I Love The Decemberists

Maybe this is a strange thing to hear someone proclaim, but I adore The Decemberists. The first time I heard their music, I was slightly skeptical, but over the past few year they have grown on me like an ingenius musical mildew.
They've developed a reputation for seeming to cater mainly to English majors, history buffs, and Anglophiles. Is it any wonder why I like them? They're known for playing with traditional styles of ballads and folk songs, especially sea shanties.
In 2009 they released the concept album The Hazards of Love- almost opera--like in scale, it tells a mythic and tragic love story. Though perhaps, slightly bizzare fare for the average radio listener, its scale of drama was strangely appealing. Several songs such as "The Wanting Comes in Wave" and "The Rake's Song" also hit lush and surprising musical nuances, drawing out a rock and roll/heavy metal sound, unusual for the band.
Perhaps what I love best about The Decemberists is their willingness to experiment and the intelligence and passion they do it with. They don't water down their music to create a more marketable single and they also enjoy playing with language and story telling. Not all of their songs have one simple meaning (in fact, I'm not sure any of them do), you could study their lyrics like you could a poem or story and dissect all sorts of meaning from it.
Their recently released album, The King is Dead shows yet another phase of experimentation for the band. Unlike the long, multi-layered songs of The Hazards of Love, King seems to be an exploration in simplicity and a return to the band's Portland OR root. The longest song on the album is five and a half minutes long, compared to earlier songs such as "The Island" and "Mariner's Revenge," or their eighteen and a half minute long EP "The Tain, "that's quite short.
I'll be reviewing their new album for the college paper, you can watch their first live performance of The King is Dead from beginning to end on NPR, here.

Lovely Men of Literature

After seeing many "sexiest literary characters" lists on various blogs, I have decided to create my own. Mainly because I think that many gems have been overlooked. Well, 'gems' isn't very masculine, but I believe my meaning is clear. I have compiled seven literary characters that I find sexy and will list them in no particular order. Feel free to mention anyone you think I missed in the comments. Just a bit of fun, enjoy.

-Benedick from A Much Ado About Nothing: Romeo is too whiny for my tastes. Benedick's not immediately on many most sexy lists, but I love a bit of verbal sparring. In spite of how sharp his tongue is and how stubborn he is, in the end he's not too proud to admit his love for Beatrice.

-Odysseus/Ulysses from The Illiad and The Odyssey: Strong and capable, he is a great strategist and a foil for the rash and angry Achilles. He also travels 10 years just to get home to his wife Penelope who waited for him all that time by cleverly tricking her many suitors.

-Westley/The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride: How much dashing heroism can one man possess? Starting as a humble farm boy saying "As you wish" and returning as a swashbuckling pirate to rescue his beloved... that's enough for me. Mostly the pirate thing actually.

-Simon Cotton from I Capture the Castle: Simon is a sexy intellectual American with a country estate in England. He is brilliant (except in his choice of girl) as well as kind, generous, romantic, and bookish- plus he is a fine dancer.

-Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre: Though not handsome, he is passionate, worldly and mysterious. Best of all, he sees the qualities Jane possesses that are below the surface and proves that love is a great equalizer. There is the matter of his first wife... but a deus ex machina always comes in handy there.

-Richard Sharpe from Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series: Sharpe was a poor guttersnipe in England, orphaned, he escaped the dangerous life of a child chimney sweep and eventually rose in the ranks of the British army. Instead of buying rank, he actually earned his. Though rough around the edges he can be charming when he chooses and is always good to his women. I love him not just because he's played by Sean Bean in the series... though that does help.

-Captain Wentworth from Persuasion: You thought I was going to say Mr. Darcy? No, no, to be perfectly frank I don't think we'd get along at all. Jane Austen's sexiest leading man is by far Captain Wentworth. Though he almost lets his hurt pride get in the way, he carries a torch for Anne for 8 years and wins her back with one of the most intense love letters of literature. Besides, he's a sailor. I'm not sure if that counts for anything, but I think it's pretty hot.

Jane Eyre 2006

Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books. I read it several years ago, and while I Capture the Castle is my go to comfort read, I have never felt such a strong connection to a literary character as I have felt towards Jane.
The Bronte sisters always made me a little skeptical, my only experience with them was Emily's Wuthering Heights which I found melodramatic. In spite of everyone telling me I would love Jane Eyre, I was hesitant. Then I saw this film a fews years back. It inspired me to read the novel and spurred me toward one of my most profound literary relationships.
That being said, I thought I would go back and watch it again now that I have read and fallen in love with the novel to see if it still lived up to expectations. For me, it did. Though of course a few details are altered slightly, various parts of the plot are lengthened or shortened, etc. it creates a very clear picture of why Jane is so lovable and why her story is so important. It also creates an environment that makes some of Charlotte Bronte's slightly peculiar "other worldly" elements make sense.
Ruth Wilson is wonderful as Jane, not beautiful, but passionate and driven by and inner strength and sense of morality. Toby Stephens plays a beastly, but lovable Rochester, and I'm sure I speak for most of woman-kind when I say I'd be his governess any day. The two have a great chemistry and communicate so much to the camera with their facial expression, they barely need speak. However, when they do, it is a screenplay by Sandy Welch who also leant her pen to the highly watchable North and South from 2004. She pulls very well from within Bronte's novel, but of course some of Jane's narrations and introspective thoughts are sadly missed, but Wilson's acting and Susanna White's direction helps make up for it. The supporting cast was strong, Tara Fitgerald was very abomidable as Mrs. Reed and Georgie Henley was very well cast as the young Jane Eyre.
If you're a Jane skeptic or a Jane lover, you will enjoy this adaptation.

The Young Victoria

I just saw the film The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend about two days ago. It was a beautiful film. Most people think of Queen Victoria as the stern old dowager draped in black and surrounded by her children. This film takes the audience back to when Victoria was only 17, under the strict control of her mother and her mother's advisor. Victoria was not even allowed to walk up the stairs without someone there to hold her hand. She is spirited and will not be bullied into sharing power with her mother by agreeing to a regency.
Her uncle, the king, dies when she is barely 18 and she must begin her rule. Though she suffers from some misguidance by Lord Melbourne (played by the lovely Paul Bettany), she gains her bearing.
Most importantly to this story, along the way she marries Prince Albert. They meet before she inherits the throne, and though Albert is thrown at her originally to please King Leopold of Belgium, Albert falls in love with Victoria and she with him. The story follows them into the difficulties of their early married life. The struggle to run a country and start a family is one where Albert is faced with a woman who is his wife, but is above all the Queen. After her oppressive childhood, she is afraid to give up any power even to someone who loves her.
The film is very well done, with beautiful costumes and scenery as well as clever dialogue that creates well developed characters. Though I'm not one to gush over romance, the relationship between Victoria and Albert is touching and it's easy to care about the two of them and envy their devotion to one another. I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys British history or just likes an intelligently done love story.

Comfort Read: I Capture the Castle

After an 8 am final (yes, a final at 8 am on a Saturday, not good if you don't live on a college campus), I needed to relax. The best solution I found was a hot bath and one of my favorite novels, I Capture the Castle. I'm surprised it's not more well known. Written by Dodie Smith, author of the famous children's book One Hundred and One Dalmatians, it tells the story of a family living in a deteriorating old castle in the English countryside during the 1930s. Cassandra is the 17 year old protagonist/narrator. Her father is an eccentric writer who hasn't published anything since his first novels' success over a decade ago and they are now living in "genteel poverty". Their landlord's rich American family comes to take over the estate and Cassandra's older sister Rose is determined to marry one of them.
Though incredibly simple in its premise the story is told in such a beautiful way, Cassandra's narration feels so familiar as she records her daily observations. It quietly explores what it means to grow up and how your relationships change with the people you love. Certain moments are extremely funny as well.
Everyone I've recommended it to has found something to love about it. Every time I read it I find a new nuance, or connect differently to a different character. There was a film of it made in 2003 which was pretty decent, but leaves out a few characters and doesn't fully express Cassandra's internal self as well as the book. Essentially: read it.