I need somewhere familiar and cozy to disappear into from the real world. Just for a while. Two men were killed today with an axe in a pub on the street where I live and the killer is still at large, so what I’m really escaping is the choking horrifying feeling of disbelief.
A large mug of chamomile tea, deep breaths. Back to the world of willing suspension of disbelief.
Yesterday was the first Tuesday in a long time that there was no new episode of Classic Alice. I can assure, it was not pleasant. I ate a pie – well, a large chunk of it, directly from the tray. I kept refreshing YouTube anyway. Long into the night. (By the way, if you are reading this, please go to igg.me/at/SaveAlice and give them your money, that is, if you have any…)
The web series menu of yesterday was quite enjoyable though. It started with a new episode of Untangling Tessa. It’s an intriguing new web series about a girl with anxiety and depression disorder, struggling to get out of/stay in her room, who finds an unwelcome someone living under her bed. The concept is compelling and the series seems to be well made and acted. Also, the character listing shows many interestingly literary-flavoured names.
Second, a new episode of East and West which is an adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South. The novel happens to be one of my least favourite classics. I love Cranford and really liked Wives and Daughters, but at the time I read North and South, I felt like the plot was just Margaret Hale complaining about everything, and practically everyone else (spoilers) dying… But it was ten years ago, so I might read it differently now. I did enjoy the description of the results of industrial revolution and the difference between North and South. Maybe I’ll put the novel on my to-reread list this year.
The web series seems like a huge feat though. Just today they answered questions on Twitter and there are just two persons handling the whole series at the moment! Besides this, it is also an interesting webseries and so well acted. Can’t wait to see Mr. Thornton! If we ever get to see him.
Instead of from sunny South to industialised North, this Maggie Hale has to follow her parents from foggy England to freezing Canada. I wonder if there’s going to be anything further in that than just the distance…
The third entertainment last night was one of my current favourites. Social Medium is a vlog form web series about a young woman, who is electronically haunted. I wish I had a granny who would text me where my things are from the afterlife. My scissors are always missing.
Social Medium is not (as far as I can tell) based on a book, but an independent story and it feeds my imagination. As a kid I was afraid of the dark, had monsters in my closet (and vampires), believed in the local bogey-woman, Granny Hatchett (of whom a friend of mine, Marko Hautala, has written a horror novel about, by the way, which is being translated into English and will be an instant success – I’m still working up my courage to read it). It took some time to realise that I can actually turn this creepy vibe in my brain into creativity.
Social Medium inspires my imagination, which is the best thing a funny, silly, creepy web series can do. And it really is. Creepy. It returned on YouTube last week after a few months as a blog. There’s not much of it yet and one of the things I love about it are the gaps in the story. It doesn’t over-explain itself, it lets the watcher decide. I keep projecting my own theories and ideas upon it in my mind and it has actually helped me continue writing my own novel manuscript! It and H.P.Lovecraft.
OK. Just got another good idea that I need to scribble down, so I will continue this otherwise overlong text tomorrow to lament the passing of a web series character I have been crying over since I was eleven. Weird, right..
(And by the way, I just realised this morning that ‘web series’ is logically spelled separately of course. I apologise to any person who has been pulling their hair and cursing me for this misspelling.)
Mayus Nook 