Wilde woman
aspiring Arthurianist

Yes, I like that they used a Wilde poem as the song, neat little twist. Yes Dench is excellent too.

Yes, I've seen the movie with Fry as Wilde. I thought it was quite good, Fry as Wilde a must, but of course trying to reduce Wilde's life to just under two hours was never going to work and I felt that they focused too much on his sexuality, they could have called Wilde and his sexuality really. The Colin Firth's Importance I think is an excellent production, have you see that one?

Hi, I don't know if you have come across Table Talk before or not? It is a collection of Wilde short oral stories that various people wrote down and is well worth getting hold of. Some of them I have come across before in other editions and things, but some of them are quite new to me and all of them are typical Wilde. Anyway, a great little book:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Table-Talk-P...2105122&sr=8-2

Oh, yes forgive me I'm not usually as negative (tired and need a bath) but it surely gets to everyone, it's very frustrating. I'm not actually a teacher at present, I'm a HLTA for English which is about the closest thing to one but with less work planning. Might be training as a teacher next year, don't know why, must be mad.

Well daylight savings warranted pushing the clocks one hour ahead last night; now I will get up one hour late all week until I get adjusted. Spring is definitely coming. I can't wait. Chat soon.

I was just thinking of you tonight and I will put it into email. I am glad your boyfriend has "The Piano" - wow, he must have good taste in films. I think you will like it very much; the score is beautiful and the story is entralling. Going now to give you my list.

Oh, good, I didn't think I was loosing my memory yet. I should keep a list now of what I did send you. I am glad you located it. The way you were talking about the score somewhat technically, I thought you had heard the CD. I think I sent you the one by Joshua Bell, that now I realise you may already have: 'Voices of the Violin', or 'Voice of the Violin'. If so, pass it onto someone or keep as a backup; I often copy them for car; listening; this way I don't jeopardise my original one, if it be original.

Wow, Wilde woman, you wrote a detailed analysis/review of the album, "The Visit". That's wonderful! I think you know much more than I do about the background of the songs and stories. You have taught me a lot. I will print out your two PM's to keep as reference; then when I relisten to those songs, they will take on new significance. 'The Lady of Shallot' is a concert favorite of Loreena's, I have observed. I think the audiences always expect her to play that one. I believe she plays that one on the harp as she sings. I love her harp. There is a strange looking instrument that indeed is plucked. I don't know the name of it, but I think she plays it sometimes. I will have to look at the concert in Spain and let you know; been awhile since I viewed it. The 'Greensleeves' version, I did hear her comment on and it's suppose to be a Tom Waits rendition. I didn't like it very much at first either; then I realised she is immitating TW, but he's not someone I am keen on, anyway. I had a friend once who loved his stuff, but I could not get into his strange throaty style. Pretty much I agree, that that is not my favorite rendition of the beautiful 'Greensleeves'; but the rest of the album is awesome. Probably my favorite still, is the first one I bought 'The Book of Secrets', but the other albums are only a hair's breath behind. I love the song 'The Highwayman'. I get goosebumps everytime I hear it. I love 'Dante's Prayer'. That is probably my favorite song to this day of L's, and it's the first I encountered. I have her two winter/Christmas albums...they were both short, so I combined them and burned them onto one album. It worked out well. Later on near the holidays, I will send one to you. They are basically pagan in theme and very pastoral. Actually, I probably play them more in the summer, than in the winter or holiday months. I will answer your PM's later more specifically; also I will send you my request list very soon; I have just been so busy lately.

For now, I figured you would enjoy a few comments here. I hope you caught my earlier profile message to you; I wrote that last night (I think). Say hi to Wesley for me! I am growing quite fond of him.

Wesley is cute for your bear. It just fits him somehow. He looks like he is very absorbed in "Harry Potter". I saw "The Princess Bride." It's a fun movie. Isn't the real giant Andre in that film? I liked the humor very much.

So glad you liked the Youtube videos of LM. Yes, first time I saw her, she did not seem to me as I expected; but of course, now she does. She's not that young I don't think. I am not quite sure how old she is; she has some laugh lines around her eyes. She wears really peasant-like clothes and long dresses or skirts often. I like her in that look. I love the concert in Spain. It's so beautiful a setting and she is so professional. She also plays the harp, the piano and I think another instrument. She is multi-talented and a great song/lyric's writer as well. You can tell she is a total 'romantic'; very intelligent and sensitive, too. She's from Canada I believe, but she has some Irish/Celtic background.

I will look up some more Youtube videos of Renaissance. You will love "Carpet of the Sun", the lyrics are beautiful; music, too; or did you hear that one? I used to listen to them non-stop in the 70's, 89's. I saw them in concert 3 times; thought I was in heaven. I own nearly all of their albums; although, a few are on records. I have duplicated some of the records with CD's; eventually, I will get mostly all they produced. It's a shame they broke up the band early on.

Oh yes, I agree completely on "The Piano". Now some people think it's a weird story and film. My aunt is one of them, who said she hated it; but oddly enough, I saw this years back with my mother and she is 'picky'; but liked it very much. I think my aunt just did not understand it. It is quite different; in a sense it's about a woman's awakening. At first, I could not get used to those tatoos on Harvey Keitel's face. I do like him as an actor though; such human pathos and empathy comes through in his eyes. I love this film now. I bought it recently and find I want to watch it again and again. I feel the same way as you about the soundtrack - simply haunting. Wait till you see that awesome beach scene and even the one looking down on the cliffs; and the setting which is true wilderness in Western Australia. You will love it; it's a very engrossing film. It builds, just like the music does. It won a lot of Oscars at the time; Best Picture and Best Actress. Holy Hunter is amazing. I also love her in the romantic/comedy film "Always", which I own as well. I do indeed own "The Piano" soundtrack; bought it not long ago and love it. I thought I made you that CD, but must have been something else. Besides the LM's, which other 2 CD did I send you, or didn't I? I thought I sent you the one Joshua Bell and something else extra. I now realise you probably already have that JB cd; if so, pass it on to a friend, no big deal. How many did I send you, so I can pick the same amount? I think I know which ones I would like. Let me check my soundtrack box tonight. If my CD's were better organised, I would know what I had and didn't have. They need a whole day of organizing soon.

I see your little guy above is still studying real hard; hope he passes his exams!

I just read all 3 of your emails; I was smiling the entire time. I am so happy you loved the LM albums. You would love the concert I have; it is called Nights from the Alhambra - a 3 Disc set - 2 CD's and 1 DVD. The Alhambra is in Spain and such an amazing ampitheater. Here is the introduction on Youtube You will love this.
: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7lTIpgku80
The setting is intimate with a small audience. You might look it up on Amazon; or find many more videos on Youtube.

Another older group with haunting rich melodious melodies is Renaissance. They started out being a group called the Yardbirds, which morphed into Renaissance, then a member was killed in a freak accident and a completely new group was formed, with Annie Haslam as their lead singer. Her voice is simply amazing. I have seen the group within a 30 yr span, 3 times in concert; one time with just Annie Haslam, along with Clarence Clements, who used to play for Bruce Springstein. The original group, now named Illusion featured the wonderful and mellow voice of Jane Rolfe. I just reached back into my musical historical roots and bought a collection of her work in one double album. You can find both of these groups and their older albums and performances on Youtube. Isn't Youtube magical? Even the past remains alive! The reason I mention them, is they also took historical or literary works and adapted them to their music. For instance, one album's theme is the Arabian Nights. I love that album! Their music also borders on rock and has a good beat, combines many influences from various world and English, Celtic sources, and they feature heavily the 'piano' in much of their work. There was a time I played their music non-stop. I still adore it.

I found all of your emails very interesting and will answer them soon. I am a bit burned out by having just answered many PM's, so give me a few days time. Also, I will try and evaluate what CD's I have and try to put them into some type of order today, so I can let you know. Definitely, the score for The Red Violin, since the one I have is defective and won't play right, and I do love it.

Here is a good introduction to the movie "The Piano". I have the soundtrack to the film also and "The Pianist", as well. That was a wonderful film but they are both very different, except they both have wonderful emotional piano music throughout.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSXnH...eature=related

...and Michael Nyman playing the main piece on stage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfkEy...eature=related

Enjoy!

Talk to you soon and please give your poor little bear a coffee break, once in a while.

I read both your PMs but now my box is nearly full again; today I don't have time to clear it out. I will answer your mails later on; but if I don't get to them until about Monday don't dispair. My grand-daughter is coming to visit tomorrow and it's been awhile - too long now. I can't wait to see her but today I have to clean up for the company. I will be super busy.

I just wanted to let you know - wow - we do have a lot of interests the same or similar. How funny about your dad calling Yanni elevator music. I would think it might be in reverse. I used to be so into his music, then tired of it, and now I find I like it again. I have a lot of Yanni albums. There is so much more to respond to in your PM; I hate having to wait. One thing though is "The Piano" is marvelous to me but not maybe to the liking of all. It does have some blantant nudity in it and is a bit strange at times but the more I have watched it the more I like it and understand it. At first, I admit I was not quite sure I did. The scenery is awesome, the Australian beach. I just don't want to corrupt you, if you are young. I don't see how old you are listed here and your father might track me down and say I lead you astray. You may be laughing at this by now. Anyway, the film did win awards and I feel it is a very good film, just very different.

And yes it is the Lawrence short story; it will start on Monday. The text is online and posted in the thread if you want to read it that way. We will take the story in chunks anyway so it will be easy to commend and follow as we go along. We usually do each story that way and the discussions stay ontrack and we learn much more about the meanings behind the text. The story this time is not really a long one; not like some others we have done in the past on that thread. Hope you can participate. It will be fun.