The Culture Section

[andy_charles]

Okay, sexy guys and gals of Lit, this thread is designed to be a spot where we can talk about culture.

Culture could mean anything to do with any of the following:

Art
Film
TV
Theater
Music
Literature (both Erotic and Non-Erotic)

It should provide all of us culture addicts with a haven to share our opinions and thoughts on these topics, and to let everyone else know of something you feel they have to see/experience.

Let's see what we can come up with

 

[andy_charles]

United - a great piece of television drama, concerning the Busby Babes and the Munich Air Crash of 1958. Brilliant acting by David ******t and Jack McConell. Throughly recommended for anyone who gets a chance to see it.

 

[PennLady]

I really loved The Walking Dead on AMC. I thought the acting was great, and the story line was reasonable. It's an extreme situation, but I thought the way they had people acting was not unreasonable.

I'm also looking forward to watching the new season of Doctor Who that started last night.

 

[andy_charles]

I really loved The Walking Dead on AMC. I thought the acting was great, and the story line was reasonable. It's an extreme situation, but I thought the way they had people acting was not unreasonable.

I'm also looking forward to watching the new season of Doctor Who that started last night.

I've heard a lot of good things about The Walking Dead - hope you enjoy the rest of it and let us know what you think

Doctor Who rules - enjoy

 

[PennLady]

I've heard a lot of good things about The Walking Dead - hope you enjoy the rest of it and let us know what you think

Doctor Who rules - enjoy

If you could catch TWD On Demand or something, I'd recommend it. It's only six hours, so even if you watch it all and decide you didn't like it, it's not that bad. And the interesting thing, as always is with zombie stuff, is not the zombies. It's how the people come together after.

I'm a fan of both the classic and current DW series, and so glad they premiered it everywhere.

And...one of my favorite books is Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

 

[andy_charles]

If you could catch TWD On Demand or something, I'd recommend it. It's only six hours, so even if you watch it all and decide you didn't like it, it's not that bad. And the interesting thing, as always is with zombie stuff, is not the zombies. It's how the people come together after.

I'm a fan of both the classic and current DW series, and so glad they premiered it everywhere.

And...one of my favorite books is Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

We get it on Channel 5 over here in Blighty - sadly it clashes with several shows and so i shall have to catch it when repeated.

(BTW, it's rather annoying that Tenth Doctor's surname will not, however times I try, show up when I type it in a Lit thread box!)

Pratchett is one of the most original authors there is, writing fantasy novels with a little slice of real life in each. Good choice.

 

[andy_charles]

Today I watched the classic The War Of The Worlds. This came out during the height of UFO stories partly inspired by the Cold War. Taken from H. G. Welles novel, it moves the setting to America, though mentions England fairly regularly. Despite some modern touches it stays fairly faithful to the book, though in this version the aliens fly rather than walk everywhere. Perhaps it was cheaper for effects budget?

It also comes from the era when all a woman needed to do on screen was to look good and scream loudly. Those days are past us now, right?

 

[oggbashan]

The Turner Centre opened in Margate this month.

They have a whole ONE Turner on display.

There will be a Turner Exhibition next year.

Og

 

[andy_charles]

The Turner Centre opened in Margate this month.

They have a whole ONE Turner on display.

There will be a Turner Exhibition next year.

Og

Sounds intriguing - why only one Turner though?

Keep us updated

 

[sr71plt]

Went to a Picasso exhibit today. Happily, I wouldn't want any of them on my walls.

 

[andy_charles]

Went to a Picasso exhibit today. Happily, I wouldn't want any of them on my walls.

Ha ha - not a fan, then?

 

[sr71plt]

Ha ha - not a fan, then?

I thought I might be. But they must have picked out the ugliest he produced to go to the Richmond exhibit.

 

[andy_charles]

I thought I might be. But they must have picked out the ugliest he produced to go to the Richmond exhibit.

I often wonder what goes through the mind of a gallery planner when an exhibition is being put together. Do I go with the famous ones or the ones that are second rate for a reason?

 

[sr71plt]

I often wonder what goes through the mind of a gallery planner when an exhibition is being put together. Do I go with the famous ones or the ones that are second rate for a reason?

I think it's mostly the ones that are available.

 

[andy_charles]

I think it's mostly the ones that are available.

Doesn't it feel sometimes that Picasso and others are a bit...over rated?

 

[lovecraft68]

I really loved The Walking Dead on AMC. I thought the acting was great, and the story line was reasonable. It's an extreme situation, but I thought the way they had people acting was not unreasonable.

I'm also looking forward to watching the new season of Doctor Who that started last night.

The Walking Dead came out of nowhere when I was still running the comic book store. Up until that point Image had really been kind of on the rocks and Robert Kirkman best work to date had been on Captain America.

When Walking Dead #1 came out not to many copies sold nor did #2 sales were so slow that Diamond was giving away copies of #3 for free to the dealers to push it. The name of my comic store was Shadowland and it had a heavy horror theme I enjoyed the first issues of WD and on a whim ordered a ton of 1,2 and all the free #3' I could get. a year later I was selling the #1"s on e-bay for $100+

The amazing thing about the series was that it was really about the characters the zombies were almost in the back ground. Marvel and DC have been stagnant for years continuously rehashing all their old characters and people were craving something new so WD hit at just the right time.

Marvel ended up paying Kirkman huge money to write "Marvel Zombies" which was hilarious. I however have never seen the series of WD because except for sports I have not watched television in three years and plan on keeping it that way.

Well okay I am done flexing my "geek" for the moment.

 

[andy_charles]

The Walking Dead came out of nowhere when I was still running the comic book store. Up until that point Image had really been kind of on the rocks and Robert Kirkman best work to date had been on Captain America.

When Walking Dead #1 came out not to many copies sold nor did #2 sales were so slow that Diamond was giving away copies of #3 for free to the dealers to push it. The name of my comic store was Shadowland and it had a heavy horror theme I enjoyed the first issues of WD and on a whim ordered a ton of 1,2 and all the free #3' I could get. a year later I was selling the #1"s on e-bay for $100+

The amazing thing about the series was that it was really about the characters the zombies were almost in the back ground. Marvel and DC have been stagnant for years continuously rehashing all their old characters and people were craving something new so WD hit at just the right time.

Marvel ended up paying Kirkman huge money to write "Marvel Zombies" which was hilarious. I however have never seen the series of WD because except for sports I have not watched television in three years and plan on keeping it that way.

Well okay I am done flexing my "geek" for the moment.

Wow, lol

Seriously, thanks for the info - very interesting

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Doesn't it feel sometimes that Picasso and others are a bit...over rated?

That's why it's best to go to the Pompidou for the views of Paris, and not the art.


I'm kidding.

Sort of.

 

[andy_charles]

That's why it's best to go to the Pompidou for the views of Paris, and not the art.


I'm kidding.

Sort of.

No, I hear ya

 

[PennLady]

Today I watched the classic The War Of The Worlds. This came out during the height of UFO stories partly inspired by the Cold War. Taken from H. G. Welles novel, it moves the setting to America, though mentions England fairly regularly. Despite some modern touches it stays fairly faithful to the book, though in this version the aliens fly rather than walk everywhere. Perhaps it was cheaper for effects budget?

It also comes from the era when all a woman needed to do on screen was to look good and scream loudly. Those days are past us now, right?

I have three versions of this movie, and this is the best. One of my favorites. Flying is more efficient, perhaps? I have read the book but didn't think much one way or the other about whether the alien machines flew or walked. I suppose it's moderately faithful to the book -- although the hero was married in the book, and instead of being on the run with a woman, hooked up for a while with a man who cracked under the pressure.

I was not fond of the Cruise/Spielberg version, but then, I'm not a big Tom Cruise fan. That one had too many logic holes for me, the biggest one being that the alien ships had been hidden underground for how long? And we never found any? Not with drilling for water, oil, gas, etc.? And they didn't know our ecosystem was harmful to them after all that time? Couldn't buy that and it kind of ruins the whole movie. (I had similar issues with the aliens in Shyamalan's Signs, although I like themovie.)

There is a worse one, though. Right around the time Spielberg was doing his, there was someone else (don't have the info handy, sorry) doing a version that was totally faithful to the book (like the BBC Pride & Prejudice faithful). It was awful, and boring. Like watching some film student try to put it together. I forced myself to watch it through but wouldn't again.

On the WOW '51 DVD, there's a neat featurette and in it, someone notes that for women, sf films were at the forefront. They were named "Stevie" a lot of times, but many were scientists, and although they had their screams, they were usually a valuable team member. Yay for sf!

 

[PennLady]

Pratchett is one of the most original authors there is, writing fantasy novels with a little slice of real life in each. Good choice.

I just got Thief of Time from the library today. Aside from Good Omens, I've never read Pratchett, although I wasn't avoiding him. I also got The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which a friend asked me to read and which I already don't like, less than 30 pages in.

 

[PennLady]

The amazing thing about the series was that it was really about the characters the zombies were almost in the back ground. Marvel and DC have been stagnant for years continuously rehashing all their old characters and people were craving something new so WD hit at just the right time.

Well okay I am done flexing my "geek" for the moment.

That's okay, I have lots of geek moments.

The thing I've noticed about zombie stories/movies, not that I'm a connoisseur, is that zombies kind of have to be in the background. They're not really very scary most times. They move slowly, and unless they're driven by hunger and in a pack/mob, not too smart. I did notice in Night of the Living Dead and in TWD that the zombies "learn." Perhaps more parts of their brain start to function again?

In NOLD, a zombie chases the car with the heroine (Susan) and picks up a rock to try to break the window. In TWD, when some survivors are in a department store, zombies do the same, trying to get in to the building. That's neat, and could be built on for more scariness, I think.

So, anyway, this just kind of echoes/supports what lc said. In zombie stories, it's not really about the zombies, it's about the survivors. And if those characters are well-drawn, and the writing is good, then it should bea good story.

 

[sr71plt]

Doesn't it feel sometimes that Picasso and others are a bit...over rated?

I did have to laugh, because in some of his work he didn't bother to rub out the mistakes and "not quite right" base pencil sketchings in the background.

One whole room was of female nudes that I could only work out as a human figure by focusing on the hairy hole or slit and reforming a body around that.

I think that in later life, he must have had a really good laugh on what galleries would beg to buy from him.

 

[MarlowBunny]

I did have to laugh, because in some of his work he didn't bother to rub out the mistakes and "not quite right" base pencil sketchings in the background.

One whole room was of female nudes that I could only work out as a human figure by focusing on the hairy hole or slit and reforming a body around that.

I think that in later life, he must have had a really good laugh on what galleries would beg to buy from him.

As a teen, my dad left a thumb print on a Picasso. It was on display before the paint dried.

 

[MarlowBunny]

As a teen, my dad left a thumb print on a Picasso. It was on display before the paint dried.

II saw "Rio" with my kids today. It was good, but...

It's set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Universal tried to use the Disney "five songs" formula. Unfortunately, the music was BAD. They are in Brazil, but all the songs are hip-hop influenced. There were few or zero latin rhythms. The cognitive dissonance was worse than the 3D headache.