Of Swords and Parasols

So, just like the first book, I kept letting myself get distracted from the plot by the wonderful dialogue.

This time around, Wimsey and Bunter are called back to England from Paris when the fiance of Wimsey's sister, Mary, is found dead in the garden, and their brother, Gerald, is accused of murdering him.  Despite many witnesses who can attest to the events surrounding the death, there are, sadly, very few suspects, and Wimsey is related to most of them.  As he points out, if a family member has to be found guilty, then the only just thing is to make sure it's the right one.

Joining Wimsey and Bunter is Parker, a policeman who is an old friend of Wimsey's, and who appears to have a Very Serious Thing for Mary.  Unfortunately for him, Mary seems to have an equally serious thing for the wrong sort of man.  Though, as Wimsey points out, if nothing else, Mary's past romantic choices would make their mother and Gerald more open to a socially acceptable man by the simple virtue of her actually bringing home a decent man.  Along the way, there are more fiance's discovered, an illicit affair, a battle with a malicious bog, and other things.

I liked the attention given to the fact that, for all that they are his family, Wimsey doesn't really know his siblings, nor they him.  In fact, he probably spent more time with Mary in this book than he has his entire life before.  The book also highlights his seemingly extreme sense of justice and fair play, as well as the fact that, for all that he's superficial and hoity, he has a very good heart under it.

I have to say that I like Mary quite a bit.  She may be superficial and flighty, but she's also made of some pretty strong stuff, won't let herself be used or walked over, and knows when to call it quits.  I think her comment about being able to handle thinking a man was a murderer, but refusing to put up with an ass(especially one who left her to deal with a possible mnurder charge and attacked her brother) was the best line in the book.  I do have a question about her, though. 
On the flipside, it felt like there was less Bunter in this book.

As a side note:  Until recently, my only exposure to Wimsey was the Ian Carmichael adaptation of this, which I enjoyed, and until smillaraaqrecced the books to me, it was the main reason I was planning to eventually check out the books.  Now that I've read the book, though, I suspect book fans would be annoyed by it.  Granted, it's been a while since I watched it, but while it followed plot points pretty closely, I seem to remember the characters coming across differently.  From what I remember, Gerald was pretty much a cad who wasn't concerned about how his actionbs would affect others, Mary was a silly ninny and you couldn't tell why Parker was so interested in her, and while Wimsey himself was still obviously good underneath the facetious exterior, there was less evidence of his depths.  It wasn't badly acted or anything(IIRC, the opposite is true) just different dynamics to the characters.  Though I think they had Bunter and Parker right.

 

 It seems that I preordered Enchanted.  I know this because Amazon just told me they shipped it to me.  I suspect I unintentionally added it to the cart while placing a large preorder.  That, or I did it on purpose and forgot.

At least I was planning on getting it eventually anyway...

Soooo...the latest LJ kerfluffle, removing basic accounts for new users is apparently resulting in a 1 day strike.  For those not familiar with this:  LJ no longer gives the option of basic accounts to new users, only plus, paid, and permanent accounts.  Existing users who have basic accounts aren't affected.

Apparently, there will be a 24 hour strike(details in link) to protest this and try to get them back.

Now, my personal, honest opinion?

1.  New users can still have free accounts, even if they have to put up with ads.

2.  Yes, it was very stupid of LJ not to consult with their advisory board about it.

3.  LJ is a business.  They have to pay the bills. Basic accounts use up resources but provide no profit.

4.  Most people with paid and permanent accounts signed up with a basic account, and, as far as I know, most users eventually upgrade to a plus, paid, or permanent account.  A basic account provides a good trial period.

 In short: I think it was handled badly, but not necessarily a wrong thing for them to do.  I have no real intentions of taking part in the strike, but if I find out enough on the f-list  have strong feelings on it an do, I might just post around it out of respect for them.  No idea really, though.

Personally, I'm  surprised that this is getting more attention than LJ banning certain interests from "popular interest" serachers(though that's since been resolved.)

Again, details in links, but, basically, the following terms(among others) were no longer showing up in 'popular interests" searches: Sex, Boys, Guys, Girls, Fanfiction, Yaoi, Hardcore, Porn, Bondage, Faeries, Pain, Depression, and Bisexuality

Now, I can understand not wanting "sex" "porn" "bondage" and maybe "hardcore" to show up as your big interests. But...

Bisexuality?  That's what some people ARE.  Depression?  That's a clinical condition. Yaoi?  Love it, hate it, don't care about it at all, there's nothing inherently wrong, evil or warping about it, and it's a very legitimate interest.  Yes, a person clicking "yaoi" could stumble across explicit art of two guys having sex, or whatever, but a person clicking "pirates of the caribbean" could should as easily stumble across explicit fanart of Will and Elizabeth(or your pairing of choice) having sex.   Boys, girls, guys and fanfiction?  Utterly mystified.  Faeries?  I will be far more generous than I should and assume they're worried it's deliberately being used as homophobic slang, but really, I  think most people with that interest are thinking of stereotyped little winged magic people.

Anyway, just odd to me that more people are upset that new users automatically go to plus accounts than the interests not showing up in "popular interest" searches. 

ETA:  Also, they removed "yaoi" from the popular interests, but not "slash."  I find that to be the best part of the whole thing.

 Thank you ever so much for reinforcing the idea that women only view each other as competition to be crushed, and that our greatest and only value is how pretty we are.

I was forced to endure almost 20 minutes of it while eating my dinner in the break room...all that oneupmanship, backstabbing, talk about crushing the competition, and appearance-based value judgement made it difficult to eat.

Aah, sexist stereotyping, never end. Actually, please go up in a giant ball of flame.  And fiction?  Please stop encouraging it.

And this is my G-Rated opinion of what I watched.  The rest is unfit for exposure to the peoples of the internets. 

ETA:  for an example:  one of the commercials was a girl eyeing a cosmetic, and then crowing about how she could use it to "crush the competition."  There was also partnering while walking down the runway...one girl apparebntly hid from her partner beforehand to make her nervous, and anither abanded her partner on the runway, and started posing all over the place, then rushed forward to stand in front of her before it was time for them to turn around.