GIVEAWAYS, CHALLENGES & AWARDS

1. GIVEAWAY AT MY JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB

If you entered the giveaway on my Austen-dedicated blogspot page or you are just curious to know who the winners are CLICK HERE and  ... discover it! Talking Jane Austen part I and part II was an interesting event on My Jane Austen Book Club thanks to Laurie Viera Rigler. Waiting for her third novel!!!

2. MY EVERYTHING AUSTEN CHALLENGE  II

Last year I took part in the Everything Austen Challenge I at Stephanie's Written Word and I posted about the six tasks I chose here on Fly High.  This year, instead, for the second Everything Austen event I decided to post at My JA Book Club, where I usually write reviews and  interviews focused on Austenesque matters. 

I've just completed my first task, watching CLUELESS (1995) , loosely based on EMMA (1815). HERE's my review.

3. AWARDS

I've recently received two new awards from two of my very kind  blog pals. Thank you, ladies! I'm flattered. Honoured!!!

Thank you Kristine  at Light and Shadow for the Sunshine Award  & thank you Prue at Mesmered's Blog for your The Versatile Blogger Award!

I'm glad to pass The Sunshine Award  (TSA)  &/OR The Versatile Blogger Award (TVB) to the following blogs. I hope they will proudly show them on their sidebars!!! And if they do not want to pass them along, never mind. Honest.

BOTH AWARDS (TSA &TVBA) 

1. living abroad  

2. that fond impossibility

3. Austenesque reviews

4. Sarah at From the Quill Tip

5. Avalon

ONLY TSA

6. mesmered's blog

ONLY TVB AWARD:

7. Kristine at Light and Shadow

8..  My ink is made of bits 

9.  Phylly's Faves  

10. Nat at RAFan Blog 

11. Mulubinba 

12. Lua Fowles at Bowl of Oranges

13. Jane GS at Reading, Writing, Working, Playing

14. Traxy at The Squeee

15. Alessia at First Impressions

I thinks I could go on for a while but ... I've finished my ...awards! The Sunshine Award could be passed to 5 and The Versatile Blogger Award to 15. I must stop here!!!

Till very soon for a new blogpost about ... no, no clue,  try to guess, if you want. And stay tuned! MG

RA FRIDAY - A TIP , PLEASE , RICHARD?

Welcome to my weekly RA rambling. More rambling than ever  in this hot weather! I hope you can forgive me. And when  I sound too cryptic ,  just look at the pictures!

1. A tip, please!

I've had very little time to enjoy RA moments this  week. After a great weekend in Rome for the Fiction Fest including Strike Back screening, I started summer courses at school and ...summer exploded!

This hot,  wet weather knocks me down. My will is completely annulled and my strength totally reset to zero. I so much prefer cool weather, it makes me feel livelier and more energetic … and even smarter. I feel thick and stupid as thinking is a such an effort to me these days! Exaggerating? Not at all. I’m working but early in the morning,  fortunately. I couldn’t bear to give my lessons, otherwise.

Well, I wouldn't be able to  do it, more precisely. Sweating and suffering like this,  I started wondering… “the lovely man must have such strong will”! Do you remember Richard telling about shooting the first two series of Robin Hood clad in black leather in Hungary in summer ? I can barely imagine what he had to suffer! Then in South Africa playing John Porter? How did he find the strength to act, horse-ride, sword –fight, run with a huge gun in his arm, jump and fall, and so on? Strong will must he have. I’d ask him for tips to resist and react but … he’s better engaged now. He’s probably on holidays. A tip, please, Richard?

2. Spreading the love

Lunarossa surrendered to John Thornton's charm. And she says I am to blame! (Read her post here) What did I do? I ‘ve just been writing about my interests on my blog for a couple of years . Among my interests, Victorian literature,Mrs Gaskell, period drama , hence … RA!!! I bet enthusiasm can be contagious. But what of the said interests convinced lunarossa to watch N&S and then to read Gaskell’s novel? Mmmm… I didn’t ask her.

As for me, instead, I did everything myself a couple of years ago. Nobody to blame. Nobody introduced me to N&S , nor warned me against the risks I was running ordering that DVD from Amazon to use it in my lessons… Not that I complain, mind you.

As I’ve often said, RA’s world has remarkably enriched and enliven my life as well as to follow his career has become one of the most enjoyable passtimes in my otherwise dull & serious , hard - working life. A very pleasant game.

So, lunarossa discovered N&S , JT and RA thanks to me?!? I’m proud of spreading the love, though only to just one more.

3. “Maria(n)? What is this all about?”

Yeah! This is what I was thinking of! But I'm going to discuss ... different matters!

I'm sure you've heard. All that frenzy. Rumors. Spooks forum’ s on fire. Blogs and sites  franticly discussing the same issue all over  … clips on Ututbe  (here  & here but beware there are spoilers for series 9) … hypothesis, suppositions, guesswork, anger , anxiety. I simply want to stay out from all that . I want to keep a detached attitude .

I told myself: "Think about this! Didn’t we overcome and survive Lee’s flirty games, Paul’s lies and betrayal, Guy’s  ultimate crime of passion  and unfair death (oh, Guy.. we miss you!) , John Mulligan’s deceiving charm, Percy’s gambling and his  lascivious habits, Lovelace’s mischievous behaviour and vile rape, John Porter ‘s  missions to kill "?

Richard with  his career has made us strong enough to bear other betrayals and forgive his characters for their flaws and even crimes! We are ready to find the good in them as much as he usually does. We are not going to forgive Spooks scriptwriters, though!

Analyzing the roles he played in his career, apart from JT or HJK (and JS ? and what about JP?)  he has never again played the romantic lead, never interpreted the model man or hero! Neverthless, he’s got lots of supporting fans and admirers. So, what if he  ******* in Spooks 9 ? Richard will be a convincing ******* Lucas. If… but only if…they decided he has to be (and in that case, I hate them!)

4.  Reading The Sunne in Splendour

Dickon. Richard the Kid. I mean Richard III is still a young boy, the protagonist of this novel is still a kid in the pages I'm reading . The Sunne in Splendour  is a very interesting , engaging reading . I'm reading it  after reading  good reviews and hearing positive opinions . Knowing how much RA  wishes to adapt this novel in a series makes me imagine what that would look like. It’d be stunning . Richard Plantagenet is still a kid in the part I’m reading now so it is impossible to figure him out as Richard Armitage. But the fascinating medieval setting , the bloody war, the strong well-written emotions have already stirred my fantasy.

An incredible medieval saga. I wish Richard can make his dream come true soon. And I'll go on reading,  meanwhile. (936 pp!)

5. Waiting for The Convenient Marriage

I have often discussed what an awesome narrator/ actor RA is in his audio-works ( here for example) . It's surprising how he can catch your total  attention and make you tingle, shiver, swoon or smile using his velvet voice. I haven’t listened to all of his audio works yet. But to most of them, yes! I don’t think I will succeed in listening to the complete Lords of the North ( maybe I’m not that obsessed after all? No, just a question of time!) but I’m going to read and listen to The Convenient Marriage. It’ll be my third Heyer book and I hope it’ll be great fun like Sylvester and Venetia.

That's all for now.
HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND, DARLING GIRLS & LADIES!!!

UPCOMING PERIOD & MODERN DRAMA ON BBC

1. CHRISTOPHER AND HIS KIND (BBC2)

The hedonistic cabaret scene of Berlin in the Thirties is in full swing when wide-eyed young writer Christopher Isherwood arrives in the city, unable to speak a word of German.

To Isherwood's reserved English sensibility, the city's thriving gay subculture is thrilling and intoxicating, but he soon finds himself heartbroken after the failure of a hopeless love affair, and so sets out on a process of self-discovery.

Written by acclaimed playwright Kevin Elyot, this one-off drama chronicling the formative years of Christopher Isherwood, stars Lindsay Duncan, Imogen Poots, Toby Jones and Douglas Booth, with Matt Smith in the title role.

Christopher And His Kind tells the story of how Isherwood escapes repressive English society and his suffocating relationship with his mother Kathleen (Lindsay Duncan) for the decadent and politically unstable world of pre-war Berlin.

2. GARROW'S LAW (BBC1)  - SERIES 2

Award-winning drama Garrow's Law starts shooting second series in Scotland. A stellar cast, lead by Andrew Buchan (Cranford, Party Animals), Alun Armstrong (New Tricks, Little Dorrit), Lyndsey Marshal (Being Human, Rome), Aidan McArdle (Beautiful People, Jane Eyre) and Rupert Graves (Wallander, God On Trial), return for a second series of BBC One's acclaimed legal drama Garrow's Law, which recently started shooting in Scotland.

RTS award-winning Garrow's Law revisits the Old Bailey of Georgian London and is set against a backdrop of corruption and social injustice, based on real legal cases from the late-18th century.

In an age where the defence counsel acted in the minority of cases, the young William Garrow championed the underdog and pioneered the rigorous cross-examination of prosecution witnesses that paved the way for our modern legal system today.

3. SHERLOCK  (BBC1)

Other detectives have cases, Sherlock has adventures.

Benedict Cumberbatch (Small Island, Starter For Ten) and Martin Freeman (The Office, Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy) star in Sherlock, a thrilling, fast-paced update of Arthur Conan Doyle's classic detective, set in present-day London, for BBC One.

In this unique adaptation, ( three, 90-minute films) the iconic details from Conan Doyle's original books remain. They live at the same address, are only interested in the bizarre and, somewhere out there, Moriarty is waiting for them. Sherlock also stars Rupert Graves (God On Trial, Midnight Man) as Detective Inspector Lestrade, Scotland Yard's finest, largely because Sherlock allows him to take credit for his deductions, and Una Stubbs (EastEnders, The Catherine Tate Show) as Mrs Hudson, their long-suffering housekeeper.
Confirmed for broadcast at 9pm on Sunday 25 July on BBC One.

4. CAST ANNOUNCED FOR SECOND SERIES OF LAND GIRLS (BBC1)

Jo Woodcock (All The Small Things) and Becci Gemmell (Home Time) return as land girls Bea and Joyce in the new, five-part series of the award-winning Land Girls, for BBC One Daytime. They're joined by newcomer Seline Hizli, who plays streetwise, cockney land girl Connie Carter, who causes mayhem from the moment she arrives on the farm.

Created by Roland Moore, the highly-popular and award-winning drama returns for a second series set in the rural Forties and continues to follow the lives and loves of the land girls doing their bit for Britain in the Women's Land Army (WLA).

Additional new faces joining the cast are Clive Wood (London's Burning), who plays millionaire American businessman Jack Gillespie; Raquel Cassidy (Lead Balloon, Teachers) as Lady Hoxley's sister, the fun-loving Diana Granville; and Liam Garrigan (The Pillars Of The Earth, Holby, The Chase), who plays the young and charming Rev Henry Jameson.

Other familiar faces returning for the new series include Sophie Ward as Lady Hoxley, Mark Benton as Farmer Finch, Danny Webb as Sgt Tucker, Susan Cookson and Mykola Allen as Esther and her son, Martin, and Liam Boyle as Billy Finch.

Against the backdrop of war weary Forties Britain, Land Girls is again set on the Hoxley estate - at the run-down Pasture Farm and the opulent Hoxley Manor – and several months have passed since the end of the last series.

Bea, now a farmer's wife and mother, and land girl Joyce, are joined at Pasture Farm by new land girl Connie. As the women work hard on the land, serving their country, the drama follows them as they live out their lives in the shadow of war.

5. RUPERT PENRY-JONES  &  DERVLA KIRWAN ARE  BACK ON BBC1

 

He stars in SILK with Maxine Peake (Criminal Justice),  Natalie Dormer (The Tudors), Tom Hughes (Sex, Drugs And Rock And Roll) and Neil Stuke (Reggie Perrin) . It is  a thrilling new drama series for BBC One about the lives, loves and hard cases facing barristers on the front line of criminal law, written by Bafta award-winning writer Peter Moffat (Criminal Justice, North Square).

Maxine Peake is Martha Costello, in her thirties, single, passionate and a defence barrister applying for silk. Innocent until proven guilty are four words she lives by. But how does this fundamental principle stand up to examination by clients who are sometimes good, sometimes bad and sometimes evil?

Martha is faced with challenging cases and surprising clients. Her beliefs and prejudices, her conscience and her faith in the criminal justice system are tested to the limit over the course of the series.

Rupert Penry-Jones's wife, Dervla Kirwan, instead ,  stars in THE SILENCE,  a new four-part thriller for BBC One,  just in these days (12-13-14-15 July) 

Eighteen-year-old Amelia Edwards (introducing Genevieve Barr) has recently been fitted with a cochlear implant, enabling her to hear, but she struggles to accept that she has a place in the hearing world.

Breaking free from her over-protective parents (Gina McKee and Hugh Bonneville), she goes to stay with her party-loving cousins, homicide detective uncle, Jim (Douglas Henshall) and vibrant aunt, Maggie (Dervla Kirwan).

But when Amelia witnesses the audacious murder of a policewoman, she is reluctantly propelled further into a loud and frightening world.

Jim is assigned the case and, when Amelia identifies a police officer on the drugs squad as one of the killers, he urgently needs to protect his niece. If his colleagues find out what she has witnessed, she will be in extreme danger from the very people with whom he works. By keeping her a secret, however, he will jeopardise his own position in the force and put his whole family at risk.

The Silence is about an ordinary family thrust into extraordinary circumstances. The teenagers' partying lifestyles and casual drug-taking collide with Jim's investigation, and all their lives are hurled into a cacophony of police corruption, betrayal, drugs and murder.

(news & pics mostly from http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice)

REMARKABLE CREATURES BY TRACY CHEVALIER - AN AUSTENESQUE NOVEL

Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot were truly remarkable creatures, extraordinary 19th century women, and we must thank Tracy Chevalier for bringing them back to life.

Remarkable Creatures is an engaging  two-voice narration  based on an accurate reasearch on the historical and scientific background. An entertaining and very informative reading.

Mary Anning, from a working - class family,  was struck by lightning as a baby and, from that moment on, it is clear she is different. Her discovery of strange fossilized creatures on the cliffs of Lyme Regis sets the world alight. But Mary must face powerful prejudice from a male scientific establishment, not to mention vicious gossip and the heartbreak pf forbidden love. Then - in prickly, clever Elizabeth Philpot , a fossil-obsessed middle-class spinster - she finds a champion, and a rival. Despite their differences in class and age, Mary and Elizabeth's loyalty and passion for the truth wins out.

Their relationship strikes a delicate balance between fierce loyalty, mutual appreciation, and barely suppressed envy. Ultimately, in the struggle to be recognized in the wider world, Mary and Elizabeth discover that friendship is their greatest ally.
Remarkable Creatures is a stunning novel of how one woman's gift transcends class and social prejudice to lead to some of the most important discoveries of the nineteenth century. Above all, it is a revealing portrait of the intricate and resilient nature of female friendship, set at Jane Austen's time.
In fact, apart from its original scientific pattern, this novel can be considered quite Austenesque. And this was the aspect which caught my attention more than anything else.

For example, the novel starts as a surprising reminder of Sense and Sensibility. Three sisters have to leave London and their comfortable, mundane life there,  after their only brother's marriage. They have to choose a  less expensive residence in a small village by the sea, Lyme Regis, the same village Jane Austen herself chose as part  of  the setting in Persuasion and visited in her real life in September 1804. Their fear for their future, their disappointments on the market of marriage, their hopes at taking part in the balls and parties at the Assembly Rooms at Lyme or in London remind of that Austen's world we so much love.
Here is how T. Chevalier describes the three Philpot sisters' arrival at their new humble home in Lyme, Morley Cottage. Doesn't it remind you of the Dashwoods' arrival at  Barton cottage?
"Morley Cottage was a shock at first, with its small rooms, low ceilings, and uneven floors so different fron the London house we had grown up in. It was made of stone, with a slate roof, and had a parlour, dining room and kitchen on the ground floor, with two bedrooms above as well as a room in the eaves for our servant, Bessy. (...) There was not enough room in the cottage to fit our mother's piano or sofa or mahogany dining table. We had to leave them behind in London (...) The physical reduction of space and furnishings mirrored our own contraction, from a substantial family with several servants and plenty of visitors, to a reduced household with one servant to cook and clean, in a town with many fewer families whom we could socialise with". (pp. 23-24)

Jane Austen is only mentioned in the novel once by Elizabeth Philpot, who is jealous of Mary Anning's relationship with Colonel Birch and scolds her sister Margaret for keeping Mary's hope to marry the gentleman alive. Mary is just a poor woman from the working -class and, though an extraordinary fossil hunter, she could never hope to marry a gentleman:
"Your Miss Austen would never allow such a marriage to take place in her novels you so love. If it can't happen in fiction, surely it won't happen in life" (p. 210)
Tracy Chevalier admits there are no reasons why Jane Austen and Margaret Philpot could not have been in the Assembly Rooms at the same time. Indeed, Jane did meet Richard Anning (Mary's father), for she went to his shop to have him give her a quote on fixing the broken lid of a chest. According to a letter she wrote to her sister, he charged far too much, and she took her business elsewhere.
Remarkable Creatures is a work of fiction but most of its characters really existed and events such as Colonel Birch's auction and the Geological Society meeting where Conybear talked about the plesiosaur did take place. Historical figures have rarely been so cleverly used ,  it's said in a review of this stunning story in the Guardian.
In this clip Tracy Chevalier talks about her novel. It's very interesting to listen to how she came to writing such an original story ...

 I must thank my blogger mate and friend, Antonella aka lunarossa,  for this beautiful read .

MY BLOGGER BUDDIES - MEET CATHLEEN HOLST, WRITER

First of all , thanks Cathleen for being on Fly High today and accepting to answer my questions. What about introducing yourself briefly to our readers , before we start our conversation? I’m a thirty-something wife, mother of three amazing children, and writer of women’s fiction hell bent on conquering the world one book at a time. (kidding...kind of)

I’ve found you via twitter, I think, but it is so difficult to remember how and when one gets in contact in this wonderful crowded blogoworld … then I started following your site and reading your on line publication of Everleigh in NY. It’s such great fun to read her adventures. How did you get to create your heroine? Is she anything like you? Thank you. I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed reading ‘Everleigh in NYC’. It’s been such a blast to write. It’s good to know there are folks out there who enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it. Honestly. When I first began writing ‘Everleigh’ she was nothing like she is now. It’s taken countless drafts to get her to where she is now. And I really love her. We do share a lot of the same traits. The biggest being we’re both clumsy as all get out. Ask my husband—he has countless stories of the number of times I ended up wearing more of my dinner instead of eating it. When I think back on it, it’s amazing he asked me out for second date. I still have a hard time leaving the dinner table without having gotten some part of my dinner on me.

Are you going to post the entire story on line? I’ve read on your site that your are going to publish it as a book . When will it be out?

No. I’m only posting the first four chapters, as a bit of a teaser. ‘Everleigh’ is scheduled for release Nov. 2010. So if you want to know how the rest of the story plays out, you’ll have to buy the book.

This story is so amusing …it reminds me of Bridget Jones’ s Diary. It’s beautiful when you can laugh out loud as well as get intrigued in a love story. What do you have in mind for Everleigh? A series?

It’d be nice! Wow! What a huge compliment, reminding you of Bridget Jones’s Diary. Helen Fielding is a master. Thank you so much. *sniffs, wiping tears from eyes*

I’ve never thought of turning ‘Everleigh’ into a series, but I suppose if my legion of fans *clears throat* demand more of her, then I will certainly give it to them. Who am I to deny my people? *wink and a cheesy smile*

(read chapter 1)

Is this your first novel or have you written others?

Yes and no. I’ve written three others, but this version is a complete rewrite of my first novel. So in a way, it’s really my fourth. Did that make sense?

 How does it feel being a published author? Did you always want to be a writer?

 Getting published is such an amazing feeling. It’s nice to know that all the sacrifices I’ve had to make while writing are actually going to result in something tangible. I know I’m going to blubber like a baby when I finally get to hold my book in my hands. There’ll be loads of mascara-laden tears smeared all over the pages. Hell, I think I might blubber now just thinking about it. Actually, I didn’t always know I wanted to be a writer. I’ve always known that I enjoyed it, but as far as writing for a living...never crossed my mind.

How many hours a day do you dedicate to your writing? Have you got a writing routine?

When I’m on a roll I can write for hours on end. Literally all day to the point where I forget to eat. (My waistline SO needs more of those days.) And then there’s those other days where I’d rather do anything BUT write because the words just aren’t there. I need a writing routine. I usually do my best work in the early morning hours. I’m not a night owl. I wish I was, I could get a lot more done. But I’m old, I need all the beauty sleep I can get. Really. You do NOT want to see me with less than 8 hours of sleep. It’s not pretty. I promise. It usually involves a lot of under my breath swearing, bags under my eyes that would rival a suitcase, and there’s not enough caffeine in the world that can bring me around. Trust me, I’ve tried.

What does it take to be a good writer and what, instead, to be a popular writer? What about being both? (I know this can be a hard one! )

This is a hard one. I think to be a good writer, or really just a writer in general, you have to read. Stephen King said in his book ‘On Writing’ that if you don’t have time to read, then you don’t have time to write. It’s so true. I find that when I don’t read regularly, I stall. You know, the whole ‘words in equal words out’ thing. Also, know your genre. Seriously. That would be like me trying to write a believeable sci-fi novel without ever reading a single sci-fi story. Sure, I could write one, but it’d be crap. As for being a popular writer, I think it’s just a matter of taping into something the vast majority can relate to. But usually when that happens, it’s just sheer luck. No one could possibly plan that. It just happens.

You stated somewhere in your blog that you don’t mind if your books are considered ChickLit. What is the reason of your choosing this genre ?

Oh, I SO did not choose this genre. It totally chose me. My passion was in historical fiction. That’s what I wanted to write. But Everleigh had other plans, clearly. I’ve read chick lit off and on for many years, but just devoured historicals so I was a bit surprised when ‘Everleigh in NYC’ not only came to life, but came from me. I love writing this genre, though. It’s really fun, and I get to live vicarously through my characters. They get to live the fabulous life while I’m stuck in the real world doing laundry. Totally unfair now that I think about it.

I know you also wrote/are writing historical fiction? Have you already published anything in that genre? What’s your favourite historical period?

I have two historicals that are works in progress. I haven’t published anything in that genre, and may never. And the middle ages are by far my favorite time period in history. I mean, what’s hotter than a knight mounted on his destrier, or jousting in tournaments? I love it. All of it.

 And what about reading? What are your favourite genres, authors? Have you got a very special book on your bed-side table you love re-reading from time to time?

I love reading. Reading is like breathing. I can’t NOT do it. I have quite a few fave authors. Lindsey Kelk, Sophie Kinsella, JK Rowling, Elizabeth Chadwick, Allison Weir, Stephen King, Ken Follett (Pillars of the earth and World Without End were just plain brilliant). Right now, I’m loving Lindsey Kelk’s ‘I Heart Hollywood’, the follow up to her debut ‘I Heart New York’. I love her work. Seriously. Keep an eye on that one. She’s going places.

My blog is dedicated to my several interests and , among them period movies/drama. Do you like watching films? What about costume films? Have you got any favourite ones?

Oh boy do I love movies. I totally adore period pieces. ‘Sense and Sensibility’ is one of my all-time favorites. I mean, it just doesn’t get any better than that. Another of my faves is ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’. That movie just makes me plain ol’ happy. By the end, I’m ready to pack up, move to Italy, buy a villa and have the muscular descendents of Roman gods help with all the lifting.

I must admit I have a crush on a charming Brit actor who peeps up here and there on my blog. But I remember I noticed a handsome presence on your “about me “ page of your site . So… can you share your not-so-secret- passion with us? Does Robert , the hot guy Everleigh has just met , resemble him anyway?

*dreamy sigh* Hugh Jackman. I’ll talk about him all you want. My husband refers to him as my boyfriend. And he is, he just doesn’t know it. And yes, Hugh Jackman is the whole reason I made the character, Robert Gates, Australian. I must admit though, in the beginning Robert Gates was English, but after seeing the movie ‘Australia’, Hugh was everything I’d imagined Robert to be. So I changed him. And he’s all the better for it. So, if Hugh Jackman happens to read your blog he should know that I will accept no other actor to portray him in the big screen version of ‘Everleigh’.

 Have you got a question you’d like to ask our readers and commenters? I guess how many people would be interested in participating in a book giveaway? (does that sound stupid...I don’t know what to say, really.)

 Thanks Cathleen for being here and sharing with us! We’ll wait for you back when your book is published! Good luck with your writing!

Thanks so much, Maria. This was great fun. I loved your questions.

You can find Cathleen Holst at her site Cathleen's Fiction and ... other ramblings ( where you can read the first 4 chapters of her novel)  and on Twitter. Thanks for reading!

AT ROMA FICTION FEST

FRIDAY 9th JULY

1. MASTER CLASS : ANDY GARCIA

My weekend in Rome for the Fiction (TV drama in Italian) Festival has started with a master class by Andy Garcia. To my great surprise I didn't meet the glamorous star from Hollywood I expected , but an interesting person, an actor passionately in love with cinema and full of plans for the future after a long successful career. He has what I like to  call the humbleness of the great. He talked to a crowded theatre for 90 minutes in a blend of English and Spanish about the time he just dreamt of a career in the cinema working as a waiter and fondly studying( his words ) Italian neo-realism or Hollywood great movies such as The Godfather, Taxi Driver  or Harold and Maude.

He is shooting a film in Mexico, Cristiada, so he apologized for the "funny moustache" (his words again) needed by his character.

We learnt about his love for music, from the percussions to the piano (which he started playing while shooting The Godfather III in Rome and now plays wonderfully well  according to his interviewer) ; his Cuban origins and his siding with the Cuban community living in Miami; his supporting independent cinema because "you can be really free in it, you can make a movie exactly as you want to make it";  his disapproval of dubbing (I agree!) since any performance should be enjoyed in the original version; his being very reserved in his private life but opened up to his audience when playing a role, putting as much of himself in it as he can. "You know about me more than I know about me", he admitted.

As to his relationship with TV movies and series, he announced he is going to shoot and direct a long series, 10 episodes at least, no title yet. Finally,  he left but only after kindly answering many questions from the audience and  signing lots of autographs.

The event went on with the screening of FOR LOVE OR COUNTRY (2000) , a TV movie starring Andy Garcia and Gloria Estefan among others, about the real story of Arturo Sandoval, a Cuban musician who finally found asylum in the States. A deeply felt performance of a great actor which was so touching after listening to his memories!

2. STRIKE BACK SCREENING FOR THE CONCORSO INTERNAZIONALE

What a bore! She took me to an awful conference of a famous American actor. Yes, I know him, he's a very good and popular Hollywood star, but I was here to see Richard Armitage! Why didn't he come? I so wanted him to come... well, I was aware it was impossible... but hope is hard to die. She stayed there listening and taking pictures and notes while that Andy somewhat spoke and received applauses and praises and I longed for time passing by as quickly as possible! We stayed there till 3.30 in the afternoon, and black self  was even moved to tears while watching that TV movie about a Cuban jazz musician . *rolls eyes*.

Long before 8.30 we were already at the Adriano Theatre to see if we could assist to a miracolous materialization of the man himself. "Unexpect miracles denied",  despicable Collinson must have ordered . We sat in a quite empty theatre, sala 5. Wasn't STRIKE BACK targeted to a male audience? There were only women there! Were we all there for the same reason? I bet we were. The lights went off and I couldn't relax on that comfortable chair. It was cool because of the air conditioning system but I was suddenly sweating and breathing heavily. Can you imagine the gorgeous one on a huge theatre screen? And his voice coming out from a dolby-surround system at a very high volume? Try and you'll start sweating too!

It was great. Only I (we?) was disappointed ... At the same time in the other screens of the Adriano theatre, they were showing  Lost, Smallville, The Seawolf, Spartacus ... unfair and unjust they were!!! Most of the young people there wanted to watch those series. Blame on the organizers. They might have done much better at publicising the entire event. Lucky us, who could enjoy our giant blue-eyed handsome man in a quiet , quite intimate , environment.

Have a great weekend!

Red self 

GISBORNE NIGHT

ROBIN HOOD ON ITALIAN TV - Robin Hood series 2 is being repeated on one of our channels,  Rete 4. As much as I loved watching series 2 on DVD in the original version,  I simply hate watching it dubbed in Italian: unbearable, unnatural, even ridiculous at times. I know,  this  is something I have already discussed in one of my previous posts. Now, I'm sure you are wondering why  I can't simply resist rambling about it again or why I don't  just avoid turning the TV on  on Thursday night... well , ehm ... I 'm using my laptop to write blogposts and ... epp. 3 and 4 are on tonight. How can I ... Do you remember shirtless Guy and gasping Marian at Locksley Manor?  Moreover, you know, Robin Hood is the only  RA's work ever broadcast on Italian Tv... very little indeed, so ....
Only that to watch and listen to  RA's Guy speaking with a boysh voice - when speaking normally - or with a coarse voice - when shouting - is such a painful experience... where is that harsh-yeah-at-times-but-velvety voice? ...Better to play my DVDs!

2. GISBORNE FAN FICTION

Richard Armitage's Guy of Gisborne has inspired many Fan Fiction writers. You've met one  of them here on Fly High! a couple of weeks ago. Do you remember Charlotte Hawkins (Sarah Pawley) who talked with me about THE TEMPEST, her first published novel? (if you don't, check HERE)

Today, instead,  I've found a nice short  piece inspired by RA's Gisborne on line. Read it, it's a short  delightful one: THE SHERIFF'S COLLECTOR   by Prue Batten ( one of my lovely blogger mates who are also good writers) .

She starts:

With apologies to Guy of Gisborne, Cinderella and Richard Armitage.
(Prior to washing the kitchen floors today, I have had to get my tax-papers together and as with all mundane tasks, I tell myself a story whilst working. This is what eventuated.)

Read it on Mesmered's Blog.

WHAT I HAVE BEEN WATCHING - AN EDUCATION: LESSONS OF LIFE

"I probably looked as wide-eyed, fresh, and artless as any other student...But I wasn't".

1. NICK HORNBY

I love Nick Hornby and his humorous but careful outlook on life so, as soon as this movie was released I wanted to see it , since I had heard he had adapted Lynn Barber ’s memoir for the screen . Nick Hornby created the screenplay based on an autobiographical essay by the British journalist about her schoolgirl affair with  Simon Prewalski, known to her as Simon Green, which was published in the literary magazine Granta. Barber's full memoir, An Education, was not published in book form until June 2009, when filming had already been completed. Hornby said that what appealed to him in the memoir was that "She's a suburban girl who's frightened that she's going to get cut out of everything good that happens in the city. That, to me, is a big story in popular culture. It's the story of pretty much every rock 'n' roll band." Although the screenplay involved Hornby writing about a young teenage girl, he did not feel it was more challenging than writing any other character: "I think the moment you're writing about somebody who's not exactly you, then the challenge is all equal. I was glad that everyone around me on this movie was a woman so that they could watch me carefully. But I don't remember anyone saying to me, 'That isn't how women think".

Nick Hornby on An Education

Lynn Barber on making her memoir a film

2. THE CAST OF FAMILIAR FACES

(Starring : Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Emma Thompson, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, Alfred Molina, Rosamund Pike , Cara Seymour)
 
I had promised myself I wouldn’t miss it. So , I got the AN EDUCATION DVD and watched it. Also because I knew this film was crowded  of  familiar faces : Jane and Kitty  Bennet , aka Rosamunde Pike and Carey Mulligan (P&P 2005); Dominic Cooper ( Willoughby in S&S 2008 , The Duchess), Emma Thomson (unforgettable Elinor Dashwood 1995 & many more),  Sally Hawkins (Anne Elliot  in Persuasion 2007, Tipping the Velvet) , Olivia Williams (Jane Fairfax in Emma 1996, The Heart of me 2002, Jane Austen in Miss Austen Regrets)

3. WATCHING THE MOVIE

I loved watching this movie. It is a coming –of – age story set in the 60s. A  fascinating time in which so many people dreamt that to change the world was possible and devoted themselves and their energies to that goal. I was just born in those years and envy those who could live then as the young rebellious generation. Jenny is a rather conformist teenagers, instead, she wants to read English at Oxford and studies hard. But is that her dream or her family’s? Then she discovers life can be pleasure and fun when she meets mesmerizing , much older than her, David. Thanks to his persuasive charm, Jenny silences her conscience to what she sees and understands. She is inexperienced but not so naive. Everything turns out adventurous and exciting. Jenny is totally caught under David’s spell just like her parents. No one can resist that man’s charm … Dinners at the restaurants, wonderful concerts, trips to Oxford and Paris, night club, romantic nights, smart clothes, nice friends … that was  incredibly glamorous for a prim, middle-class , 17-year-old girl. She is very young and very inexperienced.  That’s her only fault. And  her bombastic father and  naive mother  do not help her at all…
As Nick Hornby himself said in an interview: We become other things, too, as well as wise: more articulate, more cynical, less naive, more or less forgiving, depending on how things have turned out for us. I bet Jenny has become a brilliant Oxford student and a much wiser woman , and much more...
Just like her real self, Lynn Barber, has become a successful talented journalist and writer.

OFFICIAL SITE at  SONY FILMS AN EDUCATION

4. CURIOUS FACTS AND AWARDS

• 
  
  The character of Helen, who is uncultured, hasn't been to college and doesn't like classical music is played by Rosamund Pike. Ironically, beautiful Rosamund , in real life, is an accomplished cellist, read English Literature at Oxford and speaks multiple languages.
• 
  
  Although Jenny's family home and her school are supposed to be in the suburb of Twickenham, Middlesex, the residential scenes featured in the film were shot on location in the Gunnersbury area of Ealing, West London as well as Mattock Lane in West Ealing and The Japanese School in Acton which used to be a girls' school called Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls.
• 
  
  An Education won the Audience Choice award and the Cinematography award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Carey Mulligan won a Hollywood Film Festival award for Best Hollywood Breakthrough Performance for a Female and  BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading role among other prizes

• 
  
  The film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actress for Carey Mulligan and Best Adapted Screenplay