peter rietbergen

This is a terrible part of the tale as it unfolds. Very well written, but with an awful reality rearing its ugly head.

Interesting. For yes, you're right about the LotR, though there are women sort of sprinkled through the story, in Elvenland and in other places. But I admit: they're not protagonists. It would be interesting to find out what feminists have made of the female presence/absence in this saga, both in the rather boring novels (I hope you're not an aficionado...) and in the vastly more interesting Jackson-films. As to popular and less popular periods to set mainstream films in: true. I've no idea whether these choices depend, basically, on what the audience is taught in the classroom and thus is expecting in the theatre. Another problem definitely is that Byzantium - apologies...- has no succession (nation-)state that "needs" a filmic representation of its past. Turkey does it, with The Magnificent Century and its sequels - including, for obvious reasons, quite a few women who're given powerful roles. So do the Chinese. And personally I loved the series about the Sun King, though, surprisingly, or not, there were so many women - what with the Queen, and four mistresses,et cetera, that in the end/overall they really didn't matter... We can/should discuss this topic more in depth, but it might bore the GA- readers .... Regards Peter

Of course I realise that you had Davids cinemascopic painting in mind. But it allows you to centralise your story in that moment - and its consequences. Hence; perfect choice. As to Byzantium: I mean(t) the city, rather than the empire. But if you want to shame German histroians - why not: be my guest - you should perhaps call it by the name the people themselves gave it? No period films anymore? Well, depends on the selling-power of the tale. We're going to have a blockbuster based on the Odyssey next year. And, actually, with the revival of the "sandal-epics" since Ridley Scott, there seem new possibilities galore. In short, I don't agree it would be impossible. The main problem might be: there's no female heroine. And yes, ever since narrative films started, that has been a commercially-essential necessity. Yet, "The Kingdom of Heaven" does without a powerful female role...

My thoughts on O? You're the author. Either you make him into a rough but honest guy, or he's knee-deep into the shady world of FB... Admittedly, I'd love KK to find out without help from"the other side"....

"This story is a return to realism". Well, we get all of that - and more. But yes; it does depict the life that unfolds in restaurants: the problems caused by the choices one has to make - which future is best, creatively and commercially? But also: the staff problems, the financial problems, the personal problems - and, indeed, the alcohol problems: the potentially devastating effects of a need borne out of continuous stress. A sad chapter, this - but done very well.

This is very impressive indeed. If ever a film is made about "The Last Days of Byzantium", a scene like this one should definitely be included.

The first part, with the awful questions asked during the interview, and the reactions of J an R, was spot on. The hypocrisy of journalists - especially American ones, in matters sexual - is absolutely appalling. I'm afraid the prurient interest these men - and women - show, always "on behalf of our readers", or: "our readers have a right to know"... -reflects some deep-seated psychological problems in American society at large.

A magical moment. And you capture it well. Bravo.

and if Robert has a biological son Julian's age - why was Julian adopted?

I must be a sloppy reader to have missed something: where did Nathan go, when the Patriarch caught him and Julian? He was in the bathroom, after all.

His job was not to seek perfect justice, but to prevent absolute collapse. The honourable path led to ruin. The dishonourable path led to stability. The eternal dilemma....

“Your stage is a children’s puppet show, Wolf,” Enrico countered, his voice cutting and dismissive. “You are a quartermaster with an extension cord. You lack the imagination for true power. The difference between us is this: you play with spreadsheets; I play with something far grander.” And so he proved, a few minutes later..

As far as the three of us could see, we held all the aces, and Jarvis, even if he thought he was safe enough, was in a whole world of trouble. A, blissfully naive - if only because the author doesn't want this story to be that easy....

ah, but the greater good might be to allow AC - and his family/convictions - to continue working for democracy....

Our young "horndog"certainly has a roving eye....

pale but now moving with a grim, focused intensity that belied his academic background A, I see: being ""that" people don't expect one to display "this"...😀

There a big, even eternal questions, here. On the general level: Yes: poison, or a bullet, or any other means to kill A would probably not kill the organisation behind him. And yet - many, from our PoV pernicious organisations arise through an ideological (and from our prespective morally-despicable) figurea-head - see messers P and T. Murdering them may yet also weaken their base, and/or allow the moderate centre to regain strength... On the personal level: As to AC: would murder morally kill the murderer? Or is - given, perhaps, the 'outcome' I just sketched - such killing yet the morally best (or even: only) way to act, i.e.: "for the greater good"?

This was an emotional, and emotionally convincing chapter indeed. And yes, it would have made a perfect conclusion of this tale. Simply leaving us, readers, to imagine what might have come next, rather than - probably...! - throw in complicating spanners, and spell it all out. But hey, ever author must go his own path ...

In this moment, under the rising Canadian sun, a boy and his father, an all-star and a strategist, did what boys and dads have been doing since the country began. They skated. And for Andrew, standing on that sacred sheet with his son, the battle was worth every single cost, every single lie, every single compromise. This, right here, was the sovereign nation he was fighting to protect. Alright: melodramatic, obviously. But I'll buy it.

absolutely thrilling and, indeed, eminently filmable. If you "sell" this story to The Movies, you won't have to write for GA anymore 😀

True enough, alas. But whereas Reform's hole cannot be deep enoug, for me, one wonders whether between the narcissist stupidity of Badenoch (aided by increasingly right-wing media) and Starmer's saddening inability to provide Labour with a clear, foreward-looking policy there's much hope for a better future...,

Writing this in 2025 - more than a decade later than the last comments - I remember last Spring's long vac in Scotland. I was amazed to find the showers there as insularly-unintelligible as when i was at school in England many more decades ago. Maybe Brexit happened for a reason, i.e. the inability of the Brits to adapt to the twentieth century...

Indeed, Eileen in Southwold was too special a character to let go off again. So: nice to have her back. As to the Martinson(son)-Joski(son) link.... Anything can happen, I feel...

Fascinating stuff, all these deep-delving comments. Yet I cannot help feeling that many readers "read" Lynn as a far more complicated character than he actually is - or, rather, than his creator intends him to be....

While I don't know why that captain repeated the same lines twice , and still wonder about Christian's sexuality (why is constantly chumming with three gay boys?), this was a good chapter indeed.