Boredom and remedies

I knew I would be bored at work yesterday. I am a sub. at that place, and have a 3 hour break in the middle of the day some days, seeing that it's a public office, and we have to have a late opening day at least once a week. So, everything closes down from 1 to 4. And since it is not "my" office, I cannot do any of the zillion small tasks that are postponed. I can only do "this much" and nothing more. The tenured staff needs their priorities, filing and organizational systems respected. Also, I live too far away to go home, and 3 hours really is a lot of time, if you are on top of your work. I am fortunate enough to be that at the moment so ... what to do.

Well, I came prepared.

I brought some sewing and a DVD to watch on the 'puter. The newest BBC "Sense and Sensibility", (imdb-entry with list of cast etc. here)and my present "carry along and work on forever" project. Rectangle hexagons.

Got another rectangle made, and watched most of S&S at work, and finished it off when I got home.
And how do I like it ?
Well ... its major flaw is, that it is not the Emma Thompson version. The only thing that was clearly better in this one, was Edward Ferrars. I like Hugh Grant a lot, and find him charming in 4 weddings and Notting Hill, but I think his playing EF in the old (movie) version, was the one disastrous mis-casting in that one.

The major flaw with the new one, however, is (to me) that I cannot see Willoughby as instantly appealing. He is not at all appealing, romantic or dashing to me. I found his acting in Mamma Mia flat and unintersting, and thought it probably had to do with having a quite uninteresting part, but that does not seem to be the case. To any and all of you who love him, I apologize. He simply does not click with me.
I can sympathize with Marianne not falling instantly in love with Brandon in this version, and her eventual joining up with him, but ... Willoughby ... no.
I guess that Willoughby, Wickham (in P&P), and Henry Crawford (MP) have the same problem. They need to be charming, handsome and urbane, but also need to be seriously bad news ... and to find a young enough actor to pull that off seems very difficult indeed.

So. Do I recommend this version ? I really don't know. As I wrote, the major flaw is, that it is not the Emma Thompson movie, and for someone who does not have that sort of prejudice, or disliked the movie, I think this one could be a very good introduction to S&S.

And this concludes my first "task" in the Jane Austen Challenge.