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Crispina

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Posts posted by Crispina


  1. Someone brought this new series to my attention, and I tried to find the thread but was unable to. I was able to catch most of the first episode Sunday night about the Colosseum, and then there followed another episode about Caligula. I decided after watching awhile that there wasn't any real new info presented, but there were some interesting graphics (reconstruction of the amphitheater); didn't watch the second one on Caligula as I suspected same ole', same ole' as well. Anyone watch?

     

    Tonight's episode (9pm) deals with Pompeii, so I'll have to watch to see if and how they present any new facts. I'm sure the graphics, again, will be good. The second episode profiles Julius Caesar.


  2. Distilled ammonia (that doesn't come from pee), chilly-bins, pressurised gas bottles (for smokeless cooking fires and possibly to be used as explosives?), syringes, surgical rubber (small compact Y-frame slingshots)surgical gloves and condoms, not so much bicycles, but the idea of them; a modern ten speed wouldn't last two minutes on a Roman road but the mechanical theory could be applied in other areas, razor blades, morphine (as opposed to tincture of opium taken orally), tampons!, The New Zealand Boyscout's First-aid Manual, soap!, deodorant, zippers, modern mirrors...

     

    I wonder how many of those things were actually invented (in some form)and the guy/gal was told he/she was nuts and it never caught on. Or someone's Uncle Castor made a zipper just to entertain the kiddies, after he died the thing got thrown away.


  3. Just to blow a little bit of a smokescreen over Crispina's little 'memory incident'. A thought struck me today. It may not have aired over in the states, but in the UK we had a brilliant TV cop series that gained itself quite a cult status. It was called "Life on Mars", and the sequel was "Ashes to Ashes". The common character between these two was a so-called 'old-style' copper called Gene Hunt. Although M. Didius Falco is, thankfully, nowhere near as 'old-school' as Mr. Hunt, I can't help seeing parallels between the two.

     

    I would say that, had Gene Hunt found himself in Ancient Rome, he would have made a cracking Private Informer. Anyone from this side of the pond care to comment?

     

    Crispina has lots of little "memory incidents". Thanks Clayton.


  4. I try not to post spoilers, but Nephele's right - Falco does get his dog soon, or the dog gets him.

     

    Just wanted to share something funny. You know that old movie, "Clueless" with Alicia Silverstone? Well, I admit I like this silly quirky movie and I've watched it more than once. Today it was on again. This time, and I'm sure it's because I've been reading these books we speak of, I heard a line I never picked up on before. "Cher" (Silverstone) makes a remark while watching a movie with Tony Curtis. She says something like "who cares about a movie about "Sparatacus", obviously meaning "Spartacus". Does that name ring a bell? Sparatacus is Falco's landord! :lol:

     

    Edit: My bad. Told a lie, just picked up the book and the name is "Smaractus", not "Sparatacus". :blink: Now who's the one that is clueless? Sheesh.


  5. Nephele, I finished "Last Act in Palmyra" today and already fetched "Time to Depart" from the library. LAIP - brilliant ending! As usual Ms.Davis manages to add humor in just the right places and does it so well. This seventh book has to be one of my favorites.

     

    You're leading me in Davis' books like a breakout auriga! I'm only partway through LAIP. I love the story arc of all these novels, and I especially love the way Helena Justina assists Falco in his sleuthing. They remind me so much of the patrician Nora and her somewhat seedy detective mate, Nick Charles, in those old The Thin Man movies. I know from having read a couple of the later novels (before I started reading them in order) that Falco even has a dog as Nick had. Now that I'm reading the novels in order, I'm curious as to when Nux (the counterpart to Asta) will make her first appearance.

     

    -- Nephele

     

    I'm thinking Nux has already been in one of the earlier books, albeit a paragraph or two. Or maybe there was another dog that adopted him for awhile on one of his travels. Forget the goat's name! :)

     

    The book I've just started has the title of "Time to Depart", totally not what I expected the title to refer to.

     

    Yes, I tend to get excited and read through a series rather quickly just as I did the Cato and Macro novels. The problem is I forget their contents just as quickly when I do that.


  6. Nephele, I finished "Last Act in Palmyra" today and already fetched "Time to Depart" from the library. LAIP - brilliant ending! As usual Ms.Davis manages to add humor in just the right places and does it so well. This seventh book has to be one of my favorites.


  7. Well, this would make a great plot for a novel that's all I can say. Roman legion gets lost and ends up in China. Title? :)

     

     

    Falco in Huaxia

     

    "Last heard of having a hard time with the locals in Parthia, the Legio XXXV Magna Victrix seems to have vanished from the face of the known world, and the Emperor Vespasian isn't happy at all. And when the Emperor isn't happy, he usually calls for Marcus Didius Falco, Imperial Agent, and Rome's foremost investigator-for-hire. So Falco has a mission like none he's undertaken before. Risking dragons, Monkey Gods and strangely androgynous holy men, he must travel the mysterious Silk Road in search of oriental wisdom and an entire Roman Legion. Oh, . . and silks for Helena Justina."

     

    :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


  8. Here's the trailer to the film:

     

    Eagle trailer (2011)

     

    Billy Elliot(Jamie Bell)? Donald Sutherland could be interesting. The trailer is good, I'm very excited to see how the book is brought to screen. What was meant by "He's one of them"....do I need to read the book again? unless someone else doesn't want spoilers.

     

    Let us know how you like the audio book.


  9. Just finished watching this on On Demand. Not a feel good movie at all is it? The sets and photography are outstanding but I come away with the same feeling I always do when a woman is portrayed in movies. Woman smart and strong? Woman die.

     

    So according to this story, she was killed not for her beliefs really but because she influenced the prefect. Is it true she was helped to die before the stoning or was that part added for the movie?


  10. Sorry Trethiwr but the London wall does date to the early Third century although I have been told that there is even some debate about precisely when the dock areas were blocked off. I was told by one of the excavators that there is some indications that where there are short inlet docking areas these may actually have been kept open after the wall was built until a lot later in the Roman period.

     

    At most initially possibly only being blocked off by 'chains' or a similar temporary barrier mainly intend to prevent ships sailing in and out without paying a toll.

     

    BTW We have several of these small guide books for various sites including Pompeii, Herculaneum and I believe Paestum.

     

    If you search Amazon for 'guide with Reconstructions' quite a few different locations come up.

     

    Ok, where's my credit card. (thanks!)


  11.  

    It is a bit small but in the article at the enclosed link there

    is a photograph of the model of the Second Great Forum and Basilica in Roman London laid out with stalls across it.

    ...

     

    That's an interesting article, it describes the forum as being larger than Trafalgar Square.

    That is huge I don't think there is nay market in Europe that is so big.

     

    I remember in Pompeii the little shops along one wall, they were just cubicles all in a row, where goods could be stored and then brought out and displayed to sell when the shop was open.

    I've got a little picture book from there but I can't remember where it is. It had pictures of the town now, overlaid with reconstructions painted onto clear plastic.

     

    The article also raises a new problem for me. It says the wall was built around 200 ad which means that my story is factually incorrect as it is set about the middle of the century and the wall is there.

    Damn! :angry:

     

    I wish I had a copy of that little picture book! I've been spending hours at the site Klingan suggested, "Pompeii in Pictures". My imagination is working overtime trying to decide how the houses/buildings might have appeared before the eruption. It's the closest I'll ever get to seeing the site. Actually, I found one of those picture books of the Forum at the church rummage sale one year. :)

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