Echoes in an empty hallway…

I have already written this blog entry today–or a reasonable facsimile of it–and then lost it somehow, before I could upload it. I don't know what I did, but I know I was not happy when whatever happened to it happened…

I began, I remember, by observing that it's pretty lonely in here at the moment (I was the only visitor this afternoon) and the hallways of the site are echoing emptily, but that will change, we fondly hope, as the word spreads that we are active and back in business again. I've spent several hours to this point, productively, I think, in nosing around in the various sections of the vaults, but how does one gauge success when there's no one around to notice what's been changed in an ages-old entry? It's chastening to note that the last really active entries to the Site, the Forum and the General Discussions were all logged about 44 weeks ago, before the wheels fell off.

Anyway, undeterred, I started with the FAQ section, which was hideously out of date, and then today I progressed to the poems in the "Other Writings" section, since I noticed that the formatting (spacing and line grouping mainly) appeared to have suffered, somehow, in the translation from the old format to the new one. I had some pretty major editing to do there, shifting blocks of text around, but it was fun and now it's complete. All that remains for me to do is to figure out how shuffle the "Viva Voce" commentary so that it comes first in the Section instead of last. It will happen. I'll work it out somehow and make the change.

During that session, though, when I was working on the little Gilbertian ditty about the Sun, I got to thinking about the movie "Topsy-Turvy" and decided I have to watch it again ASAP, and having decided that, I also decided to mention it in here, for the benefit of those of my readers who might not be familiar with it. "Topsy-Turvy" was made in 1999, I believe, and it is one of those unsung but unutterably brilliant, whimsical and delightful low budget productions that the Brits continue to generate flawlessly, year after year. It stars Tim Broadbent as W.S. Gilbert, the lyricist half of Gilbert and Sullivan, and it's the story of how he and Sir Arthur Sullivan, played wonderfully by an actor whose name unfortunately escapes me, resolved their artistic differences, which threatened to alienate them permanently from each other, by collaborating on a project the like of which had never been attempted: to bring some form of understanding of Imperial Japan to the British Theatre. The result of that exercise was "The Mikado", and this movie is about the creation of the opera. It really ought to be on everyone's Don't-Miss list. It may not be easy to find in your local video store, but believe me, it is worth finding and watching.