Monday, January 28, 2008

Cost-benefit analyses

Okay, I lied. Nothing can drive me to the Econ readings, not even a really bad movie. So I finished the Georgette Heyer novel a friend gave me for Christmas. Heyer is the Mother of the Regency Romance, and I read most of her books in middle school, but not Cotillion. And she didn't disappoint. Heyer's character descriptions are hilarious, almost Dickensian.

However, the soundtrack I had streaming from my laptop didn't quite fit with the Regency theme. So I switched from supporting the teenage techno DJs to supporting an internet radio station that had an all-Mozart subchannel under its Classical option. It suited the reading.

So of course, after I'd finished the book, the background music inspired me to watch Amadeus on Netflix Instant Viewing.

The best thing about the film is, of course, the music. I don't know anything about the relationship between Mozart and Salieri (and a quick post-viewing glance at Wikipedia suggests Salieri probably wasn't the obsessive jealous stalker of Mozart's that is the basic premise for the movie and the original play). But still, as a story and not necessarily history it works amazingly well. F. Murray Abraham is wonderful as the maniacal and scheming Salieri, and Tom Hulce is brilliant in his role as the immortal musical genius.

I think it makes up for that Grimm Brothers business...

No comments: