The Wild Blog in the West

Seven weeks into the project, everything is great now that the new scullery maid is at Manderston.  The daughter of a farmer, Ellen is actually used to hard physical labor and doesn't shy from the nastier tasks like plucking fowl.  Since she arrived, the kitchen has been humming, and Monsieur Dubiard and Antonia are so happy and relaxed, and... Where did she go? It turns out that Ellen and Kenny are enjoying a clandestine relationship.  Despite Anna and Bates carrying on with the full knowledge of both the staff and the upstairs, it turns out that servants are expressly forbidden to have relationships.  If Ellen and Kenny had been caught together in Edwardian times, she would have lost her job and he would have been disciplined.  But since this is 2001 and the staff don't want to hire yet another scullery maid, Edgar can only give them a stern talking to.  However, all of their secret trips to smoke cigarettes are causing them to neglect their work, t...

It seemed only fair to end my Les Miserables fan-girling with my impressions of the recent DVD/blu-ray release.  In some ways, I wish that Universal had waited a little longer, because the movie was still doing pretty well at the box office (better than expected) and given another month or two, it might have overtaken  Chicago  and even  Grease to become the highest-grossing musical in the United States.  Oh well.  I'm sure the movie will get another chance when it is rereleased with the extended cut.   *exaggerated wink* Like many, I purchased the Target "deluxe" DVD set, which came with a "stage to screen" booklet and a bonus disc.  The blu-ray disc contains exclusive bonus material, as did the bonus disc.  So what did I think? Blu-Ray Disc As expected, the blu-ray disc had crystal clear graphics that were beautiful to behold.  However, the disc itself was a complete fail.  It plodded along from one segment to the next, t...

If the house seemed like a well-oiled machine in the last episode, it quickly collapses in this one.  Four weeks have passed and the servants are dead tired.  Their fondest dream is to have some honest-to-goodness time off, which is at Sir John's discretion. Kenny grumbles that if he doesn't get so much as a half day off, he will kidnap Jonty and hold him for ransom.  Antonia muses that if she were really a kitchen maid in the Edwardian times, she would have quit service and become a prostitute.  The reasons?  She would never have to worry about scandal for smoking and drinking, and her feet would never be tired because she would be on her back all day. The servants are also getting sick of having to smile with good humor whenever one of the family makes a funny.  Rob tells Charlie that he wanted to "plunge a knife in their backs" when they laughed at him for being tired.  He singles out Jonty's "girly laugh" for criticism. For their part, Sir ...

So two weeks into the "experiment," both upstairs and downstairs are settling into their roles.  Lady Olliff-Cooper plays tennis with Jonty, while Guy exclaims that the whole experience has given her a virtual happiness orgasm.  Not his exact words. In Lady Olliff-Cooper's defense, anyone  in that position would feel the same way, especially given the harried nature of her real life .  That includes the people downstairs who complain about her upkeep.  Who wouldn't want to give up having responsibilities for two weeks?  Best vacation ever. Still, many people must work very hard to keep her so comfortable, and the strain is beginning to show.  At one point, a weepy Antonia proclaims that she only got three-and-a-half hours of sleep the night before, and that she misses her family and her boyfriend.  There is a lot of weeping and missing the family on this show.  But at least a new scullery maid has arrived: Kelly Squires ("Kelly"): Whe...

Manor House , or The Edwardian Country House  (as it was known in the UK), aired on American television in 2003.  It was part of a series of reality shows that also contained history lessons, including The 1900 House  and The 1940s House . Manor House was ahead of its time, in that its producers sensed our thirst for opulent period drama long before Downton Abbey  became a hit.  And like Downton Abbey , Manor House  took place in the close-yet-far-away time period of pre-World War I Britain. The house and lifestyle were meant to represent wealthy living during the years 1905 and 1914.  Unlike Downton , the actors playing the "upstairs" and "downstairs" didn't get to leave their roles at the end of the day.  Instead they lived them every day for three months. This series also has a fundamentally different outlook from  Downton Abbey .  With Downton , the objective is to show how harmoniously the classes lived together...

The HBO show Girls  has received both acclaim and criticism for its portrayal of young women of the Millennial Generation.  Whether the acclaim is deserved or the criticism too rough, I don't know or care.  I also don't care about whether Girls  captures the essence of the Millennial Generation, because it doesn't.  How can four white urban girls and their friends accurately represent the experiences of millions?  How can four anyone anywhere?  No, the issue I have is how Girls portrays young creative people striving to break into an elite and unforgiving world. A decade ago, my life looked something like Hannah Horvath's.  After graduating from college and saving money, I moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a television writer.  I have always loved to write character-driven dramatic stories, and have usually received good feedback.  At the time, cable channels were multiplying and creative, intelligent dramas were being ...

I'll start by saying that I don't think it's a coincidence that both RENT and The Phantom of the Opera released "live performance" recordings years after the movie adaptations came out.  In both cases, the movie failed to capture the essence of what made the stage production so enjoyable. I went into some detail about the stage production in Part One .  Part Two will focus on what the movie adaptation does to improve, or not improve, upon its source material. Even though I don't think RENT  (2004) is a good movie, I also don't think it is a particularly bad one.  There is nothing that stands out as a glaring "Oh my god I can't believe they did this I can't look" like Phantom 's casting of Gerard Butler.   RENT the movie was directed by Chris Columbus, who has a track record of making films that are competent, if not cutting edge.  Of course, RENT 's main problem is that it needed someone who was cutting edge, who was willin...

I have a somewhat complicated attitude toward RENT .  Had you asked me even two years ago, I would have said flat out that I hated it.  I hated its confused storytelling, its whiny protagonists, and its overplayed affirmation songs. I saw RENT live for the first and only time in London in 1998.  I was able to see most of the original cast, save Daphne Rubin-Vega's Mimi, which was fortunate.  I remember feeling bored and confused, somewhat moved during the second half, but only able to remember two songs afterward: "One Song Glory" and "Light My Candle."   RENT  wasn't a revolution -- it was a mess. It seemed almost set up to fail.  Creator Jonathan Larson, a promising Broadway writer and composer, died at a young age on the morning of  RENT 's opening in 1996.  His death added another layer of tragedy to his musical, which dealt substantially with young characters facing their mortality, and fueled the legend of RENT as something R...