in early pregnancy, three weeks before her 39th birthday.

'There's a fear of telling this story because there's a fear it will be too depressing,' added Workman.

A fear not without merit, one might say.  Via Bookslut.

Much Project Runway Speculation.  Can Hardly Wait.

Steelers report to training camp.  Met by throngs.

Clark Haggans knew it was a crazy day when he emerged from the portable toilet next to the practice field at St. Vincent College and the crowd erupted in a thunderous ovation.

"It's almost a football career highlight," said Haggans, an outside linebacker for the Steelers

Ah, yes.  It's good to be the champs.

Romance novels are expanding their fan base.  To men.  As far as I'm concerned, this can only be a good thing. 

Who calls Page Six about rude neighbors?

What does Shanghai know that we don't?

See Beverly Sills on the Muppet Show.  Via Priama la musica.