Back in August, Netflix released a teaser for the upcoming third season of The Crown. and gave us our first real look at Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II.
Today we got the first full trailer. We’re into the mid-60s now, and the times—and the cast of The Crown—they are a-changin’.
The Radio Times ran a great write-up about the new cast last week, and I’ve gleefully stolenplagiarized borrowed its comparison shots of the actors in the series and the people they portray.
Olivia Colman plays Queen Elizabeth
Tobias Menzies plays Prince Philip
Helena Bonham Carter plays Princess Margaret
Josh O’Connor plays Prince Charles
Marion Bailey plays the Queen Mother
Season Three of The Crownarrives on Netflix on 17 November 2019.
And it didn’t cost nearly as much as the original!
This is from Studio 188. From the I’ve found on the Net, I think they’re Russian, but beyond that I can’t find much information. They’re supported, in part, by Patreon contributions.
I’ll be posting more of their very clever “Low Cost Videos” soon.
Yesterday, Christie’s New York held an auction of items from “The Collection of Lee Bouvier Radziwill”. The socialite, who became Her Serene Highness Princess Caroline Radziwill on her 1959 marriage to the Polish aristocrat Prince Stanisław Albrecht Radziwill, was best known as the younger sister of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, a circumstance that she didn’t particularly enjoy.
The sale total was $1,266,000.
Here are some of the items from the collection. (Images from Christie’s website.)
A pair of Indian silver-gilt, enamel, and hardstone-mounted censers and covers
20th century
Price realized: $8,125
A Limoges porcelain yellow-ground armorial part dinner service
20th century
Price realized: $10,625
A North European rosewood side chair
Late 19th/early 20th century
Price realized: $2,750
A Victorian ebonized and verre eglomise side table
Circa 1860
Price realized: $4,750
A pair of decalcomania table lamps
Late 19th/20th century
Price realized: $4,750
And the Definitive Bouvier Signature Item
Two pairs of fashion sunglasses, Gucci
Late 20th century
Price realized: $2,750
For the past few weeks, BBC Radio 4 has been running a full-cast reading of an abridged version of The Testaments, Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. The project is now complete, and, if you move fast, you can listen to all 15 episodes.
Each episode is only available for 30 days after its original broadcast. That means that the opening episode, first run on 16 September 2019, will be unavailable after 15 October 2019. Since each episode is only 14 minutes long, though, binging shouldn’t be a problem.
The Testamentsis set fifteen years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale. The monstrous Republic of Gilead still exists, but seems to be crumbling from within. Aunt Lydia, however…
Well, just listen to the program. You can start here
Restaurant Week is now very old news, so I’m skipping over a few RW meals here and cutting right to my final lunch of the season. On a rainy Friday, I went over to Georgetown to try America Eats Tavern, the most recently opened José Andrés restaurant in DC.
Andrés, credited with introducing the US to tapas, is Washington’s best-known and best-loved chef. He’s trying something different this time: America Eats Tavern serves recreations of classic American dishes, based on recipes dating from as far back as the 18th century. Upscale comfort food.
Skillet Cornbread
This starter of skillet cornbread, with fresh corn, smoked butter, and sorghum syrup, was a wonderful introduction to the restaurant’s culinary aspirations. The cornbread was about the size of a salad plate, so I had half of it boxed for home consumption by my non-existent cat. Cats like baked goods, right?
Pulled Pork
Over the past few years, homemade pulled pork has become one of my winter mainstays. Except for the messy jobs of shredding and defatting the meat, the crockpot does most of the work overnight, so it’s relatively easy to make.
At America Eats Tavern, the pork was dry-rubbed and smoked. The pickles were house-made, of course, and suitably crunchy.
Strawberry Ice Cream Sandwich
This just didn’t work for me. I like my ice cream slightly melted—I used to prep ice cream by giving it a quick trip to the microwave before eating—and this shortbread-like lemon sugar cookie and the strawberry ice cream were both hard frozen, because it was meant to be eaten as a finger-food “sandwich”.
A Little More about José Andrés
I’ve cut-and-pasted this blurb directly from the restaurant’s website. Although it doesn’t even begin to convey the range and achievements of Mr Andrés, it will give you some idea of why he has so many passionate admirers.
“Named as one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” in both 2012 and 2018, and “Outstanding Chef” and “Humanitarian of the Year” by the James Beard Foundation, Andrés is an internationally-recognized culinary innovator, author, educator, television personality, humanitarian and chef/owner of ThinkFoodGroup. Andrés’ restaurant group includes 31 restaurants, ranging in a variety of culinary experiences from food trucks to his multi-location vegetable-focused fast casual, Beefsteak, and world-class tasting menus like Michelin starred minibar by José Andrés. Andrés is the only chef globally that has both a two-star Michelin restaurant and four Bib Gourmands. As a naturalized citizen, originally from Spain, Andrés has been a tireless advocate for immigration reform. Together with World Central Kitchen and #ChefsForPuertoRico, Andrés has served over 3.5 million meals in Puerto Rico following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017, reaching communities in need across all 78 municipalities through 23 kitchens. Andrés has earned numerous awards including the 2015 National Humanities Medal, one of 12 distinguished recipients of the award from the National Endowment for the Humanities.”
Gwendoline Christie as Titiana in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
National Theatre Live, which brings the best of British theatre to movie screens around the world, will broadcast a live performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream to cinemas on Thursday, 17 October 2019. The Bridge Theatre’s immersive, gender-bending staging of the play has won near-universal raves.
Playing Titiana is Brienne of Tarth herself, Gwendoline Christie.
Check here to see if this production is playing near you, and to buy tickets. The live version is one night only, but many sites are offering encore screenings.
Bonus
As she tends to do, Christie absolutely rocks a red carpet appearance.
I think I must share a common sensibility with Rian Johnson, the writer/director of the upcoming movie Knives Out, because the film so perfectly matches my idea of what a purely entertaining movie should be. It’s a murder mystery set in a posh but isolated location, peopled by diverse and glamourous characters who are all hiding secrets.
The plot to my dream movie should be reminiscent of an M. C. Escher print. One big switch isn’t enough—there should be switches-on-switches. And switches-on-switches-on-switches.
And the location matters. A snowbound English country house is an ideal setting, but a snowbound train works as well. Even a luxurious boat will do if it’s in a suitably exotic part of the world, just as long as there’s a room large enough to assemble all the suspects and expose the killer(s) in the closing moments of the film.
Let’s think. Who’s famous for that sort of thing? (Hint: Her initials are “A. C.”, and she’s not Al Capone.)
Knives Out has Agatha Christie’s bloody fingerprints are all over it, and Rian Johnson happily acknowledges his debt to the best-selling fiction writer of all time, with the possible exceptions of Shakespeare and the authors of the New Testament. Johnson has improved on his inspiration by adding a dash of wit to the mix; Christie’s works are conspicuously devoid of humour.
He’s also assembled the kind of All-Star cast that brings in an audience for those remakes of Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile that earn nice profits every decade or so, even though everyone in that audience found out whodunit years ago.
And what a cast it is! The film has Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette(!), Lakeith Stanfield, and Christopher Plummer. Best of all, there’s James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, playing a detective with the intriguing surname of “Blanc”. I can only hope he introduces himself as “Blanc. Benoit Blanc.” For reasons yet to be explained, Craig plays the part with a Southern accent.
