Comments for Refracted input

Comment on The Da Vinci Code (2003) by christian

christian — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:29:07 +0000

Looks like Sarah Palin may have taken some cues from Dan Brown too… http://pageslap.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/can-you-write-like-sarah-palin/

Comment on The Da Vinci Code (2003) by Mike Licht

Mike Licht — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:54:09 +0000

Many clues can be found in da Vinci’s notebooks.

See:

http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2009/10/25/da-vinci-and-air-travel/

Comment on The 10th Kingdom (2000) by Clare

Clare — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:51:35 +0000

Thanks for your comments Amber. You’ll probably be rushing out to buy the DVD now you have the title. I had a similar experience with the TV series UFO which after years of vague memories I finally rediscovered in the mid 90s.

Comment on The 10th Kingdom (2000) by Amber

Amber — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:09:44 +0000

I want to thank you SO VERY MUCH for this post. I watched this with my grandparents every Wednesday night for a long time it felt like, now I was really little, probably between 8 and 10 and I loved this series. I am now 19 and could never find the name of this show on Google or any search engine anywhere! I am so glad you posted this review; now I can feel like I’m back in their house and it’s Wednesday night. =D

Comment on Foucault and the neoliberal art of government by Clare

Clare — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:57:09 +0000

Hi Laura, Foucault is talking about the interaction between strategies of government and economic models here. What he means by ‘enterprise’ is any competitive profit making venture – and the smaller and more diverse the better. He argues that neo-liberal strategies of governmentality seek to embed the notion of enterprise within the social fabric. Thus:

In other words, what is involved is the generalization of forms of ‘enterprise’ by diffusing and multiplying them as much as possible, enterprises which must not be focused on the form of big national or international enterprises or the type of big enterprises of a state. I think this multiplication of the ‘enterprise’ form within the social body is what is at stake in neo-liberal policy. It is a matter of making the market, competition, and so the enterprise, into what could be calIed the formative power of society. (p. 148)

Comment on Foucault and the neoliberal art of government by Laura

Laura — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:43:19 +0000

I’m curious about the term enterprise. I don’t know French so I can’t speculate about its meaning, and I haven’t read the lecture you’re referring to, so I don’t know if he gives the term more context, but what do you think he means by it? You seem to be using it to describe a spirit of enterprise, of entrepreneurialism, but when I first read the quote you posted, I read it as being about institutions (e.g. enterprises). Can you enlighten me or should I just go read it myself?

Comment on The Singing Detective (2007) by Clare

Clare — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 23:15:27 +0000

Hi Scu, I note Dennis Potter also did the same thing with Pennies from Heaven, which was first a TV series and then a Hollywood film he wrote the script for.

This raises the interesting problem of adaptations. The received wisdom is that adaptations are bad – but if they use the chosen medium well, they can sometimes be better than the source.

I have found that some TV series actually work better than their source material – eg Wire in the Blood and Our Mutual Friend. The film of The Dead Zone is also far more interesting than the source novel – with the combination of Cronenberg’s direction and Christopher Walken’s acting.

Comment on The Singing Detective (2007) by Scu

Scu — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:43:56 +0000

There is no need to see the movie. I really liked it, but as I said above, I can clearly see why someone who saw the tv series first would not. I didn’t even know the tv series existed when I saw the movie.

Despite some of the obvious derivative elements of the movie, I think they are mostly different beasts. Which is for all the better. It avoids that feeling of watching the original as if on fast forward that so many adaptations fall prey to.

Comment on Balls of Fury (2007) by Clare

Clare — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:14:56 +0000

Thanks for your comments CM! It is good to know that somebody finds my Walken site of interest. Sometimes I felt as though I was writing into a void with it – particularly in the face what you so accurately describe as the same well-worn and repetitious publicity stuff. It definitely needs an update though – I need more time in the day!

I still hold to my theory that CW has semi-retired. For the last few years he has only been doing lightning cameos in films which are often, unfortunately, fairly dire. Around the Bend (2004) was quite good, but the last truly amazing thing he did in my view was the video Weapon of Choice in 2001.

He actually does have hobbies – eg his cats, painting and also cooking. There’s a fabulous and suitably weird video up on youtube of him cooking a chicken, with an appearance by one of his cats at the end.

Comment on The Singing Detective (2007) by Clare

Clare — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 04:00:42 +0000

Hi Scu, I have to admit that I haven’t seen the film.

It is hard to see how it would work and it is difficult (for me at least) to imagine Robert Downey Jnr in the role that Michael Gambon inhabits with such subtlety and ambiguity. A film is also a very different thing from a TV series and I do tend to prefer the TV format for its capacity to build story and character over a long period. In addition, there is the fact that the TV series is British and the film American with the various cultural differences that implies.

Having said this, Potter wrote the script for the film as well as the TV series. But, as Glen Creeber points out in his book – the TV series was very much a collaborative team effort and much of its impact derives from the acting, direction, lighting, the script editing efforts of the director and so on as well as from the writing.

Nonetheless, I should take a look at the film so that I can talk from a basis of knowledge rather than uninformed opinion!