When Flying Saucers Attack!

[Celesta]

Hi Gang,

The miniseries I was thinking of is Taken, and it wasn't Steven King. It was Stephen Spielberg. It stares a good cast, incldg Catherine Dent and Dakota Fanning. Steven King called it the new "American gothic." I thought it was excellent and I may get the Dvd set.

Stan, Glad the storms missed you.

[Magpie]

Hi Celesta.

My wife made me rent and watch Taken just before Xmas.

It was a bit of a marathon, but a fantastic show!

btw, have you seen the "Hogfather" miniseries?

[Vila]

Oh! Hogfather is just wonderful. A must for any Terry Pratchett fan, and recommended for anyone tired of the usual run of Christmas fairytale shows. Have you seen the "Making of" special for that? Some of the interviews, especially the one with Terry himself about his playing the toymaker character in Part 2, are just priceless. Pratchett is just the most lovely, patient man. I'm glad some of his work is finally being filmed.

Of course, even the two animated Pratchett books were pretty good. They were done by the same folks who did Danger Mouse, as I recall. Did you know that someone in Australia did a live version of "Last Hero"? Strictly a fan-production, but still very well done - despite the shoestring budget.

Vila

[Mike Covell]

I have the Taken DVD boxset but have never actually tried to watch it fully, just sporadic episodes here and there, it is a good show though.

The same guy in that show appears in the 4400 which is another fave of mine, again we have the 1st and 2nd series on dvd and love watching them.

The weather in the UK has finally settled, rain, rain and more rain, good that it's back to normal!!

[Magpie]

Hi Vila!

Unfortunately I don't have the official release of Hogfather yet (just released in Canada a couple of months ago) so haven't seen any of the extras yet

I do have Wyrd Sisters boxset on VHS, and I think they did a pretty good job. I also have the pilot cartoon for Discworld (I think it's Reaper Man, but I'm a little fuzzy on that).

I'm glad Terry changed his mind about allowing live-action productions of his work, and I'm doubly glad that they did Hogfather, since it's one of my favourite books.

They are working on Colour of Magic next, to be released next year. I hope they do as good a job!

[Celesta]

Hi Guys,

Mags, I'm glad you liked Taken as much as I did. I rarely get into miniseries, but that one held my attention from the get-go.

Vila & Mags, They ran "Hogfather" here at Christmas, but I only caught a few minutes of it, towards the end. I was so wrapped up in the Christmas doings. I hope to see the whole thing.

I loved the Colour of Magic. I definitely have to see it.

Mike, Was the boxset expensive?

Stan, My twitchiness about the storms was not in vain. Had a tornado plow through downtown Atlanta. We had two close calls here, but escaped. Another bad storm is moving our way. Should hit in a couple of hours.

Vila & Lyn, Did you guys make out okay in the storms? Hmmm, better rephrase that! Hope you guys didn't get hit.

[Vila]

The two animateds that I have are Weird Sisters and Soul Music. Reaper Man would be a very good one. I hadn't heard that Color of Magic was under production. Thanks for the heads-up! I'll be on the lookout for it, in the future. I do hope that they don't get made in publication order from now on, my favorite books are scattered all over the series and it might take too long for a crew to get around to filming them.

I wouldn't have gotten to see Hogfather yet myself if someone in England hadn't recorded the broadcast and sent copies to friends here in the US.

I understand that Atlanta got hit by a tornado last night. A fair bit of property damage, but I've yet to hear of any lives lost. We're about 100 miles/220 kilometers Northeast of Atlanta, so by the time the two stormfronts that caused the damage got to us, they were much, much weaker. Loads of rain, a fair bit of wind, but thankfully that's all *we* got.

Time for more coffee...

Vila

[Magpie]

I just checked imdb, and The Colour of Magic is due to be released March 23, 2008--so less than 10 days from now!

The Reaper Man pilot was made the year before Wyrd Sisters and Soul Music, and ran about 8 minutes. I don't know why it never made it past the pilot stage.

I'l like for them to make the Watch novels into live-action movies, personally.

[Magpie]

Vila & Mags, They ran "Hogfather" here at Christmas, but I only caught a few minutes of it, towards the end. I was so wrapped up in the Christmas doings. I hope to see the whole thing.

It looks fantastic, and if follows the book very, very closely.

[Mayerling]

Hi all,

Sorry no postings for a couple of days. However, I have resumed posting on the "Find-A-Grave" web site, so I have been leaving comments on several people (I was doing assassination victims yesterday and today - Marat, Garfield, McKinley, Mayor Gaynor) and even commented on several subsidiary murder victims (Mrs. McKinley, Mrs.Garfield, General Horace Sebastiani - whose daughter Fanny was the ill-fated Duchess of Praslin in the 1847 murder). A few weeks back I also did Spencer Perceval and George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham. Also many Titanic and Lusitania victims. You just get started on it.

So far I have not found many UFO people.

Good news - I got my Federal Tax refund check. Now I take care of that.

Otherwise it has been a really quiet week. Oh, my state government office building took down Governor Spitzer's photograph from the lobby - no great stretch about that. Patterson's photo has not replaced it yet (probably after Monday).

Best wishes,

Jeff

[sdreid]

Hi all,

No tornadoes here-just more snow.

Jeff-Are assassins like Corday on Find-A-Grave as well? I would think UFO "victims" like Capt. Mantell should be on there.

I have to pay regarding Fed Tax so I'm in no hurry to send it in. That's good though because it means the government gave me an interest free loan.

So where is Spitzer's photo going?

[Vila]

It looks as if the Atlanta tornado news in my earlier post was premature. Lyn and I just got home from doing a little grocery shopping in Danielsville. One of my LiveJournal friends had posted a link to the The Atlanta Journal website with some additional details on last night's storm. I'm afraid that there were casualties after all. Two dead and 30 injured, with one of the injured in critical condition. Atlanta is bracing for the next wave of the storm system. It should hit here about two to three hours after passing over Atlanta. Here is the link:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/03/14/domeburst_0315.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Atlanta hasn't seen damage like this since a fire in 1917, or Sherman's arson during the Civil War back in 1864. But from the damage that was caused last night, it is clear that everyone was lucky that the loss of life was not far worse.

All police, firefighters, EMTs, hospital staff and electrical power emergency crews are to be commended for their work in this emergency. Everyone is working as hard as they can and dreading the next wave of the storm.

Vila

PS: We're fine here, so far. Lyn and I keep the house ready for bad weather and loss of electricty. By the time the storm reaches us it should be far weaker.

[Mike Covell]

The Taken boxset was pretty pricey but I bought it on release. It is worth it though because there is a really long documentary, and loads of other bits.

The Colour of Magic is to be shown on TV in the UK over Easter, there have already been behind the scene's documentaries on Sky 1, who commissioned it.

It has been really grey, foggy and wet here all day, i cleared out the spare room, and watched American Gangster, the Extended Cut, it was amazing, even the wife liked it!!

[Mayerling]

Hi all,

No tornadoes here-just more snow.

Jeff-Are assassins like Corday on Find-A-Grave as well? I would think UFO "victims" like Capt. Mantell should be on there.

I have to pay regarding Fed Tax so I'm in no hurry to send it in. That's good though because it means the government gave me an interest free loan.

So where is Spitzer's photo going?

Hi Stan,

I don't know where Spitzer's photo is going. Maybe McGreevey's or Larry Craig's photos will join it one day - it may be with Governor Sulzer's photo (by the way, Sulzer's portrait is the only one of a State Governor which is not up in the Governor's Mansion in Albany; I bet they won't have Spitzer's up either).

Oddly enough, when I went to the city I bought an autograph signed by then Mayor John T. Hoffman in 1867, and co-signed by Richard Conolly, Tweed's Comptroller, for $2,500.00 (1867 money - like about $50 -$60,000.00 today)
that is to be paid to a lawyer for a client who is owed a debt by the city. The lawyer is David Dudley Field, creator of the classic "Field Code" which was the basis for the modern New York State Civil Procedure Code in court.
Field was the brother of Cyrus Field, the financier who was responsible for the Atlantic Cable, Stephen Field, the Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1863 to 1897, and Rev. Martyn Field, who was the husband of Henrietta Deluzy-Desportes (the governess, and possible mistress of the
Duke of Praslin who murdered his wife in 1847). Autograph collecting can be fun!

Some criminals are in the FIND A GRAVE (I did Landru the other day). But those threads frequently get overheated due to passions against (or even for) certain figures. Corday I believe is there. So is Booth, Guiteau, Payne - Powell, Atzerodt, Herold, the Surratts, Mudd, Spangler, Arnold, O'Laughlin, Czolgosz, Oswald, Cream, Chapman, and several other criminals. Not all of them. By the way, figures like Bonaparte, Cromwell, Robespierre, Huey Long, and others of similar controversies still have their supporters.

Keep away from those cyclones in Atlanta. And those building cranes in Manhattan (one fell today and killed four in an apartment house).

Best wishes,

Jeff

[sdreid]

Hi Jeff,

Yes, I saw about that crane disaster on the news. Those things never look like they're too stable.

I guess they are having a lot of trouble with gawkers in Atlanta. At best, that's an invasion of privacy and, at worst, sadistic.

Female assassins like Corday are pretty rare although President Ford probably wouldn't agree with that.