Ring in the New...

Happy 2007 to all... Fellow-ette has been enjoying a noisy and very long break... and she's actually exhausted, because despite a bevy of noon wake-ups followed by stumbles to Angela's coffee shop up on 187th for $4 french toast, juggling family, friends, family-of-friends, and friends of family during the joyous holiday season ain't as easy as it looks. Still, it's been worth it entirely to lollygag, shop post X-mas sales, gorge oneself on cookies and takeout and good conversation, and most imporantly, see the people you love!

And there's been time for a strong dose of that sweet medicine of pop culture immersion. In no particular order, here be my thoughts on:

The Queen-- I just loved this film, which was an extraordinarily gentle and unflinching look at the events following Diana's death. Sympathies were spread to everyone from the throngs who mourned to the somewhat lugubrious Tony Blair, to Helen Mirren's perfect-to-a-point Queen. I've never seen a movie that treated something so recent so interestingly and compellingly.

"Beauty and the Geek", season premiere-- I love B and the G because of the ridiculous "message" it imparts about learning to love people who are different than you. I love the bonding that takes place between the beauties and geeks and the personal growth they actually go through. Although I must admit it's a bit misogynist to ALWAYS have the beauties be female and the geeks male (come on Ashton, shock us) it's still a treat. Oh, and as a graduate of the school to which two of the current geeks matriculate or matriculated, going to Harvard doesn't de facto make you a geek. A loser, perhaps, but not a geek. I think Nate and Scooter have an unfair advantage.

Ciaran Hinds-fest:
I've been getting my fill of the wonderful Captain Wentworth strutting his cinematic stuff this week.

*First there's been a "Rome" marathon, with 9 of the first season's twelve episodes covered since vacation began. What can I say about this show: it's scandalously good just like I, Claudius but with more sex, violence, and coverage of the plebs. Plus lesbianism, incest, and disemboweling galore. In other words, something for everyone. The only hard part is knowing that each epsidoe brings dear Ciaran-as-Caesar closer to the Ides of March.

* Jane Eyre as done by the BBC with Hinds as Rochester and Samantha Morton as Plain Jane herself is the first screen adaptation of Bronte's novel I've actually ever viewed, having heard that none of them entirely do justice to the complexity of the book. This is true, but while the script of this movie shortchanges the unique pacing of the book and plays down Jane's bizarre morality and growth, the acting from the two leads is so fantastic and their chemistry so intense it's breathtaking. Ciaran's wild, passionate Rochester is a far cry from the calculating Caesar or the bitter, reserved Wentworth.

The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai. About halfway through this novel of immigration and change in a small, politically trubulent corner of india near several borders (Nepal, Pakistan) and a simultaneous chronicle of the Indian experience abroad. This Booker-prize wining novel proves beyond a doubt that the brits are really overfond of over-writing. I prefer simpler prose for sure, but then, I'm an egalitarian bookworm chick, so what to expect?

Peace and love, dear readers, and welcome to '07.