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Scylla Rhiadra
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Posts posted by Scylla Rhiadra
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6 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:
This is the moment when the black and white gave way to the colourised footage. It's breathtaking
Wow. Yeah. It's astonishing how that brings the film alive. I've never been a fan of colourized versions of old films and such, but that's really effective.
7 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:Definitely keep an eye out for when it's aired on US television.
*coughs* Canadian TV. Although actually I don't have any kind of TV. But I wonder if it's available for rent through YouTube or elsewhere? (My uni library also has a pretty good collection of online documentary video.) I'd pay for this in a shot.
8 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:Definitely keep an eye out for when it's aired on US television. Peter Jackson has pulled off a masterpiece with it. The tinest details were considered. He brought in forensic lip-readers to figure out what the soldiers were saying, and then he brought in actors to overdub those words, to add extra atmosphere over and above the soundtrack of shelling and firing. He even made sure that - where regiments were identifiable - the actors came from the same location, so the accents would be accurate.
I didn't realize Peter Jackson was behind it! It would be good, then.
9 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:This was another moment that got to me. Watch for the trembling hand
My god yes. And the look on their faces.
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5 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:
the boys would wake up and step quicker and livelier for some time, and Arthur Fulghum would holloa out, "All right; go ahead!" and then would toot! toot! as if the cars were starting—puff! puff! puff and then he would say, "Tickets, gentlemen; tickets, gentlemen" like he was conductor on a train of cars. This little episode would be over, and then would commence the same tramp, tramp, tramp, all night long. Step by step, step by step, we continued to plod and nod and stagger and march, tramp, tramp, tramp.
This is brilliant (and this part really amusing), Selene. Thank you for sharing!
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There used to be . . . I don't know, 7 years ago? . . . a sim set up by Oxford University that was devoted to the poets of the Great War, and that featured a sort of recreation of the trenches of the Western Front. I've got a pic somewhere of me dressed in a nurse's uniform that was freely available there. And it had interactive elements that included excerpts from both poems and, I think, war diaries.
Anyone know if it, or anything like it, is still around?
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From the Diary of Sgt. Henry W. Tisdale, 35th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (pub. 1926)
This is all good, but I've italicized a bit in the middle that I found particularly affecting.
From the entry for October 29, 1862
"At near 4 PM September 14th our brigade was ordered to the front, a rough march of some 4 miles brought us to the scene of conflict, climbing steep hills, some almost mountains crossing rough fields through corn fields and some of the way at double quick. On our way meeting many wounded being carried to the rear and as we neared the battleground here and there a dead body was to be seen. At little after 5 PM were upon the ground where the booming of artillery the screaming of shot and shell and rattling of musketry told us we were mid the stern realities of actual battle. The sight of the wounded sent a kind of chill over me but in the main feelings of curiosity and wonder at the scene about me took hold of my mind. Were drawn up in the line of battle in a cornfield and then advanced through a sort of wooden field to a thick wood where we met the rebels or a few scattering ones for their main body was on the retreat. In entering the wood came upon a large number of rebel dead lying in a ravine, presenting a sad and sickening sight. They were making an advance upon our lines, but when crossing the ravine, were met by a volley from the 17th Michigan which so thinned their ranks that on that part of their line they made a precipitate retreat. Just after we entered the wood was wounded by a rifle ball passing through my left leg just opposite the thighbone. As the ball struck me it gave me a shock which led me to feel at first that the bone must have been struck and shattered and for a moment did not dare to move for fear it was so. Found on moving that the bone was not injured and that I had only a flesh wound, which relieved my mind and thankfulness to God that I was not maimed or dangerously hurt came. I think that the shot must have been fired by some straggling rebel or sharpshooter in a tree, as we had not yet got up to within reach of the rebel lines. Found myself in a few moments growing weak and tying my towel above the wound to stop its bleeding tried to make for the rear where the surgeons were. As I was limping off a wounded rebel who was sitting against a tree called me and asked me if I did not have something to eat. Exhibiting a loaf and going to him I opened my knife to cut off a slice when he placed his hands before his face exclaiming “Don’t kill me” and begging me to put up the knife and not to hurt him. Assuring him I had no intention of hurting him I spoke with him a little. Found he had a family in Georgia, that he was badly wounded and was anxious to have me remain with him and help him off. But found I was growing weaker from loss of blood and that the surging to and fro the troops about us made it a dangerous place so limping and crawling was obliged to leave him and move for the rear. Soon came across some men detailed to look out for the wounded who placed me in a blanket and took me to the rear to the surgeon. The place where the wounded were brought was near a cottage, near which had been the battle- ground of the forenoon. Was fortunate enough to be placed upon a straw bed in the garden just outside the house and had my wound promptly dressed. The cottage had a memento of the fight in the shape of a hole through its roof made by a cannon ball. The fighting continued till late in the evening, our regiment losing but a few wounded among them our colonel lost his left arm and George E. Whiting of our company one of his feet. He bore the amputation manfully. The house and outbuildings and the ground adjoining them were filled and covered with wounded rebel and union mingled, all being cared for as best they could be, many moaning piteously throughout the night or until death put an end to their sufferings. Friend Sabin R. Baker of our company took care of us of the regiment doing what he could and adding much to our comfort amid the confusion and suffering existing about."
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45 minutes ago, Skell Dagger said:
From They Shall Not Grow Old. I wish Gyazo could capture the audio as well, but the subtitles will have to suffice.
https://i.gyazo.com/bb27813e3943ac7a4de500c2bdf70ec3.mp4
https://i.gyazo.com/821dd8849937409ffe1458314ba0ad13.mp4
Warning on the last one, for distressing content. This moment, I don't mind admitting, was the one that wrought tears from me:
These are wonderful, and upsetting, all at the same time. And the colourized (?) footage is astonishing.
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@Phorumities -- I want to be constructive about this.
If you really do want to contribute to this thread, why don't you search out some diary or journal entries (in text or video form) written by Confederate soldiers, and excerpt them here? See for instance the posts by Skell and Innula above. That would do much to humanize them, to give us some insight into who they were, as individuals.
It would make it much easier to mourn their loss if we knew more about them. That would be a contribution that is interesting, instructive, and entirely in keeping with the spirit of this thread.
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28 minutes ago, Phorumities said:
soooo what is your opinion on removing monuments honoring the men that fought for the Confederacy?
You're really kind of hellbent and determined to start a fire here, aren't you?
Please stop baiting Luna and Love. No one here has suggested restrictions on who gets memorialized. How they get memorialized, and the function of the statues that you mention, is quite another issue, and has nothing to do with what we've been discussing here.
In fact, it deserves its own thread: why don't you start one?
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12 hours ago, Laoise Rumsford said:
I love the hair!!!
(Also the jeans.)
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A friend put me on to collabor88 last night. As it turned out, the items he thought I'd like (and I did) weren't available in (for me) the right sizes and appliers, but I did find this kind of funky 70s thing by Fashionably Dead. Probably about right for hanging out at the coffeehouse and listening to Joni Mitchell sing?
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5 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:
Thought of a classic: “If I told you that you have a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?”
No. Again.
Maybe doubly so.
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7 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:
I wonder if using punny pickup lines works.
No.
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1 minute ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:
So, would that be an annoying line?
*groan*
?
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3 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:
I can never tell which end of the line I’m on.
It's wise policy to ensure that the men in one's life are never entirely sure of the answer to that question.
Keeps 'em on their toes.
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4 hours ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:
Soo, umm... I WANT TO DO TEH SECKS!!!!
That is SO rude, Drake!!!!
Take a number. Can't you see there's a lineup?
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Best. Derail. Ever.
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8 minutes ago, Innula Zenovka said:
Wow. Thank you.
It reminds me a lot of the episode in All Quiet on the Western Front when Paul confronts a French soldier in a shell crater and stabs him . . . only to be forced to witness with utter horror and remorse his victim's slow and excruciating death over many hours.
There must have been countless such moments.
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5 minutes ago, Innula Zenovka said:
I always find the finale to the last Blackadder series strangely moving
Huh. Yes. I hadn't seen that before. Surprising, and the more affecting because of that.
The Great War seems destined, I think, to endure as one of history's great symbols of gut-wrenching and tragic futility. Years ago, I watched the movie Gallipoli. Once was enough: I don't think I could handle the ending again.
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20 minutes ago, Phorumities said:
How about if it's not about something inside Second Life DON'T start a thread about it.
I think you'd probably have a much more difficult time living with an injunction about not posting anything solely to do with RL than would I, Phorumities. Again, be careful what you wish for.
As for my thread . . . well, the mods will do with it what they choose to do.
We are all SL residents, certainly. But what is most important, and what actually brings us back again and again to connect with others here is our shared humanity.
I don't think it's out of place to acknowledge here on important occasions the most fundamental values that we share as humans: that life is better than death, happiness better than pain, and peace better than war. I am pretty sure that you share those values too.
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52 minutes ago, chibiusa Ling said:
Also, we don't just honour those who fought, we honour all of the people alive at that time who suffered as a result of that war. Friends joined up together for only one or none of them to return. Families were torn apart. Sons, brothers, fathers, uncles went, never to return home, or those that did were often horrible injured or maimed in some kind of way. It was a nightmare horror show for all involved and people suffered on all fronts whether in the trenches or back home.
Yes, this.
And no one, not even the most fervent soldier, deserved the nightmare that war inflicted on all of them.
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15 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:
Is the “safety dance” (Men Without Hats) political? I think all dancing, punk, soul, etc. is political!
For sure, or I might not like it so much!
More obviously, though, what about a violent or sexist rap song appearing on the What Are You Listening to Now thread? Or any protest song? "This Is America"?
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2 hours ago, KanryDrago said:
This again brings its own issues there is another thread already in this forum
Dulce and decorum est.....does this get classed as political
Does the post that Luna made get classed as political
Does the reply phorumites made to luna's get classed as political
There will be people answering yes and no differently to those three questions
I think that Kanry's comment here points to a danger.
I have made a real effort to keep the Dulce et Decorum Est thread relatively "unpolitical": read the OP. My choice of poem is hardly very contentious in RL: it's a very well known poem that appears a lot in memorial and remembrance ceremonies.
BUT . . . there is no question that my choice of this poem rather than, say, McCrae's "In Flanders Fields" is political, as Phorumites correctly notes. So too would be the choice of McCrae's poem: on some, indeed many, issues it is pretty much impossible not to be at least implicitly political.
Do we really want to ban anything that can be read as political?
Be careful what you wish for: we may find ourselves unable to talk about anything here other than how to debug dance HUDs.
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4 hours ago, Alyona Su said:
Anyway, I thought I would show you this picture, then tell how I did it.
Thank you for this, Alyona! It's really very useful! Interestingly, as I've got (a little) better at doing the work in-viewer, I've found I've needed and wanted to do much less post-processing in PS.
I'd offer tips if I had any. (I'm still too busy trying to remember to do the basics!) But I do hope others have suggestions to make here!
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1 hour ago, Phorumities said:
it is kind of ironic that you would post such an antiwar poem though... kind of like you are mocking anyone foolish enough to answer their nations call
I want to explain why I love Owen's poem so much, beyond its protest against war.
First of all, it is an absolutely brilliant poem, technically speaking. Listen to Ecclestone's reading with your eyes shut, and hear the taut, jarring rhythms of the verse, and the explosive sounds of the words and alliteration. Listen to the concrete physical detail, and the nightmarish impact of the narrative and his images.
Secondly, this is a poem about real men, in a vividly real and terrifying situation. When McCrae's "dead" speak, it is as the disembodied, unindividuated voice of "The Cause." Owen shows us individuals, real men alongside whom he fought and suffered and died. We can identify and empathize with them. They could be us, or those we know. The poem is about the human dimension of war.
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36 minutes ago, Selene Gregoire said:
To put it simply, war is politics and vice versa.
Very true. But I very much want to focus on the human dimension here.
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The Old Lie: "Dulce et Decorum Est"
in General Discussion Forum
Posted
Hah! Again, this reminds me of an early scene in All Quiet on the Western Front. I love how he was faced down by "one of the ladies"!!