Three friendly distractions (in case anyone needs one)

[brightknightie]

Pompeii. I believe that many of you are interested in historical Pompeii. You should not miss the latest archaeological news from there, which is that new DNA evidence is overturning imagined identifications of individual victims of the eruption, some dating back to the nineteenth-century rediscovery of the site. For example, one human cast long referred to as that of an elderly beggar is in fact that of a child; similarly, a famous pair always assumed to be two sisters or a mother and daughter is actually a man and a woman. Here's a subscriber gift link to the New York Times article (it should take you through the paywall): "With DNA, Pompeii Narratives Take a Twist: In 79 A.D., a volcanic eruption engulfed a town’s residents. They weren’t all who scientists thought, newly extracted genetic material suggests."

Shakespeare. Some months ago, my YouTube recommendations algorithm unusually struck gold when it started suggesting ShakespeareNetwork. You can read about their organization on their site, but what's specifically relevant for this recommendation is that their YouTube channel makes available amazing Shakespeare productions since almost the dawn of talkie cinema, filmed stage plays as well as movies, television, and indeed radio productions, many starring some of the best actors of the past century. (So much Judi Dench!) Much of it, especially the oldest productions, are available in full; recent productions tend to be represented by only a trailer or a few excerpted scenes. Those of you who love Stratford should definitely check out this channel; you'll find treasure.

Zelda as a TV show (not the '89 cartoon). Wondering what I'm up to with all these The Legend of Zelda references, but not interested in games or manga or, goodness forbid, let's-plays? ZeldaUniverseTV's got you. These fans have produced multi-episode "TV shows" of several of the games, thoughtfully edited, with full voiceover acting. For example, Twilight Princess is 13 episodes of about 30 minutes each (playlist). Breath of the Wild is available as either a single 7-hour movie or 4 episodes of about 100 minutes each (playlist).

Comments

[pj1228]

Thank you for sharing the link to the ShakespareNetwork. I took a brief glimpse and already found a LOT I want to see. Awesome!!!

I had read about the DNA results from the Pompeii victims in the newspaper. Currently thinking about integrating this into a story. I suppose a typical Lacroix reaction would be "I was wondering how long it would take them to figure out they had been wrong all along." :)

[brightknightie]

I hope that you enjoy ShakespeareNetwork! I've found it delightful.

Pondering a FK story... For what it's worth, I personally feel that while the Lacroix character might indeed claim, aloud, to an audience, to have known all along, really, there's no way that he could know with confidence which fallen individual any of those rough casts represented. With people hiding and running every which way, every kind of person of every class and station of society, the chaos and the scramble, any guess Lacroix would have made about the casts as individual people with names and lives and hopes and fears would have been very nearly as totally ignorant and fanciful as the Victorian archaeologists. And of course he had just recently returned to Pompeii after a long time from having been away in the field. Naturally, he cannot have known every person in Pompeii; indeed, most of the people would have been beneath his notice for vicious reasons of class, misogyny, and enslavement. His assumptions would have led him astray as surely as the early archaeologists, if perhaps in different directions.