bironic

1.

I have mostly recovered from Vividcon. I think. Wed-Thu-Fri-Sat evenings I did things with people, and work is busy, so it's taken a while. Haven't yet watched most of the vids I missed, and need to respond to those of you who were kind enough to comment on the con report.

2.

Started one of the last readily available Paul Bettany movies this weekend, an English miniseries from 1998 called Coming Home. It appears to be about adopted families and class tensions and WWII and coming of age and love.

Baby Keira Knightley played the main character in the first part and she was adorable and had chemistry with everybody. Then she got replaced by baby Emily Mortimer playing the same character "two years" older*, because baby Keira Knightley I guess was too young to be shown kissing Paul Bettany, and as is usually the way with these sorts of things, it was hard to transfer affection from one actress to another. Emily Mortimer's face and hair here put me off.

*EM is 14 years older than KK

Funny how in the beginning of his film career PB seems to have gotten cast as either a gangster/hitman/street punk or a pretty love interest, or sometimes both at once. Here he is the love interest, or one of them; there is a love triangle I am pretending will end in a threesome even though it won't. In fact, I don't think he's in the second half of the miniseries at all. (ETA: Incorrect.) He spent a lot of time in the first half smoking cigarettes and looking apologetic for being so tall.

Despite the somewhat stilted acting and the preponderance of too-quick scenes that result from a book adaptation, overall it is a pleasant period drama (er, aside from one uncomfortable plotline that is over now) and I am looking forward to receiving the next hour and a half from Netflix.

3.

Tried a new Zumba class this evening. First time I've gone to a fitness class in a while, and it felt good. Will try to go again tomorrow, since it's only on the gym schedule Mon-Tue right now. thedeadparrot is inspiring.

After (re)watching Wimbledon as part of this marathon, I started to dream about playing tennis, which I haven't played in something like 10 years. It's too expensive and country-club-feeling to get access to the courts at work even with staff affiliation, and I don't think any local friends play with whom I could go use community courts--correct me if I'm wrong--but I found some tennis Meetup groups this weekend and plan to check them out when the timing and locations are right. Hopefully one will work so I can brush up on my skills without annoying my partner(s) and can add something different to the activity rotation.

(There hasn't been much activity at all lately, which doubtless explains why when I'm not at cons or neck deep in a work project, I've been feeling fairly blah.)

4.

It's hot. It's August. Alas. The good news is that when my mom comes to visit this weekend, temps are supposed to fall from 95 to 80ish. Better hope of good sleeping. If the weather holds, we will enjoy a treat: John Williams' Film Night on the lawn at Tanglewood (although due to an injury, Keith Lockhart will conduct in his place). The program was great fun last year at Symphony Hall.

5.

We shall close with a couple of video clips akin to what thedeadparrot and I saw on Saturday at an event called Ignite!, which involved fiery arts by members of the Boston Circus Guild such as flaming hula hoops and a flaming ball on a chain. Flaming swordfight and flaming whip were two of my favorites. There is something about controlled fire in the darkness that gets you right in the hindbrain. Here are some more clips, including a dude dressed like Petyr Baelish.

I'd like to say it nudged me toward working on the last Dustfinger fic, which will be OT4 that builds on the canonical m/m soulbonding, but there's too much else going on right now.

How about some more Paul Bettany movies?

Previously:

Post 5: Transcendence, After the Rain, Creation, Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang) (not that one, the other one)
Post 4: Firewall,* The Heart of Me, The Da Vinci Code, The Tourist, Blood
Post 3: A Knight’s Tale, Margin Call,* The Secret Life of Bees, Mortdecai
Post 2: Wimbledon,* A Beautiful Mind, Legion
Post 1: The Reckoning, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World,* Inkheart,* Priest
*includes fic recs

( Every Woman Knows a Secret )

( The Young Victoria )

( Dogville – long discussion, major spoilers )

( Dogville Confessions )

I'm just going to update this post as I go. I don't think anyone is reading these but me, anyway. :)

( Firewall )

( The Heart of Me )

( The Da Vinci Code )

( The Tourist )

( Blood )

Ah, well. The themed viewings appear to continue.

( A Knight's Tale )

( Margin Call + fic rec )

( The Secret Life of Bees )

( Mortdecai )

Not wanting to pay more dollars to see Avengers again, I decided to have a little Other Movies Featuring Paul Bettany fest.

So far:

( The Reckoning )

( Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World + fic recs )

( Inkheart + fic recs )

( Priest )

Still to go: Wimbledon (rewatch), A Beautiful Mind, Legion, A Knight's Tale, Mortdecai… Thank you, county library system.

.

Something about all this has caught the obsessive part of my brain, and I've been preoccupied for days with thoughts and images of his various roles, including returning repeatedly to certain animated gifs. This couldn't have come at a worse time; I'm in the midst of two packed weeks at work and don't have brain space to waste on this. But that's probably exactly why it's happening now. Maybe it's even coming at the time I most need it.