Various Things

[thisbluespirit]

1. One of the joys of Yuletide is stumbling over things you never knew about before. One this year that amused me muchly was the music video of Shakespeare's Sister's Stay. Now, this is a song that I recorded off the radio when I was a teenager (onto a tape, I'm a historical thingumy) and I was always fascinated by it - I reasoned that it was all one voice and maybe some fairy queen who seemed nice but wasn't (a la some Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer thing, because I had been reading Fire and Hemlock by that point), but NO. That is not what it is about!

As it turns out, voice one is a woman trying to get her dying boyfriend to stay with her and voice 2 is Death. Who in this wears a sparkly catsuit and does an outrageous dance because... er... um... it's an 80s music video? My favourite bit is Death's eye-roll at the end because, frankly someone's who's been doing a sparkly OTT catsuit dance like that has no grounds on which to eye-roll at people. Oh, and for some reason, it all seems to be happening in space because why not?

"Shakespeare's Sister-Stay" (Watch on YouTube)

Anyway, I'm grateful to the requester because otherwise I would never have watched that and my life would have been the poorer for it.


2. Talking of amusing vids, it's been at least a year or two since I mentioned that Julius Caesar Poker Face vid, and every so often a person just needs to remind themselves that it exists and laugh themselves silly at the combination of Richard Pasco and David Collings and their ridiculously opposite faces set to appropriate-inappropriate pop music. Do not worry if you do not like Julius Caesar, 1970s BBC theatricality, Lady Gaga, or Brutus/Cassius. None of those things should come between you and it:

""Poker Face" - Julius Caesar 1979 (Brutus/Cassius)" (Watch on YouTube)

3. And now for something completely different, because otherwise I'll forget again, I wrote some more runaway_tales:

Two in the same AU timeline:
Double Cross (PG, 4367 words. Edward Iveson, Julia Graves, Rudy Graves.) Julia’s having nothing but trouble with men – her brother seems to be in danger and Mr Iveson’s trying to buy her off with sandwiches…

Not Just a Passing Phase (PG, 5262 words. Edward Iveson, Julia Graves, Rudy Graves, Elizabeth Long.) The last thing Julia wants is for Mr Iveson to be lying dead in her kitchen with her brother to blame for it…

Faulty Connections (All ages, 1176 words. Anna, Liesa.) Liesa and Anna have the opposite problem when it comes to family.

Comments

[mab_browne]

Well, that was certainly a new reading of Shakespeare for me. *g* So glad it's on YouTube - I have been very slowly working my way through the bits.

[brutti-ma-buoni.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, Siobhan-from-Bananarama's later career. God, they showed that video incessantly on TOTP; against some complaints, I believe, because of the dying man vibe over teatime. I was never sure she was Death, exactly, rather than some alien killing machine, just because of the lyrics ("hope and pray that you make it safe back to your own world" etc). But I haven't watched it in twenty years, I should think. And expecting it to make more sense in retrospect might be optimistic.

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I remember that video- me and my best friend basically lived our lives in front of MTV at that point. :D I always liked it and I almost hope someone fics it. :)

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

OMG...just the fact these vids exist make my life!! Thank you...

*CACKLES*

*SQUISHES*

Also, also, when I read the title Faulty Connections, alas my mind conjured 'Fawlty'. It has been one of those days...

[jjpor.livejournal.com]

Brings back some memories, that pop video. I seem to remember French and Saunders doing a parody version of that it too. A bit of a wasted effort, because nothing was ever going to be more amusing than the genuine article.

[shannonsequitur.livejournal.com]

Nooooo, the Julius Caesar vid is blocked in the U.S.! It sounds brilliant.

By the way, I have now seen The Wicked Lady (thanks for the Youtube link) and have The Lady Vanishes sitting on my desk. Entirely your fault, obviously.

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

Oh crikey. Very familiar with the video, but I had no idea what it was actually about! That somehow makes it all the funnier. How very eighties! Nowhere else would Death look like that. Good song, anyway.

That other video is great too, in its different way. Are Brutus and Cassius supposed to be that flirty?! And I love that parade at the beginning. It's a constant stream of "Look! It's him! Off Thingy!" And Cassius posing in the tent doorway is a scream. :)

[liadt]

I'm glad you have finally been alerted to the greatness of the Shakespeare's Sister vid;) I too saw it a billion times back in the day.

Lol, the JC vid is genius:) All I need now is Peter Cushing's Cassius to be released to in the wilds as a treat for Halloween (it's extant).

Btw I have the full sized DVD case - I feel I am the only one!

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

I reasoned that it was all one voice and maybe some fairy queen who seemed nice but wasn't (a la some Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer thing, because I had been reading Fire and Hemlock by that point), but NO.

On the one hand, I always got that the modulated voice was a separate character from the primary female singing voice. On the other hand, like someone else has said, I still think that, "you better hope and pray that wake someday back in your own world," still implies she's more like the fairy queen you were imagining than Death. The voices being separate just make it more Tam Lin than Thomas because the male is just a figure caught between two female ones, like Tam Lin between Janet and the Fairy Queen. How was Fire and Hemlock? I've never been able to read it, but have always wanted to because I really enjoy Tam Lin/Thomas the Rhymer stories.

Also, I'm another American who gets the, "This video contains content from WMG, who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds," message. I don't blame YouTube for it. I blame WMG. They've been stupid jackasses about the sharing of digital content since it first became possible, and apparently still haven't caught onto just how stupid they're being. If it was, say, Sony it wouldn't be a problem. WMG gets sue happy.

[clocketpatch]

*Blinks repeatedly*

You weren't lying about the sparkles. That was premium level eighties sparkles.

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

*muted cheer in the background for any Julia/Edward coming to life ever*

♥

[john_amend_all]

If the 'When death's lips left mine' prompt in your 500-prompts meme hadn't already been populated, it would have been the ideal one for sparkly☛80s☛Death :-)