The GMG Pickwick Club

Started by Bogey, July 17, 2015, 10:30:52 AM

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North Star

Quote from: Bogey on November 28, 2015, 07:06:28 AM
My best friend worked on the show off and on for a number of years.! I'll have to see if that episode is one that he worked on! :laugh:
I hope it was in the early years  ::)

It's from this episode, with Homer as the trade union leader in a strike.
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

Bogey

I believe his earliest is from '97.

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

North Star

Quote from: Bogey on November 28, 2015, 07:29:00 AM
I believe his earliest is from '97.
Now we know who to blame.  ;)
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

zamyrabyrd

Quote from: North Star on November 28, 2015, 07:11:44 AM
I hope it was in the early years  ::)

It's from this episode, with Homer as the trade union leader in a strike.

Cartoons pushing social agenda again. The question is WHO makes the decisions?
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

North Star

#164
Quote from: zamyrabyrd on November 28, 2015, 07:50:19 AM
Cartoons pushing social agenda again. The question is WHO makes the decisions?
Huh? Mr. Burns revoked the union's dental plan, offering a keg of beer for the union meeting instead, and Homer didn't accept - naturally only because Lisa needed braces.
"Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

My photographs on Flickr

Bogey

#165
Quote from: zamyrabyrd on November 28, 2015, 07:50:19 AM
Cartoons pushing social agenda again. The question is WHO makes the decisions?

This is actually an interesting question, and here a connection between social commentary and Dickens.

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/diniejko.html
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Jo498

Quote from: zamyrabyrd on November 27, 2015, 06:17:31 AM
Naturally, I wanted to see how they depicted the debtors' prison in Dorrit. Apparently, the actual building, Marshalsea, was renovated shortly before Dickens' time. Before that it was a notoriously abusive and unsanitary place.

I think I have seen the BBC "Little Dorrit" on German TV  a year or two ago. The prison actually looked quite o.k. in that show...

Also "Great expectations", but I am not sure if that one was the BBC one.
Tout le malheur des hommes vient d'une seule chose, qui est de ne savoir pas demeurer en repos, dans une chambre.
- Blaise Pascal

zamyrabyrd

Quote from: Bogey on November 28, 2015, 09:00:08 AM
This is actually an interesting question, and here a connection between social commentary and Dickens.
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/dickens/diniejko.html

At least one knew who was the author back then, Dickens, but cartoons frequently promote one side of a social issue, usually the politically correct one. What a great way to indoctrinate children! There are too many instances to count in the Simpsons but the most recent I saw by chance as I don't normally watch cartoons, was pooh-poohing creationism over evolution as though you really have to be stupid to believe in the first. Family Guy is even worse.
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

zamyrabyrd

#168
Quote from: Jo498 on November 28, 2015, 09:42:28 AM
I think I have seen the BBC "Little Dorrit" on German TV  a year or two ago. The prison actually looked quite o.k. in that show...Also "Great expectations", but I am not sure if that one was the BBC one.

The oppression of the debtor's prison was more psychological: "give up hope all you enter here". As opposed to the workhouse, the inmates were seemingly idle. Little Dorrit was able to inject some sanity and hope into her family, as well as some money, by working on the outside and finding positions for her siblings. Otherwise, those like her uncle, lost interest in taking care of himself, to the extent of not washing. Her father, like Dickens' escaped into a fantasy world. There may have been a minimum of cleanliness and order compared to the miserable conditions of the first Marshalsea, but the mental depression was too heavy to bear and so expressed itself in a devil-may-care environment.
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Bogey

I have yet to read Little Dorrit.  I started reading Dickens a number of years ago and decided that it was my goal to read all his works at least once.  (However, I usually read a few books between his works as well.)  Some of the novels I have been spacing apart so there is still what some consider his "best" stuff spread out through my journey.  The other piece I have put into play was making sure to veer away from any film depictions of his stories until I have read the book.  I am a bit over 600 pages into Bleak House and cannot wait to watch the mini series with Gillian Anderson.  However, I did allow myself this morning only this preview of the characters:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/bleakhouse/whos_who.html
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

zamyrabyrd

Quote from: Bogey on November 29, 2015, 04:09:25 AM
I have yet to read Little Dorrit.  I started reading Dickens a number of years ago and decided that it was my goal to read all his works at least once.  (However, I usually read a few books between his works as well.)  Some of the novels I have been spacing apart so there is still what some consider his "best" stuff spread out through my journey.  The other piece I have put into play was making sure to veer away from any film depictions of his stories until I have read the book.  I am a bit over 600 pages into Bleak House and cannot wait to watch the mini series with Gillian Anderson.  However, I did allow myself this morning only this preview of the characters:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/bleakhouse/whos_who.html

Well, I thought similarly, not to hear too many recordings of a piece before I assimilated it myself. But like Bleak House, the interpretation came first and spurred my interest to read it. This particular mini series is worth waiting for however.
"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one."

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Bogey

Quote from: zamyrabyrd on November 29, 2015, 04:21:45 AM
Well, I thought similarly, not to hear too many recordings of a piece before I assimilated it myself. But like Bleak House, the interpretation came first and spurred my interest to read it. This particular mini series is worth waiting for however.

Good to hear.  My wife loved the series.  She has not read the novel, but I am begging her to, though I believe David Copperfield would be a better entry point for her as I can see now that it was for me.  The one thing I am enjoying about the novel at this time is that Dickens seems to be less inclined to get off on tangents that do not connect well with the novel itself.  It has been described as a labyrinth of plot lines by the director of the mini series, but I have been enjoying that part of the journey.  However, because of this maze, I would not recommend it for an intro into Dickens.  Either way, it's one heck of a book and one that I will revisit again once all of his works have been read. 
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

aligreto

I have recently started to read Edwin Drood and I must admit that I am finding it difficult to continue to pick it up or to motivate myself to continue reading. I have just finished chapter seven and we are still being introduced to new characters but without any perceptible development of a plot. Does it develop into anything interesting?

Jaakko Keskinen

#173
Quote from: aligreto on December 07, 2015, 02:17:48 AM
Does it develop into anything interesting?

No-one knows since Charles never lived to finish it. Dickens planned some epic condemned cell scene in the end with the murderer (do I really need to mention the name of that person, it's pretty blatantly obvious) a la Fagin in Oliver Twist. In fact, some critic noted that Dickens probably was going to go even further than with Bradley Headstone, in depicting murderer's psyche and dual-personality. The murderer of this book was probably going to literally have several personalities. Drood is one of the only novels of his that I have yet to read so I can't form an opinion about the book yet. But I must admit that the previous book, Our Mutual Friend, had pretty slow development at times, which often enough works great but then there are pages and pages where he keebs blabbing about "Our lords and gentlemen and honorable boards" when praising Betty Higden. Hell, it took until book 2 to introduce Fascination Fledgeby and Bradley Headstone, two of the four major villains of the book. But it's still one of my favorite books from him.
"Javert, though frightful, had nothing ignoble about him. Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things which may become hideous when wrongly directed; but which, even when hideous, remain grand."

- Victor Hugo

Karl Henning

Most interesting, thanks.
Karl Henning, Ph.D.
Composer & Clarinetist
Boston MA
http://www.karlhenning.com/
[Matisse] was interested neither in fending off opposition,
nor in competing for the favor of wayward friends.
His only competition was with himself. — Françoise Gilot

aligreto

Quote from: Alberich on December 07, 2015, 05:03:42 AM
No-one knows since Charles never lived to finish it. Dickens planned some epic condemned cell scene in the end with the murderer (do I really need to mention the name of that person, it's pretty blatantly obvious) a la Fagin in Oliver Twist. In fact, some critic noted that Dickens probably was going to go even further than with Bradley Headstone, in depicting murderer's psyche and dual-personality. The murderer of this book was probably going to literally have several personalities. Drood is one of the only novels of his that I have yet to read so I can't form an opinion about the book yet. But I must admit that the previous book, Our Mutual Friend, had pretty slow development at times, which often enough works great but then there are pages and pages where he keebs blabbing about "Our lords and gentlemen and honorable boards" when praising Betty Higden. Hell, it took until book 2 to introduce Fascination Fledgeby and Bradley Headstone, two of the four major villains of the book. But it's still one of my favorite books from him.

Thank you for that. Yes, I understand that Dickens did not live to complete it so perhaps he was ruminating more as he got older. There are 299 pages in this edition [Heron] and so far it has taken 74 pages to indroduce [I hope] the main protgonists. However, I will persist!

Elgarian

I've been writing Christmas cards the last couple of days, and thought maybe a little touch of Pickwickian Christmas might be appropriate at this point?

See you in Dingley Dell on 25th.




aligreto

Looking forward to a Yule tide punch and some mince pies  8)

Bogey

Quote from: Elgarian on December 09, 2015, 07:38:03 AM
I've been writing Christmas cards the last couple of days, and thought maybe a little touch of Pickwickian Christmas might be appropriate at this point?

See you in Dingley Dell on 25th.



Excellent!
There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz

Bogey

There will never be another era like the Golden Age of Hollywood.  We didn't know how to blow up buildings then so we had no choice but to tell great stories with great characters.-Ben Mankiewicz