Snowy things.

[elisi]

Woke up to snow this morning - it only just covered the ground, but the girls were excited. Plus, it's pretty and I can use my snowy TARDIS icon. :)

Then this afternoon Darcy decided that it'd be a good day to watch Doctor Zhivago, which we then did. Well up to the intermission, because after that the disk refused to work. Will have to take it back before we can see the rest. *sigh* Even so, what we did see was just extraordinary - the sheer beauty and craftmanship that's evident in every frame is just out of this world.

ETA: Managed to watch the rest, yay! It was... very Russian.

Also did some writing, but will save that for a later post.

Comments

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah snow! Mine is all gone this morning. But I just checked the forecast, more snow flake icons for sunday and monday. yeah?

I need to rent Dr Zviago one of these days. I've actually never seen it!

[elisi]

Snow is LOVELY as long as you don't have to get anywhere. :)

And we'd never seen Dr Zhivago either. It's well worth checking out!

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Yay snow! I love the first snow! want it now!

I don't think I can watch Doctor Zhivago ever. I am too afraid of "cranberry trees." Well, maybe in a good company with lots of alcohol.

[elisi]

I'm just glad it's not a school day... *g*

And I'm afraid I don't know what 'cranberry trees' refers to. Spainy?

[kaffy_r]

We're still awaiting snow, here in Chicago. I am so very ready for it, even if cold treats me badly - the warmish (almost San Francisco-ish!) weather creeps me out; global warming much?

I love that particular icon, which I refuse to take out of permanent rotation because who knows when, on a very hot summer day, I might not want to cool down?

[elisi]

Global warming, oh yes! Hope you get some snow soon.

And I'm the same - I need that icon to just be there. :)

[yourlibrarian]

Commenting because I feel your pain about the disc problems. Despite a DVD place being (1) Close and (2) Inexpensive, we only rented from them three times because EVERY time one of the discs stalled or had parts we needed to skip because of problems. Surprisingly, despite the abuse they must go through we've only run into that problem with one disc from Netflix so far, though frustratingly it prevented us from seeing the last 10 minutes of the film!

[elisi]

This one was a dual-layer disk, except it didn't want us to see the second layer... Darcy managed to do *something* in the end, but I think we'll take it back to the shop to swap it. (We got it v. cheap you see.)

And re. renting then we've got something called LoveFilm (a bit like NetFlix I suppose, except not as brilliant, and they've generally been very good!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

It is very Russian as filtered through the eyes of a very English director and his very English scriptwriter, shot in Spain with no Russian contributor in sight other than of course the novelist whose book it was based on. :) (And a Frenchman wrote the soundtrack.) Doctor Zhivago isn't my favourite David Lean film but that's because there is so much competition for the title, and he certainly does his usual thing of wonderful wonderful cinematography and coaxing great performances from his actors.

For fans of trivia, when Alex Guinness said that of the six films he made with Lean three were fun to do and three were not because they argued, this was one of the not-fun films, but to be honest, I'm pretty sure Guinnes underplays his own ego in ascribing fault. (My favourite example of this is Bridge of the River Kwai where Guinness claimed Lean had wanted Charles Laughton for his part and didn't value him enough as Colonel Nicholson. To which Lean, after Guinness' memoirs appeared, said "Charlie Laughton as a starving POW?!? Alex, please.")

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Cranberry, obviously, doesn't grow on trees. So this absurd phrase is used in Russia for the last hundred years to mean ridiculous notions about life in Russia that foreign authors put in books and movies about Russia.

A good example would be the original Doctor Zhivago movie that I couldn't finish in pain over seeing everyone there in a giant fur hat.

[elisi]

Cranberry, obviously, doesn't grow on trees. So this absurd phrase is used in Russia for the last hundred years to mean ridiculous notions about life in Russia that foreign authors put in books and movies about Russia.
Ah. Thank you, that makes sense. :)

A good example would be the original Doctor Zhivago movie that I couldn't finish in pain over seeing everyone there in a giant fur hat.
But doesn't EVERYONE ALWAYS wear a big fur hat???

[elisi]

It is very Russian as filtered through the eyes of a very English director and his very English scriptwriter, shot in Spain with no Russian contributor in sight other than of course the novelist whose book it was based on. :)
It was shot in Spain??? Goodness, they did an incredible job!

he certainly does his usual thing of wonderful wonderful cinematography and coaxing great performances from his actors.
*nods* I was sorta more watching for those reasons than any others, I think. Just drowning in the pretty...

"Charlie Laughton as a starving POW?!? Alex, please."
LOL! (I love trivia. It's wonderful.)

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Not necessarily :)

Those are from a soviet movie about the same period. Hardly 100% authentic but waaay closer. ;))

[elisi]

Not necessarily :)
Oh you have SHATTERED my illusions. You know, over here in England EVERYONE ALWAYS wears a bowler hat and says 'Righty-ho old chap!' *g*

Actually, going by the hat thing, then you should probably be able to cope quite well with Dr Zhivago - people only tended to wear the Big Fur Hats when it was actually very very cold. :)

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

But in Russia is ALWAYS VERY COLD!!!! hehehe :)

do people in England at least say bloody after every other word? And what about stiff upper lip?!

[elisi]

*snerk*

Went and found some images:









do people in England at least say bloody after every other word? And what about stiff upper lip?!
Depends where they're from. (Both geographically and socially.) :)

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

I think I didn't get that far, traumatized by that giant white fur hat and other stuff I am suppressing. :)

But yes, it looks better.

[elisi]

LOL! It's a truly gorgeous movie, so I'd say give it a go at some point. :)