ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Season 4 of "The Expanse" just dropped on Amazon. Great series. I've also read all 8 or 9 of the books in the series.
Catching up with "American Horror Story" again, on season 7 now, have 8 and 9 to follow. Speaking of which, Twisty The Clown is a lot scarier than Pennywise. Chances of running into a true demonic otherworldly clown are nil, chances of running into a psychotic clown like Twisty, not so remote.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
I saw the first two seasons of The Expanse on Netflix, but now I’m stuck. Frustrating.
I refuse to subscribe to Amazon.
😤
Jacques
Jeff: Season 4 of "The Expanse" just dropped on Amazon. Great series. I've also read all 8 or 9 of the books in the series. Catching up with "American Horror Story" again, on season 7 now, have 8 and 9 to follow. Speaking of which, Twisty The Clown is a lot scarier than Pennywise. Chances of running into a true demonic otherworldly clown are nil, chances of running into a psychotic clown like Twisty, not so remote.
I've started The Expanse S4. I'd really liked the first 3 seasons and was haunted by the music. I've just seen the first S4 episode and I wonder if they're not pushing too far too much and how it will live as the action seems to be now mostly "on location". I think we have had enough of Scifi-which-turn-out-to-be-westerns shows.
As for AHS, i gave up in the middle of S3 (the witch school). I find it ridiculous, cheap, too much of camera tricks to force a wannabe visual signature, and the anthology excuse to have the same cast again and again in different ridiculous disguises dont work for me. I also can't stand Sarah Paulson and her exaggerated acting. It's sad because i really like the posters i find promising… When you think its the Nip/Tuck team behind those show… Sad.
I've read all The Expanse books, all eight in the main series (waiting on 9) and a couple of the side books that are stories related to the main characters. The short one on Amos is interesting, he had a hard upbringing. Two things...
As they move out into the Ring expanse, things do change a lot, the focus of CIbola Burn was always the planet and what it was doing, and the book was more detailed.
Secondly, there are a couple of plot lines that take their own books and are woven intertwined in all the alter books relating to both defecting Martian navy types along with a ruthless OPA terrorist attack.p
The story line in season 4 is, by book reading, a bit rushed in order to get multiple plots rolling, and they've taken some artistic license to compress it. However, I think they did very well given the time constraints of one season, what, ten episodes? But having read the book helps understand what's going on. They captured the main things on the planet though, but of course the book was much more detailed about the alien artifacts and the company vs squatting belters issue.
I liked AHS season 7 at the beginning more than at the end, it kind of got over the top and annoying. I've generally enjoyed the other seasons but agree about the actor. WIl see how season 8 goes.
Just watched The Greatest Showman (Blu Ray).....
......and realized that I should be proud to be called a freak ;-)
Nice movie, that I/we certainly will watch one more time soon.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
Millemissen:The Greatest Showman
I've liked it. It made me thinks a lot to Baz Lurhman's Moulin Rouge.
You should watch the "This is me" rehearsal video on youtube, very powerful!
matador43: Millemissen:The Greatest Showman I've liked it. It made me thinks a lot to Baz Lurhman's Moulin Rouge. You should watch the "This is me" rehearsal video on youtube, very powerful!
Yes, Moulin Rouge is something that I want to re-watch someday.
There is more than 2 hours of bonus material on the bluray disc, that we still want to watch...I guess that will be there too.
Millemissen:.I guess that will be there too.
If it is, watch carefully the background, you may spot Leogoneswild rising on its chair to do a very chilling countersing !
The down side of it is that after experiencing the energy of that workshop, the movies version felt flat, but without hurting the whole movie quality!
Last night I serendipitously stumbled onto two movies I hadn't seen in forever, "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes" and "Return Of The Killer Tomatoes," the latter of which starred a very young George Clooney. I'd forgotten what camp masterpieces these were, completely tongue in cheek and funny as can be.
I bought the Criterion Collection special edition Blu-Ray of "Videodrome," one of my favorite movies, directed by David Cronenberg. It was the first David Cronenberg movie I ever saw, and I've been a fan of his work ever since.
It is one strange film. Surreal, disturbing, philosophical, and subversive. The making of shorts are amazing as well, they had to create a lot of different techniques never done before in order to accomplish the effects seen in the film.
Not a film for everyone perhaps, but an amazing film nonetheless. The video transfer is also outstanding, as you'd expect from the Criterion Collection.
Thriller,heart attacking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaLXAVy_AI4
Beogram 6500 MMC2,Beosound Ouverture,2xBeolab 8000,2xBelolab 4000,Beolab 2,Beolab 7.2,Beo4 navi, 2xBeocom2,Serene,Beosystem 3 mk3,H6 2nd gen,Earphones E8,A8,A9 keyring,Beoplay A1,Bottle opener,Beoplay A2 active(thanks Botty)Wine Set(thanks Botty),4Ktv Samsung 55'',Beolab 7.1 with 42''Panasonic plasma,,Oppo udp-203, LinTronic.
Norwegian detective series 'Wisting' currently showing in the U.K. on BBC4 with sub-titles (although there is a lot of English spoken in the early programmes). Apparently based on two novels. Quite interesting, although a bit formulaic with a main story interlaced with some personal mini stories.
Graham
Lately I’ve been enjoying the old late 50s early 60s TV series “Naked City,” a crime drama set in NYC. It’s the show that always ends with the line “There are 8 million stories in the naked city, this has been one of them.” Actually a very good show and quite a time capsule too.
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
vikinger: Norwegian detective series 'Wisting' currently showing in the U.K. on BBC4 with sub-titles (although there is a lot of English spoken in the early programmes). Apparently based on two novels. Quite interesting, although a bit formulaic with a main story interlaced with some personal mini stories. Graham
Watching it too. I love those northern ambiances, Fortitude was so great, in a different style, Lillyhammer, while I'll never get through Trapped.
I just watched an amazing documentary on Amazon Video, "The Legend Of Pancho Barnes And The Happy Bottom Riding Company." The Riding Company was the name of the bar at Edwards Air Force Base in California where all the test pilots hung out, including Chuck Yeager. The owner, Pancho Barnes, was apparently a true larger than life character. She was a pilot herself, took the women's speed record from Amelia Earhart (who she considered a bimbo), unionized the stunt pilots in Hollywood, just an amazing woman. A fascinating documentary.
deina:personally i watch netflix every day, i just adore this platform!
deina: personally i watch netflix every day, i just adore this platform!
personally i watch netflix every day, i just adore this platform!
Personnelle with the confinement, i've watched ALL Netflix! I'm now waiting for Netflix Season 2
Tales from the loop.
Can't say if it's good or bad after 2 episodes, but it's hypnotic for sure.
matador43: deina: personally i watch netflix every day, i just adore this platform! Personnelle with the confinement, i've watched ALL Netflix! I'm now waiting for Netflix Season 2
I've got you beat, I've watched all of Netflix and half of Amazon!
I've just finished "Tales From The Loop." I love the show, for once a TV show that's not all motion and chattering, one that's willing to let itself be quiet and atmospheric. All the tales are interrelated though each stands on its own as separate episodes well. It's funny, the stories are completely different from those in the book, but manage to capture the feel of the book very well. Not quite the feeling of dread, foreboding, and existential dread the book conjured, bit lighter IMO.
I have read all three of the books, Tales From The Loop; After The Flood; and The Electric State and enjoyed them all.
Jeff:I have read all three of the books, Tales From The Loop; After The Flood; and The Electric State and enjoyed them all.
Are you referring to the big square illustrated book or are they different edition more like novels?If thee illustrated book, how do they compared one to the other in termes of illustration?
Thanks.
First, I mistyped, it's "Things From The Flood." I mean the large illustrated books. The imagery in the paintings in the books is all very much the same style, he has a unique style of dreamy techno-surrealism that carries across to all the books. What got to me is how the totals is so much greater than the sum of the parts. The books are lots of beautiful illustrations with spare, sparse text yet somehow this manages to produce an emotional feeling far beyond what you'd expect. I started with the last book, "The Electric State" which describes a young teenage girl's journey across the US with a small toy robot, traveling across a wasteland littered with strange abandoned military vehicles from a previous war and where people are addicted to this immersive VR technology. You get the feeling all of humanity is committing suicide using this VR, yet something is there waiting to be born to replace us.
The Loop books are different from the series in that there is an awful lot more of this technological junk of unknown function laying around and the people who built and run the Loop are not particularly concerned with the effects their flotsam has on the world above. There's some strange stuff out there and the impact of it and the side effects of Loop operation are not good. In the book, the two who swapped bodies due to the sphere were identical twins so no on noticed. "Things From The Flood" takes place after the loop was shut down due to the problems it created, and it flooded with water, yet the strangeness still continues, as if the Loop broke space-time in some manner and things are still filtering in. Or perhaps couldn't get back.
I greatly enjoyed all three, very beautifully illustrated and very thought provoking and emotive. Keeper books that need to be held in physical form, can't imagine trying to experience them in a digital format on a reader.
Thank you for the quick review.
Jeff:I greatly enjoyed all three, very beautifully illustrated and very thought provoking and emotive. Keeper books that need to be held in physical form, can't imagine trying to experience them in a digital format on a reader.
Must be true, because right now, they all three seems difficult to find in printed edition, at least in euros and in english.
matador43: Must be true, because right now, they all three seems difficult to find in printed edition, at least in euros and in english.
I seem to recall it took a while to get one of the books back before the TV show and the recent pandemic. I think I remember that at least one of the books was published via a Kickstarter campaign, and that it wasn't the first book. He apparently had enough fans to push it over the top and get it published. While the show is excellent, I hope this does push more people to acquire and experience his books, they are indeed something special.
Binged a couple documentaries on Netflix.
The success of Tiger King surprised me, because before it hit viral it's like one of those insane trashy shows that The Soup covers and exists under the radar. Every turn keeps getting crazier but there's still a lot of things the documentary didn't include - especially Joe's past life before the GW Zoo. His feud with Carole also exists in internet comments, if there is something the creators got right is that those two are obsessed with each other.
How to Fix a Drug Scandal - Slow burn but really compelling. It has clear villains but rarely is there a genuine sympathetic pull on one of them by the opposing side. The build up was amazing, the music helped I guess.
The Pharmacist - I haven't finished this one bec it got me teary so early on. It was touching to see the Dad fight so hard for his son to get some justice and how a tragedy really does change you.
I haven't gotten around to Tiger King as yet, undoubtedly I will just to see what all the viral hoopla is about.
I've started "Band Of Brothers" which somehow I never watched before, very good WWII drama. I also put "The Pacific" in my queue, I've watched it years ago but it makes a nice bookend for the former show. I do notice, watching "Band Of Brothers" just how different the two theaters of war were. Neither were walks in the park, but I'd much have preferred to being in the European theater, the Pacific seems to not only have had a level of brutality that goes beyond the Eurpoean war but also a miserable jungle environment.
Re Van Gogh, it would be nice to see that museum. The only single artist focused museum I've ever seen was the Dali museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. And man, that's more Dali than should be seen at one time.
I'm also working my way through two old series, the remake of "Battlestar Galactica" from the early 2000s, which is one of the best dramas I've seen regardless of genre. And the 1960s original "The Outer Limits" which is still amazing. The things they accomplished with no budget and limited special effects still are impressive, and the use of camera angles and such are right out of avant garde cinema of the era, quite a stretch for a network TV show.
Duels:Just finished watching Devs by Alex Garland. Excellent existential, future-thinking sci-fi thriller. Highly recommended.
I saw some teasers for that show, it looked interesting. I don't do Hulu but might have to think about changing that. I've resisted as I have so many items in my Netflix and Amazon queues it'll take me until the heat death of the universe to watch them all, but hearing a good review from you on top of what I've seen about the show makes me want to watch it.
I see "The Last Kingdom" has a new season on Netflix, going to start on that soon. Our schedule in lockdown here has been usually listen to music most of the day while puttering, cooking, etc. then after a late-ish dinner settle down for some TV in the evening.
I did watch the old movie "Strategic Air Command" starring James Stewart last night. Always brings back memories as much of it was filmed in Florida at MacDill AIr Force Base, Tampa. My father was stationed there when it was filmed, he was going to have a bit part in it as an extra in the scene where they showed all the guys lined up getting on transport aircraft for deployment. However he and his buddy were the only two on base rated to load the rocket assisted take off bottles (RATO) on the B47 so they got pulled to do that. There's a scene of a B47 rocketing into the air using these, and I always get a kick out of it, thinking "My dad loaded those rocket bottles!"
Jeff: I see "The Last Kingdom" has a new season on Netflix, going to start on that soon.
I really enjoy Lyndsey Davis's books.The character of Falco is funny, very tongue in cheek sometimes. In one later book, in order to move him into the middle class, Emperor Vespasian promotes him and gives him an official government job, Proculator Of The Sacred Poultry. He is responsible for checking on the herds of geese and chickens at the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, sacred birds used for divination and such. He says it's a useless position but he does enjoy all the free eggs. He lives in the top floor of a 6 floor tenement, and when he gets behind on his rent his landlord, who also owns a gladiator school, sends a couple of the boys over to beat him up.
I've started watching a show on Amazon, "Pioneer One" which is a very low budget originally web based show, but surprisingly good and thought provoking so far. I'm about 3 episodes into it. It's about US Homeland Security getting caught up investigating a "meteor" which falls over the northern US and into Canada. The meteor turns out to be a space craft, the nuclear battery broke up and spread radiation around, which is why they got involved, they were worried it was a terrorist attack. Turns out it's not a satellite, it's an old Soviet spacecraft, and there's a young man in it, who appears to have been born and raised on Mars.
Started Devs after your advice: very addictive so far, nice find, thank you.
Duels:Is there any particular place you’d recommend to start with the Lindsey Davis books Jeff?
Well, there's an order to them, they take place one after the other in time with the same characters. The first one is called "The Silver Pigs." Here's a list in order:
https://booksreadingorder.com/lindsey-davis/
There's another series of Roman based books about Casca, Casca Rufio Longinus. Written by Barry Sadler, the man who wrote the song "The Green Berets" they deal with a Roman soldier, the one who thrust the spear into the side of Jesus on the cross. In the books Christ curses him to remain alive until Christ comes again. So, he is immortal and the eternal soldier/mercenary. Several of the books are set in Ancient Rome, a lot are at other times, other wars where Casca fights, including the Eastern Front in WWII as an SS soldier, in the French Foreign Legion, etc. The quality of the books is very spotty though, the first few were well written, then they were obviously just churned out quickly to get something in print, the later ones are poorly written and repetitious, but the early ones were fun. In one he's managed to get himself sentenced to being a slave in the Roman mines, which terrifies him as being immortal the thought of being in a cave in and being buried alive forever is very frightening to him.
matador43:Started Devs after your advice: very addictive so far, nice find, thank you.
Gary Hustwit's documentary about Dieter Rams.
Vähintään yhdeksänkymmentä prosenttia suomalainen!
beocool: Gary Hustwit's documentary about Dieter Rams.
A very good friend gifted me that disc a while back, an excellent movie indeed.
I finished the little series I started, "Pioneer One" about the Soviet capsule which crashes in Canada with a man who was born on Mars, or so it seems. Amazing what they did for so little money. First episode was filmed for only $6,000! This was all done in 2010-11, they talked about a 2nd season but it hasn't materialized sadly. A perfect example of how story matters more than special effects, there were none of the latter and a lot of the former.
Speaking of which, I've gotten to really dislike most modern big studio movies. Tons of special effects, lots of highly paid "actors" and expensive to produce all to tell the story of a comic book.
May the 4th ...
be with you.
Could be an excuse to watch Star Wars VII to IX