Christmas Rev

The final episode of season 2 of Rev- which was also a Christmas episode- was everything I wanted it to be. I don't think anyone sensible who has seen the programme needs to be told this- but because last night, full of virus and after a difficult day Adam and his friends and family made my face and my heart smile- I am talking about it anyway.

This programme is a tiny nugget of joy, a simple, sometimes gentle but always sharply accurate picture of life when you're trying your best in London- that it happens to be about a Rev is to some extent by the by. That said I think the portrayal of the Reverend Adam Smallbone as a very real human being is doing an enormous amount for certainly this person's view of the church.

I am biased because Rev is filmed all over where I live but I think it would make me chuckle if I lived in Alaska just as well- though perhaps not the bits about bike etiquette on London roads or the dirty cornershops that are more expensive than Fortnum's.

So anyway, my point is Rev is utter joy and Christmas Rev was everything I wanted it to be. Hooray. Happy Advent (and then Christmas) to everyone- must try not to use midnight mass as the religious equivalent of a kebab (I don't even like kebabs and I love carols).

What it's easy to forget about perfume

As you may well know bbc4 are currently showing a short series about perfume.

You can watch the first two episodes on the i-player here if you haven't already.

It is perhaps not surprising that I stayed in to watch this programme, in fact several friends apologised for messaging me during the transmission (which I assured them was silly, because of course I was recording it). It was really wonderful, partly because some of it really wasn't, if that makes any sense. The behind the scenes look at the creation of a new mass market scent will not I think have won that perfume any fans but I rather loved that.

Anyway this post is not about the programme, though if you like either perfume or eccentric people then I do recommend it. It is about remembering as a scent lover that not everyone has the perfume education we have all given ourselves.

After Tuesday evening's programme a good friend who wears several lovely and not especially generic scents messaged me to ask if I knew of Shalimar by Guerlain which had featured quite heavily in the first episode. Initially I sent a message back saying of course I have, I could hardly call myself someone who liked fragrance if I had not- and said she should catch up as soon as possible. She asked what it was like and I said wonderful but that it was not my most favourite Guerlain but that I thought it was perhaps the most accessible of the older ones and so on and so forth, as any scent lover might.

She knows I love perfumes but she said wow you know so much about it (and I really hadn't said much). I have despatched her to suitable perfume counters in London to try one of the Queens of perfume but this has reminded me that we all assume everyone must know L'heure Bleu for example, or Rive Gauche or Diorella. We are so consumed by scent that we sometimes forget the classics are to be so revered and to always be talked about. I am so often looking for what is new or what is old but hard to find that I forget to point people towards and to talk about what is there year on year.

So if for some reason you have never tried Shalimar please, please do. Then try Mitsouko and if you don't like it try it again and again, look for the peach and the moss and fall in love with it. Then on a more bad tempered day try L'heure Bleu and let is take you over a little. On a better day try Apres L'Ondee and embrace your inner pre war suffragette. When you have tried all these try the mens scents, many women wear Vetiver so spritz that by try them all. Then go to the Dior counter and try all the ones they don't talk about very much in the bottles that look the same, they are far better than any of the scents they will want to talk to you about. Then over to Chanel to try Chanel 19 and Cristalle because they don't give them enough love and they are scents for women not girls (or men).

Perhaps even those of us who think we know everything there is to know about perfumes in standard perfume halls would do well to re- try some of the scents that have been there for a long time- or to remember to love them.

Margot

Margot was part of a collection of films made for BBC4 about notable British twentieth century women in 2009. At the time I remember a great deal of press about Enid, starring Helena Bonham- Carter as Enid Blyton. The remaining two films, about the perhaps less universally famous but actually perhaps more recognisable Gracie Fields (Gracie!) and Margot Fontayn (Margot) were just as fascinating- and I had particularly enjoyed Margot because if you love ballet you just cherish this I think.

That is not to say it's an easy or satisfying story, because it's the story of Margot Fontayn's life and her narrative was at once stranger and more tragic and in some ways more wonderful than any fiction could be.

Post Black Swan ballet seems to be everywhere. People who haven't been near the Coliseum or the Opera House were asking me about The Agony and the Ecstasy the BBC documentaries following the English National Ballet for a year and trying to get tickets for Swan Lake. Well if you liked that film and the documentaries but perhaps want a little bit more reality and a little less horror then I think Margot is worth looking for. The film, which stars the ever excellent Anne- Marie Duff, is available at all the usual online places or can be rented on love film. Margot Fontayn and Rudolph Nuryev are two of the most charismatic dancers ever to have lived and they really did live their lives on and off the stage.


If you would like 'further reading' on ballet at the moment I've recently enjoyed listening to Darcy Bussell's Desert Islands Discs (as part of the archive podcasts). She is very honest about having a family and dancing. She seems to have learnt from Margot's sacrifices and found a way to have a happy family life and continue to dance which must be very inspiring for ballerinas. She was an incredibly strong ballerina physically and the interview shows her mind to be just as powerful in the sense of determination.

Personally I recently went to a short programme matinee at the Royal Opera House, the ballets were: Rhapsody, Sensorium and Still Life at the Penguin Cafe. All were wonderful for what they were. For me Sensorium, which is like a sensual ballet version of a yoga class set to Debussy, was the weakest- in no way for the dancing but because I like a story or a moment to follow. Still Life at the Penguin Cafe is really more dance than ballet most of the time but is a great mixture of lightness and poignancy and it is wonderful to see dancers mimicking animals with so much wit and respect. Rhapsody though truly was wonderful- I was thrilled and enthralled. It is a beautiful ballet, extremely challenging for the leads, set to Rachmaninov and staged in a kind of sunset in the sky it was truly a Rhapsody- I could have gone back the next day.

Weekend homework: 21st of May 2010

This week six Penguin classics go (RED). The books in the set are: Dracula by Bram Stoker, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton and The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. Why not read a classic in a sunny park this weekend?



It's the final ever Ashes to Ashes *makes little squealing sound*

I want to go and see the birds playing guitar at the Barbican; doesn't this sound cool:

'Trained as a musician and composer, French artist Céleste Boursier-Mougenot creates works by drawing on the rhythms of daily life to produce sound in unexpected ways. His installation for The Curve will take the form of a walk-though aviary for a flock of zebra finches, furnished with electric guitars and other instruments and objects. As the birds go about their routine activities, perching on or feeding from the various pieces of equipment, they create a captivating, live soundscape'. (finishes 23rd of May).



If you like Joni Mitchell, which I'm sure those of you with good taste do, catch up on For Folk's Sake's week of articles, reviews and Joni experiences. You could also read this piece on her album Clouds which I wrote for them.

I finally saw Four Lions, I was worried I might find it a bit tough but I laughed and then I cried- you can't ask for much more. It's definitely a very British comedy. They've managed to take extremely serious subject matter and build very real, touching characters- and then through some wonderful acting and astute use of funny runs created a really interesting two hours at the cinema. So I'd recommend it for after the sun goes down.



But while the sun is up and out I will be mostly wearing sandals and enjoying summer in London, when it's here there's nothing like it.

Weekend homework

Your weekend homework, should you choose to accept is:

If you don't already read Mr London Street then head over there for some really sharp, funny, poignant writing (especially for Monday's post which was introduced by me- my bits aren't the funny, sharp, poignant ones).



For relaxing why now download the free Jarvis Cocker National Trust sounds- what a cool idea (although their website doesn't seem to be working this morning so hopefully it will be fixed by the weekend!).

Or if you would prefer music to sounds then Pete Roe's new EP is available for pre- order here. His music is timeless, touching and just filled with goodness. I can't wait to have some new songs of his to listen to.



Show your suppport for Portobello by signing up to Portobello rocks if you would like.



Remember to watch Ashes to Ashes episode 7 tonight or on i-player if you are as crazy about the programme as me.

For some culture I really enjoyed the magnificent maps at the British Library- and again it is free. There is also a Peyton and Byrne cafe to revive yourself in afterwards. I'd actually never been to the library before (ducks, I went to University in London, there are lots of libraries to use at the colleges, I have seen Star Wars). I actually had a funny couple of minutes when I went in and realised how much treasure was there and how important it was. I felt a bit tearful and I wanted to hug it close to me. Then I got sidetracked in the shop and started behaving more normally- but it's pretty great it's there, we are very lucky.



Have fun!

Last chance to see

This is Sirocco. He is a Kakapo- a flightless parrot.

I watched him on Last chance to see last night and was completely enchanted.

The indescribably wonderful Stephen Fry described Sircocco as looking old- fashioned and he's quite right (of course). He does look like he is from another time- a Victorian gentleman of a bird.

If you have missed this programme I can't recommend it more. These kinds of programmes are why I am glad to pay my licence fee.

You can be friends with Sirocco on Facebook and you can watch the programme on the bbc i-player.

Masterchef: The Professionals

It's a cliche but staying in really is the new going out for me when Masterchef: The Professionals is on. I keep missing loads of it and an i-player catch up, while good, is not quite the same as the real, live programme- with other sofa buddies to criticise the chefs (as if any of us could gut a squid in ten minutes).

The scheduling of this guilty pleasure lovely is maddening though. Tonight I am staying in so- whoop whoop- I can watch Masterchef. However tonight is just a thirty minute episode. Now when I am out on Wednesday it is a one hour thirty minute episode- how is this fair? Why can't we have forty- five minutes every evening?

Still I shouldn't complain, thirty minutes will still be good- and apparently the skills test is hollandaise, yum! Even when the cooks aren't very good there is always the joy of Gregg's pudding faces (I have never seen a man enjoy dessert so much!) and Michel Roux Jr's eyes- the deepest, most chocolaty eyes on television.

Period drama drama

You have two choices with bank holidays I think- get out and mingle with the crowds or stay local and enjoy some food, drinks and seeing friends. I went for a mixture and by Monday I was ready to do not very much at all.

It being a bank holiday the TV wanted to serve me up some period dramas- and I wanted to watch them, because I always want to watch them.

Yesterday was like Bronte-vision with the whole of the recent Jane Eyre being shown back to back during the day and the second part of ITV’s new Wuthering Heights on in the evening.

I think the Jane Eyre is absolutely wonderful and I enjoyed Wuthering Heights but never having read the book (I know, terrible isn’t it?) I don’t feel I can judge so well. Certain things about Wuthering Heights cannot be denied, that the Yorkshire moors looked as bewitching and beguiling as they possibly could and that Tom Hardy looked the same- and is a wonderful actor. The story felt rushed to me and there didn’t seem to be time to just let the characters be but that is something I would say about a lot of television and is probably the reason I should read the book.

Anyway the reason for my post is the watching of the dramas and the discussions of books we had and hadn’t read through up a difference of opinion in my friends and I. On my side there was the hopeless romantic who thought it didn’t matter that Mr. Rochester was disfigured and blinded when he and Jane Eyre were reunited because they had each other. On the other side of the room I found the question why do you like something so depressing? Something where people can only find love after terrible things have happened to them or where life is such a struggle.

It’s certainly true that the Brontes are different to Jane Austen who is the other bank holiday stalwart. However for all that Austen can seem lighter and the stories end happily for most of her characters they are stories about people being disinherited, shunned for being too poor or bearing seemingly unrequited love.

It’s also true that these great love stories are written by spinsters, should that matter? It doesn’t matter to me, in fact sometimes those who go without something can feel it more keenly when it’s found, or lost, or unreturned and perhaps have the time or inclination to articulate how that feels.

Ultimately it’s about if we want a story to be happy or sad, but I think also realistic. Life isn’t always happy and I like to see that in some of the books I read and films or TV I watch. That doesn’t mean I am seeking misery- I enjoy a Sandra Bullock film more it’s cool to admit too but they aren’t like real life- neither is Wuthering Heights I suppose though. Perhaps in the end whether you love something or not just depends on whether the story resonates with you or not.

Wuthering Heights picture courtesy of The Guardian.

www.tvguide.com

What to eat now

I have become a little bit obsessed with What to eat now on BBC 2. Of course now that I have formed the obsession the programme seems to be finished- which always happens to me.

Still I can nurse my slight crush on Valentine Warner via i-player and some book ordering I'm sure. Cookery programmes and murder mysteries are my absolutely guiltiest and loveliest TV pleasures. I could have literally jumped into the screen to try Valentines lavender meringues.

picture courtesy of www.amazon.co.uk

Wide Sargasso Sea

I thought this piece comparing Jean Rhys and Amy Winehouse was very interesting.

I wonder why woman with self destructive tendencies are never quite as romanticised as self destructive, artistic men?

Rebecca Hall seems to be everywhere at the moment and the interviews I have read have made me realise I missed this BBC adaptation of Wide Sargasso Sea, which she features in. Frustratingly it only seems to be available as a region 1 dvd- why do the BBC release things in America but not here?

In which our heroine vanishes inside the TV box

After an extremely hectic and cool social week of getting in at 1am and being up at 6am each day I, of course, succumbed to a cold at the weekend.

This week has been the exact opposite of last and I have been hurrying home to watch endless TV with only a pack on man size tissues and those old fashioned blackcurrant glycerin sweets for company- and I have been secretly loving it!

Ashes to Ashes continues to have me on the edge of my seat but my favourite programme of the week so far is Mary Portas' new Mary, Queen of charity shops. I have always enjoyed her programme but this one was real treasure. It's like a cross between a fashion programme, a lifestyle programme, a reality TV show and a soap opera. The area manager, the toy twins, the shy lady who was too scared to sell cake- such amazing characters. Mary Portas' facial expressions are priceless.

Mary and all of her army of volunteers obviously really care about the shop doing well and it made me feel good about being someone who only takes things I want would to buy to the charity shop- which are normally things I will never fit in again...

Ashes to Ashes

As previously alluded to I have been having an unscheduled duvet weekend because of a cold. I quite enjoy having lashings of elderflower cordial and tea and catching up on films/ tv/ radio.

Yesterday saw me mostly re watching Ashes to Ashes the, in my opinion, excellent follow on to Life on Mars.

I actually prefer Ashes to Ashes to Life on Mars which I gather from generally reading of reviews is unusual. I don't know if it's because I am a child of the eighties (just!) but I just find all the references in this one more applicable to me- even though I was about a month old when this is set. The fact they spend all their downtime in an Italian trattoria drinking jugs of chianti, the huge clunky walkmans that are cool, the thatcherite boys and coral lipsticked girls (I wonder what perfume Alex Drake wears?).

I love the soundtrack, ultravox, the clash, duran duran, the stranglers- it all sounds so bizarrely fresh on this show where it doesn't always on my radio. Plus there's the cars and the fashions, the way this is put together you can sort of see why they thought they looked good while revelling in how bad they look too.

Then there is Gene Hunt. I have to say I love a real man and he is nothing if not that.

I have been trawling the internet to see when the next series starts but so far it seems there is no definite date- but it should be late March to early April. I can't wait!

I'm still here, entertaining and being entertained

The baby was showered with sugar, bucks fizz and a sprinkling of snow this weekend. Thank you for all the suggestions for making it a happy day!

After all the excitement of organising the party and getting up at crazy am to make many, many teeny tiny sandwiches I collapsed on Sunday. I have developed a worrying hang over/ snow stopping play addiction to UKTV History repeats of The House of Elliott (1920’s period fashion drama). I began watching for nostalgic reasons and to see if it was still good, I remember loving it as a child. Initially I wasn’t convinced but three hours later I was still there. I find watching TV from my childhood strangely comforting, especially on Sundays. To me they are either made for roasts and walks, trawling markets or period TV.



I also watched the BAFTA’s fest. I thought most of the fashion this year was decidedly so so, although Thandie Newton looked great as ever I prefer her in the more unusual colours because she wears them so well.



I love Kate Winslet and I thought she looked good but a bit safe, she seems to have developed an addiction to black. Now we all know the benefits of black but I’m worried she has decided it’s a lucky colour and won’t ever stop wearing it- and she can wear colour so well. The red Ben De Lisi Oscars number is still my favourite of all her awards dresses.



Before the snow came I went to see theatrical bliss- The Donmar West End’s Twelfth Night is the definition of delightful. I think everyone (including me) uses far too many superlatives these days but I am not overdoing it on this occasion. I defy anyone not to come out of the theatre beaming with pleasure. It should be available on prescription.



House of Elliott picture courtesy of: www.amazon.co.uk
Twelfth night picture courtesy of www.telegraph.co.uk

Thandie Newton picture courtesy of: http://uk.fashion.popsugar.com/2788196?carousel=3

Kte Winslet picture courtesy of: http://www.nowmagazine.co.uk/celebrity-news/249598/omg-see-pics-anne-hathaway-wears-kate-winslet-s-oscar-dress-well-almost/1/

Early Christmas presents... to myself...

I have been wanting to see the BBC's Love in a Cold Climate for as long as I've known it existed. Infuriatingly it has been available in America for some time but I have never managed to unlock my dvd player to region 1. Then when doing a big online Christmas order this little gem popped up in my recommendations in glorious region 2 format! I was so excited I ordered it then and there, with the intention of saving it to watch at Christmas.

I have of course failed completely in this. I cracked open the box about two hours after it arrived. I love Nancy Mitford's books and go to The Pursuit of Love (my particular favourite) and Love in a Cold Climate for comfort reading. This two part production is actually an amalgam of the two books.

For the most part the characters can seem frothy, light and hilariously snobby but they can actually be very touching and over time they mostly develop into people you really care about. I always find Linda Radlett's journey and the great love affair of her life, which it takes her time to find, very romantic. I also adore that she wears Apres L'Ondee (a fact that is happily noted in this production).

I searched online for the quote from the book about the scent and actually found this article which discusses Linda but is also a great piece in itself.

The Devil's Whore

The Devil's Whore is a new civil war drama that started on Channel 4 last night. You can read more about it here. I have been looking forward to this more than most of the Autumn TV.

It's written by Peter Flannery who wrote Our Friends in the North. He has apparently been working on this story since 1997 which shows dedication to the narrative and ideas.

One of my main reasons to be so interested is the English civil war gets far less treatment in terms of film, television and wider influence than the French revolution some one hundred and twenty years later. Obviously the French revolution has a certain je ne sais quoi that we can't quite compete with but this new adaptations goes some way to making things more interesting- and the scenery is stunning (although apparently south african for budgetry reasons- eek- well it doubles well).

The civil war is one of England's most radical episodes. We were really quite ahead of ourselves with ideas about democracy and equality, granted it all came to nothing in the end and, as with all the best ideologies, it got used for individual gain. I am very fond of the royals and I wouldn't really want President Brown/ Blair/ Thatcher so perhaps it did all end well but there is no denying that the revolutionaries were onto something.

The first episode was really rather good, granted there were some slightly special special effects involving visions of the devil, but I liked that Cromwell was quite sidelined in this telling, so far. I prefer to see things from a slight side view (and Cromwell has had his fair share of air time).

I was also actually very taken with the ladies fashion (the less said about the men's facial hair the better I think). Really this period wouldn't get me going but they have dressed Andrea Riseborough in some fabulous blues with shots of red and all the clothes are of the most rippling and tumbling silks and velvet with touches of leather. Everything looks to smell of newly died leather, gunpowder and woods.

Next week she seem to be working cross dressing/ female bandit chic. There is also a wealth of earnst men for her to get involved with. I can't wait!

Picture cortesy of Channel 4

The Wimbledon experience

Although this is a little belated I thought Sunday's Wimbledon final was fabulous. We had two players who are true sportsman, gracious whether winning or losing and respectful of each other and the Wimbledon traditions. We had rain, we had sunshine, we had gusts of wind and failing light.

But what I wanted to talk about was the next day and and the feeling of collective consciousness that came from everyone having watched the tennis, whether they initially tuned in for it or wanted to watch Songs of Praise/ Last of the Summer Wine/ George Gently and found themselves screaming at the tennis.

With digital, i-player, Sky plus and dvd box sets it's very rare that you get a real water cooler TV discussion these days. Sure many people will have watched the final Soprano's or the Apprentice but the difference on Sunday was that everyone was watching the tennis at the same time, they didn't save it to the hard drive or wait to buy the dvd.

I am a total box- set and repeat whore but I think it's a real shame that we have lost that collective excitement about a lot of popular culture and really enjoyed my water cooler tennis related chats the next day- the sporting ones with the chaps an the Nadal or Federer ones with the ladies.