Holy Night
Aug. 12th, 2005 12:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skyringOne of my favorite West Wing episodes ever. As you can see, I'm making my way through season four. There's a lot of ground I want to cover, or re-cover, before I crack open that season five set of DVDs.
A great ep. Toby and his ex-criminal father are reunited on Christmas Eve as the Whiffenpoofs sing, Danny gets the first whiff of the assassination story, Charlie meets Zoey's new French boyfriend and Will Bailey gets to meet President Bartlett. I love stories where there are a dozen threads in play at once and they extend forwards and backwards.
Someone on the Patrick O'Brian list caught a new reference in Master and Commander. Amazing that you can read a book so many times, you can be a part of a group with an amazing amount of brainpower and perception, and yet this little nugget has eluded years of scrutiny and discussion. O'Brian is the ultimate in long and intricate storylines and relationships.
Patrick O'Brian is so subtle, I find new insights every time I re-read
the canon. Here are two incidents from "Master and Commander." Had
the second paragraph come first, I think the parallel with the first
incident would have been very clear. As it is, it took me a long time
to recognize an insight into Stephen Maturin's character early in the
book.
From Chapter Five:
Stephen is talking to Dillon about the conversation he had with Lord
Edward, trying to persuade him to be more cautious in the Revolution
because he was surrounded by traitors:
"I reasoned as closely and cogently as ever I could - better than ever
I thought
I could - and he did not follow me at all. His attention wandered. 'Look,'
says he, 'there's a redbreast in that yew by the path.' All he knew was that
I was opposed to him, so he closed his mind."
What I didn't realize earlier in the book was that Stephen still
harbored suspicion or mistrust of Jack Aubrey, and if he hadn't closed
his mind to Aubrey, he wasn't purely receptive to Jack either. Jack
invites Stephen to dinner to wet the swab, and perhaps try a little
music, and Stephen's response is:
"Did you see that hoopoe?"
In other news, we need to replace the bathroom in my mother's house, as she is now unable to climb into a bath unaided, and I've discovered a little lump at the base of my little finger. A spur of bone or something. Kerri's in Sydney at the moment, but I'll get her opinion when I pick her up tonight.
A great ep. Toby and his ex-criminal father are reunited on Christmas Eve as the Whiffenpoofs sing, Danny gets the first whiff of the assassination story, Charlie meets Zoey's new French boyfriend and Will Bailey gets to meet President Bartlett. I love stories where there are a dozen threads in play at once and they extend forwards and backwards.
Someone on the Patrick O'Brian list caught a new reference in Master and Commander. Amazing that you can read a book so many times, you can be a part of a group with an amazing amount of brainpower and perception, and yet this little nugget has eluded years of scrutiny and discussion. O'Brian is the ultimate in long and intricate storylines and relationships.
Patrick O'Brian is so subtle, I find new insights every time I re-read
the canon. Here are two incidents from "Master and Commander." Had
the second paragraph come first, I think the parallel with the first
incident would have been very clear. As it is, it took me a long time
to recognize an insight into Stephen Maturin's character early in the
book.
From Chapter Five:
Stephen is talking to Dillon about the conversation he had with Lord
Edward, trying to persuade him to be more cautious in the Revolution
because he was surrounded by traitors:
"I reasoned as closely and cogently as ever I could - better than ever
I thought
I could - and he did not follow me at all. His attention wandered. 'Look,'
says he, 'there's a redbreast in that yew by the path.' All he knew was that
I was opposed to him, so he closed his mind."
What I didn't realize earlier in the book was that Stephen still
harbored suspicion or mistrust of Jack Aubrey, and if he hadn't closed
his mind to Aubrey, he wasn't purely receptive to Jack either. Jack
invites Stephen to dinner to wet the swab, and perhaps try a little
music, and Stephen's response is:
"Did you see that hoopoe?"
In other news, we need to replace the bathroom in my mother's house, as she is now unable to climb into a bath unaided, and I've discovered a little lump at the base of my little finger. A spur of bone or something. Kerri's in Sydney at the moment, but I'll get her opinion when I pick her up tonight.
