A Curious Girl: Mysterious girl...

I watched the end of this cute film last week on the television (usually I'd watch it on my mobile phone, but, you know, the television was calling to me) called 'Station Jim'. Well, I didn't know it was called Station Jim, I just knew it had an orphanage, a station, a dog, and an orphan who tends the dog, and some trains, and Queen Victoria. And some bolshevics. And the Blue Danube (the waltz, not the river). There was a woman in it who looked really familiar. She looked a bit like Belle in 'A Muppet Christmas Carol'... but not.

Anyway, through cunningly Googling 'orphanage', 'station' and 'Queen Victoria', I found the appropriate IMDB page. Guess what?

She was Belle - but not in the Muppet film, actually in the Patrick Stewert one. Also, she was Door in NeverWhere and she was Kate in A Knight's Tale, and her name is Laura Fraser. And astonishingly, despite having seen all of the above at least twice, I didn't realise that she was in all of them until I saw this somewhat obscure TV film and thought that she seemed awfully familiar...

She also played Lavinia in Titus, which I've not seen, but I can imagine her being great at it. I didn't mention that I saw Titus Andronicus (Matthew was in it - he played Caius) but I did and she looks a bit like the woman who played Lavinia in that.

Isn't it strange how pieces of music become so linked with a person or a place that they practically become synonymous? For example, I'll bet everyone on the Danube is caught humming that particular waltz at some point. Similarly, musicians have just about ruined it for anyone called 'Jolene', people taking ferries across the Mersey, and what Frank Sinatra didn't manage to do for Chicago (which is his 'Kind of town') and for L.A. (his 'Lady') he certainly managed to do for New York, New York, although Englishmen in New York are feeling more annoyed with Sting right now. Also, Rasputin will be remembered incorrectly by many due to that wonderful but inaccurate song by Boney M (Rasputin was much nastier than the song suggests, and mush harder to kill. Seriously!).

We also have Kate Bush to thank for transforming a dramatic and dark novel with many occurrences of 'I tell you, Mr. Lockwood' into a song about a woman prancing around on a moor. MacArthur Park is a pretty cruel one too. I'm sure MacArthur Park is a lovely place but now it'll be forever remembered as something to do with cakes in the rain.

On the other hand, advertisers have beaten musicians to a pulp at this particular game. It's one thing to associate the William Tell Overture with the Lone Ranger, but it just got unfair when everyone remembers 'The Entertainer' as being something to do with cat food and a cat called Felix, 'Sex Bomb' as being about mortgages, and 'the Isrealite' definitely being about sunflower spread (that's Vitalite, you must remember...).

Random word for today: nefarious

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