Friday Flashback: Rec. #212: Ultraviolet (UK TV serial)

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some early posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: First, we need to clarify several things.

1. This does not have any connection whatsoever to the Milla Jovovich movie.
2. I mean, look at the DVD cover! They are very serious and British and are wearing so many clothes!
3. But, er, it is about vampires, actually.
4. But the word "vampire" is never, ever used. They are Code 5s, and they are rarely seen.
5. I know, yes, lots of vampire stuff around these days!
6. But this is from 1998, so ha.
7. And the focus is heavily on scientific methods and police investigation.
8. And each episode name is in Latin. Classy!
9. Also, no thinly veiled antiabortion rhetoric here.
10. Oooh, and there is Jack Davenport! We adore Jack Davenport.
11. And! You get to see Jane Bennet (Susannah Harker) and Stringer Bell (Idris Elba) work together!
12. Plus, someone from True Blood played a vampire here first.

Comparable to: It is kind of X-Files-ish. But British.

Representative quote: "Our free range days are over."

You might not like it if: You cannot stand one more vampire thing, ever, not even for Stringer Bell.

How to get it: You can watch it on IMDb and Hulu.

[Originally posted 11/21/11.]

Rec. #270: Started Early, Took My Dog

What: Started Early, Took My Dog is the fourth novel from Kate Atkinson that features former private detective Jackson Brodie. As if we weren't invested enough in Brodie's adventures already, this time around he acquires a formerly abused dog as he winds his way through various rumbling tragedies.

Opening lines: "1975: April 9. Leeds: 'Motorway City of the Seventies.' A proud slogan. No irony intended. Gaslight still flickering on some streets. Life in a northern town."

Representative quote: "Jackson wondered what a dog might need. Food and a bowl to eat it out of, he supposed. He found both in a shop called Paws for Thought. He sensed he was entering deep into unknown territory. He had a new role. He knew who he was, he was a dog owner. He found it hard enough coping with having a son, the dog felt like even more of a stretch."

You might not like it if: When I first read the book, I yelled "AND?!" at the last page. More, please, Ms. Atkinson, and quickly.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Start at the beginning with Case Histories (Rec. #3 and FSoM #14), move on to One Good Turn (Rec. #69), and finish your prep with When Will There Be Good News? (Rec. #192).

First Sign of Murder #17: Tied Up in Tinsel

"How far these impressions were to be attributed to hindsight and how far to immediate observation, Troy was unable to determine, but she reflected that after all it was a tricky business adapting oneself to a domestic staff entirely composed of murderers."

---Tied Up in Tinsel, Ngaio Marsh, 1972

Also: Death and the Dancing Footman (Rec. #37), Night at the Vulcan (Rec. #102), List #5, Colour Scheme (Rec. #190), Death of a Peer (First Sign of Murder #1)

Friday Flashback: Rec. #215: The Last of Sheila

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Stephen Sondheim (yes, the composer/lyricist) and Anthony Perkins (yes, from Psycho) co-wrote this 1973 mystery film. In The Last of Sheila, a successful movie producer invites several people aboard his yacht for a one-week cruise that is actually an epic "Sheila Greene Memorial Gossip Game." The unpredictable host's game involves disguises, puzzles, secrets, and nightly scavenger hunts. As anyone who has ever read a mystery novel knows, parlor games inevitably lead to murder, and this game is no exception.

Comparable to: It's a classic Christie set-up with a '70s Hitchcock vibe and a sharp, jabbing streak of cruelty. It's also kind of like Deathtrap.

Representative quote: "Just enough time to get dressed as a Catamite, if I knew what it was."

You might not like it if: The borderline-campy tone means that the genuinely unsettling parts take you by surprise. And you don't appreciate being taken by surprise.

How to get it: Watch it instantly on Amazon, or rent it, or buy it.

Connection to previous Wreckage: James Coburn plays the multimillionaire/movie producer/yacht owner/game master. Coburn's threatening drawl is also a key feature in the Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant film Charade (Rec. #97). Also, when I refer to "a '70s Hitchcock vibe," I basically mean Family Plot (Rec. #120).

Two additional fun facts:

• The cast also includes Dyan Cannon, James Mason, Ian McShane, and Raquel Welch.
• The plot was inspired by the elaborate scavenger hunts Sondheim and Perkins used to arrange for their friends. (No one was ever murdered during these real-life scavenger hunts. As far as I know.)

[Originally posted 12/3/11.]

Gift Idea #7: P.G. Wodehouse as published by Overlook Press

Around this time last year, I presented Gift Ideas #1-5. You can find a list of them here. 

I think they're still pretty good ideas, but I'm giving you more this year, too. See Gift Idea #6 here.

What: P.G. Wodehouse is hilarious and the Overlook Press editions of his books are absolutely gorgeous.

Who to give it/them to: Book design snobs, Anglophiles, anyone whose eyes light up when they hear the word "Jeeves."

Gifting tip: Pair this with the much beloved television series Jeeves & Wooster.

How to get it/them: According to the Overlook Press website, as of right now you've got 85 titles to choose from.

Also: For example, you could get Cocktail Time (Rec. #24), or Jill the Reckless (Rec. #136), or Much Obliged, Jeeves (Rec. #153), or Uncle Dynamite (Rec. #204), or The Mating Season (Rec. #254).

First Sign of Murder #16: A Study in Scarlet

"My dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes:

There has been a bad business during the night at 3, Lauriston Gardens, off the Brixton Road. Our man on the beat saw a light there about two in the morning, and as the house was an empty one, suspected something was amiss."

--- A Study in Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle, 1887

Friday Flashback: Rec. #216 (abbrev.): The Cabal and Other Stories

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Ellen Gilchrist, short stories and one novella, town psychiatrist, cousins in exile in San Francisco, thirty-six gold Krugerrands, rugby player, cross-country pilgrimage, Dakota in Kansas City, letters in a safe deposit box, Miss Crystal cleans up, one for Darwin, the surcease of biscuits

Representative quote: "This is the story of a group of people who had a bizarre and unexpected thing happen to them. Their psychiatrist went crazy and started injecting himself with drugs."

Connections to previous Wreckage: I mentioned The Cabal and Other Stories during Personal Wreck Week (List #5). Other Gilchrist collections include Nora Jane: A Life in Stories (Rec. #25) and Light Can Be Both Wave and Particle (Rec. #159).

[Originally posted 12/7/11.]

First Sign of Murder #15: Death in Autumn

"Even so, if the body had gone over the weir there would be nothing for it but to wait three days until it came up and was spotted by some passer-by in one of the small towns through which the Arno wound its way towards Pisa.

Unless, of course, the whole thing was a sick joke. It happened now and then."

--- Death in Autumn, Magdalen Nabb, 1984

See also: List #6 (A Few Seasonally Inappropriate Options for the Northern Hemisphere) and Rec. #144 (Death of an Englishman).

Rec. #269: 2D Goggles

What: Today, Google is celebrating Ada Lovelace's 197th birthday, and who are we to argue? After all, Ada Lovelace --- a genius mathematician and the daughter of Lord Byron --- absolutely rocks.

Graphic designer Sydney Padua appreciates this and has created a webcomic all about Ada Lovelace and fellow mathematician Charles Babbage. Fighting crime for Queen Victoria. Using a difference engine. As you do.

Comparable to: Very Kate Beaton sense of humor, but with a lotta lotta footnotes about how much Charles Babbage hated street musicians (fact!).

Opening lines: "Ada Lovelace was the only legitimate child of mad, bad, and dangerous to know poet and nutcase Lord Byron. Her mother Anabel fled the exploding planet her husband yet worried that Ada had inherited his wild blood."

Representative panel:

Bonus representative panel:

How to get it: The main page is here. Meet the cast here. See the Pocket Universe Guide here. Access the archived stories here. Start reading the current story ("User Experience") here.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Yes, as a matter of fact I did mention Kate Beaton. I also mentioned her in Rec. #95, List #2, List #3, List #8, Rec. #186, Gift Idea #2, List #14, and List #21.

Friday Flashback: Rec. #208 (abbrev.): Three Men in a Boat

I decided to start doing Friday Flashbacks in case you missed some earlier posts the first time around. You're busy; I understand.

What: Novel by Jerome K. Jerome (yes), self-diagnosis of overwork, boating holiday, misadventures, River Thames, barometers, mustard, Waterloo Station, bribes, fishing, pubs, bagpipes, camping, plaster of paris trout, food hamper, inns, the contrariness of teakettles, J., Harris, George, to say nothing of Montmorency

Meet J. (the narrator): "It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours."

Meet Harris: "That's Harris all over - so ready to take the burden of everything himself, and put it on the backs of other people."

Meet George: "George suggested walking back to Henley and assaulting a policeman, and so getting a night's lodging in the station-house."

Meet Montmorency: "Fox terriers are born with about four times as much original sin in them as other dogs are."

Also: Previously mentioned during Personal Wreck Week (List #2).

And: Don't forget To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis (Rec. #100).



[Originally posted 11/9/11.]

Gift Idea #6: A New Leaf

Around this time last year, I presented Gift Ideas #1-5. You can find a list of them here. I think they're still pretty good ideas, but I'm giving you more this year, too.

What: At long last, the cult classic film A New Leaf is finally on DVD*. In Elaine May's story, a newly penniless member of the entitled elite marries a hapless heiress-slash-botanist as a last resort. He immediately starts plotting her demise, but is thwarted at every turn.

Movies like this are why the phrase "darkly comedic" was invented.

Who to give it to: Any friend whose favorite movie is Harold and Maude.

Gifting tip: Round out the present by including an oh-so-thematically-appropriate fern frond token, like a necklace or cufflinks.

Also: Read some representative quotes (and revisit a not-long-ago time when A New Leaf was still difficult to find) at Rec. #56.



*Granted, we've reached a time when some people have basically stopped using any non-streaming video media, but still.

First Sign of Murder #14: Case Histories

"Police helicopters flew low over outlying villages and countryside as far as the county borders, truck drivers were alerted to keep an eye out on the motorway, and the army was brought in to search the fens, but none of them --- from Amelia screaming herself sick in the back garden to the Territorial Army recruits on their hands and knees in the rain on Midsummer Common --- could find a single trace of Olivia, not a hair or a flake of skin, not a pink rabbit slipper nor a blue mouse."

--- Case Histories, Kate Atkinson, 2004

See more: Case Histories was Rec. #3.

See also:

One Good Turn (Rec. #69)

Human Croquet (Rec. #137)

When Will There Be Goods News? (Rec. #192)

7 Mysteries from Authors Who Are Still Alive (List #4)

Rec. #268: Meme

What: Susan Wheeler's exploded, layered elegy is riddled with cliches in the best possible way. The poems spiral the reader down past a variety of voices, from chiding/petulant to jaded/smirking, all within 100 pages that are filled with plenty of white space.

Meme is also a finalist for the 2012 National Book Award. If you want to jump into some contemporary poetry, this is a pretty good place to start.

Comparable to: The tone is similar to a very  s t r e t c h e d  o u t  snippet of Kira Henehan's novel Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles, which I loved the heck out of.

Opening lines:
"She was a real stickler.
Well, I couldn't get it for the life of me. All I remember is, Mademoiselle Skeen, vous êtes une tête du bois!"

Representative quote:
"It could have been the sea
It could have been the stars
It could have been
that girls not men
were the ones from Mars."

You might not like it if: Well, poetry. It's poetry all over the place.

How to get it: Buy it or borrow it.

Connections to previous Wreckage: Orion You Came and You Took All My Marbles was Rec. #195.

If you want more poetry, try Monologue of a Dog (Rec. #19), The Best of It (Rec. #50), or Ripple Effect (Rec. #118).