Forgot to say

[mrissa]

There was a line of Spin that made me think, "Yes, I want to read that book instead of this one." That line was, "It was the Tribulation reconfigured as Elizabethan drama." So, y'know, anyone who wants to handle that....

This is one of the things about Robert Charles Wilson books: he often mentions that people elsewhere are handling things interestingly, but then he doesn't go there and show us. I want the red roses on the rival's corpses and the extremely high-tech dueling pistols. I want characters who are doing a hell of a job at whatever they're doing instead of wandering around behind this guy they knew when they were 10.

I have a Dorothy Dunnett book in my backpack for next, so that's okay then.

Also: the problem with the Indigo Girls' "Jesus Christ Superstar" is not at all having a girl Jesus. The girl Jesus is one of the best things in it (the girl Simon Zealotes is actually my favorite). The problem is that half the cast appears to have shown up to read the thing for the first time when they were supposed to be recording. And smoked a good deal too much weed in the process. So you end up with lines that are supposed to sound irate or dismayed and instead sound confused-stoned. Girl-Jesus is fine, though. Half of the Indigo Girls makes a better Jesus than the other half makes a Mary Magdalen, I think.

This is probably because I am a hippie menace, but I'm okay with that.

Comments

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

There was a line of Spin that made me think, "Yes, I want to read that book instead of this one." That line was, "It was the Tribulation reconfigured as Elizabethan drama." So, y'know, anyone who wants to handle that....

So is the Tribulation a Robert Charles Wilson thing? (We went to the theater last night, and that always makes me want to write a play, silly creature that I am.)

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Tribulation like end times, Revelations-y sorts of things.

Enter WHORE, on the back of BEAST, that sort of thing.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Huh.

Not a word I'd heard applied to Armageddon and Apocalypse before.

And of course I can't take it seriously because it makes me think of Tribulation Wholesome from Jonson's Alchemist. Although of course that may very well be where Jonson got it from.

[apis-mellifera.livejournal.com]

The Girl-Simon Zealotes is the fan-freaking-tastic Kelly Hogan, who I get to see perform with John Wesley Harding next month. I can't wait--I've loved her voice for years (Hogan, Wes, Nora O'Connor, and Brian Lohmann make up the Love Hall Tryst, which just put out an album of songs from Wes's book--almost all a capella four part harmonized English ballads--an amazing album if you like that sort of thing). I like Girl-Jesus, too, because Amy Ray is my favorite Indigo Girl. Her rendition of "Gethsemane" is one of the best ones I've ever heard.

I hate Caiaphas on that recording. I call him Cajun Caiaphas.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

And the real recording has such a fabulous Caiaphas, and Annas and Priest, too. The priests are my favorite part, so it was such a letdown.

[apis-mellifera.livejournal.com]

Caiaphas is my favorite character. I think it's because he gets to sing, "One thing I'll say for him, Jesus is cool." They changed that line in the latest revival and I about had a fit.

I need to get the original cast recording. I have 20th anniversary revival which is pretty good, but Murray Head is such a good Judas.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Murray Head may well be the Judas, for my money. And while I'm dreadfully disappointed in a production with bad priests, a production with a bad Judas is simply a bad production.

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

Definitely. Judas makes or breaks that show, in my mind, though the priests are also quite important. I think it's a question of them (Judas + Caiaphas and Co.) getting the best/most interesting songs, but that may just be my bias showing.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

If so, it's a bias I share.

This is the reason I don't like the last song in the movie, which is not in my stage cast recording, the "Could we start again, please?" song. Because it's not about Judas, Jesus, or Judas's relationship with Jesus. It's about the rest of the disciples' reaction, and this isn't their show. Christ's death is the denouement, not the climax, and adding more denouement just makes it back-heavy. It's not a bad song; it's probably the best "Saturday of Holy Week" song I've ever heard of. But I don't think the original recording is missing anything without it.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Now I can't remember if it's the absolute last song in the movie or not. I've only seen the movie once. I have strong recollections of the disciples singing it getting on a bus, though, and how I kept thinking, "What is this? I don't know this song at all! This is not part of this musical!"

[apis-mellifera.livejournal.com]

Oh, definitely. The only live production Judas I've ever seen was Carl Anderson (who died last year, sniffle)--and he was a good Judas. The Judas is the recent DVD is really good, too.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about Spin. It felt more like a history book to me-- things happen, yes, and they're interesting things, but they're done and over with now, time for math.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

And I like math! It just wasn't even great math! at least, not so far.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I meant it more in the schooly sense; I'm a fan of math when it works. I've found a fair few books like that-- it's less people than history.

[tmseay.livejournal.com]

See, that's exactly what I like about Robert Charles Wilson's books: that his protagonists are usually in the shadows of greatness. Go figure.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

If he was in the shadow of someone great I didn't HATE, it might be less of a problem -- but I still prefer some motivation out of sidekicks. I prefer not to have to read about a character trailing another character like a puppy on autopilot. (Oof, what a mixed metaphor.)

An advantage of having a protag who isn't great him/herself is that you can show a more "normal" human perspective on the events of the book. But Wilson doesn't do that here -- he skims all the interesting social stuff with a sentence or two and moves back to our main character shuffling around drawing blood and going, "What? Jase, I don't get it. What? Diane, why don't you call me? What? Jase, I don't get it" until I'm ready to reach in and thwap him soundly.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I think the entire plot was in the shadow of things happening. After reading it, I realized that absolutely nothing the characters did mattered at all to the big picture-- it was little things, getting away from the cult, hiding the body, things like that, that required them. The book sort of implied that these were important people to the world when they really weren't in control at all.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Not only that: it implied that these were important people to the world when, more or less, there was no such thing as important people in this world.

Meh.

[zalena.livejournal.com]

Dunnett, she's the one who rights endless Rennaissance novels, right?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

They do actually have endings. Fairly satisfying endings, even. They're just long.

The one in my backpack is Niccolo Rising, which is the start of a new series for me.