What program/film/documentary are you watching now?

[warspite1]

I must say I am looking forward to Christmas for one very good reason:

There is the last ever Downton Abbey - and I trust Lady Edith will have a happy ending? [:)]

However, and sadly, Doctor Who is not being greeted with the usual sense of anticipation this year [:(] Clara, why did you leave us?..... Can't they have a 'Dallas' type shower situation - and it turns out it was all a dream and you're not really dead?

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: warspite1

The Sound of Music Live show. Actually really quite good - but not a patch on the film!

The film doesn't mention that Herr von Trapp was a U=Boat commander in WWI. http://www.uboat.net/wwi/men/commanders/542.html

warspite1

No, it doesn't in the stage version either. I can only assume that 'great naval captain' was easier on the audience - a mere 20 years after WWII after all - than WWI U-boat commander.

[catwhoorg]

I always assumed he was a surface ship commander.

I have learned something new!

[waltero]

The Documentary of Lobo.

The TV Documentary was heartbreaking.


Lobo was an American wolf who lived in the Currumpaw valley[ in New Mexico. During the 1890s, Lobo and his pack, having been deprived of their natural prey by settlers, turned to the settlers' livestock. The ranchers[ tried to kill Lobo and his pack by poisoning carcasses, but the wolves removed the poisoned pieces and threw them aside. They tried to kill the wolves with traps and by hunting parties but these efforts also failed. Ernest Thompson Seton was tempted by the challenge and the alleged $1,000 bounty for capturing Lobo, the leader of the pack. Seton tried poisoning five baits, carefully covering traces of human scent, and setting them out in Lobo's territory. The following day all the baits were gone, and Seton assumed Lobo would be dead. Later, however, he found the five baits all in a pile covered in other "evidence" for which Lobo was responsible.

Seton bought new, specialized traps and carefully concealed them in Lobo's territory, but he later found Lobo's tracks leading from trap to trap, exposing each. When an effort that was initially supposed to take two weeks stretched into months of failed attempts to capture Lobo, Seton became tired and frustrated. While camping out above the creek where snow geese and cranes were wintering, he found Lobo's track strangely following a set of smaller tracks. Quickly he realized Lobo's weakness: his mate, a white wolf named Blanca. Seton then set out several traps in a narrow passage thinking Blanca would fall for Seton's planted baits that Lobo had thus far managed to avoid. Finally Seton succeeded; Blanca, while trying to investigate Seton's planted cattle head, became trapped. When Seton found her, she was howling with Lobo by her side. Lobo ran to a safe distance and watched Seton and his men kill Blanca by breaking her neck with ropes tied to their horses. Seton heard the howls of Lobo for days afterward. Lobo's calls were described by Seton as having "an unmistakable note of sorrow in it... It was no longer the loud, defiant howl, but a long, plaintive wail." Although Seton felt remorse for the grieving wolf, he continued his plan to capture Lobo.

Despite the danger, Lobo followed Blanca's scent to Seton's ranch house where they had taken the body. Seton then set more traps, using Blanca's body to scent them. On January 31, 1894, Lobo was caught, with each of his four legs clutched in a trap. On Seton's approach, Lobo stood despite his injuries, and howled. Touched by Lobo's bravery and loyalty to his mate, Seton could not kill him. He and his men roped Lobo, muzzled him and secured him to a horse, taking him back to the ranch. Lobo refused to acknowledge his captors; they secured him with a chain and he just gazed across the prairie. Lobo died that night without any apparent cause, although Seton knew he died of a broken heart.

Lobo's pelt is kept at the Ernest Thompson Seton Memorial Library and Museum at the Philmont Scout Ranch near Cimarron, New Mexico. Until his death in 1946, Seton championed the wolf—an animal that had always previously been demonized. "Ever since Lobo", Seton later wrote, "my sincerest wish has been to impress upon people that each of our native wild creatures is in itself a precious heritage that we have no right to destroy or put beyond the reach of our children."

Seton's story of Lobo touched the hearts of many both in the US and the rest of the world and was partly responsible for changing views towards the environment and provided a spur for the starting of the conservationist movement. The story had a profound influence on one of the world's most acclaimed broadcasters and naturalists Sir David Attenborough and inspired the 1962 Disney film, The Legend of Lobo. Lobo's story was the subject of a BBC documentary directed by Steve Gooder in 2007.

An account of Seton's hunt for Lobo is found in Ernest Thompson Seton: The Life and Legacy of an Artist and Conservationist by David L. Witt. It is based on Seton's personal journal and other historical sources. The story is also featured in an exhibition at the New Mexico History Museum running from May 23, 2010 to May 8, 2012

[terje439]

Just watched Dr.Whos Xmas special.




SPOILERS BELOW!!!










1. Peter Capaldi just keeps improving his take on the role. Quickly becoming my favorite doctor.
2. Sad to see this is the last appearance of River Song. Alex Kingston does a very good role in this series imo.
3. Surprised there was no hint of the doctors new sidekick to come.
4. Sadly as has been the case for most of this season, the episode itself was not all that. Hope the writing improves for the next season.

[terje439]

Just watched the Xmas special of Downton Abbey.
And that was a very worthy goodbye to the show. I think I will say that was the ending anyone could possibly hope for [:)]

[parusski]

I just finished one of the best British TV dramas I have ever seen - River, starring Stellan Skarsgård.

Here is a description from IMDB: John River is a brilliant police inspector whose genius lies side-by-side with the fragility of his mind. He is a man haunted by the murder victims whose cases he must lay to rest.

The series was so engrossing and different from anything else I binge watched till 4am one night. Give it a try.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: terje439

Just watched Dr.Whos Xmas special.




SPOILERS BELOW!!!










1. Peter Capaldi just keeps improving his take on the role. Quickly becoming my favorite doctor.
2. Sad to see this is the last appearance of River Song. Alex Kingston does a very good role in this series imo.
3. Surprised there was no hint of the doctors new sidekick to come.
4. Sadly as has been the case for most of this season, the episode itself was not all that. Hope the writing improves for the next season.

warspite1

I largely agree.

- Capaldi is a very good actor (although couldn't say he would ever be my favourite doctor).
- Agreed. The acting ability and screen presence of Capaldi and Kingston helped save the episode.
- Yes, maybe they don't know or it wasn't agreed in time for filming the Christmas episode?
- 100% agree. Capaldi's first series - a more brooding and complicated doctor - was usually excellent. This series they've tried to make him too 'one-linerish' and it does not work all the time. Let's get some gravitas back please!

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: terje439

Just watched the Xmas special of Downton Abbey.
And that was a very worthy goodbye to the show. I think I will say that was the ending anyone could possibly hope for [:)]

warspite1

Its being criticised in some quarters as too 'feel good' but I agree, I think it was an excellent way to end the show.

It was a real shame the show lost its way in series 4-5, but even then it was never less than watchable.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: terje439

Just watched the Xmas special of Downton Abbey.
And that was a very worthy goodbye to the show. I think I will say that was the ending anyone could possibly hope for [:)]

warspite1

Its being criticised in some quarters as too 'feel good' but I agree, I think it was an excellent way to end the show.

It was a real shame the show lost its way in series 4-5, but even then it was never less than watchable.

A series like Downton Abbey should end with a 'feel good' episode. Especially since it is a Christmas episode.

[fvianello]

The Americans, season 3. A must see for every cold war's fan.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: HanBarca

The Americans, season 3. A must see for every cold war's fan.

warspite1

Loved the first two series. Then ITV decided not to buy the third. What a bunch of ............. [:@]

[Orm]

Enjoying the TV Mini-Series documentary Alexander's Lost World. [:)] The presenter, and director, David Adams make a interesting topic even more interesting. [&o] [&o] [&o]

Now I need to see if I can buy this show. [:D]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2935890/?ref_=fn_al_tt_5a

[warspite1]

Kingsman: The Secret Service. A great bit of escapist nonsense [:)]

[radic202]

Well tomorrow evening or I may Download it (depending if I can hear it unless the subs are working?), the new Shannara Series starts in NA! I read the first book when I was 13 (1977) (picked it up at JFK Airport while transferring from Montreal to Barbados to join parents already there) on a very boring trip in the Caribbean, think it was what kept me insane spending all that "family" time with mom, dad and sis in Bridgetown!!! God was I happy to return to private boarding school in minus 30 degree weather in Montreal only to find out the "the Sword of Shannnara" by Terry Brooks was the only novel he had published at that time...........soon the Elfstones of Shannara which this TV series is based on soon came up just in time for our next visit in 1982 with my parents in North Africa................Needless to say I loved Boarding school, then University as far away from..........Terry Brooks gave me some memorable moments when I needed them the most!!!

[radic202]

Oops sorry double post!

[Jonathan Pollard]

A 1943 Batman movie. Incidentally, the mass incarceration of Japanese-Americans is praised, at 9:25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Zo_BaxTsk

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Jonathan Pollard

A 1943 Batman movie. Incidentally, the mass incarceration of Japanese-Americans is praised, at 9:25.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6Zo_BaxTsk

warspite1

Well it was made in 1943 so is that really a surprise?

[warspite1]

Finally saw a Star Wars film.

The original one from 1977 or whenever. Probably unfair to be overly critical now, but I would say it hasn't dated well. Some excellent actors - Sir Alec Guiness chief amongst them - but not a great film. By the way, who taught the Stormtroopers to shoot?

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Finally saw a Star Wars film.

The original one from 1977 or whenever. Probably unfair to be overly critical now, but I would say it hasn't dated well. Some excellent actors - Sir Alec Guiness chief amongst them - but not a great film. By the way, who taught the Stormtroopers to shoot?

The same guy who taught the Germans to shoot in every WWII movie. [:D]