And now back to Bleak House. Another of my favorite characters, the overly dramatic, manipulative and somewhat flamboyant Old Mr. Turveydrop. Proprietor of the local dance school who can be seen here (starting at 4:10) in all his glory rebuking his son's announcement of engagement. In 30 seconds he covers the entire range of human emotion from outraged betrayal to selfless resignation. Disgustingly played by Matthew Kelly... bravo!!

Mia... is getting pretty good at climbing.

Here's another one from Bleak House. The crazy old bird lady Miss Flite (get it?) who's obsessed with Judgement Day and has a million birds named things like "Misery, Greed, Avarice and Death." She reminds me of Mrs. Garret from Facts of Life.

Here are some of my favorite characters from Bleak House. This one is Mr. Skimpole. Dickens is such a master of onomatopoeia character names. Even if the name isn't literally what the person is (like Mr. Krook to follow shortly) you know exactly how to feel about the character by the taste left in your mouth after saying their name. Mr. Skimpole... pole. rod... shaft. this guy is a total tool. The 19th century equivalent of "Mr. Douchebag".

Speaking of his "half dozen or so children" Mr. Skimpole says "Care for them? How could I? I have no aptitude for work of any kind." When asked "How then do they live?" He replies, "Why... I've no idea. But live they do."

Ordinarily i like to read the character description from the book and draw that, but the casting and acting in this movie is such perfection I cant imagine them as anyone other than who played the parts, in this case Nathaniel Parker. Well Done sir.

We've been obsessed with British costume dramas for the last couple of months, we've probably wacthed 15 or 20 of them. So many fantastic costumes, sets, compositions, lighting, really beautiful movies. And the sideburns... Good God the sideburns. Here's the first of a series of 5 minute sketches I'd like to do from some of my favorite parts. This one is from Bleak House.

I saw this guy on a documentary and liked the cut of his sail.