1) Pick up the nearest book.
2) Open to page 123.
3) Locate the fifth sentence.
4) Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
5) Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged me.
I just finished reading "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde* and it was sitting on my nightstand, so we'll play with that.
Was the face on that canvas viler than before? It seemed to him that it was unchanged; and yet his loathing of it was intensified. Gold hair, blue eyes, and rose-red lips--they all were there.
Well. If that was the excerpt on the book-back, Wilde wouldn't sell a solitary copy of this thing. Vain guy ponders own portrait--FILM AT ELEVEN. It's a good thing that there was no internet in Wilde's day. In addition to being undone by memeage, he'd probably get distracted by the profusion of hairless, nubile young men willing to post pictures of their naughtiest of bits for a paltry monthly membership fee.
Curiously, in reading "Dorian Gray" for the first time (yes, I know, I know), I realize that the film adaptation I just watched is actually *less gay* than the novel. Yes, the fabulous Mr. Berger actually butches up the role considerably. Notably, he also trades a lot fewer bitchy quips with any characters so... you win some, you lose some, and so it goes with film adaptations of novels.
Now I tap the scepter of pass-along on to:
Rogue Spy 007
Jack
The Mysterious P8
Steve Langton
Divine Debris
*Yes I am a rules-fudger and waited till I was in my apartment to Play Along. Trust me, people, this is much better than whatever book on executive cheese-moving was sitting near the office I occupy at work.
13 comments:
Oddly enough, the novel version of The Picture of Dorian Gray is less gay than the earlier serialized version that was printed in Lippincott's Magazine. That's your Wilde fact of the day.
Hey Kate. What's funny is that when I saw the Rogue Spy 77. I was thinking that couldn't be me since I'm Rogue Spy 007. Then I saw it was me anyway. lol I just posted my blog if you wanna check it out and leave me some comments. Thanks for tagging me. It was pretty fun to do. I love Dorian Gray. That's one of my favorite books. Never seen the Helmut Berger movie before. While I'm a straight guy, I can still admit that he's a good looking guy. I can see why women and men would fall for him.
Jack--I read this in the preface to the edition I'm reading! We'll have to chat about the differences between what I read and the original publication. The swooning, gazing, epigram-dueling gents in the novel are enough to bestill my heart as is!
Rogue Spy--whoops! Duly corrected. Numbers--darn them for tricking me. Thank you for playing along in spite of my seeming inability to type.
OK, I am playing because I was tickled to see what book happened to be closest (other than the AP stylebook, which I am not counting; it's not made of sentences).
p8
Thank you for loving me and wanting me to be happy, P8.
Am I the only one who pronounces it "ten-EE-brus?"
Hello TK: in lieu of an email address to send this to you...
On behalf of the League of Tana Tea Drinkers, I invite you to join LOTT D. The league was started to recognize great blogs that help promote the horror genre. There is no dues or burdensome rules and minutes (though we are trying).
Our simple goal is to unite horror bloggers into a cohesive and supportive force of stylish information for horror fans, creating a community of support and discussion, then charge members to leave the group. (Just kidding on that last one.)
Should all else fail, at least you will have a cool sounding name to be associated with.
You can view the websites of current members at http://lottd.blogspot.com.
If you would like to be part of the exciting world of tana tea drinkers (okay, I know it sounds like old ladies with white gloves nibbling on cucumber sandwiches: just make believe), let me know and I will joyfully add your link to the member site.
If you would like to display our cool insignia, let me know, too.
We look forward to having you as a fellow tana tea drinker.
ILoz Zoc (zomboscloset@yahoo.com)
Arbogast--Not sure--I'll have to take it to a scientific online poll. I have a strong NJ accent so my pronunciation of "TEN-uh-brus" is doubtless suspect.
ILoz--thank you so much for the invite! I'm excited to be a member of the League. Looks like many of my favorite web spots are on there, and it's a real honor to be included in that list.
Welcome aboard TK!
Thank you, Karswell! Happy to be a new member.
I have a strong NJ accent
Just when I thought you couldn't get any hotter!
Hi Kate! Thanks for participating. Wilde's long been one of my favorite writers and The PIcture of Dorian Gray is my favorite of his books. As I wrote in my own review of the Helmut Berger version, I think it's the only film version of the novel that really explored that gay subtext and eroticism in Wilde's novel, which is why I love the film so much.
Kim--thanks for tagging me!
I think it's the only film version of the novel that really explored that gay subtext and eroticism in Wilde's novel
I was quite surprised to see that material so frankly portrayed on-screen. My knowledge of Wilde had been entirely through second-hand sources until I *just now* read the novel. It doesn't take too much digging to find the gay references in the book--I was expecting them to be much more obscure.
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