TV, oh, TV

*****************UPDATE******************

I've been thinking, or rather I haven't but things have been occurring to me nonetheless, and I've thought of birthday presents that are somewhat more easily obtained than a pony or fixing Lebanon. Maybe people can split on them.

1. Opera glasses
2. A subscription to the Economist or Foreign Affairs
3. Music
4. Books
5. A surprise

Hope that helps.

Carry on . . .

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So yesterday I remembered how to do schoolwork and finished revision #3 of my bloody cocksucking thesis. The memory/discovery was unwitting. I rented the first few episodes of I, Claudius a while ago and by early afternoon couldn't wait to see them any longer. Once I'd seen the first three episodes I felt compelled to go rent 6 more. Only be sheer force of will did I manage to not go rent the last six episodes after those were done - that and I'd already put on my pyjamas.

So one point of this story is that as soon as I put the first DVD in I remembered I'd done my first degree essentially in front of the television. It helps to have a diversion every time I lift my eyes from the paper/screen so I don't feel the need to get up and do something else, and I manage to sit at one task for hours. I know it sounds bullshitty, but I promise for me it works.

The second point of this story is that I, Claudius is fucking awesome. I, Claudius and Claudius the God have been two of my favourite books for years, and it turns out the way Robert Graves wrote them lends itself well to a long miniseries with lots of detail, characters, and considerable fidelity to the original. It was made ages ago when John Hurt (Caligula) was boyish and Patrick Stewart (Sejanus) was beefcake-y, so the effects and the camerawork are ancient. However, the acting can't be denied. Some of it is stylized as for the stage, but disbelief-suspension is never a problem. John Hurt, Derek Jacobi (as Claudius) and Sian Phillips (Livia) are maybe the super-crazy-excellent performances so far, but everybody is good. The risks the actors were willing to take, the way they put themselves out there, made themselves ugly and terrible. . . It's incredible.

And the plot is beautifully intricate and gruesome. Sopranos and Oz and such didn't break any new ground in that sense. Or course the plot of the book and the history of Imperial Rome were already intricate and gruesome, but the way it's presented in this miniseries drives it home. Felt quite pukey when I went to bed last night after the scene - oh, can't write it. Too gruesome, though not graphic. Essentially, like Oz, you have to accept that all the characters you're identifying with emotionally are going to die in some complicated, violent, sickening way soon. Oh, I can't wait for the last six episodes. I don't miss TV. . . I miss good TV.