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Other countries also had cheap labour, you know. Those intricate designs are just to look good and show off.
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Jul 10, 2020 03:38
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Phenotype posted:because to the landed gentry,...  using language like that to such excess. Probably just landed on the Prolé Lariat de Mer 
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Jul 12, 2020 07:38
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I'm a little late to this, but the closest I've come to a 19th c. formal affair out of O'Brien was USMC "Mess Night." Dress uniforms, absurdly elaborate rules, toasts, and the thrill of watching your First Sergeant getting blackout drunk. They're glorious.  Edit: Rules - Link. Cessna fucked around with this message at 20:49 on Jul 17, 2020 |
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Jul 17, 2020 20:44
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Did you toast to the wives and sweethearts (may they never meet)?
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Jul 19, 2020 07:34
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Your need to awkwardly make a joke about food watch being curtailed and bask in the silence.
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Jul 20, 2020 02:23
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Laugh at your own terrible joke so hard that everyone else starts laughing with you
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Jul 20, 2020 12:33
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Neophyte posted:Laugh at your own terrible joke so hard that everyone else starts laughing with you Speaking from experience, this one doesn't work as well if you're not the commanding officer.
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Jul 20, 2020 12:54
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Cessna posted:I'm a little late to this, but the closest I've come to a 19th c. formal affair out of O'Brien was USMC "Mess Night." I'm a little skeptical about the claim that this traces it's lines back to the vikings - the British navy link is completely obvious, but it seems to me like the British navy was just civilian elite etiquette translated directly into military protocol. Like, the formal dining was pretty much what the nobs in the UK did every evening, and I don't think that came from the vikings. It's cool how the etiquette has been preserved over time, though. I think that Aubrey would immediately recognize Mess Night and feel at home.
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Jul 20, 2020 17:21
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I like how mess night is all pomp and circumstance, and then the suggested menu is crappier than what they'd serve at a high school grad night.
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Jul 20, 2020 17:30
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Funny story about mess night: All males have to do two years of mandatory military service in Singapore. The Singapore army takes some of its traditions from the British Army, what with being a former colony and all, so we say leftenant instead of lieutenant etc. One of those traditions is the mess night etiquette, except that you only do it once, when you're a new officer getting your commission. You wear a special uniform tuxedo whose sleeves drag through your food, and you have a catered meal with random traditions that no one understands that you had to learn about in a whole separate lesson. Like how the youngest person at the table gets called "Mr. Vice" and is in charge of the toast (I think we toasted the president instead of the king, but it's been a while). But then you never do any of this again and wonder what the hell the whole point of it is. I could tell that this was all some archaic British bullshit but most of the guys were very confused.
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Jul 20, 2020 21:39
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Norwegian NCO's and officers will drink the king in a strange but short ritual where the oldest (not highest ranking, but y'know, they're usually the same) officer says a few fairly archaically worded sentences on the lines of 'It's a tradition wherever warriors gather (the word is 'krigsmenn' or 'war men') that the first toast goes to our commander in chief and highest warlord (krigsherre). Ladies and gentlemen, the king!' Whereupon everyone choruses 'the king!' and downs their drink. Obviously it's not something you do often, and its kinda embarrassing whenever someone gets caught up and does it in a situation that really doesn't demand it but once in a while it's cool, such as commissioning dinners, informal gatherings after or before deployments, etc.
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Jul 21, 2020 01:07
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Stumbled across this video with a recipe for one of Jacks favorite treats, Syllabub, along with the history of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQksGGtDB2w
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Jul 22, 2020 04:27
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I love that YouTube channel.
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Jul 22, 2020 07:12
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Tasting history is pretty great. I hope he does more naval recipes.
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Jul 22, 2020 07:25
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Xander77 posted:I heartily recommend the Sharpe series - having read through Hornblower and Aubrey-Maturin, "Sharpe's Trafalgar" was probably the best described and most interesting navel battle I've ever read. It's also a lot less repetitive than the AM novels. I just read it. It's pretty good! Though it's also fairly laddish, I guess is the word.
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Jul 22, 2020 07:41
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Bloody Hedgehog posted:Stumbled across this video with a recipe for one of Jacks favorite treats, Syllabub, along with the history of it. As soon as I can stand at the counter for 10 minutes again, I am making this, it looks fantastic.
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Jul 22, 2020 18:43
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VendoViper posted:As soon as I can stand at the counter for 10 minutes again, I am making this, it looks fantastic. I made it for my kids, so no brandy. The cream I had didn't rise fully - there was either too much simple syrup in it or it was old - so we ended up with what amounted to melted lemon ice cream and it was still outstanding.
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Jul 22, 2020 21:17
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Can confirm, syllabub is delicious
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Jul 24, 2020 07:52
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I've been slowly making my way through the series on audiobook (the Patrick Tull narration is fantastic and really sets a great tone for the series, HIGHLY recommend it) and I'm midway through The Truelove/Clarissa Oakes. I've really wanted to pick up a set of the books so I can see the spelling of many of the words, and really just to have it on my shelf because I've enjoyed it so much. Unfortunately, 20-21 books in this series is a lot of money and even used paperbacks they seem to run well over $100 for a complete set. A couple weeks ago however, I saw what looked like a good listing on ebay of a lot of 20 mixed paperback/hardcover for $45 and jumped on it! Just missing The Mauritius Command and the Unfinished Voyages!  I don't think it really matters but 6 of the library hardcovers are US first editions which is a neat bonus. No checkouts stamped in the log, I'm guessing the librarian was a fan and picked them up as they were released.  I feel like my collection won't be complete until I replace the movie cover of the Far Side of the World and pick up the cookbook.
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Aug 7, 2020 03:32
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Whoa! Great find, and includes Sea of Words. Quite envious!
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Aug 7, 2020 05:27
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The movie adaptation/mishmash of Master and Commander and Far Side of the World is on Hulu now. I told myself I'd wait until I finished Far Side of the World before watching it, but I think I'm gonna break that rule because I'm only up to Treason's Harbor. From everything I've heard the production values and performances are very good.
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Aug 7, 2020 13:19
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Its pretty much it's own story that takes bits and pieces from a bunch of different books. It helps to know the ship and some of the people before watching it but the movie doesn't really spoil anything. The movie is pretty good though, I think. It'd be impossible to take any book and turn it into a 2 hour self contained story so they did the next best thing. Keep an eye peeled for the casting choice of Bonden.
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Aug 7, 2020 14:33
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I just looked that up and wtf. My mental image of Bonden has always been like Vinnie Jones but more stout and maybe a little fatter.
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Aug 7, 2020 15:24
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They did an all right job. There's not really any sailing maneuver stuff, IMO Bettany is some character that really isn't Stephen Maturin, and the jingoistic undercurrent is garbage ... but what's there is really good for what it is; many things are done well.
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Aug 7, 2020 15:53
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MeatwadIsGod posted:I just looked that up and wtf. My mental image of Bonden has always been like Vinnie Jones but more stout and maybe a little fatter. Bonden was a bad cast. He's the toughest brawler in the fleet ffs. Vinnie Jones would have been perfect. Lucky Jack's coxswain don't run to fat.
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Aug 7, 2020 16:24
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It's especially egregious because the movie came out within a few months of Return of the King. If it had been a movie in which Boyd had a major role it would be different; but because Bonden barely has any lines and just sort of crops up in the background of scenes it ends up being more of a distracting Easter egg sort of thing where you're watching the movie and then randomly 'oh look was that Pippin!'.
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Aug 7, 2020 17:21
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Yeah I think if we didn't all already have Billy Boyd in our minds as a hobbit, he wouldn't have been bad for Bonden. I don't imagine Bonden as a big guy so much as a powerful, and strong but confidently quiet and reliable guy with big burly tattooed forearms. I think Billy Boyd sort of pulled that off, but he wasn't ideal. The movie completely whiffs on Dr. Maturin. Patrick Tull will always be Dr. Maturin for me, but Paul Bettany did alright with the role that was written for the doctor. I kind of get it why he's so minor though. To explore Maturin's character and tell the real story in the series-that of Jack and Stephen's relationship- it really needs a longer format like a Game of Thrones style, big budget, multi-season TV epic 
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Aug 7, 2020 18:18
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When I first read the books, my mental casting for Bonden was Prime Suspect era Craig Fairbrass. Big and tough, but a little soft and dopey too.
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Aug 7, 2020 19:54
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Also to give Stephen something interesting to do the book would have had to be set much more on land. Since most of the movie is sailing around and ship fights there's no real role for him beyond doctor and naturalist. I guess we'll have to wait for someone to give the series the game of thrones treatment.
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Aug 7, 2020 21:58
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Killick was cast beautifully, however.
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Aug 7, 2020 22:07
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So I think the movie is actually pretty great. The attention to detail in set, script, little acting bits in the background and so on is a cut above almost any historical film I can think of. I think some of the characters do come off differently to the books, but in Maturin's case I think that can be attributed to them simply not having the time to go into his love life, intelligence work etc. I agree Bonden is miscast badly. Interestingly I don't even envision him as a particularly big guy, and certainly not a brutal or thuggish looking one. Maybe slightly bigger than average, but giving an impression of latent strength and solidity. There is a certain look or carriage you see for example in (good) army NCOs or naval petty officers, they just give the impression they will deal with absolutely anything as it comes up. Now Awkward Davies, who is sort of in the film in the background, he could be Vinnie Jones.
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Aug 7, 2020 23:00
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Genghis Cohen posted:So I think the movie is actually pretty great. The attention to detail in set, script, little acting bits in the background and so on is a cut above almost any historical film I can think of. I think some of the characters do come off differently to the books, but in Maturin's case I think that can be attributed to them simply not having the time to go into his love life, intelligence work etc. I feel pretty lucky as a fan of the novels to get as great of a movie as Master and Commander turned out to be and the problems with it(as a book reader) like casting are on the whole pretty minor. Core themes of the novels and character traits are expressed pretty well, the scenes like where Jack abandons the chase for Stephen's sake and how much they care for each other are much more important than going into detail of Stephen's spy history. It gets hinted at, if the movie ever had a sequel I'm sure it would've been explored a whole lot, but I'm not bothered at all by the things they chose to omit from the film. I'm paraphrasing but when Killick says forget the swords grab the silver, seeing Jack scratch a stay when everyone leaves him, Stephen taking up a sword himself, there's a lot to like as a fan of the novels that non-readers wouldn't catch the significance. And super super thankful, as they had hoped for sequels, that it didn't end in a way teasing sequel-bait we would've never seen.
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Aug 7, 2020 23:52
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If Hugh Laurie could be shrunk to 5'4", he'd be a good Maturin.
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Aug 8, 2020 00:02
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I'm really disappointed they never made sequels to that movie. I think a high budget cable TV show would be pretty brilliant and lend itself perfectly to the style of the novels.
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Aug 8, 2020 02:18
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I think Mauritius command would lend itself well to a 10-12 episode season. Tightly defined story, interesting characters. D
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Aug 8, 2020 08:31
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The Lord Bude posted:I'm really disappointed they never made sequels to that movie. I think a high budget cable TV show would be pretty brilliant and lend itself perfectly to the style of the novels. It'll never happen though. You'd need to spend so much time on a boat to film what you'd want it'd be hugely impractical, and trying to cgi/fake it would look and feel really cheesy. The M&C movie had about 90 minutes on a boat, even an 8 episode season would need 4x that and battles would double what you'd need. Don't get me wrong, I think the story would be perfect but it'd be a while other tier of expense, time, and actor commitment that I just don't think it's happening anytime soon. When they are able to affordably make a convincing high sea environment with a green screen then maybe, but I've never seen anything like that.
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Aug 8, 2020 14:10
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jerman999 posted:I think Mauritius command would lend itself well to a 10-12 episode season. Tightly defined story, interesting characters. D Aw, don't tease me. Mauritius Command is my favorite book, I think. And yeah, it's one of the few that almost fits into a neat package for a TV show or movie, starting in England with Stephen coming to visit Jack at his home with the promise of a ship, and a natural conclusion in the successful invasion. The sideplot with Clonfert -- poor, insecure, vulnerable Clonfert trying to play the part of a dashing sea captain and having to face up to a man who embodies the real thing, with no showing-off or playacting, a man who he thought was an equal -- is one of my favorite bits in the entire series, too. That final line of Maturin's, "you cannot blame the bull because the frog burst, the bull has no comprehension of the affair" gives me chills every time.
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Aug 8, 2020 16:10
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Lockback posted:It'll never happen though. You'd need to spend so much time on a boat to film what you'd want it'd be hugely impractical, and trying to cgi/fake it would look and feel really cheesy. The M&C movie had about 90 minutes on a boat, even an 8 episode season would need 4x that and battles would double what you'd need. There was a Horatio Hornblower miniseries, so its not impossible. And the HMS Surprise they built for the movie still exists and seems to be in great shape, its down in San Diego.
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Aug 8, 2020 18:26
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While Crowe/Bettany may not have been physically cast correctly, their chemistry on screen was such that I think they were perfect for the roles, and I picture them to some degree now as Aubrey and Maturin whenever I'm re-reading the series.
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Aug 8, 2020 20:48
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I liked them both in the film; and I thought it was a great movie; although I watched it long before I knew of the books - it was watching the movie that got me into the books. At first when I was reading I pictured them as Crowe and Bettany but I definitely don’t any more.
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Aug 9, 2020 05:13
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