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    I'm moving through Vikings. Onto season 4 (I think, or maybe it's 5). Loki has just discovered Iceland, apparently, but thinks he's in the land of the Gods.

    I'm also doing The Last Kingdom, which links up with Vikings historically and has a few characters in common. TLK starts around the beginning of Alfred's reign. Alfred is a young man on Vikings, at least in the part I've reached.

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      Vikings is in its fifth season (in two ten episode sections, like season four). A sixth season — also twenty episodes in two parts — has been ordered. I guess Ivar the Boneless is going to be around for awhile yet.

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        It seems like they're going to keep it going through Harald Hardrada and 1066.

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          Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
          Vikings is in its fifth season (in two ten episode sections, like season four). A sixth season — also twenty episodes in two parts — has been ordered. I guess Ivar the Boneless is going to be around for awhile yet.
          Ivar the Boneless is a dick. Indeed, the show really illustrates how history is created by the assholes. Makes one think - our current civilization, such as it is, isn't just built on the exploited of our day or the slaves of the last century, but on all the slaves, murdered children, abused women, dead soldiers fighting stupid wars for somebody else's "glory" over the last however many thousands of years. And it's not just Europeans - or even especially Europeans. It's just wall to wall greed and violence from the first time that ape killed another ape with an old bone until now and it doesn't show much sign of stopping.

          At least the Vikings were honest about what they were about. Their gods were pretty violent and their vision of the afterlife was about fighting all day forever. Adrenaline, I guess. But the Saxons et al claimed to be Christians. The whole point of the Gospel is to break the chain of "redemptive violence" and turn the social order upside down. They used it to do the opposite, beginning with Constantine, the dick.
          Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 02-01-2018, 03:13.

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            Had the misfortune to catch Two Doors Down when over in the auld sod. Everything that’s wrong with BBC Scotland and especially its comedy Dept. Piss poor class embarrassment mince, made slightly weird in having Arabella Weir play one of the leads with resulting slightly shonky accent.

            Yet the pricks cancelled Limmy. The below is still true even in the digital age.

            Last edited by Lang Spoon; 02-01-2018, 20:14.

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              Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
              Ivar the Boneless is a dick.
              Indeed. A psychopathic dick to boot. But he's also an excellent dramatic character, same applies to Richard III. And you're right, history is seasoned with such deranged individuals, which is probably why we're fascinated by them. They're our worst attributes writ large. For that reason I like that most of the performers are not too "actor-ish." Most of the leads were auditioned for their special skills (fighting, riding etc.) but got hired as main characters on their look and attitude. I think it adds a freshness to the cast that similar shows lack.

              Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
              At least the Vikings were honest about what they were about.
              Perhaps. Theirs appears to be a pretty straightforward worldview, which doesn't lend itself to much nuance or debate. Die right, you're going to live with Gods in Asgard. Result. How you die is what matters. In early episode Bjorn, as a young boy, says to Aethelston: "It's only death," so like, what's the big deal? If, as a society, you believe that, it solves a lot of problems. Or, more accurately, those problems don't arise.
              Last edited by Amor de Cosmos; 03-01-2018, 02:34.

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                There's a new episode of The Good Place on Netflix on Friday.

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                  Also, is anyone else still watching Modern Family?

                  I'm not sure it's jumped the shark yet, but Phil running a magic shop is getting there.

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                    Vikings - the strong women are the show's strongest asset but I don't know how true to the history they are. You wouldn't risk women in battle if their function is to raise the next generation of warriors.

                    On the warrior culture, the Normans carried on the tradition but at least had a religion that could produce alternative role models.

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                      Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                      Also, is anyone else still watching Modern Family?
                      Still consistently good, along with Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons. But, as with them, I find myself going 'meh...I just don't care any more'.

                      You almost wish they'd go away a bit so you could miss them.

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                        I think Big Bang has faded although it took an interesting turn recently when Raj called out Howard for being a toxic friend.

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                          Definitely faded. But they've broken the sitcom mold a bit by showing genuine character arcs: people age, get married, change jobs, die, etc.

                          Raj still gets short shrift - by design - as two-dimensional whacky foreigner. Which is a shame.

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                            Definitely faded. But they've broken the sitcom mold a bit by showing genuine character arcs: people age, get married, change jobs, die, etc.
                            I mean, nearly any really long-running sitcom does that at least a bit, even very traditional ones. Friends did, Frasier did, Roseanne did.

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                              True.

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                                The second episode of McMafia was too depressing for me, and I wish they wouldn't introduce dogs or cats into thrillers as a device.

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                                  Same with Criminal Minds; they used children too often in horrible situations and I couldn't take it.

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                                    Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                                    Vikings - the strong women are the show's strongest asset but I don't know how true to the history they are. You wouldn't risk women in battle if their function is to raise the next generation of warriors.

                                    On the warrior culture, the Normans carried on the tradition but at least had a religion that could produce alternative role models.
                                    But the Vikings did, probably. "Shield-maidens" appear in their folklore and while they're actual existence - along with most of Viking history - is hard to pin down with hard evidence, I've read some stuff suggesting that, for example, they found a female in a warriors grave. And there are reports from other non-Viking writers of the time attesting to it. And I read something recently about how women went with the main raider party on some of their forays into Britain. Perhaps mostly as support, but given that these groups really weren't very big, it seems possible that they would have done some fighting. However, I've also read that some of the stories about women fighting may have been from Anglo-Saxons trying to make the Vikings look bad like "Look how savage they are! They even make their women fight!"

                                    Lagertha is a character in folklore who may be based on somebody real, though probably not Ragnar's wife. Ragnar may also not have been real. But her arc makes sense.

                                    Even though some of the characters and incidents are made up or moved around and they take some liberties with costumes etc for the purposes of TV, it does get the overall gist right of the culture, I think. It was more egalitarian than what we might expect of a society run by "kings" and it was certainly brutal at times. And the Saxons weren't really much nicer, despite claiming to be Christians.

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                                      The Marvelous Mrs Mazel (Amazon) was probably the highlight of my holiday break. Properly excited for the second season.

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                                        Originally posted by caja-dglh View Post
                                        The Marvelous Mrs Mazel (Amazon) was probably the highlight of my holiday break. Properly excited for the second season.
                                        Oh yeah, that's awesome. Not sure if i mentioned that up-thread. I thought I was the only one watching it until it got nominated for the GG.

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                                          Shot to a significant extent in our neighbourhood

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                                            Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                                            Oh yeah, that's awesome. Not sure if i mentioned that up-thread. I thought I was the only one watching it until it got nominated for the GG.
                                            I did a quick search and ended up with nothing, knowing I was a month behind on its release.

                                            UA - The plot was so clearly prescribed to the cross-street there would have been an element of uproar if they hadn't filmed right on the spot.

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                                              Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                              Shot to a significant extent in our neighbourhood
                                              Cool. I wasn't sure how much was even filmed in New York. So many of the locations are gone. Most importantly, the Gaslight. Indeed, I suspect the downtown parts are the ones that have changed the most, but I could be wrong.

                                              Here's an overview.
                                              https://untappedcities.com/2017/11/3...maisel-amazon/

                                              Whenever we, or anyone, does one of those "If you could travel in time and space and live anywhere else, where would it be?" New York in the 50s and 60s would be one of mine.

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                                                The whole show is shot here, either on location or on a sound stage in Queens.

                                                Both the Village and the Upper West Side have changed a lot, but there are still places that haven't changed.

                                                Their apartment, for instance, is up the street from us, and the entrance and lobby haven't changed a bit.
                                                Last edited by ursus arctos; 03-01-2018, 18:55.

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                                                  Originally posted by caja-dglh View Post
                                                  The Marvelous Mrs Mazel (Amazon) was probably the highlight of my holiday break. Properly excited for the second season.
                                                  Have just checked it out, sounds interesting, will look out for the box set when it comes out.

                                                  I watched Frida last night (with Salma Hayek* as Frida Kahlo and Alfred Molina as Diego Rivera) for the first time, what a superb film, I heartily recommend it.

                                                  (*wife of F-H Pinault, owner of the Stade Rennais in Ligue 1. Can sometimes be seen at Roazhon Park, or Stade de la Route de Lorient for the purists, not slumming it out in the old Populaires with the hoi polloi of course but comfortably ensconced in some VIP hospitality box where things are a little too staid for her liking, she talks about her Stade Rennais experience in this clip, she hams it up a bit but it's funny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqjmVQLKW58)

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                                                    I went to watch Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle tonight. It was well made fluff but had some cleverer lines then you'd expect. Even Jack Black wasn't annoying.

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