Fiction log - December 2009

Fiction books
Terry Pratchett. Nation
Norman Thelwell. The Compleat Tangler
Norman Thelwell. Thelwell Country
Selma Wassermann, Jack Wassermann, George Rohrer. Moonbeam and the Rocket Ride (re-read)
Selma Wassermann, Jack Wassermann, George Rohrer. Moonbeam is Lost (re-read)

In progress
Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace

Non-fiction books
(none)

( short, screen, and stage )

( books bought and borrowed )

Top of the to-read pile
Brian Clevinger, Scott Wegener. Atomic Robo and the Dogs of War

(no subject)

Two different members of my family independently received copies of Bill Bailey's Remarkable Guide to the Orchestra for Christmas, from people who hadn't watched it yet but figured it would be X's kind of thing because X liked Bill Bailey and/or like orchestras. We subsequently managed to arrange a gathering in which the people who had received it, the people who had given it, and one or two interested others sat down to watch it together.

I think the title's a bit of a cheat: A more accurate, though less punchy, title would be "See What Bill Bailey Can Do With An Entire Orchestra To Play With". The whole "guide to the orchestra" aspect is a bit under-represented, and a lot of the jokes are funnier if you know something about music already.

Threaded through the show's new material, there are a number of expanded multi-instrumental versions of classic Bill Bailey musical bits (some of which, if memory serves, have never been officially available on video in their original one-man versions). There is, for instance, a new version of the famous Doctor-Who-as-sixties-jazz routine, which adds string bass and other jazz-combo instruments to the original's tinkly piano; and the finale of the Guide to the Orchestra part of the show, which brings together all the stuff that's been said about the individual instruments, is an impressive extended version of the skit about Seventies Cop Show Soundtracks. The show ends with an entertainingly bombastic full orchestral version of Bailey's prog-rock homage "The Leg of Time".

I can't say from my own knowledge, but I suspect it would also be fun for people who don't know much about music but are Bill Bailey fans (if such a thing is possible). On the other hand, the X who was given a copy because she likes orchestras (but is indifferent to Bill Bailey) seemed underwhelmed.