The BBC are producing a “new adaptation of Watership Down [that] uses Richard Adams’ bestselling novel as its source to bring an innovative interpretation to the much loved classic”.
I’m not sure what that exactly means, but it looks like Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig and the others will be along.
It wouldn’t be the same without Art Garfunkel’s song, I wonder if it will be included or homaged somehow.
Here’s the trailer.
Category Archives: Popular Culture
He Had Vision, The Rest Of The World Wore Bifocals – Farewell William Goldman
William Goldman, author both the book and movie versions of The Princess Bride has died.
You may also remember him from such other movie screenplays as Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid and All The President’s Men, among others.
I want to say his death is ‘inconcievable,’ but perhaps that word doesn’t mean what I want it to mean in this context.
When a great storyteller is gone there stories remain to be told again and passed on to others.
And, thanks to William Goldman, every time I conduct or attend a wedding, regardless of what I’m actually saying or doing, these are the words that are actually echoing in my mind.
Marvel Remembers Stan Lee
This video is Marvel’s tribute to Stan Lee.
The take-away line is that Lee’s greatest creation was himself, the public persona of Marvel Comics.
That may detract a little from Lee’s contribution as co-creator, plotter, and scripter.
It also brings into focus how his public persona served to eclipse those whose creative contributions were at least as significant as Lee’s.
Look up Jack Kirby’s creation ‘Funky Flashman’ if you want an acerbic personal point of view about Lee’s public personality from the 1970s.
Anyway, this video highlights what Lee did contribute, which was himself.
Vale Stan Lee
I started reading comic books in the mid 1970’s.
I was then, and continue to be a DC guy, but by the time I got into Marvel in 1978 the comics were all presented by Stan Lee, but Stan Lee himself was already gone from the day-to-day production of Marvel comics.
It’s been over forty years since Lee last really regularly wrote comics, with various items since then of a one-off or special nature.
Yet it is true to say that Lee gave the characters created before 1970 their voices, and set the pattern for the way in which the lives of those characters would be portrayed.
Even those characters created after 1970, who form a substantial portion of the portfolio of characters that are part of the public consciousness bear the stamp of Lee’s characterisations.
Until the mid-seventies the template for the artistic depiction of Marvel’s characters was that of Jack Kirby.
Through till today the template for the written characterisation of all superhero comics is basically that of Stan Lee.
There will be much debate about the levels of recognition that should be afforded to the co-creators who worked with Lee.
But what should not be open to debate is that without Lee’s contribution US comic books in their current form would not exist, nor would they sound like they do in terms of the stories they tell.
I didn’t read comics when Stan Lee was creating the substantial body of work for which he is known.
But all the comics I have read have been created in the shadow of his contribution.
Excelsior!
Never Gets Old – Halloween 2018
It may be Halloween, but this is Australia.
We might humour some close friends, but this still sums it up.
Twenty-Five Words Being Added To Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary In 2018
For a change this list of words being added to Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary in 2018 not only contains words I know, but even a few that I’m surprised aren’t already there.
Some abbreviations: guac, fave.
Some tech words: force quit, predictive.
Some geek words: adorbs, TL;DR.
And more.
Read the list at Mental Floss.
Vale Margot Kidder
Margot Kidder played Lois Lane in the 1978 Superman movie, displaying a hard-edged tenderness that was a perfect foil for Christopher Reeve’s guileless strength as he portrayed the Man of Steel.
For a comic book reading teenager in the 1970s watching a puffy Marlon Brando as Jor-el or Gene Hackman’s supposedly wig-wearing Lex Luthor were prices that seemed worth paying to get a Superman movie on the big screen, but there was no sense of sacrifice when it came to Kidder and Reeve who perfectly embodied the fictional characters they were plucked from relative obscurity to play.
Their skill as actors enabled them to respect their characters in such a way that they could have fun in the roles without ever seeming to send them up.
The personal lives of both actors transcended their careers, and for a kid from the 70s the fact that they are both gone is both surreal and another reminder of time’s relentless march.
