Recently watched movies

[Maria]

Thank you for the nice welcome Victoria:

I also love period dramas very much, the language, the sumptuous surroundings, the clothes, the different manners that are a thing of the past. Nowadays, values like honour, loyalty, respect or good manners, have sadly died in our contemporary society, where greed, ruthlessness, cruelty, egocentricity and impatience are praised as some sort of virtues !

Yes ! The Tuscany long weekend was marvellous with our dear friend Carlo. He let us use one of his apartments which was really lovely, it had wooden beams in the ceilings, it used to be a palazzo which a relative of his converted into several apartments. Carlo bought two of these so he let us use it.

Carlo went to pick-us up at the airport in Pisa and so the next day we went to Florence the capital of Tuscany by train from Arezzo where he lives. The views from Arezzo are espectacular and as a painter I was in heaven ! Once we arrived in Florence we went to a quaint restaurant which only the locals know about to eat real Tuscan food with local wine. We walked around the building of the Ufizzi Gallery which I have been several times on my own without two impatient men with me and of course Ponte Vecchio, as you know, just across from it in the corner they sell the best ice-cream in Florence, we walked for what it seemed miles on end and whenever we asked Carlo if we where there yet he would invariable say: " It is just around the corner " his just around the corner, was usually another five miles !

The following day on Sunday, Carlo took us to a mediaval hill top town called San Gimignano and the view from there, was even more beautiful. At the town entrance we bought gelato ( ice-cream ) which was out of this world ! from a family own business which has been manufacturing their ice-cream from the 1800´s The town dates back from the 300 hundreds and its main feature are the 4 beautiful towers where you can see the countryside as far as the eye can see... and in the evening, the grey stones bathed by the sun light they turn golden whilst the clouds turn rose and orange against a Prussian blue ski.

- Maria

[Ally]

I also love period dramas very much, the language, the sumptuous surroundings, the clothes, the different manners that are a thing of the past. Nowadays, values like honour, loyalty, respect or good manners, have sadly died in our contemporary society, where greed, ruthlessness, cruelty, egocentricity and impatience are praised as some sort of virtues !

I'm sure I am not the only one who sees the total irony in praising the "manners"' of a the past and the evils of contemporary society, and the story being held up as an example of the times when people had honour, loyalty, respect, lack of greed or ruthlessness and cruelty is the tale of a man who divorced his faithful wife for a piece of ass, killed the piece of ass when he tired of her and she didn't give him what she wanted, threw an entire society in religious chaos for his own selfish whims and all about were people scheming, plotting, etc. etc. etc. Yep. Absolutely no greed, ruthlessness, cruelty or egocentricity in times past. There isn't an eyeroll big enough.

[Robert]

Mike, I had to watch, re-watch and re-re-watch etc Postman Pat, Lion King, Fireman Sam, Thomas the Tank Engine, Wizard of Oz, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Sooty, Rainbow, Rod, Jane and Freddie, the list goes on...........

[Mike Covell]

My four year old boy loves Ghostbusters!!

He has the dvd boxset, cartoons, books, massive posters and went to nursary and taught all the kids the "Who ya gonna call...."

We do watch some good stuff together, he loved "Goonies" and "Short Circuit" and can often be heard shouting "Johnny 5 is alive!!"

I am hoping to get him into "Star Wars" an "Indiana Jones" next!!

[sdreid]

Two weeks back, I watched The Assassination of Jesse James and liked it although not that much.

I'm going to watch The Man in the Attic on iWear tonight.

[Doctor X]

Wish they had released a DVD of Queen of Hearts.

--J.D.

[Maria]

Robert & Mike:

There is a new Indiana Jones film which will be released shortly. Harry Potter is very good for children as well as the Terry Pratchett films although the Christmas one I think it might be too scary for sensitive children.

The Lord Of The Rings is for children who like to read fantasy tales as a bed time story first and then see the film. Another good one that I recommend highly is: Beatrice Potter that was really an enchanting wonderful film which I think it will appeal to small children as her drawings of Peter Rabbit become alive and the film tells about her truly remarkable life and how she became one of the founders of our beloved National Trust with the vision of keeping our heritage for the enjoyment of future generations in a trust which continues on, very strong today even 100 years after her death.

- Maria

[Victoria]

Gelato

Maria,

sounds like the trip was good, and did a lot in a few days,
I love Florence also.
You said, "as you know, just across from it in the corner
they sell the best ice-cream in Florence" ... I presume you mean
'Vivolvi' .. not far from Santa Croce, absolutely delicious .. I do
also think though .. that the atmosphere, adds to the flavour of the gelato.

Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Miss Potter .. with Renee Zellweger, she was so good in it, the end was a bit too sad for me.
Surely not just for children? .. I love them too ..
And lets not forget 'Narnia' .. the filming, everything, love it.

Victoria

[The Good Michael]

I think what I hate about period pieces is that they are usually about a very tiny segment of society who, though having some sort of code of honor within their circle, treated the rest of the world like so much trash. They were the complete opposite of moral. It still can be seen today with the 'Sir', 'Von', 'Van' and 'De' folk, and to a different extent in America's corporate nobility. It's great to be someone up there, devoid of obligation and compassion. There aren't enough spots to go around.

Mike

[Mike Covell]

Robert & Mike:

There is a new Indiana Jones film which will be released shortly.
- Maria

All the more reason to get him intrested!

Indiana Jones and The Curse of The Crystal Skull looks amazing, the trailer is full of action and even the usual witty remarks made by Ford as Jones.
I played the theme tune for my son and he loved it, still cannot get him to stop shouting "Who you gonna call?" though!!

[mikey559]

Henry VIII

I'm sure I am not the only one who sees the total irony in praising the "manners"' of a the past and the evils of contemporary society, and the story being held up as an example of the times when people had honour, loyalty, respect, lack of greed or ruthlessness and cruelty is the tale of a man who divorced his faithful wife for a piece of ass, killed the piece of ass when he tired of her and she didn't give him what she wanted, threw an entire society in religious chaos for his own selfish whims and all about were people scheming, plotting, etc. etc. etc. Yep. Absolutely no greed, ruthlessness, cruelty or egocentricity in times past. There isn't an eyeroll big enough.

Ally my Goddess,

You forgot to add that he went from being extremely physically fit, playing Tennis daily, hunting and horse back riding on a regular basis to being the fattest Monarch England had ever seen. He ended up developing all of the diseases that go with over eating of rich food, including gout and diabetes.

But I digress, we were actually talking about the movie. It didn't show that the woman with the most ambition was Mama Boelyn. She sent her daughters and her neices off to the Royal courts of Europe fully expecting them to be bedded before they were wedded. Katherine Howard, another of Henry's wives was a Boelyn cousin. I enjoyed the movie as I enjoy most period pieces, but it wasn't very factual.

Mikey

[Robert]

Henry VII was the man. Henry VIII cut his own throat by selling off lands dirt cheap to aristos.

[Maria]

Maria,

sounds like the trip was good, and did a lot in a few days,
I love Florence also.
You said, "as you know, just across from it in the corner
they sell the best ice-cream in Florence" ... I presume you mean
'Vivolvi' .. not far from Santa Croce, absolutely delicious .. I do
also think though .. that the atmosphere, adds to the flavour of the gelato.

Lord of the Rings
Harry Potter
Miss Potter .. with Renee Zellweger, she was so good in it, the end was a bit too sad for me.
Surely not just for children? .. I love them too ..
And lets not forget 'Narnia' .. the filming, everything, love it.

Victoria

Hi Victoria ! Yes Vivolvi that´s the one !

Not too bad eh ? Well the continent its only a couple of hours away by plane so this is easily done. I have a friend who lives in Brighton who does his shopping in France every weekend he simple takes the ferry, there are other people who live in France and conmute to London to work, this way they can afford to own a house and earn pounds sterlings which is a stronger currency than the Euro.

I wanted to do this years ago, but Peter did not like the idea.

I liked the Beatrix Potter film very much but I must confess I do fall asleep with Harry Potter and Terry Pratchett, I have no idea why it has that soporific effect on me. My husband Peter adores Terry Pratchett, Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings and he devours every single book as soon as it is announced the books have been released and of course we have to sit with the little children at the cinema too. with all their screams of excitement ! I only wake up when they scream.

All the more reason to get him intrested!

Indiana Jones and The Curse of The Crystal Skull looks amazing, the trailer is full of action and even the usual witty remarks made by Ford as Jones.
I played the theme tune for my son and he loved it, still cannot get him to stop shouting "Who you gonna call?" though!!

Yes Mike I do love the Indiana Jones adventures with the archaelogical findings and The Crystal Skull sounds interesting it must be based on the real life finding of a perfect crystal skull found in one of the ruins in Belize ( British Honduras ) although there is a controversy about this finding as some believe it was planted there by the man who founded it, I was following this controversy years ago as I´m really interested in Maya ruins and culture which was a highly advanced civilization that existed around Cancún, Merida, Guatemala, and also the North part of Honduras in Copán.

Every year, my husband and I go to see different ruins of this remarkable culture; highly sophisticated in their achievements which are the best in the American Continent. This year we went to Chichén Itzá and Xcaret in Quintana Ro. Mexico. The Mayas were doing tooth fillings with jade and also incredibly... brain surgery with success as well since the archaelogists have found bodies with healed cuttings in the skulls. So this crystal skull its a bit of a mystery.

Mike I´m sure you are a wonderful father to your children and it is a bonus to them to have your musical influence in their lives too. You have to go and see: " August Rush " it is about an Irish little boy and I won´t say anymore as I do not want to spoil it for you, but it is about music in a way that it blew me up. It is fantastic, this is a film I won´t ever forget as long as I live.

- Maria

[Mike Covell]

There was actually more than one crystal discovery all at ruins which makes it all the more mysterious, when wind hits the skulls they emit a tone which many believe is a form of singing!
Another mystery of the skulls is that when light is shone into them they have strange reflective prisms!

I would love to know who made them, they are lovely.

With most films we usually wait until they are released on rental, when I was first ill we went to the movies and I almost passed out becuase my heart was one on, i was dizzy and felt sick, I often run out of movie theatres to be sick, until I get my heart sorted, we will watch films at home!

My son, Bradley want's to watch "Finding Nemo" when he comes home from nursary, but I will take him to the museums in town first, I love teaching him about our history.

I have a photo of my grandfather on my computer, which was posted on here somewere. He has his thumbs up and is smiling, despite he house being partially destroyed by the Blitz, both my son and daughter always show him the thumbs up which is really touching.

[Doctor X]

Crystal Skulls Explained

--J.D.