Slitherine

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ORIGINAL: cpdeyoung

The Terror

This is such a good book. The author is worth keeping up with.

Chuck

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ORIGINAL: Hanny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydneyl2S30o

Starts with wars of the Rosses, goes on with 2 follow up series, the white Princess, the Spanish Princess, and that leads you on to The Tudors.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXNf9dxnQrM

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ORIGINAL: RFalvo69

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ORIGINAL: Hanny

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydneyl2S30o

Starts with wars of the Rosses, goes on with 2 follow up series, the white Princess, the Spanish Princess, and that leads you on to The Tudors.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXNf9dxnQrM

Ah, Philippa Gregory! Back in the early 2000s I once took a cab from Heathrow to my hotel in London. The female driver was... cyberpunk - and I say this with the utmost respect. She introduced me to Neal Stephenson, Top Gear and, when we arrived, she waved this novel under my nose "The Other Boleyn Girl"... "Read this: Wow, what a tale!"

So, after Snowcrash and an episode of Top Gear (when it still was Top Gear and they launched cars from the HMS Illustrious...) I decided to buy this apparently historical soap opera for a public of women.

Wow, what a tale! Afterwards I did some research and I discovered how PGregory had... manipulated some (many, like, a lot) historical facts. The yarn however was very good and, IMHO, nailed a seldom understood reality of the Middle Ages/Renaissance period: you were an "adult" at a very young age (something that even Shakespeare underlines in "Romeo and Juliet"). This meant that you could be of "marriageable age at 14 (IIRC, in the book Anne Boleyn sheeted because she was still unmarried at 17) and maybe occupy an important position at 18 - all without the wisdom of a few more years of age. Basically, the novel pointed out how that historical period was sometimes run by young adults.

This is why, I think, the two adaptations (a TV movie and a theatrical one with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson) failed. Today you can't simply show the complex and troubled sexual life of... Er... A 13 years old Mary Boleyn... (and how you gained wisdom and common sense in that kind of society). Some of the morals expressed by Gregory in this book even reminded me, in a way, of "Barry Lyndon". Kubrick's movie is, of course infinitely superior, but I consider TOBG, while being basically, yes, a pulpy soap opera, like a small cousin of "Barry Lyndon".

I remember that I soon bought another book by PGregory, but it failed to capture me. I don't even remember the title. But that unique cab driver was right: Neal Stephenson, Top Gear, and the adventures of Mary Boleyn

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

The Terror (BBC)

Just finished watching this series. It is based on a book that tells a story of the loss of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus along with all 129 men, while trying to find the Northwest Passage, in the 1840's. I say a story because no one knows exactly what happened to the men.

What is known (from a scribbled note) is that the leader of the expedition, Sir John Franklin, had already died when the remaining crew abandoned the ice bound ships and headed south.

Few remains and evidence has been found that actually tell us much (the ships themselves have been found in the last few years).

One theory - seemingly backed up by looking at some human remains, is that there was a problem with the solder on the tinned food and this led to lead poisoning.

There is a good cast; Ciaran Hinds, Tobias Menzies (always good at playing the oaf), Greta Sacchi and the always excellent Jared Harris.

Recommended.

England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson October 1805

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

The Terror (BBC)

Just finished watching this series. It is based on a book that tells a story of the loss of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus along with all 129 men, while trying to find the Northwest Passage, in the 1840's. I say a story because no one knows exactly what happened to the men.

What is known (from a scribbled note) is that the leader of the expedition, Sir John Franklin, had already died when the remaining crew abandoned the ice bound ships and headed south.

Few remains and evidence has been found that actually tell us much (the ships themselves have been found in the last few years).

One theory - seemingly backed up by looking at some human remains, is that there was a problem with the solder on the tinned food and this led to lead poisoning.

There is a good cast; Ciaran Hinds, Tobias Menzies (always good at playing the oaf), Greta Sacchi and the always excellent Jared Harris.

Recommended.

warspite1

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-57013327

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RE: What program/film/documentary are you watching now?

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ORIGINAL: RFalvo69

I re-watched a classic. They showed it to us in middle school (I was 14 at the time) and it was as scary as hell. The "cold turkey scene" is up there with "The Exorcist".



It resonated with me because drug use at that time was such a widespread problem that my mother teached me to always look down and always check for used syringes. And, boy, there were a lot of them lying around. The scariest were the ones littering community gardens, where we kids were supposed to play.

In the DVD commentary the director and Natja Brunckhorst point out how "today it would be impossible to make such a movie". I mean... she was only 14 at the time and in the movie she injected herself for real! (it was a saline solution of course, but... ). Both her and the other underage actors simulated sex acts. Some scenes are flatly out of a horror movie - except that they shot them "guerrilla style" amid real gatherings of junkies.

In the early '80s watching this movie was almost mandatory in middle to high schools across Europe. Interestingly enough, the real Christiane F said that, in her opinion, both the book and the movie repelled and enticed people to try drugs in equal measure. A lot of people started using heroin knowing very well that they were dooming themselves. What scared others was, for them, exactly what they were looking for.

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Finally got around to watching The Green Mile.

What a thoroughly brilliant film. Superb cast, great story and a real tear-jerker of a film. I wasn't crying though, I just had something in my eye....

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Finally got around to watching The Green Mile.

What a thoroughly brilliant film. Superb cast, great story and a real tear-jerker of a film. I wasn't crying though, I just had something in my eye....

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ORIGINAL: Orm

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Finally got around to watching The Green Mile.

What a thoroughly brilliant film. Superb cast, great story and a real tear-jerker of a film. I wasn't crying though, I just had something in my eye....

Yea. I didn't like it. The 'magic' stuff ruined it for me. Otherwise it was very good. But the 'magic' felt like an easy way out to me.

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ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

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ORIGINAL: Orm

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ORIGINAL: warspite1

Finally got around to watching The Green Mile.

What a thoroughly brilliant film. Superb cast, great story and a real tear-jerker of a film. I wasn't crying though, I just had something in my eye....

Yea. I didn't like it. The 'magic' stuff ruined it for me. Otherwise it was very good. But the 'magic' felt like an easy way out to me.

It was not magic. It was something else . . .