Posts by Kerry Weston
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Please don't take this as a dis, Kerry,because as far as I'm concerned the house of literature has many mansions.
Indeed it does. Wasn't implying any judgment on what sorts of stuff people read, more of a "why?" is SF/fantasy so strong. I did read Children of Men this year after seeing the film, have great intentions of reading more SF but not enuff time.
Did you watch The Way We Live Now? Thought Matthew Macfadyen wonderfully odious as Felix Carbury. I enjoyed it, but have never read Trollope - I might now.
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I'm quite surprised at the preponderance of fantasy/sci fi stuff people read. I'm more interested in contemporary stories, often read absolute twaddle in fact, because I figure it's like meditation - I can lose a whole hour, my mind freewheeling, unstressed, somewhere whilst i appear to be reading.
I love Tim Winton - his "The Turning" stories are superlative. Love his novels too - they're not perfect, but he's a mesmerist alright. I've enjoyed Charlotte Grimshaw, Carl Nixon and that kiwi chick who went to the Deep South (google to find name... Paula Morris) and Martin Edmond - http://nzbookmonth.co.nz/blogs/martin_edmond/archive/2007/06/04/1151.aspx
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and Virginia Woolf topped herself --, so with a little effort you can squint past how their exquisite sensibilities and professed socialisim never quite extended to being civil to the servants (or the rough trade picked up in foreign climes, if you were Lytton Strachey) or avoiding making crass and offensive anti-Semitic comments in front of Leonard.
Virginia Woolf - puke. Loathed Mrs Bloody Dalloway, set text for english, managed to avoid writing about it at all. But I bring her up (sic) because, if you haven't come across her before, Virginia's sister - Vanessa Bell - was far more interesting. A painter and very Bloomsburyish, but much nicer than most of them. She really had a good crack at being a painter and a mother and a wife and lover (of Duncan Grant). Lucky she was married to an MP (who led his own life but financed the family) so never had to worry about money.
I loved Die Hard 4! We've created our own character called "Brarnold" - a BruceWillis/Arnold Schwarzenneger combo - but I can't figure out how to post an image on here and I suppose it's breaking all sorts of copyright anyway...
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I still feel, deep inside, much as I did 20 or more years ago. And I find it really difficult to imagine how others see me sometimes. There is the shock of being taken seriously by someone who is obviously 'grown up'
Oh yes. Those awful phrases that used to apply to other people - "mutton dressed up as lamb", "act your age" "that music sucks" resonate differently now. And I try not to dance in public.
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And while we're at it (men with luv-er-ly voices, that is), Jeremy Irons.
God, yes. I refrained from mentioning Jeremy Irons myself becoz people often go "ugh, no!" But a few years ago, Kim Hill interviewed him and I was transfixed by this divine voice hypnotising me with tales of sailing - how Jeremy keeps himself balanced in the world, by jousting with the wind and the sea....
Totally hooked.
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Do any schools link study courses in English/literature and history. I would have loved to study some good relevant fiction alongside learning the social/political history.
Don't think so, but I might be wrong. I've run English and History papers alongside at uni - all this talk about Plath reminds me that we had Robin Hyde back in the 30s. It was indeed fascinating to study mid-20th century NZ lit and general nz history together, the two perspectives cross pollinate well, the art/lit practitioners really enliven it.
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Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan and Helen Mirren.
They could make the telephone book sound wonderful
Yes, indeed. And Alan Rickman. Sigh, i suppose it's just some ancient, genetic thing that makes velvet-wrapped gravel voices so seductive.
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National will fast track Transmission Gully, every dole bludger in the country will participate in its construction and it will cost $5 a pop to use.
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Can't remember what novels/plays we did for 5th/6th form, but around that time I saw two dark and terrifying films - Ken Russell's The Devils, with Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave, and Clockwork Orange. I still have a mental snapshot of Oliver Reed being burnt alive at the stake (for debauchery & sorcery), so the images certainly left a deep imprint on my developing brain.
Never could abide Shakespeare - except when someone with a gorgeous voice and impeccable delivery is doing the talking.
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and for those who say there's only a limited pool of ideas and we're running out so the concept of plagiarism is unrealistic.
Isn't there something else going on here? Like, none of the big media companies wants to take a punt on something/someone completely unknown and original, because there's too much money at stake? the artist either needs to have an already existing public profile, or successful work - or - you rejig an existing work that already has some cachet. LOTR is the perfect example. The transfer from page to film gives the film makers plenty of creative satisfaction in making a visualisation that is "their" work, but if LOTR had been a little known book by an obscure writer, the films would never have happened.
So, the notion of 'plagiarism doesn't exist because there's no original ideas' plays right into the hands of those who have the power to make something of 'unknown' works, by lifting and tweaking what they want, to appeal to their market as they see it, and claiming it as their own.
Jane Campion's move The Piano is speculated to have drawn heavily on Jane Mander's book The Story of a New Zealand River - was copyright infringed or not? I don't know - seems another case of where to draw the line.[{http://www.otago.ac.nz/communicationstudies/campion/participants/fox.html}]