The Olde Dickens Shoppe

Dickens, Literature, London, TV & Film, UK

This is going to be long — LOL. On the upside, there will be several miniseries and film recommendations, and lots of photos!

Being a bit layed-up recently, I’ve been watching some film & mini-series adaptations of the lesser known Dickens novels.

There are a few adaptations of the big titles that I can watch over and over again with absolutely no problem — seriously stunning, with incredible performances. If you’d like to get into some Dickens, check out one of these.

I highly recommend the brilliant 1999 David Copperfield with Maggie Smith and Daniel Radcliffe (and a boatload of British film faces). Also remarkable — the 2005 Bleak House with Gillian Anderson & Charles Dance (it’s my favorite). The third of my top three, (however by no means at the bottom), is the 2011 Gillian Anderson Great Expectations. All absolutely top-drawer. The Helena Bonham Carter/Ralph Finnes Great Expectations is quite well done too. I’ve seen all of these several times, and will see them again.

Gillian Anderson & Oscar Kennedy in *Great Expectations*

I didn’t care for the 2023 FX/Hulu version of GEx with Olivia Colman, much as I love her work. The 2012 The Mystery of Edwin Drood is at the bottom of my list. I don’t think I made it through one episode. (They made it very romance-y, dwelled on Rosa, and didn’t quite capture the atmosphere.

I binged a 1977 version of Hard Times over the last day, and quite liked it! Didn’t strike me as corny/silly and 70s at all. I also enjoyed — I don’t even know what to call it — The four-episode 2001 Dickens “spinoff,” Micawber. A rare Dickens comedy, not corny, and well done. The characters are intact, but the plot for each episode is original. There’s a 1995 Martin Chuzzlewit that I liked enough to finish, but wouldn’t watch it again. On the silly side of things, there’s a goofy comedy called The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, a sort of Dickens-inspired sitcom mash-up. It’s okay, just not my thing.

Bill Sykes, Compeyson, Miss Havisham, Inspector Bucket, Fagin, The Artful Dodger, and Mr. Bumble in *Dickensian*

All in all, I liked the miniseries, Dickensian. It’s very clever, and it’s certainly beautiful. They’ve stuck a ton of Dickens characters into the same few blocks of London, woven their lives all together, and explored how they became who they are in the novels. Brilliantly written. Of course, once you’ve seen it, there’s no reason to watch it again.

The principal characters of the 1998 *Our Mutual Friend*

Today, I’m starting a 1998 BAFTA Award-winning version of Our Mutual Friend, with Timothy Spall (a favorite) in the cast. We’ll see how it goes.

Joel Grey & Patrick Stewart in *A Christmas Carol*

To answer the question which must be answered — my favorite version of A Christmas Carol is the 1999 version with Patrick Stewart as Ebenezer Scrooge. It keeps a lot of what most of the other versions toss out, the language is more poetic and true to the original, and their version of Scrooge’s London is stunning; in addition to the terrific performances.

In and Out of Hot Water

Fiascos, Home and Renovation, Uncategorized

As most friends here know, I have a couple of ongoing health management things. These few things require a tub and hot water.

On Sunday evening, I was taking a bath, and the water stopped. I thought, “Huh. Water main break or something.” It’s an old city, happens now and then. Our plumbing is only five years old and we have an on-demand hot water heater the same age, so I just sat there a minute … until J said, “There’s a bunch of water out here on the floor.”

That, of course, was the end of my bath. After drying off and collecting my wits, I took a look at the “closet full of a million pipes,” and found this, with hot water gushing out of it —

The lead from the water heater had separated from the pipe that takes the hot water to the rest of the house. The clamp on the top broke. I actually thought, “thank the plumbing deities for that,” because it looked like an easy fix.

You may or may not know — I don’t do plumbing fixes. Won’t touch ’em. But. I do understand most plumbing things. To confirm my suspicions, I had J go down to the basement to turn the main waterline off-and-on while I checked the bazillion valves in the plumbing closet. Looked like I was right. It was already evening, so we decided on cold water sink baths in the morning, and I Scarlett O’Hara-ed it until the next day.

Called my good friend and contractor (who also happens to be our next-door neighbor) Monday morning. He ran by the hardware store to buy a few things, and it was fixed by noon! Couldn’t have taken him more than five minutes. He only wanted the cost of the supplies, but of course I doubled it and made him take it. Because calling in a plumber for something so simple and stupid would’ve cost three or four times that much. Let alone, having it fixed in less than a day.

So, as I was thinking when I first saw it, if we were going to have a plumbing issue, I’m glad it was a simple one.

I was back in the bath by 12:30!

Follow the Yellow Brick Hole

Literature, Musician, Personal, Theatre

L. Frank Baum, the author of the Wizard of Oz, spent a short time here in town as a student at the Peekskill Military Academy. (Being a loosey -goosey creative sort, he hated it.)

At this point in the city’s history, the roads were paved with bricks. Yellow Ones. Peekskill was a somewhat serious port in those days, and Belgian ships would bring over yellow bricks as ballast, before they headed home with their iron products manufactured here in Peekskill. (I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.)

When the pavement wears through and large potholes happen, we frequently get down to the yellow brick road.

Well, you can imagine. Many Peekskill folks have claimed Baum’s inspiration for the yellow brick road as local. There’s even a Wizard of Oz themed event every year at our local restored movie palace, The Paramount.

A section of preserved road, on private land.

I’ve thought a few times about producing a musical at the Paramount. However, the things I like to do are more suited to a black-box or a parlor theatre. The Paramount is a football field.

All is going along nicely here.

I’m visiting Florida in a few weeks. Principally to spend time with my Mom, but I’ll also get to see my dear friend K! It’s so nice to be in close touch with a few folks from high school.

The teeny-tiny 1920s musical about a person whose name has a Z in it is finished and ready for a first read. However, one needs performers for such things. We are going to wait until after the school year starts to announce auditions. Seems prudent.

Hope you’re all well too!

All is Well-ing

Garden, Health, Theatre

To start, I’m fine. I believe I mentioned earlier that I had an infection at a surgical site which went away and then immediately came back worse. Very bad. Approaching sepsis. (During this, the bathroom renovation went belly up and two vacations were canceled.) However, it is gone now, I’m getting my strength back, and I feel better than I have in a very long time. I mowed our postage stamp size front yard yesterday. =)

I think I might’ve mentioned I was working on an adaptation of 1728’s The Beggar’s Opera. Didn’t work out. I was enjoying the work, but the details, places, people, customs and occupations of 1728 London are all things that would have to be very clearly explained to a modern audience. That would result in a well-over-two-hour musical, it could possibly prove tedious, and that’s not what I’m after. I’m after small, meaningful, and fun.

So I’ve started something else. At this point, I’ll say that it is a two person musical (plus the non-speaking pianist character) based on the local stay of a very famous, very fun, very complicated person from the 1920s/1930s. The first 15 minutes is currently being read by a few people. Interestingly, it’s revealed itself to me as about 75% sung and 25% spoken. I’m having a good time.

The garden is at peak!

And of course, I’ve already got a good amount of herbs in hanging and drying. A few stalks of sage, basil, oregano, and thyme so far.

Today is a rest day! You have a great day too!

Only Beautiful Things

Arts and Crafts, Goals, Home and Renovation, Personal

We all know that I am currently ill, and abed atop a hot water bottle.

However, I don’t want to talk about that today. Today, I resist torpor and complaining. Today I only want to talk about beautiful things.

I have to thank my dear friend, Madame K, for asking about my projects, and how things are going. It reminded me that I am not made of illness. I am made of creativity. She always knows just the right thing to say.

You see, my trade is creating beautiful things; whether that’s a cottage kitchen, live music, a flower garden, students excited about the possibilities of music, or a musical based on a 1728 play. And, I am privileged to have been able to spend my life as a creator.

So, with illness and frustration aside, I walked around the house today and took photos of things I’m working on that I find beautiful.

The front yard flower garden. I’m definitely an English cottage garden type person. (No surprises there.)

A (mostly) finished corner of the kitchen, with our now-exposed huge beams. I had to fill in the space at the top of the wall, of course. I stained new rough-hewn wood to match the old beams.

Another kitchen wall. Still needs some paint work, but I left the little cellar door rough on purpose. I like to see the history.

A staircase wall in progress. Because I decided to go with stucco in between dark-stained beams, (Tudor-style), I went with artwork that reflects that.

And that’s all I know about that! I’m off to rest and have a little bit of dinner. Yep, at 4:00. =)

Sit Still Phill

Incidents involving antiquity, travel, renovation, and music.