tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7245036.post-7487146953300082932008-05-04T12:21:00.011-05:002008-05-04T23:33:14.383-05:002008-05-04T23:33:14.383-05:00DVD: Slings and Arrows<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FBFYKU?ie=UTF8&tag=bookmoot-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000FBFYKU"><img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51H2SSJWEBL._SL160_.jpg" border="0" /></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=bookmoot-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B000FBFYKU" alt="" style="border: medium none ! important; margin: 0px ! important;" border="0" height="1" width="1" /><br /><br />Treebeard and I finished watching the first season of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387779/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Slings and Arrows</span></a> last night. I didn't know anything about the show but <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://mentalmultivitamin.blogspot.com/2008/03/recommended-daily-allowance_31.html">Mental Multi-Vitamin</a> recommended it.<br /><br />This jaw-dropping series from Canada originally aired in the USA on the Sundance channel. <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12144988">NPR</a> billed it as a refuge for Sopranos-mourners. I never watched the <span style="font-style: italic;">Sopranos </span>but I am drumming my fingers waiting for the next DVD of this series to get here from Netflix.<br /><br />There are so many surprises and astonishing moments in the first six episodes that I almost hesitate to tell you anything about it because part of the delight of this show for me was having no idea what was coming next.<br /><br />The basics, to pique your interest, (in case my recommendations and M-MV's are not enough) The New Burbage Festival has seen better days. Its productions of Shakespeare are stale, the director and actors are uninspired. When the company finds itself in need of a new artistic director, a former Burbage player, Geoffrey Tennant, reluctantly takes charge despite his history (he had a breakdown while onstage in the middle of Hamlet, years earlier) with the company.<br /><br />Economic forces are constantly at odds with art. Actors' lives are messy and dramatic. Young movie stars (think Keanu Reeves/Orlando Bloom) seek growth and legitimacy through Shakespeare. There is <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">language </span>and <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">sex </span>(we watched it while the entling was a-promming) but if you let that put you off, you will miss moments like this:<br /><br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/I0uVGCYRP4I&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/I0uVGCYRP4I&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Blast, it is Sunday. No mail delivery today.<br />... drum, drum, drum...Camillehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10422449200792287901noreply@blogger.com5