This semester I am living with a girl who was also on the British Literary Tour. Pretty much all we talk about is reminiscing about our experiences a few months ago.
A couple nights ago we decided to watch the Keira Knightly Mathew Macfaden (sorry peeps for spelling your names wrong) Pride and Predjudice while we did our homework. Our logic was that it had classical music in it and classical music stimulates the mind; so we would do our homework better.
For my part it actually worked. I got all but two of my Russian problems done and I wouldn’t haven been able to crack the other two in any case.
Anyway. We were at the part where Elizabeth goes away with her aunt and uncle. She is tratsing over the lovely country side and Megan and I begin to wonder aloud if she was in The Lake District. I was pretty sure she was, I thought I remembered from the dialogue that that was where they ended up but I don’t remember.
Anyway, whether or not Elizabeth was in The Lake District my roommate and I were off. We drowned out the beautiful dialogue between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy when they meet at Pemberly because we were too busy saying things like “The rocks and the trees!” “The colors were prefect” “It was seriously one of the most beautiful places on earth!” “It was one of my favorite places that we went!” “I want to live there!”

But in all honesty The Lake District was lovely.
We were only there a day (I think) we went to Wordsworth homes. His family home that most of his life in, dove cottage, and his new home that he went to after he was more established. I can’t remember the name of that one.
I must confess that I have never read much of Wordsworth. This is nothing against Wordsworth. I actually don’t read that much poetry. I know, stone me now. But I just haven’t explored it.
But I still loved learning about Wordsworth and his family. They almost never bathed. The would use the same water to wash their faces that had been in the washing bowl for days. It was considered unhealthy to take the layer of grease off your face.
But on a serious note they took abolision seriously. They kept their own bees so they could produce honey so they didn’t have to contribute to the sugar trade. Dedication.
Also the garden at the new house was one just lovely. It was huge and kinda rambling, it was like a nature art.
It had little walks everywhere.
And little places to sit.

Then we proceeded to Beatrix Potter’s house; Hilltop Cottage. Beatrix Potter played a major part in my childhood. My parents bought me the complete set for Christmas when I was about three. I lost a couple but I still have most of them.
When I was older and found out more about her personal life I was even more impressed with her. She was committed to making the world a better place. She did that with her art and her activism. She was committed to nature. She bought land surrounding her home so that it couldn’t be industrialized.
Well, I have to study for my Russian and Theatre test and a Tech. Theatre presentation. So in conclusion I loved the Lake District. I am going back, sometime after I’ve finished my homework.

Kingdom Reveiw

I’m an English Major with a Theatre Minor. So my first reaction after seeing something is to analyze it and in extreme cases, write about it.
Okay, recently I found a TV series that had an ensemble cast of actors I respected. I decided to try it out.
The series beings with Stephen Fry’s character, Peter Kingdom. He is a lawyer in a small town. He has never married. He has no children. We learn through the course a quick dialogue in the first fifteen minutes that Peter makes a habit of visiting his aunt in an assisted living home. That he took care of his late father during his dying days, worsened with his father’s Alzheimer’s. Peter has two younger, half-siblings: Simon who recently disappeared, and Beatrice, who is mentally ill, has practiced substance abuse, and shuffles from one institution to another.
We care about this man. He sacrifices for his family. This is noble of him; his nobility of spirit is increased when we see that it appears no one appreciates the sacrifices he makes out of love.

The second character we really care about is his secretary, Gloria, played by Celia Imrie . Gloria is kind and quiet. She is a single mother, her husband passed away a year ago. Peter is the only thing holding the ring of characters together, but Gloria is the only one who appreciates what he does and supports him in it. She holds Peter together.
The character we love in spite of ourselves is Beatrice, Peter’s half sister. She is played by Hermione Norris, who steals almost every scene. Beatrice is often used as the foil for Peter’s character, because in many ways she is his complete opposite. Beatrice’s behavior is completely not understood by the other characters or by most rational human beings. She has the emotional maturity of the average eight year old. When she is upset with Peter or Gloria she lashes out by stealing their possessions, vandalizing their property and throwing temper tantrums. No one knows if this behavior is because of Beatrice’s mental and emotional illness and a reaction to her brother Simon’s disappearance… or because it is simply how she gets what she wants.

Then there is Simon. The half brother of Peter and the brother of Beatrice. He is missing presumed dead. He was last seen walking out into the sea. Peter goes every day to the beach he was last seen in a vain hope that remains or a clue will wash up. The abandonment that Peter and Beatrice feel and struggle to hide is heart breaking. As the series progresses the Peter and Beatrice learn that they didn’t know their brother as well as they thought. He owed money to a mob, he fathered a child. He ran away from these problems and from them. He left them. But not matter what they uncover about their wayward brother they still forgive him, and wish that he had somehow allowed them to help him.
We care about these characters and themes. We have all have people, or want to have people; we would give anything to and do anything for. These are often the people we feel the most unappreciated or least understood by. We all feel lonely. We all feel abandoned. We all have people in our lives that we will… against our better judgment and past experience forgive for anything.

But the show loses what makes it so beautiful about half way through the second season. This happens for several reasons.
Firstly Simon is not only alive, but he returns. He takes advantage of Peter and Beatrice’s love and forgiveness at every turn. While we sympathize with the ideal doing anything for a brother, no matter how wayward when we see Beatrice and Peter lay down so Simon can step on them we feel resentment. Not at Simon for being cruel, but at the other two for being so gullible and stupid. Traits they never have in any other situation. The writers neglect to let us see, even for a moment, the Simon that Peter and Beatrice love. These two siblings love their brother unconditionally, we need to see why. We need to see the redeeming qualities that blind them against all his faults.

Gloria begins to go out with the town quack. I think this was done in an attempt at comic relief, but it fell flat. These two characters had not motivation towards to begin a relationship with one another. When their relationship begins the viewers are confused.

Another choice made that distracted from the theme was Lyle; Peter’s assistant. In the beginning of the series Lyle is funny and caring. He isn’t always motivated, and isn’t always hard working. In fact through much of the first season Peter wants to strangle him. But he cares for the

underdog and fights tooth and nail once he finds a battle. But then his character becomes watered down to a post grad boy who is (how does one say this diplomatically) is looking for an easy hook-up.

So what started out as a series that probed into the complex, tangled, beautiful relationships between families and friends. About sacrifice, love, difficult choices and hope against all odds. However the series ends with themes of half finished thoughts and actors treading water against a script that has lost its edge.
Am I being to judgmental? Possibly. I can recommend the first season of this series without reserve. The second and third series still have golden moments; I simply wish they pulled heart strings as skillfully as the first season.