Movies & Books Into Movies

[PatH]

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[PatH]

The ways artists relate to their audiences are fascinating, aren't they.  My favorite example is Daniel Day-Lewis.  Once he accepts a role, he doesn't just create a mask, he lives the character as much as possible--emotionally and physically, in his daily life, not just on stage.  This is emotionally exhausting, and he has to have long breaks between roles to recover, in fact currently he says he's used up and won't take any more roles.

Incidentally, he's the son of British poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis, who also wrote detective stories under the name Nicholas Blake.  I used to like them; wonder what I'd think of them now.

[ginny]

He IS good, isn't he? I wondered why I hadn't seen him in a while.

I came IN to say that for some reason our PBS station has suddenly starting doing the Antiques Road Trip (the British one) with  Celebrities (like actors in Downton Abbey) and although I don't particularly like the Celebrities ones,  it's so exciting to see the Road Trip on PBS!

It's a lot different from our "Road Antiques shows."  But I still don't think it's as good as the normal show on the BBC.

Still it's very fun to travel with them each time to several  small towns in  the UK,  in each episode,   and then go to an auction and see them compete with their  purchases.

[ginny]

I just stumbled on the strangest thing while watching the Weather Channel. It's something about 401 Rescue or something where these giant tractor trailers on a major (401?) highway have overturned and run off the road and have to be towed upright again.

I recently ran off the road (a country road) in the dark running sideways  down a steep ditch, hit nothing, no overturn, no injury, no car injury but had to be towed back  up onto the road and that was SOME kind of experience, let me tell you. So when I saw this show about it, I was transfixed. I had always wondered how they got out any vehicle which has run off the road like that and is in a deep ditch. Now I know. Fascinating, at least mine was, and the first episode I saw of the tractor trailer with two mammoth tow trucks pulling at it from the road above (which is how they do it) was fascinating. They were across the lanes of traffic.  in my case the wrecker stayed parallel on the road  as if it were driving  (in the wrong lane) and it was a tow up the side of the hill with me steering. That's the last time I drove at night.

[Frybabe]

I saw bits of that program the last week or so. I didn't stick with it, but the last one looked interesting. The cab on the truck was so badly mangled and looked completely burned out that they had to remove it before trying for the trailer. I cannot see how the driver could have survived that.

This morning the Weather Channel had a program showing a dredger crew. I watched a little of that but never heard where they were and didn't recognize the surroundings. This crew included divers. They use a lot of dredgers and work boats along the St. Clair River and the ongoing work at the Soo locks at Sault St. Marie, but I don't remember seeing divers with the crews while they worked. I will have to look closer when things start up again this year. 

[ginny]

Yes, the Weather Channel is really branching out, that one about 401, which is apparently a Canadian road system,  is fascinating. It's put 12 episodes on my timer already. I watched one last night in which the police call for a wrecker and whoever gets there first gets the job. That seems kind of strange to me, is that the way it works here?

I haven't seen the one with the crushed cab, so far the truck cab itself has been OK but the trailers have lost axels or been so full of stuff that they had to be emptied before they could drag the thing out. I didn't realize they were so comparatively flimsy. They didn't show what happened to the stuff which they literally lifted up the front of the trailer and left on the roadside  after using some sort of digger thing to get a lot of the stuff out (bottles of something) and dumped it out like a child would with a toy.

That road system had 10 lanes of traffic one way with a median between the 5 on both sides, 20 lanes of traffic!  THAT'S major traffic.

I came in to say that I thought I'd watch that  Everything Everywhere All at Once movie, and it's definitely Sci Fi?  Or something like it, I don't know the categories in that area. I mean  it's mesmerizing because you can't figure it out? I watched maybe...a half hour of it.... and I want to go back. I may start at the beginning because you are so busy trying to figure out  what's happening or why,  that you think (and that may be the point) you missed something. So far it makes no sense, but at the same time it's strangely compelling.

[Frybabe]

I just read the Wikipedia entry for Everything Everywhere All at Once . Apparently, they didn't know how it categorize it either. The first line states that it is an "American absurdist comedy-drama". Under Themes, it lists a bunch of themes and genres the movie hits on. The article uses the words absurdist, nihilism, and existentialism several times and even mentions Dadaism, an art form I never cared for. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everything_Everywhere_All_at_Once

[BarbStAubrey]

wow reading the wikipedia article is sounds like they took the concepts of quantum theory and attempted to bring it to life - had not thought I wanted to see this movie but now I am curious - sounds like the Flash Gorden of the 21st century

[Tomereader1]

A friend and I went to see the most wonderful movie!  I don't know how many of you get out of the house now to "go to a movie" since Covid shut us down back in 2020.  The movie is: "The Lost King".  It's about one woman's search to locate the missing bones of Richard III.  The Scottish accents are difficult, but it is beautifully filmed and acted.  You may remember his bones being found under a parking lot back in 2012.  My friend had gone to see this last week, and loved it so much (knowing how I like movies like this) she invited me to go see it with her.  Glad I brought some tissues for the ending.  It's really something that needs to be seen and heard on the big screen, but if it ever gets to streaming, the closed captions will be good for the dialog.  Cinematography is awesome.

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow what a movie - if you have not seen Glass Onion you really missed a roller coaster ride - I could not leave it - the movie evidently came out during the Pandemic and even includes characters wearing masks - it is a fantasy or sorts - the story is so fast paced I could not leave the room although I was watching on I think Prime and could have delayed it to do something any time I wanted - I was literally on the edge of my chair - so many analogies and metaphors in the story that can be for any point of view and for many current social, political and world situations - having since read the reviews it appears the writing was not intending to be more than a one thought story it to me was explosive which the story includes a grand explosion.

The British guy that plays the latest Bond was the detective if you would that to me was like a 22nd century Poirot - although reading more and more about Alternative Intelligence the set in the movie may be 21st century in just a few years from now.  I have not seen the new Tom Cruise movie Top Gun but from the excerpts I have seen it too is a non-stop action film as is the Glass Onion -

I'm not familiar with the actors but they are all great in their role - they must be a younger tier of actors and for years I have not been attending the movie theaters for more than just a few big movies that we were going to when Paul and his family were part of a holiday celebration. I think the one actress is the daughter of Goldie Hawn, Kate something and the way she plays her part did remind me of a character off the screen of a Poirot story.

Never thought I would be thrilled with a movie again - for years now movies that made an impression have been far and few between so this Glass Onion movie came as a total surprise.

Thanks Joanne, Lost King sounds interesting - all of a sudden I feel as if life lived as we knew it, that was seeable growth from the 1500s just turned a page - so much now is embracing new technology and new thinking and new allegiances with faith in anything having disappeared. To me it feels like the time between WWI till the Pandemic was one hunk of time and now we are experiencing something very different - I wonder if it will be seen as such by historians and what label they will put on it like they labeled other hunks of time in History - you have to wonder what place, if any history from the past will have in this new world. Although, if the movie I shared Glass Onion is an example of what will be, one of the revered pieces of art in the movie is the Mona Lisa.  I remember when they found the skeleton bones of Richard III but never heard anything more as to where they are now located, assuming they continued to build on that parking lot location.

[Tomereader1]

No one has been in for about 4 days.  So...anyone looking in, I'm wishing you all a beautiful Sunday and a great start to next week.

[ginny]

I don't watch a movie a day, but I'll put in that since I was here last, I watched the last available program in the 9th year of the series Seaside Hotel, the other night,  in Danish with  English subtitles. I'm so hooked on it I think I may start it over. That's the latest one as of 2022.

I agree, Barbara, the Glass Onion is  excellent. I've watched it twice, it's got a lot of things about our modern world that if enough people saw it, we could discuss.

Unlike a lot of people, I don't like MOVIE theaters and don't care if I ever go in another one. Broadway, yes. Movie theaters, no. If you wait  half a minute you can watch it at home in comfort.

The prices for refreshments are through the roof, the theaters are not particularity clean, and I have a bad memory of one from my childhood, vis a vis people hiding in the seats behind one, so as to see several movies without paying, I am sure, but their sudden appearance in the middle of the thing addressing our party out of the dark in an hostile manner was frightening, so despite that experience being decades old, I'll skip that experience unless absolutely necessary. (Which I can't see happening). Come to think of it, that may be why the teenage staff walks to the back of a theater before the show now. I wonder.

Last night I watched Joan Hickson again on Amazon Prime in yet another ancient  Agatha Christie Miss Marple episode. I also watched another half hour  episode of Antiques Road Trip with James Braxton, I like him and Charlie XXX,  and the little historical interest bit this time  focused on Bignor Roman ruins and their mosaics in England.

I still can't understand Everything Everywhere All at Once, or whatever it's called, but it grows on you. Maybe next time. Nothing makes any sense.

 I have also watched on youtube,  a couple of Barbara's old fave recommendation , the  Digi channel,  (which seems somewhat preserved there on youtube,  and on PBS) concerning making over a yard into a garden, in one  day. I seem to have taped 12 of them so far from the local PBS channel. It's pretty amazing, actually, what they can do with your  yard in one day. I wish they'd come here.

It's called The Instant Gardener, and here's one episode, which I have not seen yet:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iICgrEJn9wo

[BarbStAubrey]

For some reason that I cannot pin point I just cannot get into the newest Tom Jones now on PBS - first time a Masterpiece Theater production disappointed - the actor for Tom Jones just does not fit although the telling of the story is in my mind a bit off and so he seems to fit this telling of the story but the whole thing lacks something and bores me and so I'm skipping it - also grown tired of the Midwives - the actors have all aged and some have lost their appeal - the newer actors do not have the same verve and the story line has lost something and so it also is in the pile of no watch...

[PatH]

There was a 1963 movie of Tom Jones with Albert Finney that really caught the spirit of the book. I hadn't thought of it for years, but it would be hard to equal, much less beat.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yes Pat, I think that is part of the problem - without realizing it I've been making that comparison and this PBS version is sadly lacking...

[ginny]

OLDIES BUT GOODIES:

Someone mentioned HAL the computer the other day and I ended up watching 2001 and then 2010 and the first one scared me to death like it did then. hahaha Those are on Amazon Prime.

I finished the Mapp and Lucia (this is the British version and has two years and Georgie in a beard) on BritBox and enjoyed it no end, the one with Geraldine McEwan, I love that cast.

Then I noticed last night that BritBox has the original Avengers, with Patrick McNee and Diana Rigg, and  they are also very good, just as I remembered them, in black and white. Also scary. ahahaha

Next I'm going to try to find the Prisoner, remember that one? The guy who is...chased? By a giant  white  ball?  Can't believe I just wrote that, but do you remember it?

But what brought me IN here was the Documentary 63 UP, remember that? A Michael Apted film. They  have done interviews with some children in Britain every 7 years  since they were in elementary school to see how they turned out. They are now over 63. It's absolutely fascinating.

“THE MOST IMPORTANT BRITISH FILM OF OUR LIFETIME”

David Thomson
Film Critic & Historian
“Inspiring”

Joe Morgenstern
The Wall Street Journal
( On The UP Series)
“VISIONARY. THE NOBLEST PROJECT IN CINEMA HISTORY”

Roger Ebert
(On The UP Series)
“GROUNDBREAKING”

[ginny]

 Oh the BAFTAS!! The British Awards for film.  I had done a cursory look and didn't see anything about my favorite show until the other day when it was all over the news, DERRY GIRLS!!!

Best Female Performance in a Comedy Programme:  Siobhan McSweeney, (Sister Michael),  Best Comedy, and Best Writer, and all wonderfully deserved. Now I need to see if I can find that ceremony on Youtube. I did see her acceptance speech, I'd like to see all of it.

I love their categories. I think they are so much more inclusive than, say, the Oscars.

[BarbStAubrey]

Some years back I started Under the Tuscan Sun and gave up on it - at the time I remember thinking one more divorced women going through the after and all the bumbling that goes with the awkward feeling of being one in a couples world and for years having been a couple even if it was not good was very different than being a single and so it has languished on my book shelves thinking the Italian country side my be its saving grace... Well the other night I bumped into it as a movie on Prime - glad I watched and never finished the book because never having been to Italy I could never have imagined the settings as well as the movie and even the characters were far more charming and less brash then I was reading into the book... it did have me glued since I had only planned on watching a bit - getting to bed and finish watching the following evening - well I couldn't stop in fact I was hardly aware I was so fixed on not only the story that was an interesting blend of house, home, scenery, Italian culture - the works - not sure how close to the book but I enjoyed the movie...

Also saw Chocolat - again seeing the movie was wonderful - I did read the Joanne Harris book years ago and remember reading the scene of the Mayor asleep in the window of the shop on Easter Sunday morning after having more than his fill of Chocolat - however, I had no idea this was the start of a series of 4 books - skipped the 2nd and just ordered the third where she goes back to Lansquenet after having been in Paris which was the setting for the 2ned book. Joanne Harris always writes a good solidly written story - thinking about it I've read more of her books than I realized

[Frybabe]

Lincoln Center is presenting a  new opera July 13-15 based on Olivia E. Butler's Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. I think it has been shown several places (colleges mostly) since 2022.

[ginny]

Oh I like your recommendations for movies, Frybabe! I was the same with the first book about Under the Tuscan Sun, for some reason it annoyed me no end. It really did. I would have never have watched a movie on it. Perhaps now I might try, since you recommend it.

Joanne Harris's book Gentlemen and Players I think is one of the best suspense books I have ever read. It's wonderful. I have not read her Chocolat or seen the movie, two great choices here you've presented.


I'm still watching the Antiques Road Trip, it's just so much better than our  Roadshow, and more fun, too. It's on Prime and sometimes on Youtube. Also watching Jeeves and Woster, on Youtube, and of all things, watching the boat landings in the US, New Smyrna Beach, usually in Florida, on youtube,  Captain Credit Card's and The Big Dan Show particularly. People really do get in awful situations trying to load a boat in a river but now there are so many people filming them for entertainment some really get irritated.  I had no idea it was so dangerous.

For Gardening I like the Instant Gardener, it's an old British Show, they remake a garden in one day but it's fun anyway.

[Frybabe]

Wasn't me, Ginny.

Barb, I both read Under the Tuscan Sun and saw the movie. I can't remember which I did first but loved the movie.

I was cruising about checking out the specials on the Kindles yesterday. What I discovered is that you can read more file formats on them now. Including .epub. The blurb mentioned a conversion program and there was something about a link or better/smoother/faster way to access Libby/Overdrive on the new Kindles. I would have to go investigate which ones have these new features, because I forget as the moment.

Well, that sort of blew my reasons for getting my Kobo. I have the Libre II or plus (whatever!) which looks a lot like Amazon's Oasis. It is really nice to handle with the wide side and buttons (or you can swipe if you want). But it doesn't seem to hold a charge as long as my ancient Paperwhite, is slow to boot up and is now as nice to find your way around the bookstore. I usually go up on the website to find what I want.

Speaking of Kobo, I finally paired my Bluetooth headphones to it. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything to download that wasn't super expensive. They don't seem to have very many sales, and I see only a few at a time. Also, I find their selections a bit less than inspiring. Of course, I only looked around for a little while and only once since I got the earphones paired. BTW, it is awesome for sound, IMO. I got one that had a good rating for audiobook files as well as music.

[Tomereader1]

I was told by an old friend, who is also a voracious reader (and former teacher) that the movie, Under the Tuscan Sun, bore no relation to the book.  However, I have watched the movie dozens of times, and love it each and every time.  Can't say that I wanted to read the book after friend's dissing of the movie.  "Chocolat" is also one of my very favorites, and my f2f book club read it, and enjoyed, enough to read the 2nd book.  I loved that movie too, and I think the casting was simply awesome! Another movie that I think we might enjoy,(I've seen it several times) is "Letters to Juliet".  It is, in a movie, what a cosy is to a book.  Very sweet, good ending! If I can remember correctly, Vanessa Redgrave is in it.  I'll have to check that to make sure.

Lovely to see us posting in this category also.  But, we might have opened the spigot on this topic, at least for me, as I watch a lot of movies, (most of which wouldn't interest any of you as I am also an action/adventure person). 
Earlier, well, last night actually, I thought of another movie I'd like to see again, "Hearts in Atlantis". With Anthony Hopkins.  I don't know if it was based on a book. I have six other movies that I return to often, nice clean pictures.  If anyone is interested, I will post those later.

[Frybabe]

Well, you aren't the only one who likes action/adventure. My favorite classics are 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Call of the Wild. Many of my Science Fiction fit into the action/adventure category with plenty of books by Jack McDevitt, Arthur C. Clark, Tolkien, Ursula K. La Guin, H. G. Wells, and others.

Off the top of my head, I'd say tha

[ginny]

Tome!! Me. too, on the movies.

Thing is with movies, they are their own art, to sort of coin a phrase from Metro Goldwyn Mayor's Ars Gratia Artis, Art for the Sake of Art, and so no matter how close to the book they do  take on their own being as they should.

Since you said that I will look for it, but the book REALLY got on my last nerve for some reason.

I have never heard of Letters to Juliet OR Hearts of Atlantis, and will look for both.

What IS Action and Adventure, Tome and Frybabe? I don't think I will be watching any Tom Cruise, but perhaps the Indiana Jones? Has anybody here seen the new one? I hear it's not so good.

Oh, sorry, Frybabe, and Barbara:  it was Barbara! That's what I get typing on this jerryrigged mess here while my computer is being repaired. You would think I could read!

In the Si Fi movie interest,  I've recently watched the "Hal" movies again,   they are really frightening but my best Si Fi movie to date were actually two: the two on the Invasion of the  Body Snatchers, boy those were good!  I also watched Truman again, and for some reason have seen a couple of the old Avengers with Patrick McNee (sp).  Boy those were the days, everything it seemed ON TV was Sci Fi. The Twilight Zone, the...who was it with the bouncing ball that kept him from leaving? Similar themes to some of them but done with such skill.

Lately I've been wanting to revisit the one on the sinking ocean liner, was it the Poseidon.  The one on the Titanic everybody likes so much I wasn't so caught up with.

The sheer availability of movies now on the internet will probably keep me out of any theater for good. Am currently doing the Minions Despicable Me ones.

[Frybabe]

Hah, accidently hit the wrong button then got side tracked and missed the modify time limit.

My favorite classics are 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Virginian and Call of the Wild. Many of my Science Fiction reads fit into the action/adventure category with plenty of books and short stories by Jack McDevitt, Arthur C. Clark, Tolkien, Ursula K. La Guin, H. G. Wells, John Scalzi and A. G. Riddle to mention a few. As far as I know, none of McDevitt's works have made it to the movies, though his Alex Benedict and the Academy series would make basis's a movie or TV series. Star Trek and all its iterations should probably get a nod since they were basically tasked with exploration. Andre Norton wrote some good time travel/exploration books. Christopher Paolini"s To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is another very good scientific adventure in space. Fractal Noise is his latest in that series. I haven't read it yet. Which reminds me, Finnish writer Hannu Rajaniemi wrote a three-book series about a thief modeled after the burglar, Arsene Lupin written by Maurice Leblanc. Only Hannu's character is in a working in a post human environment. 

Oddly, I am not a big fan of some of the very popular movies/books like Jurassic Park and Avatar or . Watched lots of Westerns when I was young. We don't see too many of those around now-a-days. But Cowboys and Aliens was a really fun combo of Western and SciFi. Currently, I am waiting on season two of The Terminal List. Oh, and I like the Riddick series of movies (except the first). There is a new one coming out soon.


Ginny, I think action and adventure do not necessarily go together but the combo is very common. The action here generally involves something exciting and dangerous, like dealing with adversarial opponents whether other people, aliens, or dragons, for example. The adventure can also include dangerous elements, but mostly, to my mind, its associated with exploration, maybe like Gulliver's Travels in fiction. Didn't The Hobbit start out as an adventure? Been a while since I read that series. Alice in Wonderland? The Narnia Tales? (never read those).

[ginny]

 We ought to have a group discussion of Books We Should Have Read. hahahaa

I haven't read the Narnia books either.

Since I read everything as a child I could get my hands on, apparently that was not available to me at the time.

I really  liked the first two Jurassic Parks, particularly the first one.

I also liked Jul Brynner in the original WestWorld, the concept. Robot revenge.

And that scene in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers at the very end on the public street when that "person" realizes that they have real humans among them and points with that awful shriek... Haunted me for years.

And that awful scene in the movie where...what movie WAS it, where a truck load of robots is chasing...the hero though the tunnel? Can't recall any more than that about it, SCARY!!  Possibly Will Smith? I'd like to see that whole thing again.

I'm not sure what genre they are but they were fascinating.

[Frybabe]

Interesting idea, Ginny.

I came in to share a line from Michael J. Sullivans latest book (and from his remarks in the intro, I wonder if it will be one of the last), Farilane. "The more we learn the less magic there is in the world. And the less enchanting life becomes." I just love that. Something to think about. Another comment implied that magic holds no power if you stop believing in it. I listen to the audio version which is narrated by the incomparable Tim Gerard Reynolds.

[Tomereader1]

Just for fun, I am going to watch (re-watch after 20 years) 2001 Space Odyssey.  Kind of a touch on Artifical Intelligence way back before that name came into popularity.  Kind of like:  "Watch what happens when you let science and technology into your lives"...na, na, na, na, na, nah!

Speaking of which and this should go up into the Library discussion, have you all read "Klara and The Sun"? I read it for book club, and was not sure if I liked it or not, but we had great discussion, and I really got more out of it than it seemed.

[ginny]

No, and I remember your mentioning that. I've got it in the stack!!

I watched 2001 and was scared to death, after a remark about Hal made in a face to face class. I did not remember it as it was. Then I watched 2010 and didn't give it my full attention. I probably need to watch it again.

The movie with Will Smith was I, Robot, and I need to see that again, too, that also was very scary. Robots seem scary lately for some reason. Youtube has the entire robot tunnel scene which I watched yesterday. Good scary movie.

[BarbStAubrey]

Yikes you are all braver than I am - to watch what you know will be a scary movie - shoot - I remember as a young child being scared beyond my mom being able to contain me till she took me out of the theater when the flying bats came on The Wizard of Oz - In '39 I must have been 6 and my sister would have been 4 and she was hysterical crying through most of the movie so that Mom, I'm sure wanting to see the movie, told us when we were scared to hide under her arms - and now The Wizard of Oz is seen by children much younger without even their eyes widening - boy have we become immune to anything out of the ordinary so that it has to be even more scary than I can cope with to have an affect on most... In fact if a movie involves sneaking around to hide activity from others my tummy does a loop de loop and I get anxious so that if that is the focus I don't watch and find something else. I can read about it but not see it in a movie.

[PatH]

Barb, you gave me a chuckle.  I know a lot of people who were scared by those animals (I remember them as monkeys), and one of them was JoanK. She hid under the seat, and the woman in front of us turned around and scolded our mother: "Imagine taking a child to a movie like this."
Umm. Who was it written for?  Something else scared me.  I've managed to forget what.

[BarbStAubrey]

Maybe they were monkeys - my entire life and I've never gutsed up enough to watch the movie even on TV - choosing to be scared just does not go down well  - memory of that time - another memory is how in summer we always brought a sweater with us because the only place that had AC was the movie theater - these huge banners were used hanging from the marquee advertising their zero like temperature as a come on to entice folks into the theater - well we found it too cold not being used to AC - I can hear my mom still calling out 'take your sweater' - sometimes we remembered and other times we felt annoyed that we forgot and had to go back to the closet to grab our sweater.

From the time we were 8 or 9 till we were 12 (adult ticket price started at age 13) all the kids went to the Saturday matinee that was 2 movies, the news and at last 2 animated shorts - theater opened at 11: or 11:30 and we hoped against hope that it would be over by 4: because Saturday confession ended at 4:30 and so a gaggle of kids rushed out of the theater running all the way to church and in and out of the confessional in that half hour - thinking back as an adult I wonder if the priest laughed when he got back to the rectory as all these kids had about the same confession - Talk about a conveyor belt of kids going in and out of the confessional - what a riot and then all lining up at the alter to say about the same set of prayers the priest metered out to atone for our sins. We used to compare if you got 5 Hail Mary's and 5 Our Father's or 6 or maybe only 2 - we were in awe with those who had 6 because that meant they were really bad. OH my and such was life... 

[Tomereader1]

oh yes, they were monkeys.

[ginny]

I just watched, spellbound,  Netflix's film about Bernie Madoff The Monster of Wall Street. I really had NO idea. If you get a chance to watch it,  you will find your mouth gaping open. So MANY things I did not know.

It's based on a book called The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana B. Henriques. She is featured and interviewed in the film and I've ordered the book. Lots of interviews with a lot of those involved. Just riveting.I had no IDEA.

[BarbStAubrey]

It has boggled my mind why some who have huge fortunes sell their soul leaving their integrity in shards over obtaining more wealth and not just more, but huge sums all obtained illegally. Its not like they have a dream to create something that needs this financial backing to get off the ground - it appears to be wrapping their arms around millions and billions for no other purpose than to say they have control over that much wealth and it seems getting it illegally is as important to their control as the money itself - I often wonder if the bottom line cause is the same as those who cover their inner pain with more and more drugs obtained illegally. Well a curious affliction if it is one that seems to be open to those who already have wealth.

[ginny]

 The  movie is VERY powerful as to how many lives he ruined.  The book has just come, written by one of the "talking heads" in the documentary.  I have heard, however, for all that misery and it was misery,  he was quite the hero in prison. I don't know whether that is true or not.

Many of the victims were somewhat reimbursed. I remember that specifically from the news at the time but I did not realize the brutality of the reimbursement.  If anyone had benefited from this Ponzi scheme, by demanding his money, etc., and getting it back from one time or another along the way, that amount was called in. Should that person have died, his wife and heirs then took up that financial burden. People, children, who knew nothing of this at all, also lost many of their assets so that the people originally cheated might have some recompense. It's just unbelievable. EVERYBODY lost.

His wife, I am not sure I've put this anywhere, hope not, but in an ironic twist of fate,  actually won the Lottery. I'm not kidding. I've forgotten how much it was but it was  plenty enough to live well.  I am thinking a couple of million dollars-- not sure on that one but it was a lot.

[BarbStAubrey]

Wow - and wow again on the wife - I would think though knowing the damage to these other families she would feel some obligation - well who knows - if she had no clue then she would be angry but still - well no sense thinking what someone else 'should' do with their life and unexpected gains - glad she was able to maintain a nice life and it sounds like in prison he shared himself with others and maybe had a better life with the inmates then he was able to have keeping up appearances

[ginny]

 Yeah.

Funny true experience yesterday. For some reason I am in the mood for British nostalgia, so I looked up, I think it was on  Netflix,  Keeping Up Appearances (the one with "Hyacinth Bouquet" and her long suffering husband Richard and the neighbors?  hahhaa) Believe it or not you can't  imagine  what it recommended for me?

The Murdaugh Documentary!

Merciful heavens.  (Apparently they do not have copies of that old sit com but I bet youtube does).

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh my however no comparison between Hyacinth and Murdock - she was quite the actress after seeing her in a few other things and then some show she was being interviewed - I love those twitches she did when things went to her mind completely out of hand and then the sister Daisy and oh my Onslow in fact all of them - when Rose would go after the Vicar oh oh a laugh and a half as they say... thank goodness I like baseball and have the Astros to watch - even when they loose I don't feel confused and shocked with the world I know so topsy turvey as I do watching the news or most supposedly shows for entertainment - I keep thinking it will all straighten itself out but it sure is taking more time than I imagined - PBS seems to be focusing on these big blockbuster British shows - no small half hour sitcoms as it was back when Keeping Up Appearances was a weekly - trying to remember some of the other Brit sitcoms on PBS because on Thursday if I'm remembering there were at least 2 half hour sitcoms followed by two hour long show.

Vaguely remember the original All Creatures Great and Small was one of the hour long shows oh yes, another half hour sitcom was As Time Goes By with Judi Dench - others are coming to the surface of my memory  - there was The Vicar Of Dibley and Fawlty Towers and I remember when issues of age were just being explored as comedy material there was Last Of The Summer Wine oh and who could forget To the Manor Born or Are You Being Served and I loved John Cleese in Hold The Sunset which was fairly recent - come to think of it ever since the Pandemic there are no longer Britcoms on PBS - maybe when things closed down they never resurrected sitcom writers and it could even be the typical actors for a sitcom grew much older and there were no new ones in the pipeline.

[ginny]

Now that  BBC I has cancelled after so many years in Prime Time my favorite  the Antiques Roadtrip not show contest, I'm getting revenge by watching it on youtube in reruns. I bet it won't be long before some iteration of it reappears somewhere else. I really like James Braxton and will hate to see him go, but he's already appearing in some of the other weekly contest things.

I can't believe how out of it I am with some programs, though. Thumbing through Netflix for some reason it started playing something called Arrested Development, which apparently is quite old.  I had vaguely heard of  it, but never saw it.  My gosh, am binge watching it as we speak.  Where has THAT, all 3 seasons of it, been, all my life? It's kind of an...almost impossible to describe....thing..... but also has  classical allusions (as does  everything else) and very funny if definitely not PC.

Speaking of PC, the Crown is coming again to PBS soon. I always have a difficult time adjusting to the male cast for some reason, except of course for Charles Dance who was a perfect Mountbatten in every way, and would have been a perfect Philip but they had already used him once in the cast.