Thursday, January 25, 2007

Update from the DWG Club

Apparently, Laura, in answer to your question, Wikipedia confirms that although the Bears are on their way to the Superbowl, they still suck, having only won 8 championships versus the Packer's 12. Not that I care. See for yourself!

What was I saying? Oh, right. Today's dead white guy is Leslie Howard, who I had a dream about.
It was about him being in the RAF and being shot down by the Germans, only to escape to Hungary where he managed to survive because he could speak Hungarian because his parents were Hungarian immigrants, only he didn't realise that he was Leslie Howard, stage and screen icon, because he had amnesia, until thirty years after the war when someone snuck an illegal copy of "Gone With the Wind" into the country and he recognised himself and realised that that's what all those weird memories of fighting in an American war were about. I woke up all excited, thinking I should write a movie about it, but when I did more research, I learned that Leslie Howard wasn't in the RAF. He was a civilian/patriot/activist who visited the troops overseas and may have potentially been involved in spying activities. Returning home from Spain, the commuter flight he was on (in one of the "safe" flying channels over the, um, Channel)was shot down by zer Germans. Subsequent research has proven that they were probably not happy about his war efforts and rumours of his spying were the icing on the cake, and there was a direct order to target him specifically. Which is a hella story, but alas, I would have to ignore too much history to get a good movie out of it.

I am so tired today. Officially I am looking after twelve people, and am using two desks to check calendars and send emails. The only good moment of my day was when I went up to the ninth floor to deliver more coffee cups, and looked out the window at a Sky that looked exactly like my favourite Turner painting, stretched out over the skyline of my favourite city. It was so achingly beautiful. It's not fair.

1 comment:

Laura said...

Speaking of Dead White Guys just occured to me that I haven't yet told you on your trip to Paris you must if at all possible make the pilgramage to Oscar Wilde's grave where Robbie Ross also lays at rest with him. It's in the famous Parisian cemetary which I can pronounce but not spell. Just ask people where Jim Morrison and Balzac are burried and they'll point you in the right direction.

If you take flowers off of another grave and put them on Oscar's grave it would be appropriate.