Don't be afraid; they're only subtitles.
From the ardent minds of loutish gawks comes the suddenly and fairly often meanderings on the current topics of the day.…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Don't be afraid; they're only subtitles.
From the ardent minds of loutish gawks comes the suddenly and fairly often meanderings on the current topics of the day.…
Article comments
26 - Mark Saleski
....that and the smoking jacket is really comfy.
27 - DJRadiohead
I always wore my Red Sox jacket when I needed to hang a smoke. I always felt comfy in that.
I like non-linear films or strange camera angles or offbeat stories and characters, too.
28 - chantal stone
don't forget the ascot
29 - DJRadiohead
But does an ascot and a Red Sox jacket really go together?
30 - Mark Saleski
only if you're sitting on the couch in the middle of the summer with your boxer shorts, electric fan, and can of cheap beer.
31 - chantal stone
that's hot
32 - DJRadiohead
I can do that.
33 - Mat Brewster
Snobbery is pretty lame for any cultural art form. You don't like subtitles, fine then don't watch them.
You don't like reggae, fine don't listen to it.
You don't like detective fiction, then don't read it.
Really who cares? DJ you could never watch another movie in your entire life and I could give a crap. Why should I? I guess we might have less to talk about, but we'd still get along making fun of Saleski.
I think you're missing some great films by not watching a lot of foreign language flicks, but it don't bother me none.
34 - Mary K. Williams
You don't like reggae, fine don't listen to it
Well now, that's just silly. Reggae is great - especially with the whole 'smoking' thing - Red Sox jacket is opptional. : )~
35 - DJRadiohead
Sir Brewster, I hope you understand not one bit of grumpiness expressed by me was aimed anywhere near your direction or even that of Sir Fleming who called me out! =) No, I can appreciate the two of you are fairly serious film people and I didn't think either one of you came off as being anything other than enthusiastic about an artform you care a lot about and a genre you think deserves more attention. There are no hard feelings on my part in any way, shape, or form.
Now... weren't we supposed to be talking about Saleski?
36 - Mark Saleski
bronson arroyo hits his second home run of the year and somehow i'm in the middle of this. what a world.
37 - DJRadiohead
If Bronson Arroyo could play 3B, he'd still be wearing a Red Sox jacket like us.
38 - Mat Brewster
No offense taken. I know you weren't venting on me. I understand the sentiments of your vent. Who gives a flying crap what movies anybody else has watched?
Can't say I'm a big reggae fan, Sir Mary. Sure I dig some Marley, and maybe a little Jimmy Cliff, but most of what I've heard has been more 'meh' then 'woo hoo' Admittedly, I'm not well versed in the genre and I'm sure there is some darn fine tunes to be heard, but I just don't know where it is.
39 - Aaman
This entire post and comments have been surprisingly devoid of any mention of Bollywood, Satyajit Ray or any real criticism of international film, most of which is light years ahead of Hollywood
Actually it wasn't - it was very interesting, but I just wanted to say that:) Carry on, folks!
40 - Victor Plenty
Aaman, Bollywood never occurred to us in a discussion of foreign language films because we all speak Hindi fluently.
Also, to DJRadiohead, I'm sorry you couldn't tell my previous comment was a joke. Just turn the subtitles off? You really thought I was serious about that? Yikes!
41 - Mat Brewster
Hooray for Bollywood!
I have to admit my filmic intake is very much devoid of any bollywood material. Do you have any suggestions on where one might begin?
42 - Victor Plenty
In all seriousness, I'm also interested in learning more about Bollywood films. The local video rental places don't seem to be good sources for more than a handful of India's vast cinematic output.
Does Netflix have a decent selection of good Bollywood titles? That might be just the thing I need to finally make the leap and sign up with them.
43 - Mary K. Williams
I don't know what qualifies as 'Bollywood' but I really did like Bend it like Beckham.
44 - Mary K. Williams
Sir Matt -
I'm not such an expert on Reggae myself, but I do like it - and its 'cousin' ska -
but(and this is my attempt to segue back to the topic of film) like I said in my entry about comfort 'film' - you have to be in the right mood for things - be it subtitles, or Jim Carey/Jeff Daniels flicks - same goes with tunes.
45 - Mat Brewster
This is true, Sir Mary. I have a pretty decent movie collection and I often stare at it trying to decide what I'm in the mood for. Sometimes its extreme asian flickery, other times its some arty French flick, or maybe a girly Jane Austen adaptation (ok, its rarely a Jane Austen adaptation, but still...)
I don't think any of us are saying you have to watch snooty foreign flicks all the time. But sometimes its good to open up the borders and take in something different.
46 - Miss Templeton
Must speak up on behalf of my husband and others, who are dyslexic. Not that this stopped my husband, who had all of Kurosawa's films on video (laboriously taped off various public broadcasting channels and such) when I met him.
But if any in this thread should be in the industry, it turns out that yellow is a good choice for the font color of your subtitles. My husband can read yellow text quite easily. There's an additional advantage for all, as well, because a black or white font in a black and white movie will have obvious difficulties as the background shifts under it.
Mundane thoughts, but the legibility issue has turned us away from a film or two.
Less mundane: do the people who supply the subtitles have honorary screenwriting rights? Could the best of them become artists in the art of translation? I've been reading Alexandrine sonnets in English based on the originals in French and half the art is the poet's decision to discard a French metaphor in favor of a localism that still makes the same emotional point. I suppose your subtext writer can't stray too far from the original, but there's still opportunity for style.
47 - Steve C.
I used to have the pipe and smoking jacket. But the Culture Police stormed my house and took them from me when they found out that I was using them while watching Ebola Syndrome. They said that wasn't the image they wanted to project. I say, "FUCK OFF! EBOLA!"
48 - Mary K. Williams
I don't think any of us are saying you have to watch snooty foreign flicks all the time. But sometimes its good to open up the borders and take in something different.
And I agree whole heartedly. Wow, listen to me throwing words around like 'whole heartedly' is there a hyphen in there?
But that is the bottom line though - to make people realize that there is more worth viewing. Or something.
49 - Mark Saleski
indubitably!
(ow...that hurt)
50 - Purple Tigress
Although I am a native speaker of American English, I also speak/read other languages. For this reason, I do watch foreign language films.
However, what made me a good language student was my willingness to listen to things that I might not understand fully.
What made me a better speaker of English, was learning a foreign language.
I'm not such a fan of Kurosawa although I do like the Seven Samurai.
I've also watched a French film with Japanese subtitles and that gave me a headache.
51 - Mat Brewster
Maybe those thoughts are mundane, Miss Templeton, but they are important ones.
Maybe there should be an oscar category for best subtitles!
52 - Purple Tigress
Sir Brewster:
There should also be Razzies for the worst.
53 - Aaman
I will do a beginners guide to Bollywood, drawn from Netflix-available films soon