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holidays and pandemics and bridgertons
When last we spoke (Christmas Eve Eve), we had the beginnings of a Covid infection vector arrowing through D's extended family (one s-i-l recovering but his brother (her husband) having tested negative, and his sister, mom, and a niece on the way to being tested.) The current fall-out is that his sister and niece tested positive (and were sick over Christmas) and a nephew (son of his brother) also testing positive, but his parents tested negative twice, despite having been around the niece and sister for a while.
So.
Yeah, we stayed firmly in our house. (We had thought about driving down and stopping to see people on patios, etc, but that obvs did not happen.) We lazed around; #2 built me a roaring fire (and kept it going all day), BabyBoy spent some quality time with me in the kitchen making the Beef Wellington (which came out excellently this year, yay!), and Oldest took the crazy dog out fifty times during the day. (Mac was *very* excited about the fire! and the wrapping paper all over the floor! and the food on all the low tables! and everyone upstairs in the living room! and! and! and! He required much attention during the day.)
I ended up with a new suitcase-purse from my brother & his wife (his wife's taste, thankfully, as B tends to the backpack end of the carry-your-stuff spectrum, like the grouchy engineer that he is) and the kids got me a renewal of my Brooklyn Public Library subscription (which, if you don't know, is $50/year for anyone for their electronic resources, which has totally saved my reading brain this year, as our county is not big on funding the arts in any way) and a Food subscription to the NYT so I can finally stop swearing at recipe links behind the paywall.
(Pursuant to that, I'll be happy to snag anything for you and share the (food) love.)
I'm off this whole week (the office closed down and I am not so much as even looking at my laptop) and so have had time to watch a few things. For one, I ended up binging Bridgerton, which is (I hope) not a surprise to anyone. The non-spoilery stuff is that the casting and the set design and costuming and music is all phenomenal. I know some people find the orchestral adaptations of Ariana Grande, etc, to be off-putting, but I love the energy it brings to the scenes. You put on period music and everybody yawns, but this brings out the whole clubbing/meat market aspect of the parties and balls and fetes without a single word.
So, I mostly loved the series--I mean, I don't blow 8 hours of free time on something I'm not loving. It's paced quickly enough that I could just let go and surf on the pretties--and let's be real: Regé-Jean Page is PRETTY. I am all in for Simon. Lady Danbury rocks. Penelope and Eloise hide how strong they are in trying to navigate a society that doesn't really appreciate them under a lot of adorableness. Atia of the Junii is always a treat even if I wanted to shove her in a chamber pot.
My biggest thing (aside from The Problematic Thing, which I'll get to) is that Daphne (and well, really, all of the Bridgertons, except Eloise) don't really have a big skin in the game and the book/show don't really lean into the historical details that *really* matter. I mean, Daphne comes across as kinda whiny -- she *wants* to be married and have children, she's conventionally attractive and has money. The system is set up for her. I don't think they really get across how desperate, say, Penelope and her sisters' situation is, where if they don't marry, they don't have the money to live. Anthony is a fucking pain here, but you don't get the sense that he'd throw Daphne into the streets. And then, when everything starts to fall apart, there's a lot of telling of how bad of a thing being compromised is, but not a lot of showing how it would have ostracized the entire family and destroyed everyone's lives.
And all of that kind of just made Daphne (for me) into a semi-whiny prom queen. And really, let's not start with Anthony. I mean, I know his issues and all, and they set things up well, but yeah, really, get over yourself. I really did like Siena and Mme Delacroix, making their own way, and Marina, standing up to Lady F was fantastic. In contrast to our blessed-by-the-gods Bridgertons, they show up the B's in their not-really-all-that-hard lives.
And then there's Daphne's little stunt/assault on Simon (ISTG, him unable to keep from stammering her name pretty much sold the whole scene.) It *is* less problematic than in the book, and I'm really glad they kept his determination to live separate lives after that, but they already re-worked the scene from the book, could there not have been a moment of apology? of D acknowledging to Simon that she really had fucked up badly? that she'd hurt him deeply and wanted him to know she knew that?
Would that not have been a more moving moment than her you-don't-have-to-be-perfect speech in the rain? Because that would have sold the love story for me, for sure.
Okay, moving on -- I was a little surprised they did the Lady W reveal, but now I can't wait to see how that affects how they play Penelope in subsequent seasons. In the books, we're 4 books in before the big reveal happens, but I think this makes Pen so much more interesting in the next seasons, before we get to her actual romance.
Okay, I am going to see if I can make a full-tilt Milk Bar Funfetti cake for L's birthday, starting tomorrow, wish me luck! (If I manage to pull it all together, I will definitely take pictures.) Have a good rest of the halfway-out-of-time week before the new year!
So.
Yeah, we stayed firmly in our house. (We had thought about driving down and stopping to see people on patios, etc, but that obvs did not happen.) We lazed around; #2 built me a roaring fire (and kept it going all day), BabyBoy spent some quality time with me in the kitchen making the Beef Wellington (which came out excellently this year, yay!), and Oldest took the crazy dog out fifty times during the day. (Mac was *very* excited about the fire! and the wrapping paper all over the floor! and the food on all the low tables! and everyone upstairs in the living room! and! and! and! He required much attention during the day.)
I ended up with a new suitcase-purse from my brother & his wife (his wife's taste, thankfully, as B tends to the backpack end of the carry-your-stuff spectrum, like the grouchy engineer that he is) and the kids got me a renewal of my Brooklyn Public Library subscription (which, if you don't know, is $50/year for anyone for their electronic resources, which has totally saved my reading brain this year, as our county is not big on funding the arts in any way) and a Food subscription to the NYT so I can finally stop swearing at recipe links behind the paywall.
(Pursuant to that, I'll be happy to snag anything for you and share the (food) love.)
I'm off this whole week (the office closed down and I am not so much as even looking at my laptop) and so have had time to watch a few things. For one, I ended up binging Bridgerton, which is (I hope) not a surprise to anyone. The non-spoilery stuff is that the casting and the set design and costuming and music is all phenomenal. I know some people find the orchestral adaptations of Ariana Grande, etc, to be off-putting, but I love the energy it brings to the scenes. You put on period music and everybody yawns, but this brings out the whole clubbing/meat market aspect of the parties and balls and fetes without a single word.
So, I mostly loved the series--I mean, I don't blow 8 hours of free time on something I'm not loving. It's paced quickly enough that I could just let go and surf on the pretties--and let's be real: Regé-Jean Page is PRETTY. I am all in for Simon. Lady Danbury rocks. Penelope and Eloise hide how strong they are in trying to navigate a society that doesn't really appreciate them under a lot of adorableness. Atia of the Junii is always a treat even if I wanted to shove her in a chamber pot.
My biggest thing (aside from The Problematic Thing, which I'll get to) is that Daphne (and well, really, all of the Bridgertons, except Eloise) don't really have a big skin in the game and the book/show don't really lean into the historical details that *really* matter. I mean, Daphne comes across as kinda whiny -- she *wants* to be married and have children, she's conventionally attractive and has money. The system is set up for her. I don't think they really get across how desperate, say, Penelope and her sisters' situation is, where if they don't marry, they don't have the money to live. Anthony is a fucking pain here, but you don't get the sense that he'd throw Daphne into the streets. And then, when everything starts to fall apart, there's a lot of telling of how bad of a thing being compromised is, but not a lot of showing how it would have ostracized the entire family and destroyed everyone's lives.
And all of that kind of just made Daphne (for me) into a semi-whiny prom queen. And really, let's not start with Anthony. I mean, I know his issues and all, and they set things up well, but yeah, really, get over yourself. I really did like Siena and Mme Delacroix, making their own way, and Marina, standing up to Lady F was fantastic. In contrast to our blessed-by-the-gods Bridgertons, they show up the B's in their not-really-all-that-hard lives.
And then there's Daphne's little stunt/assault on Simon (ISTG, him unable to keep from stammering her name pretty much sold the whole scene.) It *is* less problematic than in the book, and I'm really glad they kept his determination to live separate lives after that, but they already re-worked the scene from the book, could there not have been a moment of apology? of D acknowledging to Simon that she really had fucked up badly? that she'd hurt him deeply and wanted him to know she knew that?
Would that not have been a more moving moment than her you-don't-have-to-be-perfect speech in the rain? Because that would have sold the love story for me, for sure.
Okay, moving on -- I was a little surprised they did the Lady W reveal, but now I can't wait to see how that affects how they play Penelope in subsequent seasons. In the books, we're 4 books in before the big reveal happens, but I think this makes Pen so much more interesting in the next seasons, before we get to her actual romance.
Okay, I am going to see if I can make a full-tilt Milk Bar Funfetti cake for L's birthday, starting tomorrow, wish me luck! (If I manage to pull it all together, I will definitely take pictures.) Have a good rest of the halfway-out-of-time week before the new year!
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Usually, we are running down and back and then heading to Disney World with friends for NYE, and it takes me until February to catch back up with everything, so this is a very calm holiday, which I think we all needed.
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I'm cleaning out the oven as I type to gear up to bake the cake and crumbles today and then assemble it tomorrow. Fingers crossed!
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My cooking went well this year, except yet again I failed totally to achieve pork crackling. I've read all the tips, tried all the tips, and every year, nothing.
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Because of how overwhelmed the post office has been with all the vote-by-mail and the increased online shopping/shipping, I'm still getting things I ordered in early December, including lights and electrical stuff. But I decided that since we're not going anywhere anyway, I'm still draping lights over things. At some point, I guess we'll have to take it all down, but we'll deal with that later, right?
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I will look forward to seeing the pictures! Good luck with the cake!
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Of course, I am about to trash the kitchen again with the cake making, so we'll see about that.
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There are aspects of this merging of contemporary and historical that remind me of The Knights Tale only done well and not so overtly.
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I keep seeing people being prissy and moaning about 'historical inaccuracies' and completely missing the point of *why* they chose the fabrics and music and set design that they did. And I don't think it's spoilery to say that Vauxhall Gardens has never been more fairy-tale-ish than it was here, but it gave the sense of excitement and wonder that the contemporary audience went there for and that we currently would barely even notice.
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