Monday, March 21, 2016

Knitting and Netflix

I'm late to the party for Netflix - every other knitter I know is using it as a knitting companion - but it really is a fun resource.  Yesterday I noticed I was at an awkward part of my travel sock and decided to take a break from my second mitt to watch Death Comes To Pemberley while I finished the gusset.


I'll be on public transit quite a bit today and if I'm going to knit, I don't want to have to look too closely to see where I need decreases.  So: sock knitting.

And stripe admiring.


I'm not sure how I feel about Death Comes To Pemberley.  Fanfiction is a bit iffy to me - when somebody's gone to the trouble to create characters, especially ones as vivid as Jane Austen's, it seems to me that they should have the rights to them in perpetuity.  I mean, unless they were put together like a boy band, by writers working in a team to meet the requirements of the marketing arm of a corporation.  And really, what I noticed most about the TV production of P. D. James' book is how absolutely humourless it is.  Not a seamless shift from the many comic moments in Pride and Prejudice.

The other series I'm watching on Netflix is Murdoch Mysteries, which I can highly recommend.  If you don't know it, it's a Canadian series set in Toronto during the 1890s and early 1900s, and Detective Murdoch is at the cutting edge of scientific means of detection.  The first and second coroners are both very progressively-minded women, and there's a lot of humour too, not to mention fantastic costumes.  I used to be very active in the local Sisters in Crime chapter - this is a group that promotes the work of of female mystery writers - and I always loved chatting with Maureen Jennings who is incredibly nice and did a ton of historic research to write the books on which the TV show is based, so it's kind of comforting to me to be able to watch episodes back to back.

(also, the stories are set pretty much exactly where our condo is: can't get much more local than that!)

One thing I will say about Pemberly though: FABulous costumes and set design.  I mean yes, the ladies end up wearing the same dresses repeatedly, but at least they're beautifully made.  And I'm feeling kind of fixated on the collar of Darcy's coats and shirts.  I've seen that style many times before obviously but somehow in this production, I can really appreciate the construction.  Is it the light, or the fabric's weight or colour?  I don't know.  But it's riveting.


And after all that Netflix-watching, I got my sock where I needed it to be.  Yay! All set for another exciting week.  Hope your Monday goes well and I'll see you tomorrow.


5 comments:

Mimi said...

I LOVE Murdoch Mysteries! Although I watch it mostly on Netflix, it comes on one of our TV channels (DirecTV) in the wee hours of the morning. Maybe a chance for the non-Netflix folks to see it. It's one of the better shows out there.

Mimi said...

And someone told me that Murdoch is also broadcast as The Artful Detective. http://www.ovationtv.com/series/artful-detective/

Don't know why there are two names.

Marianne said...

I am on season 4 of the Murdoch series, It is a very good show!

Mary Keenan said...

Mimi, it sounds like it's a broadcasting thing behind the two titles - Ovation airs it in the US and calls it The Artful Detective, but in Canada it's Murdoch Mysteries. It's on a few different stations here including one high up on the cable channel that airs it a LOT! but Netflix is definitely best for getting all the episodes in :^)

Mary Keenan said...

Marianne you are lucky - there are so many good episodes coming up from where you are now!!