NEWS FROM CALIFORNIA AND A WASHINGTON DIVERSION

I received an email from my friend Bob in California in response to my Optimistic Thought of the Day:

Ah, yes! DJT is trying his best to corrupt our mid-term elections. It's an all-out effort, which includes pushing a bill on limiting voting in national elections to be passed by Congress, and the threat of either national guard units in the states being activated to mess with the voting, using ICE to intimidate voters, and/or using the Jan 6th criminals he pardoned to hang around the polls in the swing districts while displaying their firearms.

He's pulling out all of the stops, because if the House becomes Democratic, they'll certainly impeach him. That will put a great deal of pressure on the Republican senators, who have to run in 2028, if they don't remove him. Dems may not get a majority in the Senate after the mid-terms, which means, due to a change in the filibuster rules by Republicans, that the Republican senators can approve DJT's departmental appointments and judges by a simple majority. Now, that's tilting the playing field.
Bob

It is clearly difficult to maintain any kind of optimism in the United States, given the current psychotic leadership in Washington DC. 

As to the United Kingdom, we have a very nice, if difficult, weather system hovering over the South of England. It’s a bit like living in Southern California. I am enjoying that immensely. Tee hee.

I have recently been watching the BBC War & Peace serial from 1972, adapted by Jack Pulman, and directed by John Davies, with Anthony Hopkins as Pierre Bezukov, Morag Hood as Natasha  Rostov, Alan Dobie as Andrei Bolkonsky. Angela Down as Maria Bolkonsky, David Swift as Napoleon, and loads of other great actors. Anthony Hopkins won a BAFTA TV award for Best Actor, but they all deserved an accolade. 

There are a number of dramatised versions of War and Peace including Sergei Bondarchuck’s Russian version from 1965 which is excellent and very Russian. There is a rather odd version from 2007 with Clemence Poesy as Natasha, Alexander Beyer as Pierre and Alessio Boni as Andrei, and in the cast Malcolm McDowell and Brenda Blethyn. It is a very international cast of actors; however I found some changes in the adaptation of the novel by the three main writers quite wrong and mistaken. They distracted rather than added to the work. Unfortunate. 

There is also a 2016 version with Paul Dano, Lily James, James Norton, Greta Scacchi, Adrian Edmondson, Tom Burke, Stephen Rea, Jim Broadbent among others. Although very well done and adapted by Andrew Davies in 6 episodes, does not quite match up to the 1972 version.  There are some very good performances though. Nonetheless if you want a binge treat, the 20 episode 1972 version is a great view.  

In keeping with a theatrical theme, Oliver Cotton’s Play The Score, will be opening at Harman Hall in Washington DC on the 11th September 2026 until the 18th October 2026. Tickets will be gong on sale soon. Herewith picture promo:

I would strongly advise anyone in the US who can get to Washington DC on those dates makes an effort to see the play. The Tag line “How does art survive when despots rule” is particularly applicable in the USA of today.