From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V7 #192 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Wednesday, July 30 2008 Volume 07 : Number 192 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] Gabrielle the cropier [KLOSSNER9@aol.com] [chakram-refugees] new book dislikes Xena [KLOSSNER9@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 19:09:39 EDT From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] Gabrielle the cropier Wordsmith, a word-a-day subscription site, recently gave this definition of cropier. When I read that the word comes from a word for someone who rides behind another rider on horseback, I thought of Gabrielle. Boeotian Croupier noun: An attendant at a gaming table at a casino who collects and pays bets, deals the cards, spins the roulette, etc. ETYMOLOGY: From French, literally one who sits behind another on horseback, from croup (rump). The term arose because originally such a person stood behind a gambler to offer advice. **************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today. (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020) ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:43:19 EDT From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] new book dislikes Xena Hollywood's Ancient Worlds, a new book by Jeffrey Richards (2008) is available on amazon.co.uk (British Amazon) but not yet on Amazon.com in the U.S. Jeffrey covers U.S. films and TV set in ancient times. He writes that the best historical novelists -- wrote in an English which avoided cliches and modern slang and conveyed otherness while remaining comprehensible and not alienating the reader. The writers of television adaptation frequently did not bother, with the result that, whatever the era and whatever the culture, characters tended to talk like twentieth- century Californians. The worst offenders in this regard were the popular 1990s' television series, Hercules: The Legendary Journey and Xena: Warrior Princess, extraordinary melanges of martial arts, mythology and monsters, filmed in New Zealand. The introductory statement in the Hercules series, "This is a story of a time long ago, a time of myth and legend" is rather negated by the absolutely contemporary language of the characters, with Hercules asking Jason after the Golden Fleece has been recovered: "Is everything okay, Jason?" or an Amazon warrior explaining having hit the target with a javelin, "Just lucky, I guess" or Hercules replying to the god Zeus sending him on a dangerous mission "You've got to be kidding." In Xena, where the heroine is given a sidekick with the ludicrously unclassical name of Gabrielle, characters say things like "Get off my back", "I feel your pain", "I will always be there for you", "She's crazy about me", "You look great!" and "Why don't you stick around." This is pure and unforgivable laziness: scriptwriters cannot be bothered to find an idiom that is both comprehensible to a present-day audience and able to convey a sense of pastness. It has the effect of convincing audiences that historical or mythological characters are merely contemporary Americans in fancy dress. Jeffrey is also the author of Swordsmen of the Screen, the definitive book on swashbuckler films. Among the old swashbuckler TV series, he likes The Adventures of Robin Hood and dislikes Zorro. Among modern TV costume series, he likes Rome and dislikes Xena/Hercules. For him, too-modern dialogue is a deal-breaker. I rather like all of these series, feeling that there is more than one valid strategy for making costume shows. Boeotian **************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for FanHouse Fantasy Football today. (http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020) ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V7 #192 **************************************