Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 591773 times)

marjifay · « **Reply #1640 on:** May 24, 2011, 11:27:27 PM »

So many movies – how do you choose what to watch?
Reviews? Recommendations? Actors? Availability?
Do you choose a movie the same way you choose a book?

And where do you like to watch most of your movies?
Do you stream movies from Netflix and other places?
Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever watched a film?

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Your Discussion Leader: pedln

Travel alone or with VERY good friends.

Very good advice, Roshanarose. Altho' I never had any trouble traveling with friends. I remember everyone wanted to spend a day at that big department store in London. I went instead to the British Museum by myself and loved every minute of it. (I hate to shop)

Marj

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1641 on:** May 25, 2011, 03:04:15 AM »

Good points Roshanarose!

re my house - I think you will have to book...

re travelling - I agree; we had a really terrible holiday once when we went away with a family whom I had known for years, but whose children (who were the same age as mine and whom I had known since they were born) turned out to be the offspring from hell. However, I have been to Italy twice with a girlfriend and had a good time, and I have UK jollies with a very good friend with whom I have great fun, although we do always limit it to 3 or 4 days, which is probably enough (it's certainly enough for my liver). I am not as intrepid as you and am not sure I could cope by myself, although I can certainly see that you would meet far more people that way.

re husband - no, he is English not Scottish; we had visited Mull on holiday and thought it would be nice to get married there. My SIL was not happy (it was a freezing cold day in April, with snow blowing) but we enjoyed it!

Marjifay - Harrods or the BM? A day in Harrods would be my idea of hell. But as you say, you worked out a compromise. The only trouble with the BM, in my opinion, is that it is so busy - but the same is true of so many places.

Rosemary

marjifay · « **Reply #1642 on:** May 25, 2011, 01:08:36 PM »

Harrods or the BM? A day in Harrods would be my idea of hell. But as you say, you worked out a compromise. The only trouble with the BM, in my opinion, is that it is so busy - but the same is true of so many places.

Harrods, Rosemary. (I don't know what BM is) I never did get to Harrods, but don't feel I missed much, especially when you feel it would have been a visit to hell. LOL

Marj

Frybabe · « **Reply #1643 on:** May 25, 2011, 01:58:48 PM »

If BM is British Museum, I'd be there. Like the Smithsonian, though, you can't do it all in one day. My sister, on the other hand, would opt for Harrods.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1644 on:** May 25, 2011, 02:10:41 PM »

Sorry yes, I meant the British Museum, was in a rush....

JoanK · « **Reply #1645 on:** May 25, 2011, 03:17:05 PM »

Here BM has another connotation.

" met great people whom I would not have met had I been travelling with another person. " I have the opposite experience when I travel with my son. He will stop and talk to anyone, so I meet people I never would have met by my shyer self.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1646 on:** May 25, 2011, 03:48:12 PM »

JoanK - Oh dear. I don't think I want to know what that is....

How lovely that your son can talk to people - two of my children are as consumed with shyness as I was and largely still am, and the middle one is only a bit more confident. However, I do find that as the years go by I worry less and less about what people might think

Rosemary

maryz · « **Reply #1647 on:** May 25, 2011, 06:29:55 PM »

Re travelling with others: The only people we travel with are John's sister and brother-in-law, and they feel the same way. We've gone twice with other couples who were (and remain) some of our oldest and dearest friends. But we won't travel with them again. Just different styles. We went with John's s&bil on our recent trip to Cambodia & Vietnam. We like to do a lot of the same things, but have no problems with going off on our own, either - that's what makes it work.

Babi · « **Reply #1648 on:** May 26, 2011, 08:41:23 AM »

Quote

"I do find that as the years go by I worry less and less about what people
might think."

ROSEMARY
And isn't that a blessing?

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1649 on:** May 26, 2011, 11:50:11 AM »

Absolutely Babi!!

maryz · « **Reply #1650 on:** May 26, 2011, 12:45:59 PM »

Definitely!

roshanarose · « **Reply #1651 on:** May 27, 2011, 11:54:27 PM »

Harrod's and British Museum - no contest there! I have no money and Harrod's is expensive. No point in self-torment by looking with your nose pressed up against the window, I say. I think some days the BM has free days, obviously days to avoid, but I would definitely make it a must see. I have been to the Smithsonian and had one of the happiest days of my life there. I am addicted to Museums. My favourites were the NASA one, the Geology one and my absolute favourites Modern Art. I have a pic of Mondrians, Picassos and Dali. They just shine in the original, no photo can ever capture their beauty and the skill of the artist. I esp loved the art books, but couldn't buy any as I knew I would exceed my baggage allowance. The Americans and the world deserve such a treasure as the Smithsonian.

A bit more about shopping. I have taken to going "pseudo shopping", at first a very frustratuing practice. The idea is to have no money (that part is easy) and spend a couple of hours looking at beautiful things that you want to buy. I also call it reconaissance shopping. By the time I get my pension and have my $2.50 spending money and DO go shopping, I have been cured of wanting, wanting, wanting. Sounds strange, but for me it works.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1652 on:** May 28, 2011, 03:16:40 AM »

Roshanarose, I completely agree - I don't go "real" shopping (as opposed to the never ending grocery shopping) often at all, but when I do I just browse around, think "oh that's nice", then go home. I often think if I had bought this or that thing, would it have brought me any lasting pleasure? And 9 out of 10 times, at least, the answer is not really. However, I can assure you that my teenagers do not find this method of any assistance

I don't know when you last went to London, but the British Museum is in fact free to enter - you only have to pay if you want to see one of the special exhibitions. There was a short period of time, a while ago, when the govt of the day brought in museum admission charges - there was a huge amount of opposition to this and eventually they were dropped. And I should think so too. There was something on the news yesterday about the huge rise in alcohol related hospital admissions - so if my taxes are paying for things like that, I think they should also be funding universal access to knowledge and culture.

I also loved the Museum of Modern Art in New York, but my favourite museum is the Victoria & Albert in London.

Rosemary

Frybabe · « **Reply #1653 on:** May 28, 2011, 08:50:00 AM »

When we were in London and because we had a limited time, we went to the Victoria and Albert and the Queen's Exhibit. I don't know where the Queen's exhibition was but at the time it featured Da Vinci's notebook drawings of his machines and the deluge, etc. At the Victoria and Albert museum, I irritated my sister to no end taking my time viewing the landscape paintings of John Constable and a few others whose names I have forgotten. I see that the V&A has transformed itself considerably since I was there. We did not visit the British Museum which bummed my out some. In deference to my sister's interest in Broadway, we went to see Man from La Mancha when Richard Kiley played the lead role. Do not tell my sister I actually enjoyed it. I am not a musical play or movie fan.

CallieOK · « **Reply #1654 on:** May 28, 2011, 01:39:17 PM »

The first time I was in London, I was determined not to set foot in a museum because I wanted to see all the "sights". I was also with my family, who weren't - and aren't - museum lovers.

The second time, I was with a tour group and spent a most delightful day at the BM - looking at things I wanted to see and for as long as I wanted to spend.
The Elgin Marbles absolutely took my breath away.

Having also seen the Parthenon, I wonder what would have happened to them if they had not been taken to England?

JoanK · « **Reply #1655 on:** May 28, 2011, 02:26:32 PM »

The one time I was in London, we stayed in Russell Square, where the british museum is located, and I could hardly get my husband out of the museum to see other things. Wonderful.

Isn't the Smithsonian great! I used to work nearby: on my lunch I would walk over to the Mall, go in one of the buildings, spend 15 minutes looking at ONE THING(!) and go back to work. I realized I could do this forever, and not see everything.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1656 on:** May 28, 2011, 03:59:03 PM »

Joank - Good on you re going to the Smithsonian. I worked in London for many years (a long time ago!) and used to spend my lunch hours wandering about looking at the churches, going to the street markets or - esp if the weather was bad - going to the public library. When I worked in Campden Hill (between Kensington High Street and Notting Hill) I used to go to Holland Park and just enjoy the peace and quiet, although we were also blessed with a staff room where we could at least read novels, etc. In Cambridge I used to go to the Botanic Garden. It is so enriching to the soul to enjoy something beautiful, whether it be art or nature, for a little while.

I have never been able to understand those people who don't go out at lunchtime, even if only for a walk. At my last firm in Aberdeen, many of the secretaries simply sat at their desks and did on-line shopping in their lunch breaks - I was fortunate in being able to walk home, but if I hadn't been so close, I would still have pottered about somewhere. I suppose I always resented giving the firm any more of my time than I had to! My husband rarely takes lunch breaks, but when he does he runs up Arthur's Seat (the extinct volcano hill in Edinburgh) - each to their own I suppose!

Rosemary

marjifay · « **Reply #1657 on:** May 28, 2011, 05:28:50 PM »

I loved visiting the Smithsonian museums. It's been awhile, but I still remember how amazed I was at how small Charles Lindbergh's airplane was. (I almost said Jimmy Stewart's LOL)

My friend and I are going tomorrow to visit a little ghost town in Southern California -- Randsburg. Never been there, but people still live there mining gold and running a couple of little stores. There are a couple museums near there we want to see also, with stuff from the Mojave Desert. (We're probably the only people who visit the Las Vegas area just to sightsee, but skip the gambling casinos.)

On the way home, we're going to stop at the little town of Boron (Twenty Mule Team Borax -- remember? They still mine it there). Also they have the best Mexican restaurant -- Domingo's. Don't ever get within 100 miles of Boron without stopping at Domingo's -- best food, service, and margaritas around. And dessert to die for of flan topped with whipped cream drizzled with chocolate syrup and a marachino cherry on top! OMG. Can't wait for tomorrow!

Hope everyone has a nice holiday.

Marj

Frybabe · « **Reply #1658 on:** May 28, 2011, 05:52:11 PM »

I remember Arthur's Seat. We went around it on the way to Holyrood, if I recall correctly.

PatH · « **Reply #1659 on:** May 28, 2011, 10:07:52 PM »

JoanK and I grew up in Washington, DC, and I thought of the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art as my own personal turf. It was a shock when I realized that mostly, a person had to pay to go into a museum. A childhood ambition was to slide down the banisters of the staircase in the National Gallery. It's a good thing I never got to try it. I probably would have killed myself. They are wide, elegant marble things, going down a very long way, with nothing to stop you at the end from sailing off to land on the marble floor.

Marjifay, do toast your friends here with your margarita (if you're having one). Or with your first bite of flan.

roshanarose · « **Reply #1660 on:** May 28, 2011, 10:14:50 PM »

Rosemary - Alas. I have never been to London. UK is the land of my ancestors, but evidently the lovely ivy covered villa my family owned in now no more.

Margarita and flan - I would be in Heaven!

I won't spoil everybody's day by giving my opinion of the location of the Elgin Marbles, but just to say that there is a place waiting for them in the new Athens Acropolis Museum.

Have a fine holiday. Lest we Forget!

Babi · « **Reply #1661 on:** May 29, 2011, 08:37:37 AM »

On my one trip to London I managed to visit both the Tate and the BM. By great good fortune
the BM was featuring an exhibit of gold work made, to everyone's amazement, by a nomadic
tribe. They were Thracians, from Bulgaria, and the work was beautiful. The big surprise was
that until these were found, it was also assumed that quality gold work could only be done by
settled peoples; certainly not be people who spent most of their time on horseback.
I also had lunch at a pub in Stratford-on-Avon, and found rotisserie broiled mutton and gooseberry tart to be absolutely delicious.

Octavia · « **Reply #1662 on:** June 07, 2011, 02:36:50 AM »

Wow Babi, the exhibit sounds beautiful!
Growing up on a sheep station has put me off mutton for life. It was the only meat we had, apart from chicken on Christmas Day.
I've just started to read Ghost by Robert Harris and realise it must be the book that the movie Ghostwriter with Ewan McGregor is based on. I'm a fan of Ewan's so have the movie ordered on BigPond. If someone's read the book, is it any good?

Gumtree · « **Reply #1663 on:** June 07, 2011, 04:25:46 AM »

Octavia - I'm following you around today - Definitely with you in regard to the 'mutton' - not a favourite of mine - but spring lamb is another matter...

I like Robert Harris though haven't read much of his work - Pompeii and I have Imperium waiting on the coffee table - Review of Ghost sounds good so I guess there's another for my TBR pile. - Will also order the DVD from Bigpond- I like Ewan McGregor too.

Babi · « **Reply #1664 on:** June 07, 2011, 08:44:25 AM »

I saw the movie, and I will only say it had a most surprising ending. I will say no more. I didn't
realize the book was by the Robert Harris who wrote Pompeii and Imperium. It seems quite a
departure from his usual milieu.

Tomereader1 · « **Reply #1665 on:** June 07, 2011, 10:11:29 AM »

Pompeii was a magnificent book. We did it in our f2f book group and all were totally enthralled! Yes, Ghostwriter was done from Harris' "Ghost", which we also did in f2f. Loved that one too. I liked Imperium, but it was a bit dryer than Pompeii.

pedln · « **Reply #1666 on:** June 07, 2011, 11:01:58 AM »

I've never tasted mutton, but love lamb -- that's a real treat. We never had it growing up because my aunt, who did most of the cooking, didn't like mutton, and she wasn't going to fix lamb. Had my first lamb chops after I was married, and from then on it was everybody's birthday choice.

I really liked Harris' Pompeii, haven't read Imperium, The Ghost ( and the movie The Ghost Writer) were so so. I gave it three netflix stars.

What are the Five Star movies you all have seen? My latest are The King's Speech and The Social Network, and also a Robert DeNiro -- Everybody's Fine -- about a widower who sets out to visit his children because they don't come to visit him.

And I just returned Disc 1, Season 1 of American Dreams -- set in Philly in the 1960's, about the Pryor family and American Bandstand. Delightful, 5 stars. I took a chance on this one because it didn't say anything about captions or subtitles, but they're there.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1667 on:** June 07, 2011, 11:40:49 AM »

Pedln - the girls and I recently watched Some Like It Hot for the nth time, it is definitely one of our 5 star films. Also recently re-watched Vera Drake, another work of genius. Favourite film recently seen at the cinema would have to be Oranges & Sunshine. And another old favourite I have just thought of - Stand By Me - wonderful.

Rosemary

Octavia · « **Reply #1668 on:** June 07, 2011, 08:37:56 PM »

Rosemarykaye, I hadn't heard of Oranges and Sunshine till now. I knew the story of the deported children of course, and had seen documentaries. I've just watched the trailer and I'll put it on my list.
It sounds as if I'll enjoy the movie and the book. I'm only a chapter into it, so far.
Gumtree, as long as you're not stalking me, I don't mind

.

roshanarose · « **Reply #1669 on:** June 07, 2011, 11:31:40 PM »

Don't worry Octavia, Gum stalks me too. She is like my "virtual conscience/editor".

Who doesn't love Ewan McGregor? The first time I saw him was in that UK mini-series "Lipstick on my Collar". I was smitten

I was slightly put off lamb by "Silence of the Lambs". Now I can't stomach it at all. And since I saw what those abbattoir workers were doing to those poor cattle in Indonesia, I am now off beef. There seems to be many reasons not to eat meat at all. Price, source and origin are all factors. I love fish but for a big country surrounded by water our seafood is too expensive. I buy prawns sometimes, my cat Roxana Taj loves the tiny prawns. I adore oysters and try to eat them at least once a week.

A bit off-topic sorry

Gumtree · « **Reply #1670 on:** June 08, 2011, 01:47:15 AM »

Quote

Gumtree, as long as you're not stalking me, I don't mind

Octavia

Quote

Don't worry Octavia, Gum stalks me too. She is like my "virtual conscience/editor".

Roshanarose

What have I done ? It's the time zone thing - I usually come in not so very long after the pair of you and sometimes there you are as the last post on every page I go into - but you've got to admit it Roshanarose - someone has to keep you in order

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1671 on:** June 08, 2011, 01:49:44 AM »

I hope you enjoy it Octavia - although "enjoy" is maybe not the right word - but it is a fantastic film. Emily Watson is a brilliant actress, and you do get the light relief of admiring David Wenham

- although since Anna pointed him out as one of the numerous people with strange names in the Lord of the Rings films, I'm not so sure about him.....

Rosemary

Mippy · « **Reply #1672 on:** June 08, 2011, 06:55:02 AM »

... just catching up ... and off subject ...
JoanK and PatH ~ So true about the Smithsonian. We lived in D.C. and suburbs for 16 years, and I've been to so many of the museums so many times, with and without the kids. If I still lived there, I'd pay to go again!

My best memory (from 1993, perhaps) is sitting and sketching one of the statues, wearing black, sitting on the floor, killing time during a slow week in grad school (Biology, not Art). A guy stood watching me for a while, then came over, looked over my shoulder, and asked if I was an art TEACHER ! What a nice thing to say! I'll remember that day for a long time.

Babi · « **Reply #1673 on:** June 08, 2011, 08:48:20 AM »

"The King's Speech" won high marks with me. I remember the DeNiro film, also.
Surprisingly good, considering the 'plot'. I would recommend either.

MaryPage · « **Reply #1674 on:** June 08, 2011, 10:49:54 AM »

Last weekend I want waaaaaaay back in time and watched ROBIN HOOD on Turner Movie Channel. The 1938 version with Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone and Olivia Dehaviland. Heaven! Went back to my 9 year old self and had a truly splendid time!

Octavia · « **Reply #1675 on:** June 08, 2011, 07:27:44 PM »

Take note Gumtree, that I said "as long as", it was Roshanarose who actually accused you

.
Roshanarose, how did your cat get such an exotic name?
I've finished Ghost and was really into it.
Babi, I see what you mean about the ending, when I read the last page I just said"Ohhh!"
People online were saying Robert Harris is the master of mystery fiction so he's obviously written others.

roshanarose · « **Reply #1676 on:** June 08, 2011, 11:27:54 PM »

Gum said ".....someone has to keep you in order." Such familiar words that I have heard all through my life. I blame it on my Scorpio Rising.

Octavia - Yes it is a beautiful name my cat has. She is beautiful to go with it. If you would like to see some pix of her (and many others) you can visit my photostream in Flickr. My name on there is karahaz. The origin of the her name is two fold. Alexander on his way through Bactria, northern Afghanistan today, took a liking to the local princess. She bore him a child. Anyway, the princess was called Roxane/Roxana. The second part "Taj" is in honour of a lovely little Afghan girl I know called Taj Gul. Gul means flower. I like to give my cats noble names, so they need to live up to them. Also I once had a friendly possum called Persephone.

Rosemary - David Wenham is one of those actors who turn up in all sorts of places. He also appeared in the Graphic film "300" with rippling solar plexus (which I think were moulded plastic). He is a bit of a dish and has a loyal following of admiring female fans here. Hugo Weaving, the other Australian actor in the movie you mentioned, has a very long and distinguished CV. I liked him in "Matrix"; "Priscilla:Queen of the Desert" and he was the King of the Elves ? in LOTR. Another Australian in LOTR was Miranda Otto.

Babi · « **Reply #1677 on:** June 09, 2011, 08:09:25 AM »

Quote

"I like to give my cats noble names, so they need to live up to them."

And do you find that works, ROSHANA? I tend to name my cats after some trait they exhibit. I've never
found any cat that lives according to any expectations other than its own.

LOTR is the only one of those films I've seen, but the 'king' of the elves I greatly
admired. Glad to learn who he was.

rosemarykaye · « **Reply #1678 on:** June 09, 2011, 09:51:35 AM »

Our cats were named after Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor, and I must say they are exemplary divas. Gracie is very serene, not unlike her namesake - Lizzie is a complete nutter who has already burnt her whiskers on the gas cooker, pulled out a lot of her hair, and swung perilously from a duvet cover hanging over the top banisters in our old house (ie three flights up). Last night she got shut in the cupboard and I was woken by Gracie wailing at 4am to let me know that I needed to Do Something.

Rosemary

pedln · « **Reply #1679 on:** June 09, 2011, 11:12:21 AM »

Rosemary, thanks for the film suggestions. I've added Some LIke it Hot and Vera Drake (how did I ever miss that one) to my Netflix queue (which now numbers 212). Stand by Me (seen years ago and now forgotten) is in my Amazon cart, to maybe be stuck in a future order. Maybe someday I'll decide to order popover tins, although most of the time the muffin tins work fine.

In spite of the many negative reviews and comments I watched The Tourist last night. I liked it and gave it 4 stars. I thought it was funny, and Johnny Depp is so "lovable?" Of course it's very scenic, but I kept wondering if it were really Venice or just good graphics.

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Author Topic: Movies & Books Into Movies (Read 591773 times)