vivdunstan: (tolkien)
Belatedly browsing the schedule for Oxonmoot 2025 in Sched, and wondering how anyone with colour blindness can cope with the colour scheme Sched uses to differentiate between in person, hybrid and online events. Luckily not a problem for me, but seems like a core thing Sched should be doing better.

Meanwhile after wondering that, I am now speeding through the Oxonmoot programme, seeing which events I hope to watch. Probably watched after the Oxford event, using the wonderful catch up streaming the con organisers have honed over the years. I am very likely to sleep through the whole live event.

... quite a bit later ...

And that's seemingly 31 events in the Oxonmoot 2025 programme I'm especially interested in and hope to watch, probably after the event. Marvelling as always at the range of talks and events. Phenomenally grateful to the Tolkien Society and Oxonmoot organisers for making this event accessible online.
vivdunstan: A picture of a cinema projector (movies)
Making a list mainly for my own needs, but it may be of interest/inspire others.

These are mainly streaming things we need to get to sometime. We also have a huge backlog of TV recordings (TV episodes/series and films) on our Sky Q box.

This list will be incomplete!

TV series underway:
  • CSI Vegas season 2 (vast majority still to watch), before can get to season 3 which we have recorded and waiting (and taking up Sky Q box space!)
  • Babylon 5 - nearing end of season 2 (our umpteenth umpteenth rewatch)
TV series still to start:
  • Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power season 2
  • Sandman season 2
  • House of Cards (1990s BBC version) - bought digitally after I heard Miles Richardson say a certain phrase in a Bernice Summerfield audio tonight!
  • The Owl Service (rewatch for me) - managed to nab a disc copy of this, before they were totally unavailable
  • Alias (rewatch for me; partial rewatch/fresh watch for Martin)
  • Kidnapped - 1978 TV version, starring David McCallum
  • (soon) Wednesday season 2
Films:
  • Flow (Oscar-winning animated cat film)
  • Wicked
  • Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
  • D&D Honour Among Thieves
  • Night of the Demon (rewatch)
  • The Flight of Dragons - 1982 Rankin/Bass children's animated film I saw as a youngster, and have wanted to rewatch for years
  • Lord of the Rings 1978 Bakshi animated film (an incomplete version of LOTR) - have it waiting bought on Apple TV/iTunes
  • Hundreds of Beavers - bonkers slapstick comedy film
  • Timestalker - comedy/romance/timey wimey recent film
  • John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (I saw it decades ago and it was *memorable*!)
  • Wonka (the Timothée Chalamet version)
  • Perfect Friday - 1970 crime caper with David Warner and Ursula Andress
  • The Woman in Black - 1989 ITV telemovie (rewatch for me, first watch for Martin)
  • Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
  • Paddington in Peru
vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Getting near to the end of my catchup watch for the Cymera 2025 festival of scifi, fantasy and horror writing in Edinburgh. I had a digital weekend ticket, so had access until this coming weekend to the digital recordings. Didn't get through as many as in some years. But happy with what I've managed to see, considering. And found many new to me authors whose work I want to follow up.

vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Finally going through the Edinburgh Book Festival programme, and disappointed as the proportion of streamed talks diminishes even further for yet another year. Luckily I am finding some gems, including Robert Macfarlane and Hallie Rubenhold. But it is pretty poor representation on accessibility grounds.

I used to attend the Edinburgh Book Festival in person, though usually then only attending one or two talks. But those days are past, as my neurological disease progresses, and streaming that took off as Covid started was a huge help to housebound me. And now that’s in major decline.

P.S. Streaming tickets now bought, for the above two talks, plus those with VE Schwab and RF Kuang. I will probably watch them belatedly on catch-up in bed.
vivdunstan: Test card (tv)
Been too sleepy to watch any more movies. And still haven't got to Rings of Power season 2. Our Babylon 5 rewatch is also currently on hold while we try to catch up with a mass of too much recorded telly in our Sky Q box.

I have been binge watching a lot of the early episodes of Glee. Which though cliched and corny is remarkably watchable. As a musical theatre fan I'm also happily there for all the songs shoehorned in. Martin hasn't strictly been watching it, mainly commenting as he potters around that "That sounds very weird!" But he did say tonight that having sat in for a bit more he can see how the format works, and is starting to appreciate it.

I'm also watching a lot of recorded panels/talks from the recent Cymera 2025 festival in Edinburgh of science fiction, fantasy and horror writing. Have already enjoyed panels including authors John Gwynne and Cymera regular T.L. Huchu. With many more to watch in the next 3 weeks or so while I still have access to them using my purchased digital festival pass.
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Making a list of the plays I’ve watched so far using the reduced price National Theatre at Home subscription I bought before Christmas. So grateful to be able to watch these via streaming. They also now offer rentals of individual plays.
  • London Tide (Our Mutual Friend)
  • Prima Facie - Jodie Comer
  • Present Laughter - Andrew Scott
  • Nye - Michael Sheen
  • (currently watching) Constellations - Peter Capaldi and Zoe Wanamaker
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Bumped this up my viewing list, because the play is going off streaming through National Theatre at Home at the end of this month. It can be viewed before then by people like me who subscribe to the service (I was lucky to nab a reduced price offer before Christmas), or on a short-term rental view.

The play was staged in early 2024 and is a dramatisation of the life of Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan, who spearheaded the launch of the National Health Service in the UK in 1948. The play tells Bevan's life, looking back from his final days in hospital, as sedated he dreams back to his youth as a miner's son in Wales, early political life, his courtship of his wife, Westminster politics of WW2, and then the fight to found the NHS.

The staging is creative, being set largely in a hospital ward, but repurposing the props - including beds - as well as patients and staff to take on the various roles of people Nye encountered in his life. This staging took a little getting used to, and the play runs briskly along. But it certainly grabs the viewer's attention.

The central performance of Michael Sheen as Nye Bevan is riveting, and ably matched by Sharon Small as his Scottish wife and fellow Labour politician Jenny Lee. Their relationship feels vital to the play as a whole, but is surprisingly underdeveloped after their first striking meeting.

The foundation of the NHS happens near the end of the play, and feels surprisingly rushed, and a story only partly told. There is very effective staging of a group of doctors seen above, debating whether to join the new NHS. The toing and froing here between Bevan and the doctors is gripping. But then it's over, the NHS is founded, and the play finishes soon after.

An admirable theatre experience, though I think the play script could have balanced some aspects of the story better. However the performances are gripping, and the staging held my attention throughout. Recommended.

No notes

Feb. 9th, 2025 10:10 pm
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Watching another Treadwells recorded talk, and laughing when the speaker said "You don't need to note the references to books etc., I have a bibliography for you." Yeah right. Brings back memories of some St Andrews CS lectures in 1993/4 when a couple of us had to go along in person months afterwards to ask insistently for copies of the slides we were supposed to get and why we had been told not to take any notes at all! Anyway another good Treadwells talk.

I'm working my way through a subset of the Treadwells of London talks available for members, getting through all the ones I fancy before I cancel my recurring monthly membership subscription. Tonight's talk was from an archaeologist speaking about ritual deposits, especially in private houses between the 16th and 19th centuries. Fascinating. Possibly too many slides for the time allotted, but I certainly wasn't bored!
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Just finished watching this production, starring Andrew Scott as Garry Essendine, and including in the cast Indira Varma (who, like Scott, won an Olivier award for this role) and Sophie Thompson (also Olivier nominated, but lost to Varma).

This is an old play, written by Noel Coward in the 1930s, centred around a successful actor and his immediate circle of associates. This 2019 version updated it in places, including gender swapping a key character, making it more true to the unspoken feeling but unshowable then truth of the original 1940s production. I think the ending has been tweaked too.

The acting is sparkling, very theatrical and over the top, but works so very well, and keeps you glued for almost 90 minutes. The staging is good too, set in a single room, with clever use of furniture, doors and other props. Often when the front door bell would ring, leading to another disastrous arrival, the audience would laugh out loud. Indeed there was just so much laughter from the audience throughout the whole play.

In the lead role Andrew Scott was superb. Yes over the top and camp for much of the time, but with a sad pathos running underneath, and superb comic timing. The rest of the cast were excellent, especially Varma and Thompson.

Highly recommended viewing. I watched the recorded performance via my National Theatre at Home streaming subscription, which I bought at a greatly reduced cost (thankfully!) just before Christmas.
vivdunstan: (tolkien)
Have booked me an online ticket for Oxonmoot 2025 in September. Buying early because I can get a chunky early bird discount. I also get a discounted online ticket as a Tolkien Society member. I have been watching Oxonmoot online, mostly on catchup after, since they offered streaming in 2020. They are very very good at doing the technology side of things, and it works extremely smoothly. And there is always a fascinating range of talks and events to enjoy, even at a distance, and even if like me watching it potentially months later! Anyway booked.
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Continuing streaming old but recent ish theatre plays using the National Theatre at Home subscription I got at a hefty reduction before Christmas. Now on to Noel Coward's Present Laughter starring Andrew Scott, and cleverly gender-swapping in part the original. Andrew Scott won the Best Actor Olivier Award for this.
vivdunstan: Test card (tv)
Thought I'd do a quick recap on the main things I've been/am watching recently. These are in addition to things we record on the Sky Q box and watch together. Watching anything at all is tricky for me given how heavily asleep I am for most of the time, including often at night between dinner and supper, assuming I can resurface for supper. But here are some of the main things I'm squeezing in.
  • Finishing Wednesday season 1, ready for watching season 2 later this year. I binge watched the last few episodes, which is extremely unusual for me.
  • Rewatching Daredevil from the very start, ready (though I may be lagging a bit behind!) for what looks like pretty much a continuation coming later this year on Disney+.
  • Watching plays on National Theatre at Home. So far I've got through London Tide (a version of Our Mutual Friend), Prima Facie (the Jodie Comer version), and am now onto Noel Coward's Present Laughter starring Andrew Scott. I have *so* many more on my watch list to hopefully get through with my year's subscription. It takes me a lot of watches to get through a single play.
  • Watching recorded talk videos from Treadwells occult bookshop in London. So far I've learned about subjects such as Greek folk tales about goblins at Christmas, and an overview of the history of grimoires. Lots more lined up to watch soon.
  • Enjoying some of my favourite YouTube channels, such as writer Christy Anne Jones and a Swiss family of Norwegian Forest cats.
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Finished watching theatre performances "London Tide" and "Prima Facie" using my National Theatre at Home subscription.

The former was a valiant attempt to adapt Charles Dickens's "Our Mutual Friend" into under three hours, but for me it was unsuccessful, stripping out too much of the plot, characters and themes, and changing the ending a lot. Some of the performances were excellent, especially Bella Maclean as Bella Wilfer, Tom Mothersdale as John Rokesmith, and a quite superb young Ellie-May Sheridan as Jenny Wren. But the songs by PJ Harvey and Ben Power were an overlong distraction, generally terribly dirge like, and I'd happily have done without them.

Prime Facie sees an ambitious defence lawyer finds herself on the other side of the court, as a rape victim. It's a one woman play, with Jodie Comer playing the lawyer, and also retelling and acting out the other characters. It is an utterly devastating performance, which is horrific to watch, and I marvel that she managed to play this night after night, without even a full interval in the middle. Unsurprisingly Jodie Comer won both the Olivier and Tony awards for best actress in this role. A quite astonishing 100 minutes of acting.

Prima Facie

Jan. 8th, 2025 05:32 pm
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Current watching, using the National Theatre at Home reduced price subscription I bought before Christmas. Halfway through this play now. Wow. Need a pause. I'm gobsmacked by her performance. She won both Tony and Olivier awards for this role.
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Finally managed to watch some of the festive talks from Treadwells, which are available to view free online until today. I'm considering taking out a short paid membership to watch some more of their online talks, so it was really good to try out the technology. Also highly amused at the cat interruptions, in the talk about Greek folk tales of goblins at Christmas!

Screenshot of a lady speaking. She has black and red hair, and is sitting in front of a warm fireplace looking towards the camera. Photo bombing the screen from the right is a black and white cat, with its head turned towards her.
vivdunstan: Photo of my 72 bass accordion (accordion)
I've never seen Wicked, on stage or in the cinema. Will watch it from home (well part 1 of the 2-part film version) when it goes to streaming. But I *adore* this song from the musical, especially the version sung by movie Elphaba Cynthia Erivo. Have bought some digital piano music for it, and am going to do an accordion arrangement. Just gorgeous.

vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
Just signed myself up for a reduced year of National Theatre at Home subscription (I will need to cancel before the end to stop it auto renewing). I'd been considering asking for it for a Christmas present. But just spotted they have a 20% discount on the annual rate running to this Sunday only. So snapped it up. There are quite a few of their plays that I'm keen to watch online. I'm also hoping they'll in due course get Ncuti Gatwa's current one online too. Anyway yes, 20% discount (with a code on the site) until Sunday only. https://www.ntathome.com
vivdunstan: (tolkien)
Just finished my catchup viewing of the Tolkien Society Oxonmoot this year. And wrote up a blog about it. It's amazing how well it worked to make the event accessible even for me in very extreme circumstances. Thank you to all the team!
vivdunstan: Part of own photo taken in local university botanic gardens. Tree trunks rise atmospherically, throwing shadows from the sun on the ground. (Default)
I've just finished my marathon viewing of a large bunch of videos on catchup from the Glasgow Worldcon this summer. Watching on catchup I missed out the chance to take part in the live Q&As. And I also found the user interface rather cumbersome, that I had to watch on my laptop, which limited how frequently I could do so. But I still managed to get through quite a large number of talks.

Here are the events I watched, each one about an hour long, typically with 45 main minutes of discussion, followed by 15 minutes of audience Q&A:
  • AI and Work - Do Androids Dream of Taking Your Job?
  • ENIAC and the Post-War Dawn of the Computer age
  • The Horror Out Of Space
  • *Scot-ish: The Influence of Scotland on Fantasy Worldbuilding
  • It's Life, Jim, but Not as We Know It
  • *Iain Banks: Between Genre and the Mainstream
  • All the Shakespeare: the Bard's Influence on SFF
  • The Untold History of Worldcons
  • Inadvisable Rocket Science
  • A Fireside Chat with Samantha Béart
  • Guest of Honour Interview: Ken MacLeod
  • *The Many Legs of SF: Creepy Crawlies in Space
  • 50 Years of TTRPGs
  • Comics Can Save Your Life
  • Faeries in Fantasy Literature
I've marked out above those with asterisks that I especially enjoyed. To pull those out specifically these were:
  • Scot-ish: The Influence of Scotland on Fantasy Worldbuilding
  • Iain Banks: Between Genre and the Mainstream
  • The Many Legs of SF: Creepy Crawlies in Space
The first two of these had obvious Scottish connections, which I unsurprisingly appreciated. But I also found them particularly rewarding in other respects. But I enjoyed something in everything I watched, not just these particular highlight talks.

Martin and I had originally hoped to be at the Glasgow 2024 Worldcon in person. We had low cost attending memberships in place. But things didn't work out that way. However I was able to watch on catchup, and have very much enjoyed that. I was also active in the Discord during the convention, and treated myself to some purchases inspired by the Dealers' Hall.

vivdunstan: Photo of some of my books (books)
Just booked myself an online ticket for the British Library's "Tales of the Weird: An Autumnal Festival" on 2nd November. In person tickets have sold out, but online streaming tickets are still available. It's an all day (Saturday) event, and you can view live, or on catchup over the following 48 hours. I've used their catchup streaming for other recent events, and it works well. Looking forward to it! A celebration of weird fiction, in its many forms.

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