Pertinax Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 (edited) George Orwell used to make a distinction between "good" literature ( say,perhaps Chaucer, Zola or Milton), distinguished by scholarly prose/poetry and of serious weight and satisfying to read; and good/bad literature-stuff you couldnt put down, but were well aware that it was flawed in some way, but notwitstanding that was an excellent read that could be enjoyed with an open heart . Mario Puzzo I suggest might be a modern example-seriously entertaining, I think Orwell suggested Dickens as his "storytelling" example We have had lots of "best of" "favourite" threads may I suggest an " actually I know I shouldnt but I really liked it" thread for books and films ( beer and other things are excluded). So guilty pleasures:- My nominations for the film category are : The Vikings -(apart from best music obviously) leering English (Australian) King , leering mad Viking (Ernest Borgnine), leering mad younger Viking (Douglas), brooding introverted worthy half Viking (Tony Curtis). and Excalibur , wonderful photography and lighting , blood spattered hackfest, deranged chuckling Merlin (Williamson) deranged Uther, nice but murderous Leondergrance (Jean Luc Picard) , tormented and startlingly bad haired King Arthur ( Nigel Terry) seriously nutso but shapely sorceress (Mirren). Book-Last Exit to Brooklyn is America actually a Martin Scorcese film on Lysurgic Acid? Enough you cry already. Edited January 11, 2006 by Pertinax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Dalby Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 My nomination for 'bad but enjoyable' is Suetonius. As a former librarian, I have a soft spot for an author who was in (almost) the same profession. He was imperial archivist ... and can't you tell as you read him? He really used those archives, in a way that scarcely any other anicent author bothered to do! And then, in a completely different way, Lucan, with his ridiculous but fun epic on the Civil War. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted January 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 (edited) My nomination for 'bad but enjoyable' is Suetonius. As a former librarian, I have a soft spot for an author who was in (almost) the same profession. He was imperial archivist ... and can't you tell as you read him? He really used those archives, in a way that scarcely any other anicent author bothered to do! And then, in a completely different way, Lucan, with his ridiculous but fun epic on the Civil War. I have Suetonius read by Jacobii on order-that should be a great guilty pleasure.(salacious gossip read by cultured voice) Please nominate an "historical " film ! Edited January 11, 2006 by Pertinax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sextus Roscius Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 (edited) my nomination for bad but enjoyable, has got to be, if you can count this as historical really... Master and Comander, horrible plot that drags on for a couple hours, but some humor and the final few sences make it enjoyable as for books, i've got to say.... well, not sure... Edited January 11, 2006 by Sextus Roscius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted January 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 my nomination for bad but enjoyable, has got to be, if you can count this as historical really... Master and Comander, horrible plot that drags on for a couple hours, but some humor and the final few sences make it enjoyable as for books, i've got to say.... well, not sure... Thats good- as we all know the opponents were really American! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Favonius Cornelius Posted January 11, 2006 Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 nice but murderous Leondergrance (Jean Luc Picard) The same Jean Luc who captained the good ship NCC-1701D? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted January 11, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2006 (edited) nice but murderous Leondergrance (Jean Luc Picard) The same Jean Luc who captained the good ship NCC-1701D? vraiment eh certainment. Edited January 11, 2006 by Pertinax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil61 Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 George Orwell used to make a distinction between "good" literature ( say,perhaps Chaucer, Zola or Milton), distinguished by scholarly prose/poetry and of serious weight and satisfying to read; and good/bad literature-stuff you couldnt put down, but were well aware that it was flawed in some way, but notwitstanding that was an excellent read that could be enjoyed with an open heart ... I'm a big follower of Orwell's writings, especially his excellent essays and reviews. His essays on early Brit post-cards (I forgot their exact name), reviews of popular boys novels and other 'proletariat' lit shows he certainly appreciated well-written pulp and wasn't ashamed of it. My own guilty pleasure is a radio host here called Howard Stern. Hated and loathed by some and loved by others I honestly enjoy listening to his show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 nice but murderous Leondergrance (Jean Luc Picard) The same Jean Luc who captained the good ship NCC-1701D? Ah poor Patrick Stewart... Such a wonderful actor but forever typecast! Anyway, are we talking 'historical' novels & movies or just any guilty pleasures? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted January 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 feel free to nominate "good/bad history" , "good/bad literature" and "good/bad contemporary media or fleshly indulgences"! -after all is this not a Roman Forum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pantagathus Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 feel free to nominate "good/bad history" , "good/bad literature" and "good/bad contemporary media or fleshly indulgences"! -after all is this not a Roman Forum? Oh my, that's a lot of ground to cover! Well first, since Star Trek is on the plate, I actually did enjoy 'Enterprise' before they took it off the air. (Which was all well & good because they took the show in a very odd, bad direction) With books I will have to say Dan Simmon's Ilium & Olympos. I mean, a recreated Troy? Greek Gods flying around on Mars? Robots who love Shakespere & Proust? A living, breathing Prospero & Setebos? Oh yeah & recombined dinosaurs! Who could deny the entertainment value in all that? I'll have to think of some others... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Primus Pilus Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 This is a tough one... my personal bad but good is appropriately named as well. "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" is a great film, yet among other things its production quality, English/Italian voice over dubbing, and Civil war re-enactment scenes are quite poor (in my opinion of course). I love it despite it being hard for many people to watch (I'm sure especially the younger the audience is, the harder it is to watch). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted January 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 This is a tough one... my personal bad but good is appropriately named as well. "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" is a great film, yet among other things its production quality, English/Italian voice over dubbing, and Civil war re-enactment scenes are quite poor (in my opinion of course). I love it despite it being hard for many people to watch (I'm sure especially the younger the audience is, the harder it is to watch). I understand Leone had to make do with "leftover" film to actually shoot with-some old cans that were lying about ready for the junk heap that had partly degraded because of age. The dubbing is appalling but everybody sweats convincingly in close-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Germanicus Posted January 12, 2006 Report Share Posted January 12, 2006 My bad but goods are also Star Trek - I too enjoyed Enterprise before it was canned. The other would be trashy, formula driven fantasy novels - by people like David Gemmel - seriously, every book is the same - but oh - what a formula ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil61 Posted January 13, 2006 Report Share Posted January 13, 2006 This is a tough one... my personal bad but good is appropriately named as well. "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" is a great film, yet among other things its production quality, English/Italian voice over dubbing, and Civil war re-enactment scenes are quite poor (in my opinion of course). I love it despite it being hard for many people to watch (I'm sure especially the younger the audience is, the harder it is to watch). Once Upon A Time in the West is my favorite Leone. Bronson playing the good guy against Henry Fonda's bad guy. Apparenty Fonda enjoyed watching people's shocked reaction to his playing against his usual squeaky clean type, especially the scene where he shoots a little boy who could identify him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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