between the mountains

The short version: I loved it. I cried. I went "OMG! Ewww!" at certain times.

The long version: ( here )

So Rome - it keeps breaking my heart, and I keep loving that it does so. Ours is a special relationship. ;D


But a question people – What was the meaning behind the episode title? I don’t understand it – but that might be because I’m a little dense.

I know it’s also the title of an Aesops fable, ( and I can see how )

The currently best thing about working at a museum that is always closed on Mondays, is that I can watch and re-watch Rome as much as I like. Hee.

( cut for scattered thoughts that are in no way Phillipic )

Thoughts on Son of Hades



( Spoilers )

Since it was on sale I splashed out and bought The Real History behind Foyle's War. It tells of the true stories that inspired the series, as well as being filled with glossy pictures both from the series and the real events.

Did you know that Sam was based on creator Anthony Horowitz'z governess Norah Fitzgerald, who was a WAAF driver during World War II? "Known to her superior officers as "Fitzy", she told Anthony about her marvelous life in uniform and all the fun she had driving important people in a motor car at a time when most girls like her were not expected to be going out working at all. There was also, however, almost inevitably, a sad side to her stories: she fell in love with a pilot and was devastated when he was killed during the Battle of Britain. Sam then, is Anthony's tribute to Fitzy, a feisty, intelligent, inquisitive young woman who relishes the prospect of making her mark in an unfamiliar world." (p. 65)

For some reason this makes me love Sam even more(if that is possible!).

Andrew Foyle and his RAF antics were based on the memoirs of two RAF pilots called Richard Hillary and Geoffrey Wellum, and especially Hillary's book The Last Enemy.
Hee - I love knowing things like that.

The stories themselves are also based on real events. The spy in Fifty Ships is based on a real spy Carl Meier, who came to England the 3. September 1940. he was caught because he walked into Lydd in Kent to buy some drinks and cigarettes. "With no knowledge of English licensing laws, his first port of call was a pub where he asked for some cider. The landlady explained that she could not serve him just yet and recommended that he take a look around the town. When he came back it would be time. When he came back the landlady had summoned help and Meier was taken to Lydd police station." (p. 95)

Terry Charman from the Imperial War Museum, London has been a consultant for the book. Charman's finds few faults with Foyle's war except this which rather amused me:

"The attention to detail that goes into 1940's costume is impressive", he says, "but no one who did not live in the 1940's really knows how to wear those clothes. Milner, for example, looks slightly awkward in a hat. In old movies like Waterloo Road , people knew how to wear hats, how to dress in 1940's clothes. You can the period detail right, but the actors will always look slightly out of place in the old clothes because, for example, gentlemen nowadays do not wear hats like that." (p. 57)

Poor Milner! ;D


Hmm...now I really want to watch Foyle's War again.

Rumor has it that ASOIAF will be made into a tv-series.

By HBO none the less, and yet I'm strangely hesitant.

True - it could turn out to be a magnificent production, and turn me into even more of a geeky fangirl (with a [insert squee as deemed necessary] function). Lord of the Rings did after all turn out quite nicely.

But - not every director is a Peter Jackson. Also - and this is my biggest "if"- the series isn't finished yet. Is it really so wise to start producing a series were no one as yet knows the outcome?

Now they did start to make the Harry Potter films before the series was finished, but I'm not sold on that as a good thing. The production of the movies did after all run into some serious trouble when Rowling got writers block around book 4 and 5. Not only were they running out of material, but the young cast was growing up to fast. A similar predicament could easily plague an ASOIAF production.

So I guess I'm rather hesitant to the whole project....

...which is not the same as saying that I never play "the casting game" aka which actors would fit what role (and as long as no one says Sawyer from Lost would make a good Jaime then all is good. ;P).

Some thoughts on "Passover". And here there be massive spoilers - so tread carefully.

( Spoilers! )

Continues from part one.

The Wire analysis

- In which there are duck-metaphors, ponderings on being a maverick and the similarities of season one and two.



Bunk: Them Greeks sure have some weird-ass names.
McNultey: : Hey, don't knock the Greeks. They invented civilization.
- Some closing remarks about history

I keep returning to the Greeks, and thereby this could be seen as a postscript to the “history is important and it defines us” theme that was part one.

( continue to the gift bearing Greeks )

Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
– Old, probably wise proverb.*


I have finished The Wire season 2. There will be analysis – and it will be split in two. Because somewhere along the way it grew, and became huge. The Wire masks itself as a cop-show. In truth it’s more like a novel told through audio-visual means. queenofthorns said in a comment that The Wire isn’t just about a group of police officers working a case, it’s a story about a city, and the decay of this city. I wholeheartedly agree. I am also head over heals in love with this show. And when I love I overanalyze.


One thing that struck me in regards to season two was the undercurrent of history and change that defined the dockside. So this post is about that, and the general squeeing will follow in another post.

The presence of history : I owe my soul to the company store

In many ways it starts with a glass window. Frank Sobotka has paid for a stain glass window depicting life and work on the docks. But he hasn’t just paid for a window; he has paid for a monument. He has paid for something that will mark the stevedores place in history, and that will prevent a piece of their and his history to be forgotten. His only problem is that he has paid for it with dirty money.

( do you have a union card? )