Jill Sparrow 10,304 Posted August 20, 2016 Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 The Germans don't have a sense of humour? Look whom they chose as Reich Chancellor! Or was it Charlie Chaplin? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted August 20, 2016 Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 You're right about that Jill ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,427 Posted August 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 1 hour ago, Chulla said: Funny innit. Also Sprach Zarathustra is my favourite piece of classical music, and not because of its opening bars. I think the rest of it is just wonderful, everything a tone poem should be, closely followed by Richards Strauss's Tod und Verklarung (Death and Tranfiguration). Margie, I haven't read the book so will have to take your word for the opening scene with apes being necessary, but not for the film. Why does the viewer want to be made aware of time passing? As I recall the action takes place in modern times, where an expedition is on its way to find the source of a signal in deep space - nothing to do with evolution. Jill. No Not suggesting, Zarathustra is not good, but those opening chords are a hard act to follow. Death and Transfiguration is also very powerful. Some great stuff written around the idea of kicking the bucket. For me Bach's 'Come Sweet Death'. Is another one. i suppose the idea of time passing was. 1. To give the idea that the black slab was planted in prehistoric times. 2. To illustrate progress over time. We had come from braining each other with butcher bones. To floating around on space stations. We kill each other in much more sophisticated ways today. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,599 Posted August 20, 2016 Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 Chulla, although much of the story in 2001 - apart from the 'Dawn of Time' sequences - takes place in the mid 20th Century, it certainly doesn't end there. After Dave Bowman has gone through the Star Gate on Japetus (a satellite of Saturn) he transcends thousands of light years before his life and memories are 'rewound' and he becomes a baby - a Star Child. I have said it was on a satellite of Saturn because this is the planet named in the book. It was changed to Jupiter in the film! So, as I said, the beginning and the end are crucial to the story, which is not just about a trip into space with a sophisticated (well, sophisticated for that particular period) computer. It's a story about how guardians had been waiting for aeons until mankind became 'mature' enough to join them. I THINK!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,304 Posted August 20, 2016 Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 Loppy, have you heard Gould's piano interpretation of Richard Strauss' Sonata opus 5? Quite extraordinary. I bought it on vinyl in the 80s, with Klavierstucken opus 3. Strauss is far too modern for my tastes but this is a must! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firbeck 859 Posted August 20, 2016 Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 Wow, this is a very heavy thread, I recall going to see 2001 at the Odeon with my friend who was out of his head on 'acid' LSD to the unitiated. It was a very confused experience. I have the film on DVD and find it somewhat overblown and overlong, I find it uncomfortable to watch, a true child of the 60's, an attempt to be sooooo profound, at what cost! My favourite and possibly the best ever science fiction film is the directors cut of 'Blade Runner', based on the book 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep'. Awesome film, Roy's release of the dove at the end of the film was, well, amazing, if you 've not seen it, I will say no more. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,427 Posted August 20, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 Haven't come across that, Jill. I'll have to have a look if anyone has posted it on YT. R Strauss sort of grows on you I find, but I'm more of a Baroque guy, really. Haven't seen a lot of Kubricks films but what I have seem to have had some good music. Check out 'Barry Lyndon' if you've never seen it. A good study of a 17th century social climber. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,721 Posted August 20, 2016 Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 Yet another long post lost, despite constant saving. This is getting tedious. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,721 Posted August 20, 2016 Report Share Posted August 20, 2016 10 hours ago, MargieH said: Col, haven't read that particular book. I actually find HG Wells doesn't have the depth and vision of some other sci fi writers, certainly compared with Arthur C Clarke! Each to their own, I suppose..... One of of my all time favourite books is 'Winter's Tale' by Mark Helprin. It is difficult to describe it but as the review on the back cover says... " This is a book about the beauty and complexity of the human soul, about God, love and justice, and yet you can lose yourself in it as if it were a dream." Most people I've spoken to seem to refer to it as 'that book about a white horse" I must rush this or it won't work.!! Wells was Victorian and a Biologist. His ideas, for his time, were immense! He dealt with Utopian societies, aliens, interplanetary travel, interdimensional travel and much more. His story 'The New Accellerator', is esentiallly a humorous acount of 'speed' type drugs before they appeared. And anyway, I love his 'Englishness' in these wrirtings. And I love Mr Polly. Col Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 One of H. G. Wells's short stories that's always made a big impression on me is 'The Door in the Wall' - a parable about missed opportunities and turning points in your life. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Not having read the book I am willing to accept the explanation you give, Margie. But, this was not obvious to the film's viewer - would you have understood it if you hadn't read the book?.I am not alone in this, countless people who have seen the film have never understood the sequences at the beginning and end. Jill, glad that there is someone else on this forum that like classical music, but I have to say I have no time for Glen Gould, particularly when he plays Bach. No doubt his interpretations on the piano are among the finest, but they bore me stiff. Loppy. Yes, old Richard Strauss wrote great kicking-the-bucket music. You and Jill, have a listen to the third piece in his Four Last Songs, (Vier Letze Lieder) called Biem Schlafengehem (going to sleep), preferably sung by Gundula Janowitz. I think it is on YouTube. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,304 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Chulla, Gould tends to polarize people. He's a bit like Marmite! I adore both. Gould's playing, to me, is like an X ray. Crystal clear, logical and has the benefit of an amazing technique. I play a lot of Bach myself...he's my icon...but I could never touch the Gould standard! Besides that, there's his intellect which is somewhere out in the stratosphere! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Oztalgian 3,271 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Douglas Adams Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy A brilliant radio series An acceptable TV series A very poor movie Theme is Journey of the Sorcerer composed by Bernie Leadon a great piece if SCI-FI music, The Eagles also recorded a version 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,721 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Chulla and Jill, I too listen to lots of Classical music. Don't know Gould, but I've always liked Ashkenazy 'doing' Mozart. Very dynamic. I prefer him to Brendel. I bought the 'Four Last Songs. a few months ago. Now I'm goiing to have to try to find it because I can't recall who it's by. And by the way, apart from a few piercing screeches on the Penny Whistle, I can't play a note. Col Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,721 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 11 hours ago, Merthyr Imp said: One of H. G. Wells's short stories that's always made a big impression on me is 'The Door in the Wall' - a parable about missed opportunities and turning points in your life. I missed that one.... Col Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Guy Montag!! What a name to conjure ,coming from a street full of Dean's and Debbie's. Bradbury and his Fahrenheit 451...film and book- fine escapism. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jill Sparrow 10,304 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Col, Gould liked to be controversial. Twas he who said that, in his opinion, at 36, Mozart lived too long! If you have time, look into Gould. There is so much more to him than music. A monumental intellect and highly eccentric personality. Passed on at 50 but left a terrific written and recorded legacy. 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Merthyr Imp 729 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 2 hours ago, DJ360 said: I missed that one.... Col Just think how your life might have turned out if you hadn't. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
catfan 14,793 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 No one mentioned The Quatermass Experiment & The Quatermass Pit. As a child I saw the first one & was terrified ! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chulla 4,946 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 Col, Loppy and Jill. Here is the best version of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs. Just listen to that voice. My God! Strauss was an old man when he composed these four separate songs for the female voice - showing that he had lost none of his talent for beauty in music - what a way to leave this world. 1 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,721 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 This the one wot I 'ave got. No idea which is best. Col Quote Link to post Share on other sites
DJ360 6,721 Posted August 21, 2016 Report Share Posted August 21, 2016 I like 'Quatermass and the Pit' Also like this classic. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IAN FINN 807 Posted February 15, 2020 Report Share Posted February 15, 2020 Mick the picture of the car you wondered what it is i think its a Russian Tatra they were built like a tank with an air cooled V8. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
loppylugs 8,427 Posted February 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2020 Just read through this page again. It says I started it but I can't remember doing so. As they used to say on 'Laugh in' "Very interesting!!!'. Talk about thread drift. From the deep philosophy of 2001 a space oddisey, (spelling)? To Glenn Gould. Good stuff. I'm sure old Chulla would have had more to say if he'd lived. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MargieH 7,599 Posted March 27, 2020 Report Share Posted March 27, 2020 This morning, one of our sons sent me a link to an old TV series from the mid 1970s . I've just watched Episode 1 on YouTube . It's obviously very dated but it's SO prophetic for the situation we're in today. It was written by Terry Nation of Dr Who fame. if we didn't have the benefit of the information, science and technology that we have today, our planet's future could be even more uncertain. It's called Survivors and I remembered watching it all those years ago. I think it's definitely worth watching Survivors : Eps 1. The Fourth Horseman Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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