Visiting Poe and Pembleton

A friend of mine had been wanting to visit Edgar Allan Poe's grave in Baltimore.  I wanted to see it, too, so he took me along with him on the trip.  It was a sunny afternoon when we drove down to Maryland.  Poe is buried in a surprisingly small cemetery, in which he has two different grave markers.  There is a large marble monument at his current burial site.

His original grave, hidden away at the back of the cemetery, is commemorated with an interesting tombstone.

That's a Poe tee I'm wearing.

After hanging out with Poe for a bit, my friend noticed a sign outside the cemetery pointing to Poe's house, only half a mile away.  We decided to walk there.  When we got there, it was closed.  It was neat to see the house, even if we couldn't go in.

My interest in going to Baltimore was twofold.  Poe was not the only draw.  One of my favorite tv shows of all time was filmed there.  Let's just go ahead and say it's one of the best police procedural shows ever made- Homicide: Life on the Street.  It was a nice walk through the Inner Harbor area to the Fells Point section of Baltimore.  Then I saw it.  The police headquarters building from Homicide is on Thames Street.

Bayliss:  You never say please. You never say thank you.
Pembleton:  Please don't be an idiot. Thank you.

I was incredibly tempted to stand in front of the doors and reenact Pembleton's salute from the episode "Crosetti," but I held back.  Across the street is the Waterfront.  In Homicide, the Waterfront is a bar owned by three of the detectives- Tim Bayliss, Meldrick Lewis, and John Munch.  In reality, it's a hotel and its attached bar.  How great it was to kick back and have a few beers in Bayliss, Lewis, and Munch's bar!  I was thrilled to see the Homicide locations.  I have watched the show over and over again through the years.  To see it in person was fantastic.

Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes is great.  Let's just get that out there.  I've loved Sherlock Holmes for as long as I can remember.  What elementary school kid reads Arthur Conan Doyle?  This one.  I think it was in fifth grade that I was Sherlock Holmes for Halloween.  It could have been when I was younger than that.  It didn't matter to me that I was a girl and Sherlock Holmes was a boy, or that when people asked what my hat was and I said a deerstalker, they still didn't know who I was supposed to be.  I had a pipe, too!  And a magnifying glass.  Come on!  I also wore a trench coat.  I'm sure that made sense to my fifth grade mind.  I reread The Hound of the Baskervilles a few months ago, and recently I've been working my way through the Granada tv series with Jeremy Brett.

Jeremy Brett is, to me, the definitive Sherlock Holmes.  It's hard for me to put my finger on exactly why.  He just does everything right.  He is arrogant, condescending, occasionally manic, and brilliant. The way he speaks, his mannerisms- all are how I imagine Holmes when I read him.  I enjoy Basil Rathbone and Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes, but they don't beat Jeremy Brett.  

Deerstalker!

I first saw the Granada Sherlock Holmes series as a kid, when it aired on PBS.  It was shown as part of the Mystery! series, but it was produced by a British channel called ITV.  Mystery! was memorable to me because it had the Edward Gorey opening.  Even now I can picture the macabre illustrations on the screen and the woman tilting her head back, putting the back of her hand to her forehead saying "Oooh!"  The funny thing is, I don't know if I watched anything else on Mystery!  Aside from Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie, I never read mysteries, and I hardly ever watch them on tv.  

Along with Holmes, there must be an excellent Watson.  The Granada series had two different actors fill the role- David Burke and Edward Hardwicke.  Burke only played Watson for the first two years, and then Hardwicke took over for the other eight.  I like them both as Watson, but I prefer Hardwicke.  Poor Watson.  He has to put up with a lot.  Holmes can be pretty rough on his friend sometimes.  

Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke

Of course there are the major recurring characters of the Doyle stories in the Granada series, too.  Sherlock's brother Mycroft Holmes, Inspector Lestrade, and arch-nemesis Professor Moriarty all appear.  I personally love when Mycroft shows up.  Mycroft may be even smarter than Holmes, and they have an interesting relationship.  

Jeremy Brett died at the age of 61 from heart failure, ending the series after ten years with adaptions of almost three quarters of the Sherlock Holmes canon.  

Brett brought to life the resident of 221B Baker Street in a way that no one else has.  

The Muppets

I saw the new Muppet movie this week.  (Okay, not new.  It came out in 2011.)  I was both looking forward to it and apprehensive.  The Muppets are my childhood.  So was Star Wars, and I saw what George Lucas did to it with the prequels.  I knew that Jason Segel was doing the movie, and he is around my age and has the same reverence for the Muppets as I do.  All I can say is, it was everything I had hoped it would be.  The greatest compliment I can give the movie is that it was as if Jim Henson himself had made it.  The Muppets have to get back together and save their theater from being demolished by an evil tycoon.  It doesn't matter what the plot is, really.  The Muppets sing and make you laugh and give you hope that things will turn out okay in the end.  There were no dry eyes on the couch when Kermit and the other Muppets were on stage singing "Rainbow Connection" near the end.  It is the quintessential Muppet song.  Kermit first sings it in one of my favorite movies, The Muppet Movie.  

I could fill this blog with videos of the Muppets.  However, I will show some restraint.  But how to choose?  There is Robin singing "Halfway Down the Stairs," Rowlf playing the piano and singing "Cottleston Pie," scenes from Veterinarian's Hospital and Pigs in Space, Gonzo gazing at the stars singing "I'm Going to Go Back There Someday," fantastic guest stars on The Muppet Show like Beverly Sills and John Cleese, Fozzie's jokes, Kermit getting exasperated, and those lovable grumps in the balcony, Statler and Waldorf.  One song I especially like from The Muppet Show is "Turn the World Around," from the Harry Belafonte episode.  

The song is about tolerance and getting along with others and loving each other, even if they are different from you.  This encapsulates what I feel was Jim Henson's gift to the world.  He didn't just give us wonderful characters who made us laugh.  He gave us this beautiful message of love and hope and fellowship.  The Muppets couldn't be more different from one another.  But they are a family, and they love each other and are there for one another.  I am a pessimist.  I generally don't think things will turn out okay.  I don't believe that good will triumph over evil, but I watch the Muppets and then I believe.  The Muppets make me feel better.  That's the essence of Jim Henson coming through.  It can be seen in the little things that make the Muppets come alive.  At the end of "Turn the World Around," some of the Muppets come out to sing with Harry Belafonte.  Kermit and Fozzie turn away from the camera to face him, and Fozzie puts his arm around Kermit's shoulders.  They aren't just puppets- they're friends.  

Jim Henson tragically died when he was only 53 years old.  Too young.  The world is a lesser place for it.  It's hard for me to believe it was over twenty years ago now.  Two memorials were held, one in New York and one in London.  The puppeteers (or muppeteers) and many of the Muppets were present to pay tribute.  Big Bird sang "Bein' Green."  At the end when he looks to the sky and says, "Thank you, Kermit," he is saying it for all of us.  

I'm grateful to have grown up in a world with Jim Henson's creations.  I learned my letters and numbers with Sesame Street.  I sang along to The Muppet Show.  I watched Fraggle Rock and The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth and more.  It was gratifying to see the new Muppet movie carry on his legacy.  

North & South

Let me start off by saying, North & South is fantastic.  I'm referring to the BBC miniseries based on the book by Elizabeth Gaskell about the north and south of England, rather than the show about the American Civil War with the guy from Dirty Dancing.  It is the story of Margaret Hale, the daughter of a country parson who uproots his family from the south of England to move to the mill town of Milton, in the north. 

Margaret Hale

Margaret, played by Daniela Denby-Ashe, has lived in her southern English town her entire life, and the industrial city of Milton is a completely different world to her.  She has never before encountered mill workers or the merchant class who employ them.  Margaret didn't want to leave her home, and she has a difficult time adjusting to the people and customs of Milton.  One of those with whom she butts heads is John Thornton, owner of one of Milton's cotton mills.

John Thornton

Thornton is played by Richard Armitage.  (My fellow geeks will recognize the name as the actor who is playing Thorin Oakenshield in the upcoming Hobbit movies.)  Margaret doesn't think he is a "gentleman," she doesn't like how the workers are treated, and they pretty much fight about everything.  He thinks she is a snob who doesn't know how the world really works.  Naturally, this is just masking the feelings they are developing for each other.  Margaret soon makes friends with one of the men working in John Thornton's mill, Nicholas Higgins, and she becomes very close to Higgins's daughter, Bess.  Hey, Higgins looks familiar...He's Bates from Downton Abbey!  Well, he wasn't Bates when I first saw North & South, but he is now.  This friendship draws her into the plight of the workers and the drama of their plans to strike.

Wait, this isn't Bates, I mean, Higgins...

I need to mention that the story is very much not about workers being oppressed by capitalist mill owners.  John Thornton is a self-made man who is struggling to keep his mill profitable.  The problems between the owners and the workers are looked at from both sides here.  What goes on with the mill is only the backdrop to the story of Margaret and John.  And what a story!  They each have issues with their families and other potential love interests.  Their characters undergo significant transformations over the course of the four episodes, and Thornton shows there is a lot more to him than it seems at the start.

I don't want to give away too much by going deeper into the plot.  When I first saw North & South, I immediately thought, why haven't I seen this before?!  I'm a fan of Jane Austen, and I'd put this right up there with the Colin Firth version of Pride & Prejudice.  That is high praise coming from me.  Margaret Hale is outspoken and strong, in the same vein as Elizabeth Bennet.  John Thornton is also similar to Mr. Darcy.  He makes a terrible impression at first, but as you get to know him, and as he gets to know Margaret, not only does she bring out the best in him, but it is revealed that he was good at heart all along.  Also, you can probably tell by the fact that I have put four pictures of him in this post that I think Richard Armitage is pretty good looking.

This will be the last pic of Richard Armitage

North & South completely sucks you in.  At the end of episode two, you'll be yelling at the screen, "What are you doing?! ARGH!" just like I did.  Even the score is compelling.  There is one melody which will stick in your head for hours after watching it. I think anyone who likes Jane Austen or anything by a Bronte would like this a lot.  I'm not sure why this isn't more well known, but it deserves to be.

The Code of the Woosters

What ho!  It's time to talk about Jeeves and Wooster.  The Code of the Woosters is one of many books written by P.G. Wodehouse featuring these two characters.  There was also a television series based on the books, with Stephen Fry as Jeeves and Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster.  Yes, Hugh Laurie from House.  He's British, and he's hilarious.  I saw an episode of House once, and it was jarring to see him with an American accent and acting grumpy. 

Jeeves and Wooster

In the U.S., we might call Jeeves a butler, but Wodehouse describes him as Wooster's valet, his "gentleman's gentleman."  He helps Wooster get dressed and undressed, picks out his clothes, makes tea, prepares meals, runs Wooster's bath, answers the phone- generally anything that Wooster needs done, Jeeves takes care of it for him.  The Jeeves and Wooster stories are told in the first person by Wooster.  They usually revolve around Wooster and his friends getting into trouble, whereby they rely on Jeeves to get them out of whatever mess they have created with some ingenious plan.  None of them have jobs and they have plenty of money, so they have the time and the resources to wreak havoc in each others' lives. There is a recurring cast of minor characters who show up among the different Jeeves and Wooster books, such as Wooster's aunts Agatha and Dahlia, and friends like Gussie Fink-Nottle and Tuppy Glossup.  Wooster quite often ends up accidentally engaged to a few of his female friends, although he has no desire to marry any of them.

As with other Jeeves and Wooster stories, The Code of the Woosters is very funny.  Wodehouse is clever and witty, and there were times when I laughed out loud reading it.  Actually, I can't just leave it at that.  Wodehouse is a master of language.  The way he turns a phrase is remarkable.  For instance:

I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.

Also:

'There are moments, Jeeves, when one asks oneself, "Do trousers matter?"'
‘The mood will pass, sir.’

It would almost do it a disservice to describe the plot, with all of its twists and turns and misunderstandings.  It involves a silver cow creamer, a lost notebook full of insults, and more than one on-and-off again wedding engagement.  The characters are likable, and the book is light-hearted and fun to read.  Even the antagonists aren't really bad.  They're more comical than anything.  I'm looking forward to reading as many Jeeves and Wooster stories as I can get my hands on, and luckily for me, P.G. Wodehouse was a prolific writer.

And what is the code of the Woosters?  "Never let a pal down."