Is Co-Working For Me?

Yesterday, I did something that was quite surprising for me - I attended a co-working event in Create Cafe at the Wakefield One building, organised by Wakefield Jelly. Doing anything of that kind is pretty difficult for me but I was determined to push myself and I'm glad I did. I met some brilliant people and got a lot of work done. More importantly, it got me away from the endless grandmother calls that stop me working well at home these days.

If you haven't been to Create yet, I really recommend it. It's a light, airy place downstairs at Wakefield One with gorgeous cakes and excellent staff. It's the perfect environment to meet new people and I have to say I enjoyed it.

There's a 'but' though. Of course there is - it's me. It has nothing to do with the event itself, just a personal problem that I grappled with. I'd decided the day before that I was going to take the fifth draft of a novel manuscript with me and I'd packed it before I started over-thinking. I was worried about what turn the conversation would take if someone happened to ask me what I was working on. It's not that I'm ashamed of the fact that I write lesbian fiction - it just may take a bit of explaining to someone who doesn't know me and, me being me, I like to avoid potential pitfalls. So I unpacked the novel and took some PhD secondary reading instead. In hindsight, I know no one would've pressed about the novel but that didn't stop the fear bubbling up. Very little stops that with me.

So, in answer to the initial question, yes, I think co-working is for me. But I have to battle with that self-confidence thing I've been struggling with for most of my life. I will attend another Wakefield Jelly day but it may not be the October one - I only get back from holiday that day!

Wakefield Jelly takes place on the fourth Wednesday of the month - more information can be found here.

Classic Film Review: Odette (1950)

Based on a true story, Odette is the story of Odette Sanson, a special agent sent undercover into France during WWII. Given the fact that the film is endorsed by the real Odette, it can be seen to be a fairly accurate representation of her time in France. Anna Neagle stars as Odette with Trevor Howard as Peter Churchill and Peter Ustinov as Alex Rabinovich.

I was astonished by Anna Neagle's performance in this film. Having only previously seen her in Irene (1940, reviewed here), I wasn't sure if this type of meaty dramatic role was for her. However, she really did the part justice from the moment Odette says goodbye to her children onwards. There are some exceptional scenes scattered throughout with only the slightest drifts into melodrama. The torture scenes were very well-handled and the snippets of time passing through the war and how Odette's life altered - or didn't - through the later months. One peculiarly affecting scene came towards the end when a Nazi guard is begging Odette to tell her what to do because the Americans are coming.

Trevor Howard is solid, not detracting from Neagle's central performance, but their romance feels shoehorned into it - despite the fact that Odette and Peter married in real life! The other star of this is Peter Ustinov as radio operator Alex. Although his is a relatively minor role, he instils it with much life, especially in the scene where he quietly demands to be sent back to France to help his friends. It's mentioned at the very beginning of the film that he was executed soon afterwards, captured as he parachuted back into France.

This is a bleak film which deserves credit for the unflinching representation of the conditions people such as Odette were kept in. It also looks authentic and the acting is near flawless. There are a few moments of humour peppered within the piece to lighten the tone occasionally but, for the most part, it is a difficult one to watch. What I was left with was an overwhelming sense of awe for what Odette went through during her time as a secret agent. From her portrayal, I think Anna Neagle felt this too. A delicate yet commanding performance from a talented woman.

To Do Before 2014

As you do when you can't sleep, I spent a good proportion of the early hours of this morning cataloguing what I need to do before this year's out and also the things I would like to do. None of these, amazingly, seem rooted in fun. The things I'd like to do are just extensions of the things I need to do. Funny that.

• Final chapter of my thesis - Non-negotiable. This will be done and redrafted several times. 
• Rewriting first chapter of my thesis - I'm pragmatic enough to realise the final work on this may end up being done in January. It's a hefty job and it all depends how long writing the final chapter takes me. More details on my thesis completion schedule can be found here.  
• Research and write a Yates/Dickens article I've got in mind - Pie in the sky this one. I'll only have time to do it if the days are magically extended by fifty percent. 
• Research an article on dead insects in a Yates novel - Don't ask. Also, see above. 
• Corrections on Downton Abbey essay when these come back - Non-negotiable.

• Finish sixth draft of 'Danni' - This is essentially a polishing exercise. I finished the fifth draft earlier this year and now I'm trying to make it perfect. 
• Finish first draft of 'Izzy' - I last wrote about this here. I've been stopping and starting with this one all year and I know where it's going. Just need to get it finished. The first draft's about two-thirds done.
• Finish first draft of 'Kathy' - This is less than 20k in at the moment but I would like to complete it before the year's out. 
• Do NaNoWriMo - I'm determined to participate again, particularly because I have an excellent idea. The characters are roaming in my head and it's going to be set on a cruise ship - plenty of time for research when I go on my own cruise in a few weeks. 

These are only a fraction of the things I'd like to do but I'm trying to be realistic. I've got four other novel manuscripts in need of revision and I did say this would be a year for revision. But the most important thing at the moment is my PhD. It's much easier to write first drafts alongside my thesis because I don't have to worry about every individual word as I do with revisions. 

I feel a little like Eglantine... Anybody have a self-duplication spell?

Classic Film Review: The French Line (1953)

The French Line stars Jane Russell as Mame Carson, a millionaire who's just been dumped by her fiancée for being too rich. Under the advice of partner Waco (Arthur Hunnicutt), she takes her honeymoon trip alone and incognito, persuading someone else to take on her name so she can find a man who falls in her with her and not her fortune. Unfortunately, Waco has paid Pierre DuQuesne (Gilbert Roland) to keep an eye on Mame on board. While keeping an eye on who he thinks is Mame, Pierre falls in love with the real deal but the situation gets even more complicated.

This lacklustre film is saved from complete mediocrity by Jane Russell and Mary McCarty who plays her friend Annie Farrell. The songs are fairly forgettable, one exception being their joint number, 'Any Gal From Texas', and the rest of the cast is uninspiring. The plot is very convoluted and there is absolutely no chemistry between Russell and Roland. In fact, his character comes across as one of the most slimy, irritating love interests I've ever seen.

That's not to say The French Line has no redeeming features. There are some amusing scenes, most notably when Pierre gets Mame drunk under the guise of curing her seasickness although, again, the best part of this sequence is when she goes back to her room and sings to Annie about it. The film relies too much on its own credentials: it was Russell's follow-up to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), is also set on a ship crossing to France, involves two women and a bit of a conspiracy and has a screenplay written by the niece of the writer Anita Loos (whose story Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was based on). It essentially tries to live up to its predecessor but without the power of Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn or a decent script and set of songs.

I enjoyed parts of the film because there's no stopping my Jane Russell adoration. But, on the whole, it's a lacklustre piece that doesn't have as many laughs as I thought it would.

Classic Film Review: The Lost Moment (1947)

This film was based on a Henry James novel called The Aspern Papers. Restyling it as The Lost Moment probably had something to do with them changing the name of the integral character from Aspern to Ashton. I can't help thinking that the novel title is a more intriguing one than The Lost Moment though.

Publisher Lewis Venable (Robert Cummings) travels to Venice in search of the love letters of the poet Jeffrey Ashton. Ashton disappeared years earlier quite suddenly and the last place he was seen was this house. His lover, Juliana Borderau (Agnes Moorehead), still survives at the age of 105 and lives in the house with her niece, Tina (Susan Hayward). Venable takes a false name and takes rooms in the house but it soon becomes clear that getting the letters will be hampered by the fact that Tina displays a remarkable tendency to take on her aunt's life, putting them all in danger.

This film worked well on several levels. It was atmospheric with some good performances from the leading players. However, I felt it lost some of its plot tension halfway through, as the mystery of Tina has already been revealed and the secondary concern - what happened to Ashton - has been mentioned so little as to drive it from the mind. The second half of the film is a psychological exploration as Venable tries to make sense of Tina and then cure her.

There are some truly good scenes, such as the one where we finally see the withered face of Juliana and the explosive finale, but in others the narrative descends into melodrama. Words that wouldn't seem preposterous on the page sound bizarre coming from the mouths of actors. The original text was quite short and, after seeing this, I'm keen to read it to find out how much of his characters James actually put across and how much was artistic licence on the part of the producers.

Book Review: A Lady of Quality by Frances Hodgson Burnett

A Lady of Quality, first published in 1896, is one of Frances Hodgson Burnett's novels for adults and treads a completely different path to her famous work The Secret Garden. It tells the story of Clorinda Wildairs and is set in the 1600s. Her mother dies giving birth to her and her father has no interest in his three daughters. He lives a life of debauchery while his youngest daughter picks up some interesting habits in the stables. When he comes across the child and sees her riding his favourite horse, he takes a fancy to her. For a few years she is the renowned companion of drunkards until she transforms herself to catch a husband. One is particularly taken with her but her refusal has reverberations through the years.

I have to say, I struggled with this one. The heroine is too changeable. She goes from being the companion of a bunch of old men to being the prize débutante to being a perfect wife. There are a lot of changes in her character the reader's meant to accept just because she's stunningly beautiful and wondrous and everyone loves her - as we are told on numerous occasions.

Frequently, I felt as if I was actually reading a novel. The handiwork was evident and it was jarring. Two thirds in, the book suddenly becomes interesting with an unexpected event that I expected to throw the heroine into turmoil. It didn't and her life continued pretty much in the same vein. I felt cheated by the ending and more than a little irate at the time I'd wasted with Clorinda.

Far more interesting, though, was her sister, Anne, who is meek and mild and knows everything Clorinda does. For me, Anne is the actual lady of quality and not her beautiful, fabulous sister.

This book suffered from a lack of direction and the ability of the author to immerse herself so much in the heroine at the cost of believability. Not a great read by any stretch of the imagination.

Classic Film Review: That Darn Cat! (1965)

That Darn Cat! stars Hayley Mills as Patti Randall, the owner of a cat called DC (Darn Cat, as named by her irritated father). DC comes home wearing a watch instead of a collar and Patti immediately thinks that it has something to do with the kidnap victim still missing after a robbery. Her sister Ingrid (Dorothy Provine) is sceptical but Patti takes it straight to the FBI where Agent Kelso (Dean Jones) is assigned to investigate. They decide to put DC under surveillance but Patti and Ingrid's prospective boyfriends (Tom Lowell and Roddy McDowall respectively) keep getting in the way. So does nosy neighbour Mrs MacDougall (Elsa Lanchester), who drives her husband (William Demarest) to distraction with her theories.

This is an hilarious Disney film. Mills has a good rapport with both Provine and Jones and, most especially, with the cats playing the role of DC. As the central character, he's quite fun to watch. None of this CGI rubbish, just some nice normal cats playing an extraordinary one.

There are some really funny scenes, mostly including the MacDougalls. Equally, Roddy McDowall storming the house with a shotgun and searching for the 'prowler' is very good. It pokes fun at FBI shadowing techniques which even a cat can see through and there's an excellent selection of scenes at the drive-in movie with Richard Deacon as the manager. There's also a small appearance by the wonderful Ed Wynn as a jeweller.

In a film so amusingly improbable, it was a surprise to find the kidnappers as realistic characters but Neville Brand and Frank Gorshin do very well on that score, adding a real sense of danger to proceedings. The conclusion, fittingly, involved DC as much as the chase did, wrapping things up nicely.

I really enjoyed this one. Quite a good comedy to while away an afternoon and enough eccentric characters to make anybody laugh.