It has been 10 years . . .

Long years of waiting, plotting, and planning. Silent years. Then, in the quiet darkness, the sounds of the ocean sweeping upon the shore. A name is whispered with reverence. A name known to thousands. Bright lights! Sights never seen before. But the sounds. . . The notes. . . Gently floating towards us . . . Dancing and teasing our minds, allowing us a glimpse into just one of many possible “endings” to one of the most infamous stories in history.

I spent quite some time debating with myself as to whether or not to bother with the musical “Sequel” that Andrew Lloyd Webber finally wrote as a follow up to “The Phantom of the Opera”. The first time I even heard of the idea was when I was watching his 50th Birthday celebration at the Albert Hall. He announced the song as one he hoped to be featured in what he planned to be the official sequel to “Phantom”. The song was called “The Heart is Slow to Learn”. It was lovely. This song has had a very long journey, as described by ALW before the Libretto for the long-awaited sequel, now entitled “Love Never Dies” featuring this lovely melody reworded for the new story.

When I heard that it was finally being put into production, I couldn’t picture it. . . Or hear it! I thought that Coney Island was the strangest place for the story to continue. Every time I told people this, they didn’t believe it either.

My first thoughts were: “I don’t want to listen to it. I don’t want to know the story. I will never listen to the original in the same way.” Ultimately, I realized that every time I read (or wrote!) a different “possible” ending to the story, I listened to the original differently. “The Phantom of the Opera” has changed with me, as I have grown up in these past 16 years. I knew that it was pointless. I gave in, and purchased the original recording of “Love Never Dies” when it was released on the same day that the show premiered in London.

It wasn’t until Bright week of 2010 that I finally listened to it. All of it. Word by word. Note by note. I was prepared to hate it. After reading some info on Coney Island (the first amusement park in the world) it finally hit me: This setting makes perfect sense! What is interesting about this recording is that, not only does it contain all spoken as well as sung lines, but sound effects as well as music. It is set up very similarly to the original.

This is a review of he recording on Amazon.com. He also saw the show. I agree with most of what he says. MY THOUGHTS ARE CAPITALIZED ;-)

“Let me start by saying that the story is not as strong as the original, none of the Gothic gore implied by The Phantom, this is a more human one. The phantom is not below anymore, but towers above, in a penthouse overlooking Coney Island. He can now 'walk amongst man' another freak in a permanent freak show. Hence, the phantom we meet here is less mysterious, his torment more complex, not just obsession, but vulnerability. The story falters at times, I must admit it, yet the show is beautifully done and manages to move you and close the chapter.

The music

1. Prologue

2. The Coney Island Waltz

3. That's the place that you ruined, you fool!
---A terrible opening for a show, akin to the dreadful opening to the woman in white (a show that should not have existed and has been mercifully musically remade into Love never dies). The saving grace is the Waltz and its marvelous projections (on the show) a lovely piece, truly pure Webber. That's the place you ruined, fool and prologue could go amiss and no one will notice.

4. Heaven By The Sea
---- nice song, a touch out of place with the darker more romantic music, but attempting to capture the banality and lightheartedness of the time and the society in NY at the time. It serves its purpose, the core musical theme being lifted mainly from a repetitive melodic phrase used to death in woman in white, still, nice.

5. Only For Him / Only For You
-----A nice song with a less forthcoming orchestration, lovely melodic tilt, intended to show Meg's love for the Phantom. It appears Webber tried to make a clear distinction between the deep love the phantom has for Christine with the 'cheap' and brassy tolerance he shows Meg, one (Christine's) is for sustenance, the other (Meg) is for survival. I like this song, maybe the distinction marked by the styles is rather too wide, making it two dimensional and one sided (leaning towards Christine)It achieves that.

6. The Aerie
----A lovely, haunting, beautiful instrumental, right from the bowels of the Phantom of the opera. Thick, serene, moving. I DO NOT CARE FOR IT. THIS IS A TYPICAL ALW MIX OF BEAUTY AND DISSONANCE, WHICH I USUALLY CAN’T STAND ;-)

7. Til I Hear You Sing
---Now we are talking, this is a magnificent song, a true descendant from the original Phantom. A pure display of the best Lloyd Webber can produce. Ramin is absolutely brilliant in it, This song makes the whole show worth it, really.” I ABSOULUTELY AGREE! THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE SONG TRULY WORTHY OF THE ORIGINAL

8. Giry Confronts The Phantom / 'Til I Hear You Sing
---A nice excuse for listening to Ramin again. Giry's bit is typical of the sung through melodic style in Phantom. Very well done by Giry.

9. Christine Disembarks
---mostly spoken, snippets of melodies in the background, mainly themes that will develop later

10. Arrival Of The Trio / Are You Ready To Begin?
I don't care for the three new characters..the Phantom's henchman. Their a-melodic and tense musical themes grind me, not good voices, neither great lyrics, they just add to the oddness that is the phantom, but are never developed enough to matter or to add any depth to the phantom, They are cliches that fill in space. I wish a judge would give Webber a court restraining order so he cannot get near electric guitars, he seems to think that by using them he is 'edgy', wrong! Lovely melodic bit at the end for Gustave, again, lots from woman in white.

11. What A Dreadful Town!...
---I like this song. A lovely string punctuation quite different from Webber's style. Mature, efficient.

12. Look With Your Heart
---Beautiful waltz, sweet, with surprising melodic changes that slide into one another. Fresh and tender.

13. Beneath A Moonless Sky
--This is the heavy bit! the first few notes and chords are straight from the beginning of the song 'the phantom of the opera', as the phantom enters Christine's room and sees her for the first time in ten years. Although the refrain in this song will remind you of the cell block tango from Chicago (I mean it) it is a powerful, beautiful ballad (kind of a tango as well) here we get the whole story of what happened in the last ten years, a bit of a rush, but such a powerful song, the phantom has entered the room...really a triumph. THIS SONG IS VERY RECOGNIZABLE IF ONE HAS SEEN THE MOVIE AS MANY TIMES AS I. ALW USED THE ORCHESTRATIONS THAT HE WROTE FOR THE “JOURNEY TO THE CEMETARY” AND PUT WORDS TO IT. I WAS DELIGHTED BY THIS AS I LOVED THAT PIECE WHEN I FIRST HEAR IT IN THE FILM.

14. Once Upon Another Time
---Less of a song than above, but still sweet and lovely with a great melodic surge, dense with meaning and very much an aria in the opera style.

15. "Mother Please, I'm Scared!"
--Incidental stuff, the phantom meets Gustav...we get the electric guitar...bearable...it works, just enough, the right balance.

16. Dear Old Friend
---Great song a la notes in Phantom. cleverly worded, with touches of the original show and to great effect. It does have the same rhythmic style as Prima Donna , and the scene calls for it, as Meg is a Prima Donna in her work at Coney and Christine is a Prima Donna in her own right, with the trick from 'notes' of shifting between conversations. I LOVE “NOTES” IN THE ORIGINAL. SOMEHOW WHEN IT IS SEVERAL CONVERSATIONS GOING ON TOGETHER AND BEING SUNG. . . IT JUST WORKS.

17. Beautiful
---Haunting, sweet melody for Gustave.

18. The Beauty Underneath
---Loved by some, hated by almost every single soul that saw the show when I saw it. Too much guitar, too far off the musical style for the show, too modern. Honestly, I hated at the moment. One can imagine Elton John playing a set with AC/DC...it has its moments and many will like it...I found it a low point in the show, uncomfortable. THIS ONE IS WEIRD. I LIKE IT, AND I DON’T KNOW WHY I LIKE IT. BUT THERE IS SOMETHING UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT IT TOO.

19. The Phantom Confronts Christine
---Nice, a mix of themes previously heard

Disc 2

1. Entr'acte
---Just that, but I love it.

2. Why Does She Love Me?
--A brooding song, quite different from the Webber stock, although in the same vein as his musical foundation for Sunset. Really nice and very well performed.

3. Devil Take The Hindmost
---Brilliant, brilliant...all I can say is 'Javert and Valjean's dialogue at Fantine's deathbed'...as powerful and as sublime. I AM CURRENTLY LISTENING TO THIS. . . I AGREE

4. Heaven By The Sea (Reprise)
---well..it is there...this being a not so great song and rather flat in its texture, i would have preferred another song to fill this slot instead of a rehash , almost feels as if Webber did not have enough time to come up with much musical vartiety and stuck to a couple of musical themes.

5. Ladies...Gents! / The Coney Island Waltz (Reprise)
---More of the same...I must admit I was bored by this point in the plot....

6. Bathing Beauty
---cute, very much a Webber song, catchy. BTW THIS IS A SONG THAT IS PERFORMED BY MEG AND IT IS A STRIP TEASE TYPE OF SONG WITH THE GIRLS HOLDING UP TOWEL AROUND MEG AND WHEN THEY TAKE THEM AWAY, SHE IS WEARING A DIFFERENT BATHING SUIT EACH TIME. VERY CLASSIC VAUDEVILLIAN (SP?)

7. "Mother, Did You Watch?"
---Incidental, no new musical themes, just the same: mix and match. Still effective.

8. Before The Performance
Lovely, if because of the reprise of till I hear you sing. No new musical themes, again, reprises put together. THERE IS A GREAT REPRISAL OF "TWISTED EVERY WAY" FROM THE ORIGINAL WHICH ADDS SOME REALLY GREAT TENSION TO THIS EXTREMELY PIVIOTAL MOMENT COMING UP.

9. Devil Take The Hindmost
---A reprise but with a lot of pressure in it, a critical point in the plot, quite effective, really nice.

10. Love Never Dies
---This one is not new to us, heard it in the beautiful game and heard it by dame Kiri, yet it works well here, after all it was conceived years ago for this show. Sierra B has a wonderful voice, but the high notes are a push in her range, we can still say it is a breathless performance, a thousand times better than Katerine Jenkins and her catastrophic attempt at this song.

11. "Ah, Christine!..."
---more of the same,nice mix of earlier themes. THERE IS A REALLY NICE REMINISCINCE OF “LITTLE LOTTE”

12. "Gustave! Gustave!..."
---As above, more incidental music and earlier musical themes intertwined.

13. "Please Miss Giry, I want to go back..."
---climatic yet melodic-less ending. The final musical theme reprises the aeria and remind me of the very ending of Superstar, John Nineteen Forty-One. Maybe too weak for an ending (for this show)

So, do I like it? yes, overall a great musical that deserves many years on stage. I wish it had more original numbers and less reprises and that it did not have 'the beauty underneath' but hey, overall, a different show, this is not the phantom times 2, this is its own original show, with it's own personality. This show contains some of Webber's best ballads and melodies. Does it copy from his previous musical stock? yes, there is lots of Aspects of love, Woman in white and some Whistle down the wind...is it bad? well if we assume absolute originality as the definition of creativity, Sondheim has not been creative since Company, so there...."

I have been reading several reviews both from America and across the Pond. It is very interesting to read all of the varying points of view. I suppose that the debate is similar to that over the movie version of "Phantom". Some people hated it, some loved it. Ultimately it comes down to a matter of opinion.

As a die hard, long lived Phantom Phan, all I can really say is this:

Andrew Lloyd Webber has a masterful understanding of the great marriage of romance and music. I first listened to the original "Phantom" when I was 12 years old. It had a tremendous effect on me and my perceptions of love, relationships, good and evil. As I have grown, so have my perceptions. For those of you who don't know, I have written a lot of Phantom Phiction on my Story_Seeker site listed on my Facebook page. I have explored the story in different ways, the most interesting and rewarding being from the perspective of Raoul. I have also read Susan Kay's novel "Phantom" which tells the story from his birth to past his death. It switches perspectives, begining with Erik's mother, the infamous "Persian", Erik himself, Christine, and finally ending with Raoul. It is one of the most insightful books about human nature I have ever read. I cannot reccomend it highly enough. Coming back to ALW. Though I am very disappointed with several plot points and I know how to end it in a far more satisfying way (many Phans would heartily approve of MY ending I am sure;-) this is just one possible "ending" to this story. Some of the music and the story is quite lovely and completely transports one back to their "first time" listening to the original. The searing romance and passion are still there. The haunting beauty and the feeling that much of life is sorrow and suffering. If you "look with your heart, and not with your eyes" (or ears in this case;-) I believe that you can find the beauty that cannot be denied. The story of the Phantom of the Opera is tragic, romantic, beautiful, and passionate. It tells a very deeply human story that somehow manages to reach into many hearts and reminds us all of the "Music of the Night".


Christine:
Love's a curious thing
It often comes disguised
Look at love the wrong way
It goes unrecognized

So look with your heart
And not with your eyes
The heart understands
The heart never lies
You need what it feels
And trust what it shows
Look with your heart
The heart always knows

Love is not always beautiful
Not at the start

So open your arms
And close your eyes tight
Look with your heart
And when it finds love
Your heart will be right

Learn from someone who knows
Make sure you don't forget
Love will misunderstand
Is love that you'll regret

Gustave:
Mother
Look with your heart
And not with your eyes
The heart can't be fooled
Christine: The heart is too wise

Gustave: Forget what you think
Christine: Ignore what you hear
Christine and Gustave: Look with you heart
It always sees clear

Gustave: Love is not always beautiful
Not at the start

Christine: But open your arms
And close your eyes tight
Look with your heart
And when it finds love
Your heart will be right

Great results from small sins

One of the best books ever written is "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis.  Letter 12 is my favorite:

MY DEAR WORMWOOD,

Obviously you are making excellent progress. My only fear is lest in attempting
to hurry the patient you awaken him to a sense of his real position. For you and I, who see that position as it really is, must never forget how totally
different it ought to appear to him. We know that we have introduced a change of direction in his course which is already carrying him out of his orbit around the Enemy; but he must be made to imagine that all the choices which have effected this change of course are trivial and revocable. He must not be allowed to suspect that he is now, however slowly, heading right away from the sun on a line which will carry him into the cold and dark of utmost space.

For this reason I am almost glad to hear that he is still a churchgoer and a
communicant. I know there are dangers in this; but anything is better than that
he should realise the break it has made with the first months of his Christian
life. As long as he retains externally the habits of a Christian he can still be
made to think of himself as one who has adopted a few new friends and amusements but whose spiritual state is much the same as it was six weeks ago. And while he thinks that, we do not have to contend with the explicit repentance of a definite, fully recognised, sin, but only with his vague, though uneasy, feeling that he hasn't been doing very well lately.

This dim uneasiness needs careful handling. If it gets too strong it may wake
him up and spoil the whole game. On the other hand, if you suppress it
entirely—which, by the by, the Enemy will probably not allow you to do—we lose an element in the situation which can be turned to good account. If such a
feeling is allowed to live, but not allowed to become irresistible and flower
into real repentance, it has one invaluable tendency. It increases the patient's
reluctance to think about the Enemy. All humans at nearly all times have some
such reluctance; but when thinking of Him involves facing and intensifying a
whole vague cloud of half-conscious guilt, this reluctance is increased tenfold.
They hate every idea that suggests Him, just as men in financial embarrassment hate the very sight of a -book. In this state your patient will not omit, but he will increasingly dislike, his religious duties. He will think about them as little as he feels he decently can beforehand, and forget them as soon as possible when they are over. A few weeks ago you had to tempt him to unreality and inattention in his prayers: but now you will find him opening his arms to you and almost begging you to distract his purpose and benumb his heart. He will want his prayers to be unreal, for he will dread nothing so much as effective contact with the Enemy. His aim will be to let sleeping worms lie.

As this condition becomes more fully established, you will be gradually freed
from the tiresome business of providing Pleasures as temptations. As the
uneasiness and his reluctance to face it cut him off more and more from all real happiness, and as habit renders the pleasures of vanity and excitement and flippancy at once less pleasant and harder to forgo (for that is what habit
fortunately does to a pleasure) you will find that anything or nothing is
sufficient to attract his wandering attention. You no longer need a good book,
which he really likes, to keep him from his prayers or his work or his sleep; a
column of advertisements in yesterday's paper will do. You can make him waste his time not only in conversation he enjoys with people whom he likes, but in conversations with those he cares nothing about on subjects that bore him. You can make him do nothing at all for long periods. You can keep him up late at night, not roistering, but staring at a dead fire in a cold room. All the
healthy and outgoing activities which we want him to avoid can be inhibited and nothing given in return, so that at last he may say, as one of my own patients said on his arrival down here, "I now see that I spent most of my life in doing neither what I ought nor what I liked". The Christians describe the Enemy as one "without whom Nothing is strong". And Nothing is very strong: strong enough to steal away a man's best years not in sweet sins but in a dreary flickering of the mind over it knows not what and knows not why, in the gratification of curiosities so feeble that the man is only half aware of them, in drumming of fingers, in whistling tunes that he does not like, or in
the long, dim labyrinth of reveries that have not even lust or ambition to give
them a relish, but which, once chance association has started them, the creature is too weak and fuddled to shake off.

You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young
tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do
remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the
man from the Enemy. It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that
their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the
Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the
safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without
sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

Your affectionate uncle
SCREWTAPE

No one could ever say I don't look at every side of things.

A few years ago I read a new historical novel called "Lucy".  It is about Lucy Mercer, the woman that FDR had an affair with when he was the assistant secrectary of the Navy....years before he was stricken with polio and became president. I came across the book while I was in Borders and went back to actually purchase the book. 

My interest in Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt began when dad purchased the first of a set of videos done by HBO about them. This first set covers their earlier years and focuses mostly on Eleanor, telling the story through flashbacks after Franklin has died at the Little White House down in Warm Springs, GA. Apparantly when this series was first aired, it won 11 Emmy awards. The actor who plays Franklin is Edward Herrmann, who plays FDR in the orignial musical "Annie" and does the voice of FDR in a documentary about FDR's homes. He also does lots of voice overs for shows on the History Channel, plays the grandfather on "Gilmore Girls" and played Max the head vampire in "The Lost Boys". The second set of videos is concerned primarily with the 12 years that FDR was in the White house and those are with the same actors, etc and are also excellent, however I did not see those until several years after having viewed the first ones. 

Though I haven't finished it, I do own Eleanor's autobiography and she was really an incredible person. Although she was not particularly physically attractive and she had a very sad and lonely childhood, she still managed to inspire loyalty in those around her. And let's face it people, if it hadn't been for her, Franklin would NOT have overcome polio and become one of our greatest presidents. So, I have always been on Eleanor's side, and always felt that Franklin was a real jerk for cheating on her with her own social secrectary. However, being the open-minded person that I sometimes attempt to be, I couldn't help myself. I had to pick up this book which relays the affair from Lucy's perspective. I found it to be quite interesting. The book is very well written (and not just because she leaves all of the...uh....ahem... details to our imaginations) but it is, as the Baltimore Sun put it, "Lyrical...a gem." And it is, I found it difficult to put down.

Still, Eleanor, herself sometimes gets a bad rap. She had a great mind. And she was just as determined as Franklin to make a difference in the world. And he saw that. That is what attracted him. He was fiercely ambitious to become president and he knew that he had to have the "right woman" to help him attain all of his dreams. And that woman was Eleanor. Interesting, and heartbreakingly sad, he loved that dream (to become president) so much that he was willing to risk his happiness with a woman that he had fallen in love with, in order to to reach it. He knew that he couldn't become president with Lucy by his side. Mostly, because back in the earlier part of the 20th century it wasn't a particularly good thing to be divorced, married to your ex-mistress and be running for President. But it was also so sad, that after all the years he and Eleanor had spent together as man and wife and after having 6 children (one of whom died) that the one consideration regarding whether or not he should actually go through with a divorce and marry Lucy had to do with his career and not the well being of his children, wife or even his repuation. But in the end that was the decision he made. And ultimately it was certainly the right one. 

A writer back in the day, once said that "although he never regained the use of his legs, he taught a crippled nation how to walk." I think that was true. He was a great man, and a great president. He made a great many hard decisions in the White House, and all for the best. But he and Eleanor both exacted a high price from all those who were close to them...unswerving devotion and loyalty. I am sure that he never stopped loving her. Afterall she was his wife and the mother of his children. And it was partly due to her love and loyalty to him that he conquered polio and became president. And because of his handicap, she went out as his personal ambasador, representing him when he couldn't be there in person. 

There is just something about Eleanor Roosevelt that I like very much...something that reminds me of my own mother. I can't quite put it into words. 

After finishing this book, it has made me see the affair in a different light, and I can feel sympathy and some sadness for Lucy and President Roosevelt.

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith."
~ The last words written by Franklin Delano Roosevelt before he died

In the past I have often written

about the film "Shadowlands", starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. A film made by Richard Attenborough, it is a lovely, moving film about C.S. Lewis and his wife, Helen Joy Davidman Gresham. I am only about 1/3 of the way through the film this evening, but as I was preparing for bed, something jumped out at me, and it is slightly related to what I was saying earlier in my note about "The Little Prince".

"I don't think God particularly wants us to be happy. I think He wants us to love and be loved. He wants us to grow up! We are like children, and we think that our toys provide all our happiness, and that our nursery is the whole wide world. But something must drive us out of the nursery and into the world of others....and that something is suffering."

It just reminds me of what Fr Melitios said at the end of chapter 2 about the closer we get to God, the closer we get to each other. And I also agree with C.S. Lewis regarding suffering. Sorrow and suffering are a part of our lives, and they are God's tools to shape us, "we arel like blocks of stone...the blows of His chisel which hurt us so much, are what make us perfect"....and do indeed drive us into the world of others. Even in the allegorical novel, "Hinds Feet on High Places" the companions whom the Shephard chooses for the main character, Much-Afraid, are called Sorrow and Suffering. If one thinks about it, there is a quiet, exquisite beauty about suffering. And when one remembers the story of the footsteps in the sand....we are reminded that it is most often when we feel that God is the furthest away, that He is actually standing right beside us. Because He will never abandon us. That is an indescribable comfort. It is The Light that shines in our darkest hours, just before the dawn breaks.

Alice I have wanted to be

When I was six years old, I wanted to be Alice from "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland".  I went around telling everyone that my name was Alice.  Most specifically this was when we were going to England, Europe, and the Holy Land in 1988.  I actually remember telling people that was my name.  My parents were worried that someone would think I was being kidnapped, with my telling everyone I had a different name that the one that appeared on my passport.   Fortunately, that never occurred. 

My father told me about a new novel entitled: "Alice I Have Been" by Melanie Benjamin.  It is a historical novel about Alice Pleasance Hargreaves, maiden name: Liddell who was the inspiration for the girl who went down a  rabbit hole and lost her way in Wonderland.  I was immediately captivated and (for me) devoured it.  I rarely ever cry when I read.  I am a big movie cryer but I cannot name more than 7 or so books that I have cried over. (They include "Where the Red Fern Grows", Harry Potter #4, 6, &7, and now "Alice I have Been"). 

The book has three basic parts which cover her childhood, young adult life and later life, from marriage, children to widowhood, etc. There is a photograph of the real Alice Liddell before each section:

 This was photographed by Charles Dodgeson (Lewis Carroll) when she was 7 years old.  His  little "gypsy" girl.  And yes, it was VERY unusual for a girl in the 1850's to have such short hair.  According to the novel, her hair was originally very stringy, and her mother had it cut short.  I must admit that even I was surprised to discover that the "real" Alice had short black hair and not the common long blonde locks we are so used to seeing.  Interestingly though, when I was her age, my hair was cut short too.  But mostly because I would not keep it brushed and clean when it was long.   This first section covers her early life until she is about 11 or so, just after the book was finally written.  She asked Dodgson to write it down for her, and hounded him about it until he did so.  (She did not even read the book until many years later).The scene where he is taking this photograph, actually made me very uncomfortable.  Although the line was never crossed (that we know of, and I prefer to think of it this way) according to Lewis Carroll biographers, etc.  apparently he did have a "thing" for little girls.  That had never occurred to me, however this and other events  based on as true an account as could be gotten, do explain the very sudden rift between Dodgson and the Liddell family.

 This picture is at the begining of the second section and although it begins when she is 23, this picture was actually taken when she was 18, and not by Dodgson.  (I don't think she was all that attractive, myself, though I will show you some more and you can make up your own mind.  )This section is mostly to do with the possibility that she was in love with Queen Victoria's youngest son, Leopold, and he her.  Though there is no actual "proof" of this, he did send her a diamond horseshoe shaped brooch for her wedding and she wore it that day.  He named his first daughter Alice and she named her second son Leopold.  There's was, of course, a doomed romance because of her association with and the rumors about her relationship with Dodgson.

Finally we see this picture of her in her old age.  She did marry, though not till she was 28, and had three sons.  The two elder ones died in WWI and her husband from grief soon afterwards.  Though she did not love him when she married him, she discovered that she did, but too late.  When she was widowed she had many problems managing what was left of their estate, Cuffnells, and with no where else to turn to, she found herself finally reading the book, whose heroine had been based upon herself.  She sold the first hand written edition from Dodgson at an auction and was able to use the money to maintain herself in comfort till her death in 1932 at the age of 82.  While visiting America, she met the 30 year old Peter Llewelyn-Davies who was the "real" Peter Pan.  They were both able to speak a language no one else could understand.  However, Alice had "asked for it", whereas Peter had not.  When he asks her how she could stand it all these years, she tells him, " I suppose, at some point, we all have to decide which memories - real or otherwise - to hold on to, and which ones to let go."  Sadly, the "real" Peter killed himself in 1960 at the age of 63.  He threw himself under a train.

So, yeah, sadly we all have to grow up.  Even those who are immortalized in fiction forever must grow up and die.  However ". . . one part of her will always be the determined, undaunted Alice of the story, who discovered that life beyond the rabbit hole was an astonishing journey."  If you like Victorian Historical Fiction then I highly reccomend this book, it was and incredible journey through the twists and turns of the human heart, about a girl who believed that love was there for the taking and confidently reached out for it, and a woman, who realizes that she has truly loved her husband all along.  It was moving and tender, frightening and tragic. It was a story about life.

Here are some more pictures:

 It was truly, a most fascinating book.

I give it 5 stars! *****

Petition to revoke the independence of the United States of America

To the citizens of the United States of America, in the light of your failure to competently govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths and other territories.

Except Utah, which she does not fancy.

Your new Prime Minister (The Right Honourable Gordon Brown MP, for the 97.85% of you who have until now been unaware that there is a world outside your borders) will appoint a Minister for America without the need for further elections.

The House of Representatives and the Senate will be disbanded.

A questionnaire will be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed. To aid in the transition to a British Crown Dependency, the following rules are introduced with immediate effect:

1. You should look up "revocation" in the Oxford English Dictionary. Then look up "aluminium." Check the pronunciation guide. You will be amazed at just how wrongly you have been pronouncing it.

The letter 'U' will be reinstated in words such as 'favour' and 'neighbour'; skipping the letter 'U' is nothing more than laziness on your part. Likewise, you will learn to spell 'doughnut' without skipping half the letters.

You will end your love affair with the letter 'Z' (pronounced 'zed' not 'zee') and the suffix "ize" will be replaced by the suffix "ise."

You will learn that the suffix 'burgh' is pronounced 'burra' e.g. Edinburgh. You are welcome to re-spell Pittsburgh as 'Pittsberg' if you can't cope with correct pronunciation.

Generally, you should raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels. Look up “vocabulary." Using the same thirty seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "uhh", "like", and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.

Look up "interspersed."

There will be no more 'bleeps' in the Jerry Springer show. If you're not old enough to cope with bad language then you shouldn't have chat shows. When you learn to develop your vocabulary, then you won't have to use bad language as often.

2. There is no such thing as "US English." We will let Microsoft know on your behalf. The Microsoft spell-checker will be adjusted to take account of the reinstated letter 'u' and the elimination of "-ize."

3. You should learn to distinguish the English and Australian accents. It really isn't that hard. English accents are not limited to cockney, upper-class twit or Mancunian (Daphne in Frasier).

You will also have to learn how to understand regional accents --- Scottish dramas such as "Taggart" will no longer be broadcast with subtitles.

While we're talking about regions, you must learn that there is no such place as Devonshire in England. The name of the county is "Devon." If you persist in calling it Devonshire, all American States will become "shires" e.g. Texasshire, Floridashire, Louisianashire.

4. Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as the good guys. Hollywood will be required to cast English actors to play English characters.

British sit-coms such as "Men Behaving Badly" or "Red Dwarf" will not be re-cast and watered down for a wishy-washy American audience who can't cope with the humour of occasional political incorrectness. Popular British films such as the Italian Job and the Wicker Man should never be remade.

5. You should relearn your original national anthem, "God Save The Queen", but only after fully carrying out task 1. We would not want you to get confused and give up half way through.

6. You should stop playing American "football." There are other types of football such as Rugby, Aussie Rules & Gaelic football. However proper football - which will no longer be known as soccer, is the best known, most loved and most popular. What you refer to as American "football" is not a very good game.

The 2.15% of you who are aware that there is a world outside your borders may have noticed that no one else plays "American" football. You will no longer be allowed to play it, and should instead play proper football.

Initially, it would be best if you played with the girls. It is a difficult game. Those of you brave enough will, in time, be allowed to play rugby (which is similar to American "football", but does not involve stopping for a rest every twenty seconds or wearing full kevlar body armour like nancies).

We are hoping to get together at least a US Rugby sevens side by 2010.

You should stop playing baseball. It is not reasonable to host an event called the 'World Series' for a game which is not played outside of North America. Since only 2.15% of you are aware that there is a world beyond your borders, your error is understandable. Instead of baseball, you will be allowed to play a girls' game called "rounders," which is baseball without fancy team strip, oversized gloves, collector cards or hotdogs.

7. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry guns. You will no longer be allowed to own or carry anything more dangerous in public than a vegetable peeler. Because we don't believe you are sensible enough to handle potentially dangerous items, you will require a permit if you wish to carry a vegetable peeler in public.

8. The 4th of July is no longer a public holiday. The 2nd of November will be a new national holiday, but only in Britain. It will be called "Indecisive Day."

9. All American cars are hereby banned. They are crap, and it is for your own good. When we show you German cars, you will understand what we mean.

All road intersections will be replaced with roundabouts. You will start driving on the left with immediate effect. At the same time, you will go metric with immediate effect and without the benefit of conversion tables. Roundabouts and metrication will help you understand the British sense of humour.

10. You will learn to make real chips. Those things you call 'French fries' are not real chips. Fries aren't even French, they are Belgian though 97.85% of you (including the guy who discovered fries while in Europe) are not aware of a country called Belgium. Those things you insist on calling potato chips are properly called "crisps." Real chips are thick cut and fried in animal fat. The traditional accompaniment to chips is beer which should be served warm and flat.

Waitresses will be trained to be more aggressive with customers.

11. As a sign of penance 5 grams of sea salt per cup will be added to all tea made within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, this quantity to be doubled for tea made within the city of Boston itself.

12. The cold tasteless stuff you insist on calling "beer" is not actually beer at all, it is lager . From November 1st only proper British Bitter will be referred to as "beer," and European brews of known and accepted provenance will be referred to as "Lager." The substances formerly known as "American Beer" will henceforth be referred to as "Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine," with the exception of the product of the American Budweiser company whose product will be referred to as "Weak Near-Frozen Gnat's Urine." This will allow true Budweiser (as manufactured for the last 1000 years in the Czech Republic) to be sold without risk of confusion.

13. From the 10th of November the UK will harmonise petrol (or "gasoline," as you will be permitted to keep calling it until the 1st of April) prices with the former USA. The UK will harmonise its prices to those of the former USA and the Former USA will, in return, adopt UK petrol prices (roughly $10/US gallon -- get used to it).

14. You will learn to resolve personal issues without using guns, lawyers or therapists. The fact that you need so many lawyers and therapists shows that you're not adult enough to be independent. Guns should only be handled by adults. If you're not adult enough to sort things out without suing someone or speaking to a therapist, then you're not grown up enough to handle a gun.

15. Please tell us who killed JFK. It's been driving us crazy.

16. Tax collectors from Her Majesty's Government will be with you shortly to ensure the acquisition of all revenues due (backdated to 1776).

Thank you for your co-operation.


(This is a group I belong to on Facebook. It is not meant to be taken seriously. It is just for fun.)

I am a fan of monarchy in general

Let  me explain why:  First of all, we all know that the Monarch does not actually rule the country, which technically neither does an elected president actually "rule" a country.  But what an elected president lacks so very much is the fact they are only in office for such a short period of time before they are replaced by someone else. Consider that when you look at a monarch such as Queen Elizabeth II who has ruled for over 50 years and has been groomed since youth for the role, you have somone  of great dedication, not to mention that you have someone who is not part of a political party and so can advise the current governement in as unbiased a way as possble.


To drive this point home, I will share with you the speech she made on her 21st birthday (4 years before being crowned.)


"On my twenty-first birthday I welcome the opportunity to speak to all the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire, wherever they live, whatever race they come from, and whatever language they speak.


"Let me begin by saying 'thank you' to all the thousands of kind people who have sent me messages of good will. This is a happy day for me; but it is also one that brings serious thoughts, thoughts of life looming ahead with all its challenges and with all its opportunity.


"At such a time it is a great help to know that there are multitudes of friends all round the world who are thinking of me and who wish me well. I am grateful and I am deeply moved.


"As I speak to you today from Cape Town I am six thousand miles from the country where I was born. But I am certainly not six thousand miles from home. Everywhere I have travelled in these lovely lands of South Africa and Rhodesia my parents, my sister and I have been taken to the heart of their people and made to feel that we are just as much at home here as if we had lived among them all our lives.


"That is the great privilege belonging to our place in the world-wide commonwealth - that there are homes ready to welcome us in every continent of the earth. Before I am much older I hope I shall come to know many of them.


"Although there is none of my father's subjects from the oldest to the youngest whom I do not wish to greet, I am thinking especially today of all the young men and women who were born about the same time as myself and have grown up like me in terrible and glorious years of the second world war.


"Will you, the youth of the British family of nations, let me speak on my birthday as your representative? Now that we are coming to manhood and womanhood it is surely a great joy to us all to think that we shall be able to take some of the burden off the shoulders of our elders who have fought and worked and suffered to protect our childhood.


"We must not be daunted by the anxieties and hardships that the war has left behind for every nation of our commonwealth. We know that these things are the price we cheerfully undertook to pay for the high honour of standing alone, seven years ago, in defence of the liberty of the world. Let us say with Rupert Brooke: "Now God be thanked who has matched us with this hour".
I am sure that you will see our difficulties, in the light that I see them, as the great opportunity for you and me. Most of you have read in the history books the proud saying of William Pitt that England had saved herself by her exertions and would save Europe by her example. But in our time we may say that the British Empire has saved the world first, and has now to save itself after the battle is won.


"I think that is an even finer thing than was done in the days of Pitt; and it is for us, who have grown up in these years of danger and glory, to see that it is accomplished in the long years of peace that we all hope stretch ahead.


"If we all go forward together with an unwavering faith, a high courage, and a quiet heart, we shall be able to make of this ancient commonwealth, which we all love so dearly, an even grander thing - more free, more prosperous, more happy and a more powerful influence for good in the world - than it has been in the greatest days of our forefathers.


"To accomplish that we must give nothing less than the whole of ourselves. There is a motto which has been borne by many of my ancestors - a noble motto, "I serve". Those words were an inspiration to many bygone heirs to the Throne when they made their knightly dedication as they came to manhood. I cannot do quite as they did.


"But through the inventions of science I can do what was not possible for any of them. I can make my solemn act of dedication with a whole Empire listening. I should like to make that dedication now. It is very simple.


"I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.


"But I shall not have strength to carry out this resolution alone unless you join in it with me, as I now invite you to do: I know that your support will be unfailingly given. God help me to make good my vow, and God bless all of you who are willing to share in it."


Even though history has been blessed with many great monarchs who have lived up to the phrase "I serve" there have also been many who have not, and, unfortunately, history was stuck with them until they died, whereas at least with and elected president, his "reign" can only be for so long. However, it is the dedication of those such as the present Queen of England that I find so deeply moving and powerful.  For there is very little of that left in the world, and I think that this devotion and dedication is to be greatly admired, especially in this day and age.


Those of us who have seen "The King's Speech" about the present Queen's father, have had a chance to see more intimately the price that this devotion and dedication extracts.  Here was a man, virtually crippled when it came to public speaking.  He was not brought up in the same way as his older brother David, who would abandon the throne, and his country because he felt that he could not be the king he wished to be without the help and support of the woman he loved, and so he turned his back on everything, leaving his younger brother to cope with the stress of kingship and the coming war with Germany.  But does Bertie (King George VI) back down?  No, and ultimately his true legacy is reflected in a card placed on is coffin by Winston Churchill simply read: "For Valor".

Why I love Jane Austen

Yet again, I am drawn back to contemplating why I love Jane Austen, and why she has endured for so long, and shall continue to do so. I am, of course swept away by the beauty, the simplicity, and the romance of the early 19th century that Jane portrays.  I find that Jane touches a part of my heart that is seldom touched by anything in this modern world I find myself in.  I am reminded that, although Jane gave all her heroines "everything that they desire" she did not have that in her own life.  Rather than marry without affection, she chose to defy society and all her family and friends.  In a way I suppose that she was a feminist for her time, but still, she lived to a higher moral code than we do now.  Just because she felt she couldn't marry without affection, she also would not take a lover or abandon her family to fulfill her own selfish wishes.

What one must remember about the real time of her novels is that women really had very little choice in the world.  We are reminded of this with the case of poor Charlotte Lucas who marries the odious Mr. Collins.  She is trapped.  As she says in the new version of "P&P"  "Not all of us can afford to be romantic".  Men too were trapped by their circumstances, due to the great pride that the British Class system afforded in the day.  Men, as well as women could be disinherited if they planned to "plant their affections in less exalted ground then they deserved" as Mrs John Dashwood puts it all too well.

In Jane Austen, love is, for the most part something that is hidden behind the mask of English propriety.  But nevertheless, it still runs deep. The love and affection felt between the heroines and their heroes is most evident when one or the other finally comes to know that the other returns their affection. Just because there are few outward signs of love or passion, does not mean that those emotions do not exist.  Just because Elinor and Edward have a quiet easy relationship does not make it any less passionate or affectionate then Marianne's feelings toward Willoughby.  Affection can be shown in a million different ways, and Jane Austen shows us, more beautifully than any other, how these ways do not have to always be centered solely on passion, lust, or sex.  There is something far greater out there, and it begins with trust, respect and last but never least, friendship.  Affection need not be shown with a kiss or an embrace, but with a gentle hand tucking a ladies shawl back around her shoulders, as we see in the Emma Thompson "Sense and Sensibility".  We are reminded, by Jane's own example that we should never settle for less.  That there is something sweet and mysterious waiting just around the corner...something as hard to describe as the haunting, wistful fragrance of violets.  May we never lose sight of the beauty and simplicity of life.  For all life's complications, may we remember to always stop......

and smell the roses.

"I was in Barnes and Noble.....

.....just looking around....I am one of those who like to look at covers and spines and just let the title jump out and catch my attention. So, I was looking through fiction, not for anything in particular, when I come across a title printed in sprawling handwriting.  It grabs my attention, and I pick up the book, and recognize the title as being the same as a good old black and white 1930's movie I have seen many times, "All this and Heaven too", starring (my all time favorite) Bette Davis and Charles Boyer.  I had no idea that the film had been based on a book, and, when I turned it over to read the back, I discovered that this story had not only been a best selling novel of the 1930's but that it was based upon a true story. Apparently it is one of the most notorious murder crimes in French History.    The novel, written by an American woman, Rachel Field, encompasses the entire life of a woman named Henriette Deluzy-Desportes, later, Mrs. Henry M. Field.  At the beginning of the novel we meet her on her way back to Paris after having been a governess to a little girl in England for the past eight years. She is hired as governess in the household of the Duc and Duchesse de Praslin.  As the story progresses, we see that all is far from right in this home.  The children (such dear little things!) are somewhat frightened and intimidated by their mother, who is at once, cold and dismissive, and then violently affectionate.  It is in the person of the Duc that Henriette finds a true friend (of sorts) and although nothing inappropriate ever occurs between them, the people of Paris still talk, and the increasingly jealous Duchesse finds relief, only in terrible emotional outbursts that nearly end in tragedy.   After seven years, in which, as the Duc puts it, of having been a haven for the children, and for him, Henriette finds herself put out on the streets, staying with friends until she receives the promised letter from the Duchesse clearing her name of all scandal. Quite some time goes by, and she manages somehow to scrimp by, and not tell the Duc who sometimes comes to visit her with the children, but when he discovers that his wife has still to write the letter......well, Henriette is soon faced with a terrible difficulty.... she is taken from her bed and locked away in the Conciergerie (sp?) and is accused of being an accomplice, or at least, an accessory, when the Duchesse's body is discovered in her apartments.......murdered.  The "natural" conclusion is that it was the Duc, dispensing of his wife, to make room for his ex-governess.   Through all of the questioning and mounting hostility, Henriette manages to survive, for after all, she "had the truth to rely on". Around the time that the Duc (who by the way is a member of the house of Peers, and therefore can only be judged by them, and the king.....this does not sit well with the French people, who have already pulled one king from his throne) is taken away.....he manages to take a lethal dose of poison and dies.  This, which is beautifully romanticized in the film, ultimately is what saves Henriette, for now there is no confession from him, and no evidence to link her with this grisly deed.  That is only the first half of the book, and the entirety of the movie, but there is still another chapter in the life of this poor woman, she eventually  gets a job working at a girl's school in New York City and....slowly but surely (this is the best part, I think!) she falls in love with an American minister, and is able to find her heaven on earth.  It is a very good  story, and Henriette comes off the page with such intense humanity and one cannot help but feel for her.  There is a very interesting story told with the story, about a princess who is walking in the garden, when suddenly her fairy god-mother appears. She says that since the princess has been so kind and good, that she will be able to give her happiness, but, there is a catch, she has to choose to have the happiness when she is young, or when she is old. The princess ponders and then says that if she uses all of her happiness while she is young, then she will have nothing left to look forward too, so "Let me have happiness while I am young, and may Heaven send me patience." Now, one of the children's reaction to the story was "Couldn't she ask for a little when she was young, and little when she was old?" And Henriette's response is that "happiness is not a little cake, which we can cut up to feed our appetites." And later she says "One cannot hope to be singled out in all the world to get one's heart's desire".  But her triumph over all of the adversities that she faces is truly inspiring and uplifting!

Comic Book Heroes

Last Monday afternoon, I was at my brother's place doing laundry, and the only thing on T.V. was the original "Batman" film starring Michael Keaton and directed by Tim Burton. I grew up with this film and one that followed ("Batman Returns")  and because of these two films, Batman has always been my personal favorite when it comes to comic book heroes.


I also grew up with the 1980 film "Flash Gordon" with a soundtrack by Queen.  I had not seen this film in YEARS! Then I watched it with my brother on Christmas day a few years back (yeah, I know, very festive .) and my friends and I got together last year to watch it for my birthday.  Of course, there a considerable amount of differences between the film Flash and the original comic book Flash, but still, I love this movie!  It has a great cast, including Timothy Dalton, Topol and Max Von Sydow (best known as the older priest in the film "The Exorcist") as Ming the Merciless, ruler of the universe!  This film is so very, deeply cheesy and campy, but that makes it so very, deeply, fun!


Interestingly, Batman and Flash are my all time favorite comic book heroes.  What I like about them is that neither one is actually a "super" hero.  Flash is the original comic book hero, btw, predating Batman, Superman and Spiderman.  Of course, Bruce Wayne is only a superhero because he has more money than God, but still. :-)


So, I was watching the original "Batman" film,  and frankly, I just cringed.  I really see how far we have come in the last 30 years.  The new films "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight" are both far superior films.  In both films we get a much deeper understanding of the motivations for this character.  It addresses so many issues on so many emotional levels.  Chris Nolan is my current fav director.  I loved "The Prestige" and "Inception" was an incredible film that really blew me away.


After watching "The Dark Knight" again last week, I am of course thinking about the loss of Heath Ledger, and I feel the loss to the world of Hollywood.  He obviously was just beginning to show us all his extreme talents.  Do I believe that this role led to his death?  Honestly, no.  I believe that it was an accident.  It is tragic, yes, but I believe it was an accident.  The way he played the role of the Joker, is far deeper and more disturbing than that of Jack Nicholson.  The mannerisms, the voice, the whole look and feel.  It is not just that the character was reinvented for this film, anyone can write a character, but when the actor steps into their shoes and begins to feel around in the subconscious mind of the character and try to understand their motivations and actions, then, the character truly comes to life, as Ledger did so brilliantly this film.


Looking beyond his incredible portrayal of the most sinister Joker I have ever seen, the film has a very deep psychological and truly fascinating ending which gives you so much insight into the character of Bruce Wayne, who proves beyond a reasonable doubt, that he is a true hero, as Rachel says in the first film " It is not who you are, but what you do, that defines you."  And he proves that superbly in "The Dark Knight".  At the end when Gordon's son says that Batman didn't do anything wrong, so why is going to take the heat for everything, Gordon replies that Batman is the hero Gotham deserves, but he is also, not the one Gotham needs right now.  Wayne's understanding that the knowledge of what happened to Harvey Dent would destroy the hope of the people of Gotham is deeply insightful, and his true nature is revealed in his willingness to be whatever it is that Gotham needs him to be, whether it be the hero or the villain.


"The Dark Knight Rises" is currently under production and I eagerly await it's release.

The Lure of the Phantom ~ Part Fourteen

Kathy never looked up as she walked through Paris in the early hours of that fateful morning.  She knew her way to the Opera House, without even thinking about it.  She had no room in her mind to think about it.  Her mind could hear nothing but the sound that was beckoning her, calling her, seducing her. 

           

 Suddenly, she looked up as the great edifice stood before her.  Perhaps, if she had not felt so confident, she might have been terrified at the prospect of going in there alone in the middle of the night.  The sound she had been following seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere, yet she knew its source was inside Garnier’s magnificent Opera House.  She walked along a sidewall without hesitation as she approached a small door that was so old that it had obviously been painted over many times, in an attempt to hide it from the public eye.  Kathy went up to it, and found that it gave way quite easily as she pushed it open.

            

She slowly crept inside, and shut the door behind her.  The sound of the door closing left her with a strange sensation, almost as though she might never again return to the life she was leaving behind… She shook her head and turned to go down the passage. When she reached a long set of spiraling stairs, she stopped to listen to the sound, which she could now tell was a lonely violin, playing a melody so sad and filled with such despair, she almost sunk down to the floor, feeling weighed down by the emotion that the music invoked.   She started down the stairs, which seemed quite endless.  When she finally reached the bottom, she found herself at the edge of the infamous underground lake.  Giving no thought to how she would cross it, she stepped out into the water.  It was not terribly deep, and she reached the other side, without the water even reaching her waist.  She now felt horribly cold and had to sit on the ground to catch her breath.  When finally her breathing became a little more regular, she looked around to see if she could ascertain as to where the music was coming from.  At last she stood up and made her way down a passage to her left.  The music grew louder, as she approached the end of the passage.  There was no sign of a door, no sign of anything!  She had come to a dead end!  She slumped down on the floor, feeling so incredibly defeated!  The music seemed to be singing her despair for her, and as she listened, a small ray of light appeared in the corner.  She looked at it, disbelievingly.  She followed the beam of light till she discovered the hidden door in the wall and slowly pulled it open…

            

She had to shield herself from the light, which though not bright, was like the sun after one has been shut away in the dark for many hours.  It was a small room, lit by candles.  There was nothing in this room, but an old armchair and an ancient table, on which there were two candelabra a violin case, and several sheets of music.  In front of the table stood a young man, with his back to the door and to Kathy.  She stood there, with the door open, not fully comprehending what it was she was seeing.  She watched as the young man finished playing the piece with a tenderness she could feel in the very core of her being. She watched as he slowly placed the violin back in the case, closed the lid, and snapped it shut.  The sound was deafening in the silence.  Kathy held her breath, an as she let it out, one word escaped her lips, “Erik?”  The young man stopped and slowly, he turned around to face her…

The End