Personal computing discussed

Moderators: askfranklin, renee, emkubed, Captain Ned

 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Topic Author
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Tue Feb 05, 2013 6:50 pm

Effective immediately, all productions of Shakespeare's play need to drop the whole withered arm bit. I'd give links but this is Top of the Pops on the Net right now.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
Lucky Jack Aubrey
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Posts: 2409
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:13 am
Location: Dallas, TX
Contact:

Re: RIchard III

Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:03 pm

That was one helluva curvature in his spine, though.
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Topic Author
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: RIchard III

Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:40 pm

Lucky Jack Aubrey wrote:
That was one helluva curvature in his spine, though.

Well, the Tudors got the hunchback part right (c'mon, who in the 15th Century wouldn't have called that a hunchback).

For those slow on the news: RIchard III, a/k/a the Evil King in the Shakespeare canon (i.e. murderer of the Princes in the Tower, still unproven), has been identified and dug up out of a car park that overlays the ancient (and demolished) Greyfriars Monastery in Leicester, England where he was unceremoniously dumped after having the bad luck to get killed at Bosworth Field and, through his death, allow the establishment of the Tudor Dynasty. Given the chunks out of his skull, he went down hard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exhumation ... of_England

I think my first exposure to the myth of Richard III was the the Neil Simon movie "Goodbye Girl", where Richard Dreyfuss was trying to figure out how to play Richard III while simultaneously trying to figure out his new female roommate. There might have been other important bits but I was too young, white, & nerdy to catch on way back then.

And yes, old English history stuff like this just gets me.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
UberGerbil
Grand Admiral Gerbil
Posts: 10368
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2003 3:11 pm

Re: RIchard III

Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:02 pm

Alas, it is a bit easier for an actor to sport a withered arm than a twisted spine. And -- news flash -- the other plays have their anachronisms and historical inaccuracies (and in some cases deliberately misleading portrayals) also. Expecting to learn history from Shakespeare is like expecting to learn physics from Star Wars. That's not what it's for.

If you want to see an interesting cinematic version of "Richard III," look for the 1995 one starring Ian McKellen. It's set in an alternative 1930s Britain where fascism got the upper hand; the style is art deco, the combat is modern, but Shakespeare's dialog is almost entirely intact.

(As for the discovery: not surprisingly, the BBC coverage has been quite good; I look forward to the inevitable documentary).
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Topic Author
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: RIchard III

Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:15 pm

UberGerbil wrote:
Alas, it is a bit easier for an actor to sport a withered arm than a twisted spine. And -- news flash -- the other plays have their anachronisms and historical inaccuracies (and in some cases deliberately misleading portrayals) also. Expecting to learn history from Shakespeare is like expecting to learn physics from Star Wars. That's not what it's for.

When you're writing plays for the approval of Good Queen Bess the First, one accepts the Royal revisions and keeps one's festering gob shut.

I've seen the McKellen fascist version and I don't like.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
UberGerbil
Grand Admiral Gerbil
Posts: 10368
Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2003 3:11 pm

Re: RIchard III

Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:33 pm

Captain Ned wrote:
When you're writing plays for the approval of Good Queen Bess the First, one accepts the Royal revisions and keeps one's festering gob shut.
Indeed. And on that note, I recommend the play “Equivocation” by Bill Cain.
I've seen the McKellen fascist version and I don't like.
Any movie that features a de Havilland Dragon Rapide is going to be a favorite of mine. But I'm a sucker for stylized, modernized Shakespeare: I quite enjoyed the Luhrmann "Romeo + Juliet" even though I'm not really a fan of either of the two lead actors. I even liked "Scotland PA" (though anything that features Christopher Walken already has a finger on the scale)
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Topic Author
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: RIchard III

Tue Feb 05, 2013 8:40 pm

UberGerbil wrote:
Any movie that features a de Havilland Dragon Rapide is going to be a favorite of mine.

OK, the DH-89 is killer. I've yet to see an "alternative" Shakespeare that better explained the play than the original.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
idchafee
His Holy Gerbilness
Posts: 14060
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:39 am
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact:

Re: RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Tue Feb 05, 2013 9:25 pm

the bust of him they did looks pretty damn close to the paintings done in life.

When we were in London, the guy giving the Tower of London tour spent 15 minutes on the Princes in the Tower. Fascinating and sad story.
YOU CAN RUPTURE SOMEONE'S SPLEEN WITH A WATER BALLOON!!!!
 
Lucky Jack Aubrey
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Posts: 2409
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:13 am
Location: Dallas, TX
Contact:

Re: RIchard III

Wed Feb 06, 2013 8:55 am

Captain Ned wrote:
And yes, old English history stuff like this just gets me.

I enjoy it as well. Speaking of The Tudors, as dramatized as that TV series was, its constant allusions to historical occurrences encouraged me to look them up and read about them. I know a fair bit more about that period of history as a result.

And then, of course, there were the nekkid wimmin.
 
steelcity_ballin
Gerbilus Supremus
Posts: 12072
Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 5:55 am
Location: Pittsburgh PA

Re: RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Wed Feb 06, 2013 9:04 am

I'd totally smash the Tudors-made-for-TV Anne Boleyn. The real one, not so much.
 
idchafee
His Holy Gerbilness
Posts: 14060
Joined: Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:39 am
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact:

Re: RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:37 pm

steelcity_ballin wrote:
I'd totally smash the Tudors-made-for-TV Anne Boleyn. The real one, not so much.


For her time, the real Anne Boleyn was hawt. She bathed once a week, so she had a leg up on most to start with
YOU CAN RUPTURE SOMEONE'S SPLEEN WITH A WATER BALLOON!!!!
 
paulWTAMU
Emperor Gerbilius I
Posts: 6257
Joined: Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:14 am
Location: Dallas, Texas

Re: RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:48 pm

A very hairy leg?
Ugly people have sex all the time. We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion humans if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Topic Author
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Wed Feb 06, 2013 5:51 pm

paulWTAMU wrote:
A very hairy leg?

Henry was into furries.

EDIT: Seems like Greek & Roman men used pumice stones to remove body hair, so there's clear precedent for leg hair removal some 1500+ years before Anne Boleyn.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
paulWTAMU
Emperor Gerbilius I
Posts: 6257
Joined: Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:14 am
Location: Dallas, Texas

Re: RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Thu Feb 07, 2013 12:02 am

This thread made me start watching the Tudors (Amazon Prime rocks btw).

Not a bad show! I don't know how much I'll trust the "history" on it but fun to watch.
Ugly people have sex all the time. We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion humans if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
 
Lucky Jack Aubrey
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Posts: 2409
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2004 8:13 am
Location: Dallas, TX
Contact:

Re: RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Thu Feb 07, 2013 8:13 am

There's a fair amount of poetic license, and a few things are just blatantly wrong, but The Tudors does follow the basic history of Henry VIII's reign.

I think I'm going to do a little more reading about Richard III, and the Plantagenets in general.
 
tanker27
Gerbil Khan
Posts: 9444
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Georgia

Re: RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Thu Feb 07, 2013 9:11 am

Lucky Jack Aubrey wrote:
..... the Plantagenets in general.


Their history makes my head hurt.
(\_/)
(O.o)
(''')(''')
Watch out for evil Terra-Tron; He Does not like you!
 
paulWTAMU
Emperor Gerbilius I
Posts: 6257
Joined: Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:14 am
Location: Dallas, Texas

Re: RIchard III Finally Dug Up

Thu Feb 07, 2013 9:20 am

I remember taking some basic European history in college and getting lost in a maze of names. At least in Japanese history the damn names weren't always the same!
Ugly people have sex all the time. We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion humans if you had to be beautiful to get laid.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
GZIP: On