which_chick (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
which_chick) wrote2005-12-22 07:11 pm
which_chick) wrote2005-12-22 07:11 pm
(no subject)
I'm done with Rome... the last couple of episodes didn't want to play on the built-in DVD player in my laptop but they worked fine on the external DVD burner drive.
I didn't know that the Romans all had British accents.
I didn't know that they had a colorfast red, either, but I did figure they'd hem their garments. Sometimes they didn't... and I couldn't understand why there wasn't ravelling going on, there. Given the time and effort involved in making linen, I'd have thought sure that folks would want to keep it from ravelling all over the place. (They did use linen, right? From flax? Ancient bast fiber, durable as hell, labor-intensive. I can't picture them in cotton, for some reason. The egyptians, of course, wore cotton. L L Bean goes on and on about Egyptian cotton, so they must've.)
I did know that Julius Caesar wound up dead on the floor of the Senate, so that wasn't a suprise for me. I did not know that he'd chased Pompey through Greece and then unto Egypt. That was news to me.
I hadn't really come to grips with the fact that Cleopatra was more or less reigning in Egypt at the same time as all of this even though I did read Anthony and Cleopatra, a play that touches on the subject.
I liked that boy Octavian. He was surprisingly fun and I'm glad that his arm grew back after it got cut off on that horrible boat with the indistinguishable backup hobbit on it. I understand he grows up to be Emperor Augustus 1 or something, so perhaps we'll see him in the next season.
Also a big huzzah for employing draft oxen (in the scene with the gold from the treasury). Historically, dray oxen were far more popular than horses -- they could pull more weight and were far less complicated than horses. Plus, if they died, free beef. The reason we don't see them so much in movies is that they're less glamorous and harder to find these days.
There were more horses about than I'd mentally pictured Rome having. Most of the horses looked reasonably okay. Nothing was obviously out of place. They didn't have heavy drafts, weird color dilutions -- buckskins, palominos, champagnes, "western" color patterns like roan or leopard complex. (Both of these, yes, exist in European breeds of horses and could well have been in Rome. They just would have seemed odd, is all.) There was an emphasis on solid, plain colors without a lot of markings... this makes horses look more military AND it makes it easier to have multiple horses for the same role because ordinary people do not devote very much time to checking to see if *this* bay horse is the same one as that guy had in the last scene. If there's no obvious white on the bay horses, so much the better for interchanging 'em later. (Horse people, of course, will watch movies and comment specifically and at length on the horses in the movie, how the horses are behaving, the tack that is being used on the horses, and the horse 'acting' [such as it is] even if horses are NOT EVEN REMOTELY THE POINT of the movie. We're even worse with movies where the movie is about horses.)
Many of the horses were suitably cute. There were not a lot of ugly horses in this series.
The horse that that still-injured Titus Pullo tries to ride back to the city is hunter clipped. I wasn't aware the Romans had clippers suitable for shearing horses.
I didn't check the actual rigging of harnesses for chariots and carts and so forth but I note with enthusiasm that they did not use horse collars, just plain breast strap arrangements. Those are period-correct.
The lack of stirrups was commendable and the general appearance of the saddlery was nonoffensive. Admittedly, this is not a feature that the camera generally lingers on with lustful enthusiams... I kind of have to look at it at speed or hit pause. I was also pleased that they showed bareback riding where appropriate. (Since sitting a horse bareback at any speed greater than a walk requires a modicum of skill, you don't get to see near as much of it in the movies unless the actor person already rides quite well.) Our principals rode better than some and not eye-jarringly poorly. The guy doing Titus Pullo sits a horse pretty well.
If I can see things like Kimberwicke and Pelham, so can everyone else. Actual roman bits (they did have 'em, and they were actual metal, so some have held up and such) did not have those designs or the nice shiny nickle-alloy finish that modern bits have.
I'm glad they didn't off Titus Pullo. I liked him. He was endearingly noncomplex and I enjoyed him throughout the series.
I didn't know that the Romans all had British accents.
I didn't know that they had a colorfast red, either, but I did figure they'd hem their garments. Sometimes they didn't... and I couldn't understand why there wasn't ravelling going on, there. Given the time and effort involved in making linen, I'd have thought sure that folks would want to keep it from ravelling all over the place. (They did use linen, right? From flax? Ancient bast fiber, durable as hell, labor-intensive. I can't picture them in cotton, for some reason. The egyptians, of course, wore cotton. L L Bean goes on and on about Egyptian cotton, so they must've.)
I did know that Julius Caesar wound up dead on the floor of the Senate, so that wasn't a suprise for me. I did not know that he'd chased Pompey through Greece and then unto Egypt. That was news to me.
I hadn't really come to grips with the fact that Cleopatra was more or less reigning in Egypt at the same time as all of this even though I did read Anthony and Cleopatra, a play that touches on the subject.
I liked that boy Octavian. He was surprisingly fun and I'm glad that his arm grew back after it got cut off on that horrible boat with the indistinguishable backup hobbit on it. I understand he grows up to be Emperor Augustus 1 or something, so perhaps we'll see him in the next season.
Also a big huzzah for employing draft oxen (in the scene with the gold from the treasury). Historically, dray oxen were far more popular than horses -- they could pull more weight and were far less complicated than horses. Plus, if they died, free beef. The reason we don't see them so much in movies is that they're less glamorous and harder to find these days.
There were more horses about than I'd mentally pictured Rome having. Most of the horses looked reasonably okay. Nothing was obviously out of place. They didn't have heavy drafts, weird color dilutions -- buckskins, palominos, champagnes, "western" color patterns like roan or leopard complex. (Both of these, yes, exist in European breeds of horses and could well have been in Rome. They just would have seemed odd, is all.) There was an emphasis on solid, plain colors without a lot of markings... this makes horses look more military AND it makes it easier to have multiple horses for the same role because ordinary people do not devote very much time to checking to see if *this* bay horse is the same one as that guy had in the last scene. If there's no obvious white on the bay horses, so much the better for interchanging 'em later. (Horse people, of course, will watch movies and comment specifically and at length on the horses in the movie, how the horses are behaving, the tack that is being used on the horses, and the horse 'acting' [such as it is] even if horses are NOT EVEN REMOTELY THE POINT of the movie. We're even worse with movies where the movie is about horses.)
Many of the horses were suitably cute. There were not a lot of ugly horses in this series.
The horse that that still-injured Titus Pullo tries to ride back to the city is hunter clipped. I wasn't aware the Romans had clippers suitable for shearing horses.
I didn't check the actual rigging of harnesses for chariots and carts and so forth but I note with enthusiasm that they did not use horse collars, just plain breast strap arrangements. Those are period-correct.
The lack of stirrups was commendable and the general appearance of the saddlery was nonoffensive. Admittedly, this is not a feature that the camera generally lingers on with lustful enthusiams... I kind of have to look at it at speed or hit pause. I was also pleased that they showed bareback riding where appropriate. (Since sitting a horse bareback at any speed greater than a walk requires a modicum of skill, you don't get to see near as much of it in the movies unless the actor person already rides quite well.) Our principals rode better than some and not eye-jarringly poorly. The guy doing Titus Pullo sits a horse pretty well.
If I can see things like Kimberwicke and Pelham, so can everyone else. Actual roman bits (they did have 'em, and they were actual metal, so some have held up and such) did not have those designs or the nice shiny nickle-alloy finish that modern bits have.
I'm glad they didn't off Titus Pullo. I liked him. He was endearingly noncomplex and I enjoyed him throughout the series.
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This is a useful thing to know in case you ever have a bunch of preteen girls who think it would be cute AND original to dress up their ponies like My Little Pony ponies for Halloween. (My Little Pony ponies had stars and rainbows and hearts on their butts -- this is the effect you're going to achieve with spraypaint and some stencils hand-crafted out of notebook paper at the eleventh hour.) For further pimping out your ride: That glitter stuff for when you're going to the clubs and want to look suitably easy? Works on horses, too. Buy in bulk -- they'll use tons of it. There are also companies that specifically make glitter products for horses (http://www.twinkleglitter.com/AboutTwinkle.html) but I think the stuff for humans might be cheaper. Be sure to comparison shop.