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Post by Eowyn on Sept 22, 2005 9:01:05 GMT -5
Ever see the Masterpiece Theatre Oliver Twist? That was a good one. Andy Serkis (Gollum from Lord of the Rings) played Bill. Yeah, the new Twist is a Roman Polanski film. Opens nationwide Sept. 30. bungalowdweller, I enjoyed your post on how the Dickens characters are so real to you. I love classic literature too. Bo - the Superman novel is with Superman as a character. He must defeat a villain who is controlling the weather (if I had a dime every time Big Blue went up against a weather wizard....) It's easy bedside reading, like your Nancy Drew! ;D
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Post by BungalowDweller on Sept 22, 2005 9:09:55 GMT -5
Did you see the preview of Oliver Twist being released at the end of September? Opens tomorrow in 'selected' theaters ... whatever THAT means. I'm not a big "commericial" movie goer. The last film I saw was the French documentary "The March of the Penguins",but I will probably seek this one out.
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Post by roxelanahybrida on Sept 22, 2005 13:43:08 GMT -5
So, I went to my local Barnes & Nobles to get something on the military achievements by the Caribbean island of Haiti,which was the first successful slave revolt and fought against France and Spain in the late 1700s, and all I have to say is that I'm just disgusted on the selections they carry. I went to the world history aisle and all I saw was just the same old books on WW2 and Great Britain, and don't get me started on the military history selections. Ugh!! Enough was enough so I went to a clerk to ask about these horrendous choices for people that are interested in something more global. After she gave me the "I think the customer is crazy" look, she said the general public just are not interested on them and there mostly their for high schoolers. All I have to say is thank goodness for the internet. Anyway, have anyone read Tales of Genji? I'm told its the first fiction novel in history. If you're interested in the slave uprising in Haiti, I have to reccomend a historical fiction trilogy by Madison Smart Bell. The first book in the series is called "All Souls Rising". It's a great, well researched, finish at two in the morning type of book. As for me, I'm currently making my way through ROTK and Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian"
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generaldu
Senior Addict
The subway charms us so, where balmy breezes blow, to and fro. - Lorenz Hart - "Manhattan"
Posts: 312
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Post by generaldu on Sept 22, 2005 16:42:01 GMT -5
Did you see the preview of Oliver Twist being released at the end of September? Opens tomorrow in 'selected' theaters ... whatever THAT means. In this case "selected theaters" would probably indicate that the film's distributors don't think the movie has the potential for mass appeal, so they've decided to show it in theaters where they hope to attract a discriminating target audience. There are also cases where films are pre-released to selected theaters just to qualify for awards deadlines in a given year, pending their more comprehensively marketed release at a later time.
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Post by ginnycat5 on Sept 22, 2005 18:00:25 GMT -5
"Duma" was released that way. It wasn't around very long. At least one of the theaters was at Touhy and Central (Central Park?) so it was easy to get to.
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Post by skinz on Sept 23, 2005 10:46:12 GMT -5
Thanks for the recommendation, but I already know about the uprising (I'm haitian myself), I was trying to get info on some of the late 19th century history of Haiti. I know all about its history and I could go on and on about it,especially about the leaders You think King Sonjo was a bad king, you clearly have not read about Haiti's leaders. Here a sample of past leaders outcome: Michel Oreste 1913 - 1914 overthrown Oreste Zamor 1914 overthrown Davilmar Theodore 1914 - 1915 overthrown Vilbrun Sam 1915 assassinated In just two years, 3 presidents were overthrown and one killed. Anyway, ROTK is a great book. The names could get confusing because of the total amount of characters, but its one of the best books to read
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Post by kathleen34 on Sept 24, 2005 9:18:01 GMT -5
Thanks generaldu - I've heard that phrase billions of times but never really understood the concept. You've enlightened me.
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Post by TheBo on Sept 26, 2005 11:48:40 GMT -5
Do you mean the movie or the book, cafe-t? I saw the previews for the movie, and was amused to see it's "Based on the book by Charles Dickens." Well, that sure gives us a lot of leeway, LOL.
Bo
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Post by BungalowDweller on Sept 28, 2005 13:13:30 GMT -5
Do you mean the movie or the book, cafe-t? I saw the previews for the movie, and was amused to see it's "Based on the book by Charles Dickens." Well, that sure gives us a lot of leeway, LOL. Bo Yeah, when it's "based" on the book, especially a classic that adheres to the values of, gasp!,dare I say it?. . .dead white men! And Christian men, ah, mores the pity!!! it is certain to be messed up. Masterpiece Theatre did a remake on "The Tenant of Wildfell Hall" by Anne Bronte and massacred it. There was no semblance to the original tale and its cautionary messages about alcoholism, child abuse etc. It was turned, instead, into a tarty little sex tale. I was thoroughly disgusted. This may be considered a "post-Christian" society, by some, but when one removes and sanitizes the messages of great Victorian writers of the past, in order to edit references to God (except when His name is a curse) original meaning is lost. It's unfortunate. And ignorant. On a much more pleasant note, I just finished the biography of Mathematician and Nobel Laureate John Nash. "A Beautiful Mind" reads like a novel! An engrossing, uplifting page-turner. And for those who have seen the movie, "A Beautiful Mind" the book is a million times better, not to say more accurate. I read it because my kid got into a snit recently when I could not explain to her satisfaction why 10 to the 0 power (or any number to the zero power, for that matter) is 1. She loves math and is good at it, much better than your humble servant. We rented the film and watched it together to talk about the frustrations in higher order math. Even if you don't like math or was no good at it this book is worth reading. Nash is the father of mathematical game strategy, which led him to receive the Nobel prize for economics in 1994. Computer architecture, the shape of the universe, number theories--nothing escaped this guy. He's credited as being the most remarkable mathematician in our lifetimes. He challenged Einstein, von Neumann, and Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the bomb. And he suffered schizophrenia for about 40 years and came back mentally to tell us about it! Inspiring read!
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Post by roxelanahybrida on Sept 30, 2005 13:15:18 GMT -5
I agree with you bungallowdweller, the biography is just as interesting as a novel, and I thought that the real John Nash of the book is more interesting than the somewhat sanitized John Nash of the movie(although I did enjoy the movie as well) I just finished "Blood Meridian" and I'm not sure how I felt about it, but one thing is certain-Cormac McCarthy can WRITE! Everything in the story was written so vividly(maybe too vividly in some parts which were pretty brutal).
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Post by seven stars on Oct 11, 2005 12:36:03 GMT -5
I didn't realize you were Haitian Skinz! Thats exciting news for me.
Sac Pa Se, man! (Sorry for the spelling, I'm not Haitian, nor do I speak Creole).
[mod note - fixed quote]
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Post by skinz on Oct 17, 2005 12:31:09 GMT -5
I didn't realize you were Haitian Skinz! Thats exciting news for me. Sac Pa Se, man! (Sorry for the spelling, I'm not Haitian, nor do I speak Creole). Sorry it took me long for a reply but my computer was attacked various viruses and spyware. Anyway, glad your interested about my nationality . There also something I never understood. How in the world did "Sak Pase" become so popular? Sak Pase means different things depending on how you use it. It means "How your doing?" but it also means "What's Happening!" or "What Happened?" and the response "Map Boule" is even funnier because it literally means "I'm burning" or "I'm on fire" LOL!! So in actuality, the conversation is like this: Person 1: How are you doing? Person 2: I'm burning LOL!!! And don't worry about the spelling, Creole was not written in Haiti until a few decades ago, written works, like books, newspaper, etc. were mostly in French or broken french. Creole is not the official language in Haiti, French still have more status in the society. Most people in the government or people with high status speak french. I'm going off topic so I'll leave it at that. If you want to know more, PM me.
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Post by BungalowDweller on Oct 18, 2005 16:32:26 GMT -5
Just finished reading "The Elephant Man--A Study in Human Dignity" by cultural anthropologist Ashley Montagu. Outstanding book about an outstanding individual, John Merrick a.k.a. the Elephant Man. Montagu explores the questions concerning human development here..Why does suffering twist and embitter some and why are others (Merrick) ennobled by it. Outstanding tale. Whenever I'm tempted to complain, I think about Merrick and thank God! The pictures of Merrick's monsterous deformities are heartbreaking and truly shattering.
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Post by ginnycat5 on Oct 18, 2005 18:03:35 GMT -5
The new book by my favorite author, Diana Gabaldon, is number one on the Chicago Tribune's best seller list this week, and no. 3 on the New York Times' list. Yay!! Now I have to finish the fifth book, which I put down in fear of being left hanging for 2 or 3 years with beloved characters in jeopardy. I think this book will start to deal more with causes of the Revolutionary War.
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Post by Eowyn on Oct 19, 2005 12:19:25 GMT -5
What's the title, ginnycat?
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