TV/Movies Megathread

[Josephus]

Book of Negroes was a good book. So far been less than thrilled with TV adaptation.

[Malthus]

Book of Negroes was a good book. So far been less than thrilled with TV adaptation.

Apparently it has a different title in the US - "Someone Knows My Name".

"I used The Book of Negroes as the title for my novel, in Canada, because it derives from a historical document of the same name kept by British naval officers at the tail end of the American Revolutionary War. It documents the 3,000 blacks who had served the King in the war and were fleeing Manhattan for Canada in 1783. Unless you were in The Book of Negroes, you couldn't escape to Canada. My character, an African woman named Aminata Diallo whose story is based on this history, has to get into the book before she gets out. In my country, few people have complained to me about the title, and nobody continues to do so after I explain its historical origins. I think it's partly because the word 'Negro' resonates differently in Canada. If you use it in Toronto or Montreal, you are probably just indicating publicly that you are out of touch with how people speak these days. But if you use it in Brooklyn or Boston, you are asking to have your nose broken. When I began touring with the novel in some of the major US cities, literary African-Americans kept approaching me and telling me it was a good thing indeed that the title had changed, because they would never have touched the book with its Canadian title."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_Negroes

[viper37]

So far, we have evil blacks carrying poor blacks to the sea to be sold to American merchants, then to rapist american farmers, than to slightly Jews, and I expect the slave will eventually find its way in a loving Canadian community, away from the Evil Americans rebelling against the Crown (it starts in 1761-63 IIRC).

John Brown raided two farms in Missouri and got the liberated slaves to Canada through the Underground Railroad in 1858, and they were probably goddamned glad he did, despite the hockey and weirdo football.

that's 1858.  Slavery was abolished in the Empire ca 1830s.  The action is set between the 7 years was and the American Revolution.

[viper37]

Book of negroes.

CBC's attemp at Root-like saga.  So far, we have evil blacks carrying poor blacks to the sea to be sold to American merchants, then to rapist american farmers, than to slightly Jews, and I expect the slave will eventually find its way in a loving Canadian community, away from the Evil Americans rebelling against the Crown (it starts in 1761-63 IIRC).

Heh, if it follows the book, you may be in for a surprise. 

Well, it's the CBC, I expect the worst so I don't get bad surprises

[garbon]

Nearly half way through the pilot of Empire (the commercials got to me) and I am loving it.

Okay, confirmed that I'll be watching this. How often do you get a show where a mother gets to unapologetically beat down her grown son with a broom?

That's old school beating.

The admin at my work told me that after that scene, she set her DVR to record it every week.

[CountDeMoney]

So far, we have evil blacks carrying poor blacks to the sea to be sold to American merchants, then to rapist american farmers, than to slightly Jews, and I expect the slave will eventually find its way in a loving Canadian community, away from the Evil Americans rebelling against the Crown (it starts in 1761-63 IIRC).

John Brown raided two farms in Missouri and got the liberated slaves to Canada through the Underground Railroad in 1858, and they were probably goddamned glad he did, despite the hockey and weirdo football.

that's 1858.  Slavery was abolished in the Empire ca 1830s.  The action is set between the 7 years was and the American Revolution.

I was kinda aiming at the whole "loving Canadian community" thing, not on exact times and dates as required per established and unwavering Languish standard operating procedures for post response.

[celedhring]

Nearly half way through the pilot of Empire (the commercials got to me) and I am loving it.

Okay, confirmed that I'll be watching this. How often do you get a show where a mother gets to unapologetically beat down her grown son with a broom?

That's old school beating.

The admin at my work told me that after that scene, she set her DVR to record it every week.

Looked up the series' premise; looks like King Lear in the world of hip hop music. Sounds interesting enough.

[garbon]

Nearly half way through the pilot of Empire (the commercials got to me) and I am loving it.

Okay, confirmed that I'll be watching this. How often do you get a show where a mother gets to unapologetically beat down her grown son with a broom?

That's old school beating.

The admin at my work told me that after that scene, she set her DVR to record it every week.

Looked up the series' premise; looks like King Lear in the world of hip hop music. Sounds interesting enough.

Many outlets will mentioning King Lear (which I think comes from the show as one of the sons asks if that's what the scenario, their father has setup, will be like), it is also mentioned as Black version of Dynasty.

[viper37]

I was kinda aiming at the whole "loving Canadian community" thing, not on exact times and dates as required per established and unwavering Languish standard operating procedures for post response.

yeah, but that apply to 1776-1783.  A slave ownwer in South Carolina still living there or a slave owner emigrated in Nova Scotia, not much difference.

[CountDeMoney]

I was kinda aiming at the whole "loving Canadian community" thing, not on exact times and dates as required per established and unwavering Languish standard operating procedures for post response.

yeah, but that apply to 1776-1783.  A slave ownwer in South Carolina still living there or a slave owner emigrated in Nova Scotia, not much difference.

You win. 

[crazy canuck]

I was kinda aiming at the whole "loving Canadian community" thing, not on exact times and dates as required per established and unwavering Languish standard operating procedures for post response.

yeah, but that apply to 1776-1783.  A slave ownwer in South Carolina still living there or a slave owner emigrated in Nova Scotia, not much difference.

I disagree.  There was a significant difference.  Although slavery was legal in both places the approach to slavery was very different.  The use of large number of slaves in the southern States in concentrated numbers on plantations created a significantly different dynamic of brutality.  Even though the loyalists brought a relatively large number of slaves with them when they fled the US rebellion the absolute number of slaves was still very small and from what I have read treated much better.

And so Seedy was right that a slave coming to a place like Nova Scotia from the South would have been better off even if they continued to have the status of being a slave.

[Martinus]

Most awkward sex scene of this year's TV: Neil Patrick Harris and Sarah Paulson.

And that's not just because he is playing a creepy magician with a murderous doll and she is playing a two-headed Siamese twin chick on a show written by the guy who created both Nip/Tuck and Glee.

[Liep]

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

It had Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass and Jake Johnson, all from above average comedy series and it was on Netflix, easy choice to watch it.

Nice indie flick with sporadic comedy most of which was physical. B.

[celedhring]

Due to strange circumstances too complex to explain, I ended up tonight stoned watching "The Golden Child" with some friends. Terrible film, but it works as "so-bad-it's-good" when you're stoned. Also, the karate chick is really hot and the film doesn't shy away from showcasing it in quite shameless ways.

[Ideologue]

The Lego Movie was robbed at the Oscars nominations.

Yeah, it's pretty bizarre.  I've only so far seen How to Train Your Dragon 2, but at the very least Lego is better than it; I suspect strongly it's better than the rest, too, particularly Boxtrolls and Big Hero 6, which may be fine but I doubt are operating at that level.

Anyway, the bigger news is how fucked over Nightcrawler in general and Gyllenhaal in particular were.  Also analysis is that Selma's been given a "nice try, we did black people last year" nomination.  I can't speak to the merits of the film itself, though I can't imagine it's a more pathetically biopicky biopic than The Theory of Everything.