What have you seen recently? 4
- Thread starter Who's Wee Dug
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I watched Borderlands the other day and was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed it.
I'm also very much into the new series of Reacher.
I'm also very much into the new series of Reacher.
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SpideyGirl
I'm not game to watch the Borderlands film, which is a crying shame, as the Borderlands games are amongst the few FPS games I actually enjoy playing. With all due respect to Cate Blanchett, I think she was entirely miscast as Lilith. Here's the intros to the main games so you can see what you're missing out on...basically, sheer awesomeness...
And Penfold? I recommend that, should you ever decide to play one of the Borderlands games (assuming you haven't already), play the second one first. You can pick up a lot of the storyline from there, and it's easily the best game of the series. The first game took until the DLC campaigns to truly find its feet and tone, but the second game? Then again, the game has one of the best villains in all of fiction in Handsome Jack. Here he is in all his dubious glory in one of the trailers for the second game...
Anyhoodle, I've been watching a documentary series on SBS on Demand called Crazy Rich Ancients. It's American and highly-sensationalised, but it's fun and entertaining as well as educational...
And Penfold? I recommend that, should you ever decide to play one of the Borderlands games (assuming you haven't already), play the second one first. You can pick up a lot of the storyline from there, and it's easily the best game of the series. The first game took until the DLC campaigns to truly find its feet and tone, but the second game? Then again, the game has one of the best villains in all of fiction in Handsome Jack. Here he is in all his dubious glory in one of the trailers for the second game...
Anyhoodle, I've been watching a documentary series on SBS on Demand called Crazy Rich Ancients. It's American and highly-sensationalised, but it's fun and entertaining as well as educational...
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Penfold
Has anyone actually managed to watch Star Trek Section 31? I got through 30 minutes before giving up, feeling that the producers did to it what BBC America did to The Watch; it felt that far removed from the Star Trek universe, to me, that they might as well have made it a film in its own right.
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Tonyblack
I went up to London and took a photographic exhibition of Britain in the Eighties at the Tate Britain, which was enjoyable. Afterwards, we took a leisurely stroll to Leicester Square and The Comedy Store to watch Paul Merton's and Suki Webster's Improv Comedy Show. Their guest cast was Marcus Brigstocke and Rachael Paris, with Richard Baker on keyboards for the music numbers. It was constant laughter, and my ribs and jaw were hurting by the time I came out.
It's worth noting that tickets for these shows are only £22 (£17 for concessions), which is cheap for any show in the UK (show is 2 hours long, including a half hour break). This is even for the two shows where David Mitchell and David Tennant are going to be in the cast (both sold out before I could book a ticket).
It's worth noting that tickets for these shows are only £22 (£17 for concessions), which is cheap for any show in the UK (show is 2 hours long, including a half hour break). This is even for the two shows where David Mitchell and David Tennant are going to be in the cast (both sold out before I could book a ticket).
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Tonyblack and Who's Wee Dug
Andrew Scott was brilliant in Ripley on Netflix. I bought the first of the novels- will take it on holiday this year.
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Penfold and Tonyblack
I watched 'Least One Laughing' on Amazon Prime yesterday.
The concept is to put ten comedians in a room for six hours and if anyone laughs, they receive a yellow card for laughing or smiling, followed by a red and disqualification for a second offence. The idea is to make the others laugh while keeping a straight face themselves. The sole remaining comedian wins. During this time, they have to play games, or put on an act from time to time.
It's very funny, with the six-hours spread out over 6 half-hour episodes. Watching the expressions of some of them trying to control themselves is hilarious in itself.
The concept is to put ten comedians in a room for six hours and if anyone laughs, they receive a yellow card for laughing or smiling, followed by a red and disqualification for a second offence. The idea is to make the others laugh while keeping a straight face themselves. The sole remaining comedian wins. During this time, they have to play games, or put on an act from time to time.
It's very funny, with the six-hours spread out over 6 half-hour episodes. Watching the expressions of some of them trying to control themselves is hilarious in itself.
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Who's Wee Dug and Tonyblack
Ah, OK. Part of me wonders whether the unseen footage is worth seeing, but if it's cut off, then maybe not.
This reminds me of a book I read once, ages ago, called ... um, I can't even remember the title, but it was something like "Great Opera Disasters". It was devoted to exactly the same thing, except set at opera houses around the world. I remember at least three off the top of my head (though not specifics), but here's a quick one I do remember:
Orson Welles was attending Aida at the Met (New York) with his daughter. If you've never seen Aida, there is a triumphal scene halfway through Act 1, when the Egyptians (who are at war with the Ethiopians) come home from battle. The scene is accompanied by triumphant trumpet music, and features the entrance of chariots, horses, and other animals. (At La Scala, Milan, the hero once made his entrance on a quadriga - a four horse chariot - with the horses galloping to the top of the stage and pawing in the air. Very exciting).
Anyway, obviously the animals have to be either real (but very-well trained) or fake and convincing ... but sometimes they're not. (Uh-oh).
The story goes that these animals entered the Met, turned their backs on the audience, and simultaneously relieved themselves.
As Welles was watching, aghast, his daughter pulled at his sleeve and said in a little voice: "Daddy? Is it OK if I laugh?"
This reminds me of a book I read once, ages ago, called ... um, I can't even remember the title, but it was something like "Great Opera Disasters". It was devoted to exactly the same thing, except set at opera houses around the world.
I remember at least three off the top of my head (though not specifics), but here's a quick one I do remember:Orson Welles was attending Aida at the Met (New York) with his daughter. If you've never seen Aida, there is a triumphal scene halfway through Act 1, when the Egyptians (who are at war with the Ethiopians) come home from battle. The scene is accompanied by triumphant trumpet music, and features the entrance of chariots, horses, and other animals. (At La Scala, Milan, the hero once made his entrance on a quadriga - a four horse chariot - with the horses galloping to the top of the stage and pawing in the air. Very exciting).
Anyway, obviously the animals have to be either real (but very-well trained) or fake and convincing ... but sometimes they're not. (Uh-oh).
The story goes that these animals entered the Met, turned their backs on the audience, and simultaneously relieved themselves.
As Welles was watching, aghast, his daughter pulled at his sleeve and said in a little voice: "Daddy? Is it OK if I laugh?"
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Penfold
There have been many operatic disasters over the years. One of the most infamous is the "bouncing Tosca" (or "Trampoline Tosca"), but this may be an urban legend.
The bare bones of the story are simple. At the end of Puccini's Tosca, the heroine cries out "Scarpia, davanti a Dio" ("O Scarpia, [we meet] before God!") as she faces her death at the hands of the sadistic police chief Scarpia. After this, she hurls herself off the battlements of a castle, and dies. (Actually, the actress lands on a mattress about four feet below. Sorry to spoil the illusion).
But in this case, the actress landed not on a mattress but - perish the thought! - on a trampoline...
I've heard this story many times, and every time it's a different actress (Ljuba Welitsch, or Dame Eve Turner, or Anna Tomowa-Sintow), different opera houses, or different circumstances (e.g. the stagehands hated the diva, and this was their revenge; a stagehand was inexperienced, and tightened the trampoline to make it extra bouncy, etc.)
Perhaps every diva wishes it was her?
====================
One well-known (and undoubtedly true) story is as follows:
Leo Slezak was a dramatic Austrian tenor, who made his debut at Covent Garden in 1900 and performed until his untimely death in 1946.
In Wagner's Lohengrin, the onstage actor has to get into a skiff drawn by a swan, which then disappears offstage. However, during one performance, a stagehand pulled the swan off the stage too early, before Leo could hop aboard.
Seeing his feathered transportation disappear into the wings, Slezak ad-libbed to the audience, in the manner of an annoyed traveler addressing the stationmaster: "Wann fährt der nächste Schwan?" ("When does the next swan leave?")
The bare bones of the story are simple. At the end of Puccini's Tosca, the heroine cries out "Scarpia, davanti a Dio" ("O Scarpia, [we meet] before God!") as she faces her death at the hands of the sadistic police chief Scarpia. After this, she hurls herself off the battlements of a castle, and dies. (Actually, the actress lands on a mattress about four feet below. Sorry to spoil the illusion).
But in this case, the actress landed not on a mattress but - perish the thought! - on a trampoline...
I've heard this story many times, and every time it's a different actress (Ljuba Welitsch, or Dame Eve Turner, or Anna Tomowa-Sintow), different opera houses, or different circumstances (e.g. the stagehands hated the diva, and this was their revenge; a stagehand was inexperienced, and tightened the trampoline to make it extra bouncy, etc.)
Perhaps every diva wishes it was her?
====================
One well-known (and undoubtedly true) story is as follows:
Leo Slezak was a dramatic Austrian tenor, who made his debut at Covent Garden in 1900 and performed until his untimely death in 1946.
In Wagner's Lohengrin, the onstage actor has to get into a skiff drawn by a swan, which then disappears offstage. However, during one performance, a stagehand pulled the swan off the stage too early, before Leo could hop aboard.
Seeing his feathered transportation disappear into the wings, Slezak ad-libbed to the audience, in the manner of an annoyed traveler addressing the stationmaster: "Wann fährt der nächste Schwan?" ("When does the next swan leave?")
I still remember watching it! (It also went down in TV history in this country).
Alas, they didn't do a version of The Aristocats.
Alas, they didn't do a version of The Aristocats.
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RathDarkblade and Tonyblack
