Culture In Captivity

I know, I know, they keep telling us to use this time to improve our minds. To finally get round to reading Proust, or Turgenev or whoever. I don't think my brain is in a fitting state for that right now. Please look elsewhere if you want worthy book and film reviews.

"Please don't buy me the next Mantel for my birthday" I said to the family. I am waiting till it comes out in paperback format, so it will fit neatly on the bookshelf beside 1 and 2 of the trilogy" But I have succumbed to listening to the reading of the last part of the Cromwell saga on Radio 4. 
It is narrated by Anton Lesser, a favourite actor of mine. He played Harold Macmillan very convincingly in The Crown, and Superintendent Bright in Endeavour. I first came across him a long time ago, on Radio, playing Falco, a 'sleuth' in the time of the roman Empire. Lesser has a superb radio voice, and I think his rendition of Mantel's writing is great. And listening on BBC sounds means I can replay it if I fall asleep!
I did mean to reread the first two books so I knew who everyone was...but it hasn't made too much difference. 

I really wanted to see Knives Out at the cinema over Christmas, but things got in the way. We actually rented it this week [I cannot remember the last time I rented a film] It was enormous fun.
Agatha Christie type Whodunnit - with a stellar cast. Christopher Plummer is the victim, Daniel Craig is the sleuth [with a bizarre southern drawl - a million miles from the urbane Mr Bond] and all the others are gifted actors bringing together a plot with clever twists. It was very enjoyable. No spoilers here! [click here for the Official Trailer]

Lilyhammer is the weirdest of all the TV I have watched in the past three weeks. The star, Steven Van Zandt is a singer songwriter, who plays guitar in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. He is also an actor - of Italian descent, in 1999, he took one of the key roles in The Sopranos. I have never watched TS, it's about the Mafia and gang violence. 
The plot of Lilyhammer is very strange - SVZ plays an ex-Mafioso in a Witness Protection Programme. He'd enjoyed the 94 Winter Olympics on TV and asks to be relocated to "that place in Norway with the snow and the beautiful blonde broads...Lilyhammer"
And so there he is, with his Scandi blonde, his twin babies, a night club, and an overcoat with huge padded shoulders...It's odd, it is rather a bit too sweary and violent for my taste, but it has some very funny lines. And the music is good, and the scenery is stunning, and the knitwear is gorgeous.I have no idea why you might watch it. For me it has been like Amish Funnel Cake, I am sure it isn't really good for me, but once I start I have to finish...