Greetings! I saw "The DaVinci Code" last night (5/19) with my
husband (and got a salmon dinner out of the deal). I thought Ian's
performance was prefect--shamelessly flirting with Sophie when
introduced to her! The look of pre-jealousy on Hanks's/Langdon's face
was precious! Ian carried off the 'zealous researcher' handsomely,
but I don't want to give the details away until everyone has seen the
movie.

I have the feeling that Ian's career will be compared to Peter
Cushing's and Christopher Lee's--sweet, gentlemanly men who gleefully
loved playing villians, monsters, and other assorted ne'er-do-wells.
Ian's advantage is that he chose Shakespearean ne'er-do-wells (they
last longer); it makes his role as Gandalf and recording of Prospero
(Tempest, Naxos) the exception, not the norm. (Okay, calling
Christopher Lee 'sweet' might be pushing it, considering how well-
known his background is.)

I was *so* hoping the Ron & Brian & Akiva would change Sir Leigh to
reflect better on Ian (I'm trying to be vague, not spoil it for those
who haven't seen it yet!); but in retrospect, Ian played Teabing
brilliantly and beautifully, and he took a stage 'beating' if he did
his own stunts, even if they were on a soundstage floor (I know, more
vagueness!). He played barking mad exceedingly well, also.

As much as I *loove* Gandalf the Grey, I like Ian as Ian, preferably
not as scruffy as Sir Leigh or Mel; we Americans do get Coro Street
on BBC/Am, but it's not running right now, and Ian has a big section
of photos and blog on his site, which shows him quite seedy indeed.

Sir Leigh could be quite lovable if he weren't quite so bonkers about
the Grail; I can imagine a grad student or post-doc coming to work
with him and being quite charmed by the cantankerous old codger (or
is that Ian?)--actually, I smell Langdon/Teabing slashfic, although
Sir Leigh strikes me as foxily het (maybe bi?). Ian assimilated and
played his character convincingly, learned and spoke his lines
sincerely and realisticly and zealously until he--well, go see the
movie for Teabing's exit (no, he doesn't die, thankfully). Actually,
Teabing does seem fond of Langdon, and it reminds me of the
Gandalf/Aragorn relationship you can interpret any way you want.

For those of you who have read the book, there are a number of minor
details omitted (probably for time) from the movie; unfortunately, it
makes some things harder to understand for the people who *haven't*
read it. Some reviewers criticized the movie and gave it poor marks
for being 'slow'--which version were *they* watching?! This reminded
me of 'heist' movies, the original "Ocean's Eleven" and Pierce
Brosnan's "The Thomas Crown Affair" (oh, no, that was the fine art
connection!), where a lot of the action was intellectual, not
physical.

Ian has finally updated the E-Post section of his website; but I
haven't found any 'Magneto's Lair' entries, unless I'm trying to get
in by the wrong means (Nef?).

Merchandisers are having a field day (in the U.S., at least),
slapping 'DaVinci' on everything under the sun. One thing that I
bought recently was something called "DaVinci's Mancala." Mancala is
an ancient game, orginating in Africa or North Africa, with 24 light
pebbles, 24 dark pebbles, and a wooden board with 12 small bowls
carved out and 4 larger one, 2 at each end. It reminds me of a 3-way
cross between backgammon, cribbage, and that ancient Egyptian board
game I can never remember the name to (but I bet Nef knows!). It's a
strategy game, capture your opponent's pieces, get yours into the 2
holding bowls at the end of your row of playing bowls, highest score
wins.

Unlike ordinary Mancala with pebbles, "DaVinci's Mancala" is on a
flat, folding cardboard playing board, and instead of pebbles, one
uses light and dark shaped pieces--ovals and triangles--which kinda
remind me of stained glass 'rose' windows (not the roses again!).
The board is decorated with two sketches by Leonardo, the alleged
self-portrait of him as a very old man, and the Vitruvian Man--but
the game manufacturers airbrushed out certain parts of VM! Well, the
game is geared for 8+, but they didn't airbrush the image on the
bottom of the box (and who looks at the bottom of the game box
anyway?). There are also a few nice puzzle-game-thingies (one that
uses UV light--CSI and Fine Art Appreciation together!).

Okay, that's my review of Ian's performance; he had the most
difficult and important part because he was playing a 'Doctor
Science' type of character, doing the info-dump for the benefit of
the unenlightened character/s (Sophie) and the audience (d'uh--us),
did it well and watchably--I'm planning to see it again with friends.

All best,
Miranduviel
(pervy wizard fancier)