Television programmes

Ah, for me too. Because while I'd be really interested in you reading it and hearing what you thought, I'm just not sure I should reccomend it. It's just so looong. And takes at least a couple of months to get through. (At my speed at least, and I read far too much when I properly get into something. ) First couple of books are really good though. Hm.. Decisions, decisons.

wow Fargo was a Gothic Horror. but I really enjoyed it

Jon Stewart will be stepping down from The Daily Show later this year.

I'm sad, and I don't get cable so I never had him as a nightly tradition, but I was fortunate enough to be in the studio audience once.

Ah, that's a real shame. Even to me who barely watches it, The Daily Show has been a real institution. And I'm not sure it will ever be the same with anyone else at the helm.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I'll give it a go.- Blue

You can try here for episodes-

http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/internet/wolf_hall/season_1.html

Well, I watched the first couple of episodes and I'm really enjoying it so far. I like the slow pace and machinations going on behind the scenes.

Just saw the Jon Stewart news. I was honestly a little sad about the end of Colbert's show -- the whole passing of an era thing -- but I consoled myself knowing that the show his was spun off from was still around. At least we'll still have John Oliver, but he's only once a week and has long-ass breaks between seasons.

Maybe I should start watching Larry Wilmore more frequently.

Wilmore hasn't hit his stride yet. Oliver had time to hone the anchor position, so was all set to go and didn't miss a beat.

I watched the first couple of episodes and I'm really enjoying it so far. I like the slow pace and machinations going on behind the scenes.- Blue

Well you only have 1 more to go to catch up there are only 3 episodes so far.

I too am really enjoying the pacing and the machinations, especially the way the latter is slowly building up.

One thing I am curious about is do you know anything about Cromwell, Henry 8th or this period of English history?
As I wonder if you had never heard of the Titanic say, and watched a film of it (a good one mind like Night to Remember) would not knowing make it a better story or are all versions of that story written with a certain amount of presumed knowledge in the audience written in and catered for?
Same in this case. Its hard for me as someone who knows the history and what Cromwell did and represented and his fate, to judge if Wolf Hall is written in a presumption of the general story outline being known, or if it works just as well for someone ignorant of the history (in the UK Cromwell is historically famous and important to the Reformation in the way that a figure like Lincoln would be for Americans and to equal rights, ok maybe not quite that famous, but certainly the court of Henry 8th and his many wives is, so a certain amount of the story, like time and setting and surrounding famous folks is assumed to be known and therefore not given great explanation).

I take it that you are not having any issues following who is who and why they are important for example.

Well it's hard to argue with Stewart's reasons for leaving, but still. I'm gonna miss him.

its on tonight Petty and I will enjoy watching more of Wolf Hall. Rylance is excellent and so understated he is almost static, sometimes its hard to know the depth of his feelings he hardly shows any emotions but that could be fatal in an age where one false move and its curtains. he is a true courtier I guess and everything is tightly kept in check. But I think his hatred of the men who killed his cardinal is pretty clear, not so sure about him and Anne, he is fascinated by her but we don't know more at this stage. anyway its great and its a nice change from the usual costume drama Tudor stuff. Rylance brings to mind the film A Man for all Seasons his performance is very Paul Scofield

I think it has a lot to do with the show actually handling the characters, and history being a back drop.

Eldorion wrote:Well it's hard to argue with Stewart's reasons for leaving, but still.  I'm gonna miss him.

Yeah, if you're in your 50s and have all the moeny in the world and can choose whether to spend your time performing the gruelling task of producing a daily topical humoristic news show or spending time with your family and actually having time to do something for the first time in 17 years. And he probably feels he's achieve what he can within the format, and there will always be a bit of a been there done that feel from now on. I guess it's quite understandable in that context, but still a shame.

Didn't he just get into producing or making films last year? Maybe he has just got a new bug and a new interest and the money and clout to pursue it.

Yeah, I heard good things about his first film (Rosewater), but I haven't seen it yet.

His leave of absence during principal photography is also what gave us John Oliver's guest-hosting tenure which helped pave the way for Last Week Tonight.

so I watched the first episode of Wolf Hall cos I watched it out of order. and I want to know

Spoiler:

No one knows Figg- all we know is the name, how deadly it was, and that it swept through Tudor Britain at that time. There were six recorded major epidemics of it during the reign of Henry.

yikes

Then it disappears again and it never heard of again.

'The symptoms and signs as described by Caius and others were as follows: The disease began very suddenly with a sense of apprehension, followed by cold shivers (sometimes very violent), giddiness, headache and severe pains in the neck, shoulders and limbs, with great exhaustion. After the cold stage, which might last from half an hour to three hours, the hot and sweating stage followed. The characteristic sweat broke out suddenly without any obvious cause. Accompanying the sweat, or after that was poured out, was a sense of heat, headache, delirium, rapid pulse, and intense thirst. Palpitation and pain in the heart were frequent symptoms. No skin eruptions were noted by observers including Caius. In the final stages, there was either general exhaustion and collapse, or an irresistible urge to sleep, which Caius thought to be fatal if the patient was permitted to give way to it. One attack did not offer immunity, and some people suffered several bouts before succumbing.

The malady was never seen again in England after 1578.'- wiki

Sounds like a bad date in a cheap bar.

to the sweating sickness and the bad date in a cheap bar.

I don't like that apprehension thing. I get that everyday, how would I tell if I got it. but that is weird a disease that lets you know beforehand that its curtains. fuq dat.

On the topic of The Wheel of Time again, Red Eagle Entertainment is suing Harriet McDougal (Robert Jordan's widow and his main executor) for slander in response to he statement that she made about the "pilot".

http://www.reddit.com/r/WoT/comments/2vqaet/red_eagle_suing_bandersnatch_behind_a/

The whole notion of an ashcan pilot is kinda scummy to begin with and so is suing someone to shut them up, so I really don't want to take REE's side here.  But at the same time, I found McDougal's comments to be at odds with all the other information about the rights information that I could find -- at least in its implications if not in its literal meaning.  I doubt it fits the legal standard for slander but it was kind of annoying since the whole legal situation is so confusing to the lay fan. I don't consider REE to be trustworthy though so I doubt their account of things is entirely accurate.

Where's Bluebottle and his legal knowledge when you need him?

I watched episode 4 of Wolf Hall and I am not sure about the guy who plays Henry. He looks the part I guess, but he doesn't give me that sense of danger that they talk about in the episode. he is far too nice a monarch at the moment, but maybe that came later in his reign. he just doesn't scare the bejaisus out of me, and that's what Henry has to do imo. However Anne is perfect, the right mix of caprice and wiles. and the rabbity Jane Seymour the complete opposite of Anne.

Oddly I got the opposite effect- the scene where Cromwell talks about how Henry is dangerous and then the later scene where he is talking with Henry and Henry tells him that he is a viper, that whole speech about how the King has claws was very much in the air I thought- the threat was implied rather than explicit in overacting or raging shouting. I liked that.