I had no idea Chaucer would be so fun…
I’m reading Nevill Coghill’s translation of the Canterbury Tales at the moment because it’s part of the curriculum for the class I teach. Tonight I came across this little jewel from the description of the Doctor in the Prologue:
“In his own diet he observed some measure;
There were no superfluities for pleasure,
Only digestives, nutritives and such.
He did not read the Bible very much.”
Marc Forster, director of Stranger than Fiction (great film), The Kite Runner, Monster’s Ball, etc. is directing Quantum of Solace, the new James Bond flick (#22 for those who are counting). This baffles me. First, how good can a Bond film be, from a creative perspective? (Edit: Perhaps better than I thought. See the comments.) Second, according to NPR’s Sundance Correspondent the film is going to pretty much totally ignore the writer and creator of Bond’s short story of the same name (which actually seems to have some substance) and go in the direction of a typical, action-packed, smooth and debonaire, against all odds, hero story. A bit of a let down.