My wife and I rarely get excited by an American movie. They are very often spoiled by lowest-common-denominator dialogue and neat, happy endings. An exception was Nebraska. This film was alternately sad and very funny. Sad because it was about an elderly man in the early stages of dementia and funny because the dialogue was sprinkled with some glorious declarations. In particular, the elderly man's grumpy wife was a joy. We also enjoyed seeing Bob Odenkirk, who played the dodgy lawyer Saul in Breaking Bad, playing a rather different, less frenetic role.
Without giving anything away, the film is about how the main character becomes convinced that he has won a million dollars in a marketing campaign. This reminded me that some years ago my elderly mother in Australia received one of those wretched Readers' Digest "prizes". She, too, was convinced that she had won a million dollars. When I told her she hadn't won anything, she replied: "But I have, Ian, because it's got my name printed on it!" I did eventually get her to accept that having her name printed on the "prize" meant nothing and it should be binned. I fear, though, that she went to her grave some years later still wondering whether she should have ignored me and laid claim to her million dollars.
IAN D RICHARDSON'S celebrity interviews, random chat and news of publishing, films and broadcasting.
Tuesday, 24 June 2014
Monday, 23 June 2014
The joy of living in the world's most comprehensive library
From time to time I wonder how long it would take me do my writing if I didn't have access to the Internet. There is no coming up with a precise answer, but I feel sorry for the diminishing number of writers who have to rely on visits to reference libraries for much of their information.
Out of curiosity, I made a note one day of the number of times I used Internet search engines to help me with my work. Here are just some examples:
1) How is an American ambassador addressed formally?
2) Is the fictional name I am giving the ambassador likely to cause problems because it is similar or identical to the name of a living person who is, or was, an ambassador?
3) Learn the age of a prominent politician.
4) Check the spellings of several place names.
5) Check the history of Jim Beam whiskey.
6) Seek the Arabic translation of a few simple English-language greetings?
7) Check the precise name of a film and when it was released.
8) Study photographs of Middle Eastern streets damaged by shelling.
9) Check the official title of a government minister.
10) Confirm that a former prominent celebrity is still alive.
So, these are just 10 examples, but there were many more. How much time would have been taken up out of my day if I had needed to check my limited selection of reference books, or to go down to the local library? Probably all day, is the answer -- which means that I would not have made any progress with my writing.
The Internet is a truly wonderful addition to modern life, but it must make for tough times with many libraries. That is a downside of the Internet.
Out of curiosity, I made a note one day of the number of times I used Internet search engines to help me with my work. Here are just some examples:
1) How is an American ambassador addressed formally?
2) Is the fictional name I am giving the ambassador likely to cause problems because it is similar or identical to the name of a living person who is, or was, an ambassador?
3) Learn the age of a prominent politician.
4) Check the spellings of several place names.
5) Check the history of Jim Beam whiskey.
6) Seek the Arabic translation of a few simple English-language greetings?
7) Check the precise name of a film and when it was released.
8) Study photographs of Middle Eastern streets damaged by shelling.
9) Check the official title of a government minister.
10) Confirm that a former prominent celebrity is still alive.
So, these are just 10 examples, but there were many more. How much time would have been taken up out of my day if I had needed to check my limited selection of reference books, or to go down to the local library? Probably all day, is the answer -- which means that I would not have made any progress with my writing.
The Internet is a truly wonderful addition to modern life, but it must make for tough times with many libraries. That is a downside of the Internet.
Sub-titles: a simple solution - SECOND UPDATE
My wife and I watched a film on DVD a couple of evenings ago and it took an infuriating four tries to get the sub-titles to work.
Why do film-makers conjure up unnecessarily complicated "set ups" on their DVDs. There is, after all, a simple way to do this without irritation. One DVD we watched a while ago had the simplest of solutions -- an opening menu with just two options:
1) Play
2) Play with sub-titles.
Now, why can't all film-makers do this with their DVDs?! So much better than all the complicated and confusing instructions we usually see.
SECOND UPDATE:
We watched Grand Budapest Hotel the other night on a Blu-Ray DVD. The sub-titling instructions were infuriatingly confusing and after three unsuccessful attempts to get the sub-titles to work, we had to give up.
Sub-titling on live British TV programmes is also a continuing issue. You'll find the latest complaints here: http://bit.ly/1A1iJPZ
Why do film-makers conjure up unnecessarily complicated "set ups" on their DVDs. There is, after all, a simple way to do this without irritation. One DVD we watched a while ago had the simplest of solutions -- an opening menu with just two options:
1) Play
2) Play with sub-titles.
Now, why can't all film-makers do this with their DVDs?! So much better than all the complicated and confusing instructions we usually see.
SECOND UPDATE:
We watched Grand Budapest Hotel the other night on a Blu-Ray DVD. The sub-titling instructions were infuriatingly confusing and after three unsuccessful attempts to get the sub-titles to work, we had to give up.
Sub-titling on live British TV programmes is also a continuing issue. You'll find the latest complaints here: http://bit.ly/1A1iJPZ
Wednesday, 18 June 2014
NINA -- No, It's Not Awesome!
AWESOME – the most over-used and
over-stated word in the social media.
The Oxford Dictionary definition: extremely impressive or daunting; inspiring awe.
The social media definition: mostly used as a lazy substitute for considered comment on just about anything.
On behalf of my
recently-established organisation, NINA
(No, It’s Not Awesome), I helpfully offer a random selection of alternative
words and phrases:
Very nice
Excellent
Elegant
Elegant
Most
attractive
Most interesting
Clever
Most interesting
Clever
Wonderful
Beautiful
Enjoyable
Super
Strewth!
Bloody
hell!
Inspiring
Charming
Intellectually challenging
Intellectually challenging
Classy
You've done well
You’ve
done well, considering
Congratulations
Heart
warming
Thoughtful
Thoughtful
Pretty
Artistic
Are your art classes worth it?
That wig looks almost real
Are your art classes worth it?
That wig looks almost real
Superb
Very
creative
Much
improved
Was it deliberately out of focus?
Was it deliberately out of focus?
A good try
Better
luck next time
Most
impressive
Well, don’t
give up
An
improvement on last time
Try
another hairdresser!
Was it fancy
dress?
You did
your best anyway
Was it a good idea to wear tight shorts?
Mmm. A longer skirt would be better
Was it a good idea to wear tight shorts?
Mmm. A longer skirt would be better
Thursday, 12 June 2014
Films: Should they always be show, not tell?
It is a received wisdom that the best films are the ones with very little dialogue. In other words, let the action tell the story.
As a general rule, I agree with this, as there are few films more tedious than those that talk, talk, talk, rather than show, show, show. But it is not always the case. My wife and I recently saw an excellent Romanian film Child's Pose. It is a simple story about a domineering mother trying to regain control over her adult son.
In the opening minutes, our hearts sank when faced with a stream of dialogue, but it quickly became clear that we needed all that detailed dialogue to understand why the mother had such a dreadful relationship with her son. Although there was very little traditional action in the film, the words were the action and we quickly found ourselves engrossed by the story. We gave the film 8/10, which is a very high rating for us.
So, the message to screen writers is this: just because most films are written a certain way, there are always exceptions to a rule. Child's Pose is one of them.
As a general rule, I agree with this, as there are few films more tedious than those that talk, talk, talk, rather than show, show, show. But it is not always the case. My wife and I recently saw an excellent Romanian film Child's Pose. It is a simple story about a domineering mother trying to regain control over her adult son.
In the opening minutes, our hearts sank when faced with a stream of dialogue, but it quickly became clear that we needed all that detailed dialogue to understand why the mother had such a dreadful relationship with her son. Although there was very little traditional action in the film, the words were the action and we quickly found ourselves engrossed by the story. We gave the film 8/10, which is a very high rating for us.
So, the message to screen writers is this: just because most films are written a certain way, there are always exceptions to a rule. Child's Pose is one of them.
Friday, 25 April 2014
Genealogy: the danger of trusting official documents
Newcomers to family history research can be forgiven for believing that official documents such as birth, death and marriage certificates are "gospel", so to speak. Not true.
When I was researching my book, God's Triangle, the story of a scandal involving my Baptist missionary Great Aunt Florence M. "Florrie" Cox, I came across the civil marriage record in Calcutta of her ex-husband and his mistress. The document contained several errors and misleading statements.
Even though the husband, Frank E. Paice, and his mistress, A. Olga Johnston, had been ordained missionaries, they were not above telling a few fibs. Olga gave her age as 32, just a year older than Frank, but three years younger than she really was. She wouldn't have been the first woman to lie about her age, but there was also a whopping deceit about how long she and Frank had been living in Calcutta. Frank claimed to have lived there for seven years, while Olga said she had been there for five years. This was blatantly untrue. They could not have been there for more than a few months as they had been in Australia for at least a year and before that, had been stationed for about six years in remote missionary outposts in East Bengal. Presumably they had lied because of residential requirements for their marriage.
There were several other aspects of the official record that could be seen as misleading, but I won't bore you with those. The point I want to make is that if the civil marriage record had been the first document I had found in my research, I would have been sent down routes that might never had led to me establishing the truth.
Similarly, anyone researching my Australian maternal grandfather, Arthur Joseph George Cox, would have been seriously mis-informed about his life had they gone first to his death certificate. His mistress-then-second-wife, Phyllis, had deliberately not mentioned that he had been married before and fathered 10 children, including my mother, Rena.
Not all errors in official family history documents are deliberate. Sometimes they are just careless mistakes. An example: the death certificate of my Great Aunt and opera singer, Reba Rangan, was wrong in several respects. For starters, Reba was her nickname, not her real name. Then her father was given as "unknown", which wasn't true. Her aunt was named as her mother, which also wasn't true, and it was further stated that she had spent all her life in Australia -- overlooking the fact she lived and worked in London for some time as an opera performer.
The death certificate details had been provided by a nephew and when I challenged him about the inaccuracies, he said simply that he had made no real attempt to establish the facts. He had just guessed most of the information.
I could give other examples of incorrect family history documents, but I hope that I have successfully made my point: treat all certificates with an element of caution.
When I was researching my book, God's Triangle, the story of a scandal involving my Baptist missionary Great Aunt Florence M. "Florrie" Cox, I came across the civil marriage record in Calcutta of her ex-husband and his mistress. The document contained several errors and misleading statements.
Even though the husband, Frank E. Paice, and his mistress, A. Olga Johnston, had been ordained missionaries, they were not above telling a few fibs. Olga gave her age as 32, just a year older than Frank, but three years younger than she really was. She wouldn't have been the first woman to lie about her age, but there was also a whopping deceit about how long she and Frank had been living in Calcutta. Frank claimed to have lived there for seven years, while Olga said she had been there for five years. This was blatantly untrue. They could not have been there for more than a few months as they had been in Australia for at least a year and before that, had been stationed for about six years in remote missionary outposts in East Bengal. Presumably they had lied because of residential requirements for their marriage.
There were several other aspects of the official record that could be seen as misleading, but I won't bore you with those. The point I want to make is that if the civil marriage record had been the first document I had found in my research, I would have been sent down routes that might never had led to me establishing the truth.
Similarly, anyone researching my Australian maternal grandfather, Arthur Joseph George Cox, would have been seriously mis-informed about his life had they gone first to his death certificate. His mistress-then-second-wife, Phyllis, had deliberately not mentioned that he had been married before and fathered 10 children, including my mother, Rena.
Not all errors in official family history documents are deliberate. Sometimes they are just careless mistakes. An example: the death certificate of my Great Aunt and opera singer, Reba Rangan, was wrong in several respects. For starters, Reba was her nickname, not her real name. Then her father was given as "unknown", which wasn't true. Her aunt was named as her mother, which also wasn't true, and it was further stated that she had spent all her life in Australia -- overlooking the fact she lived and worked in London for some time as an opera performer.
The death certificate details had been provided by a nephew and when I challenged him about the inaccuracies, he said simply that he had made no real attempt to establish the facts. He had just guessed most of the information.
I could give other examples of incorrect family history documents, but I hope that I have successfully made my point: treat all certificates with an element of caution.
+++++++++++++++
Learn more about the Rev Frank E. Paice by going HERE
Learn more about A. Olga Johnson by going HERE
Learn more about Florence M. "Florrie" Cox by going HERE
Learn more about Reba Rangan by going HERE
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Sub-titles -- the good and the bad and those that are just not there
UPDATE: Wonderful new live sub-titling error on a BBC weather forecast: “Miss Dan Fogg could be found in Scotland yesterday morning."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
My wife and I are not deaf, but we have to admit that at our advanced years our hearing is not perfect. The top frequencies don't register very well and consequently we sometimes have to wear our hearing aids at lectures or while watching TV.
We are immensely grateful to the BBC and the main British commercial channels for routinely offering sub-titles. We've never had trouble with sub-titles, having loved watching foreign-language movies in our younger days in Australia. What surprises us is the number of British films that are being offered on DVD without sub-titles. It is now the fashion with television and feature film dramas to have the actors speak "naturally", i.e. not producing and projecting their voices as was the practice in days gone by. All very well, but the directors and producers must accept that there are now more old people than youngsters in Britain and with age comes hearing problems. Therefore, sub-titles are important for a great many people who buy or rent DVDs. Without sub-titles, many DVDs are of little or no use to many potential buyers. So, how about it guys and gals: spend a little more time and money making sure that your DVDs have sub-titles. It will make many of your customers happy and may well result in increased sales.
Going back to the sub-titles offered with programmes transmitted on mainstream television channels in Britain, there is sometimes fun to be had watching the automated sub-titling on live shows. This is usually done with voice recognition software with its inevitable dangers. A friend of mine recently spotted these three amusing mis-translations in just an hour or two of watching a live television programme:
--- A shrug of carriage = Nigel Farage
--- Gaultier a brat on strike = Gaultier Breton stripe
--- Richard had a habitation below the knee = ... an amputation...
But my favourite of recent times concerns the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.
His name came up on the TV news screens one day as "So gay lover of". This is additionally amusing in the light of Russia's difficulty coping with homosexuality.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
My wife and I are not deaf, but we have to admit that at our advanced years our hearing is not perfect. The top frequencies don't register very well and consequently we sometimes have to wear our hearing aids at lectures or while watching TV.
We are immensely grateful to the BBC and the main British commercial channels for routinely offering sub-titles. We've never had trouble with sub-titles, having loved watching foreign-language movies in our younger days in Australia. What surprises us is the number of British films that are being offered on DVD without sub-titles. It is now the fashion with television and feature film dramas to have the actors speak "naturally", i.e. not producing and projecting their voices as was the practice in days gone by. All very well, but the directors and producers must accept that there are now more old people than youngsters in Britain and with age comes hearing problems. Therefore, sub-titles are important for a great many people who buy or rent DVDs. Without sub-titles, many DVDs are of little or no use to many potential buyers. So, how about it guys and gals: spend a little more time and money making sure that your DVDs have sub-titles. It will make many of your customers happy and may well result in increased sales.
Going back to the sub-titles offered with programmes transmitted on mainstream television channels in Britain, there is sometimes fun to be had watching the automated sub-titling on live shows. This is usually done with voice recognition software with its inevitable dangers. A friend of mine recently spotted these three amusing mis-translations in just an hour or two of watching a live television programme:
--- A shrug of carriage = Nigel Farage
--- Gaultier a brat on strike = Gaultier Breton stripe
--- Richard had a habitation below the knee = ... an amputation...
But my favourite of recent times concerns the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov.
His name came up on the TV news screens one day as "So gay lover of". This is additionally amusing in the light of Russia's difficulty coping with homosexuality.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)