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Counting Down to the End of....Downton Abbey
Aloysius J. Gleek:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on January 24, 2011, 01:58:36 am ---I was surprised in the latest episode to hear the saying "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Wow! Shades of The Shining!!
--- End quote ---
I knew it was old, but didn't know how old, Lee!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_work_and_no_play_makes_Jack_a_dull_boy
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy is a proverb. It means that without time off from work, a person becomes both bored and boring.
History
Though the spirit of the proverb has been expressed previously, the modern saying appeared first in James Howell's Proverbs in English, Italian, French and Spanish (1659), and was included in later collections of proverbs. It also appears in Howell's Paroimiographia (1659), p. 12.
Some writers have added a second part to the proverb, as in Harry and Lucy Concluded (1825) by the Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth:
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy ”
Uses in popular media
While the proverb is used in several examples of popular media (from James Joyce's short story, "Araby," to Jack Kerouac's Big Sur, to the 1957 movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai ), probably the most famous example appears in the 1980 movie The Shining, when a main character's descent into insanity is marked by the production of hundreds of sheets of paper covered with the typewritten sentence "All work and no play make Jack a dull boy."
The proverb's psychotic use in The Shining had some effect on popular culture, inspiring several other works to include a direct homage to the scene: for example, a 1994 episode of The Simpsons, "Treehouse of Horror V" contained a parody of the phrase, when Marge finds No TV and no beer make Homer go crazy written all over the walls, also mentioned in a episode in Family Guy "Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater" when Stewie was riding his tri-bike at Lois's big inherited house and met the twins from The Shining at a corridor and they said "Come play with us Stewie for ever, and ever and ever" and Stewie replied back to them "All work and no play makes Stewie a dull boy"; and a 2002 episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- "Gone" -- includes a scene where Buffy Summers fills a social worker's report with pages consisting entirely of repetitions of "All work and no play make Doris a dull girl."
Also, the Christian band Casting Crowns used the proverb in the song "American Dream".
southendmd:
Don't forget Malcolm McLaren! "Boy's Chorus" from Puccini's Turandot
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrth7i2A624[/youtube]
"All work, no joy, makes Mac, a dull boy."
Aloysius J. Gleek:
http://austenprose.com/2011/01/25/downton-abbey-episode-three-on-masterpiece-classic-pbs-%e2%80%93-a-recap-review/
Downton Abbey:
Episode Three on Masterpiece Classic PBS –
A Recap & Review
by Laurel Ann (Austenprose)
25 January 2011
Episode three of Downton Abbey aired on Masterpiece Classic on Sunday. The “engine of social change is roaring through society,” its ripples even reaching traditional life at Downton. As the family upstairs and their servants downstairs face change, they are forced to make choices. Some like Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) and the Dowager Duchess (COUNTESS!!!) (Maggie Smith) hold on to the past, hoping that the entail can be broken and others like the parlor maid Gwen (Rose Leslie) and Lady Sybil (Jessica Brown-Findlay) attempt to forge their own future out of the norm. Here is a brief synopsis from Masterpiece.
The fair has come to town, and with it comes romantic hopes for several Downton Abbey inhabitants. In a triumph of the absurd, Violet, the Dowager Duchess (sic! COUNTESS!) asks a baffled Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) to use his legal acumen to dissolve the entail — the very document by which he is to inherit Downton Abbey. Matthew’s findings and his hopes for Downton cement his growing closeness with Robert, the Earl (Earl, YES, correct!) of Grantham (Hugh Bonneville) and a new warmth suffuses his encounters with Lady Mary.
But Mary’s thaw doesn’t extend to her sister Lady Edith (Laura Carmichael) , as their competition becomes crueler. Cora, the Duchess (sic!! COUNTESS, thank you very MUCH!) of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern) simply wants Mary married, but newly circulating rumors may hinder that aspiration. Meanwhile, Violet’s power struggle with Isobel Crawley (Penelope Wilton) moves from the hospital grounds to the annual flower show as Isobel casts her democratizing gaze upon Violet’s prize-winning roses.
A kind gesture by valet Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle) is not lost on housemaid Anna (Joanne Froggatt); but he cryptically professes to not being capable of more. Lady Sybil discovers the politics of gender and class, with the help of the socialist chauffeur, Branson (Allen Leech), and butler Mr. Carson (Jim Carter) discovers that several valuable bottles of wine have gone missing. The vulnerable kitchen maid Daisy (Sophie McShera), under increased pressure and ire from a fretful Mrs. Patmore (Lesley Nicol), possesses a dangerous secret that she learned upstairs.
This episode was all about social changes with many characters pushing and pulling at their station, or each other. One would think that of all the social classes in the Edwardian-era, that aristocrats know their place and what is destined for their lives. The working class can move up if they can, but a family born into a peerage has pretty much made it. This may apply to the men folk, but certainly not for the ladies unless they marry up. I was moved by Lady Mary’s plight. She has come to the grim realization that she is powerless. A pariah. Her conversation with her cousin Matthew says it all. “Women like me don’t have a life. We choose clothes and pay calls and work for charity and do the season, but really we’re stuck in a waiting room until we marry.”
Lady Mary knows that her mother and grandmother’s efforts to smash the entail are futile. Her father, Lord Grantham, has accepted the inevitable. She will not inherit nor be an heiress. She is frustrated and angry. Cousin Matthew has been accepted as the heir and is now the son that her father never had. “Matthew, Matthew, Matthew.” (Shades of Jan Brady in the 1970’s sitcom The Brady Bunch, whining “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.” ) Her mother isn’t much help either. She thinks her daughter is a lost soul, and she is right. Mary took a lover with no thought of marriage. She is a ruined woman if it is made public.
Ironically, I was reminded of a great quote from Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice by Mary Bennet. Set one hundred years prior to events in Downton Abbey, not much has changed in regard to woman’s worth and reputations.
“This is a most unfortunate affair; and will probably be much talked of. But we must stem the tide of malice, and pour into the wounded bosoms of each other the balm of sisterly consolation.” Then, perceiving in Elizabeth no inclination of replying, she added, “Unhappy as the event must be for Lydia, we may draw from it this useful lesson: that loss of virtue in a female is irretrievable — that one false step involves her in endless ruin — that her reputation is no less brittle than it is beautiful — and that she cannot be too much guarded in her behaviour towards the undeserving of the other sex.” Chapter 47
Reputations are still brittle, as Lady Mary well knows and her sister Lady Edith even more so. She will use Mary indiscretion against her for revenge. There is nothing more painful than sibling-icide. It’s as old as Cain and Able, and just as ugly.
On a happier note, love is in the air. I had to applaud housemaid Anna for not being a lady and just saying so to the man she loves. What a plucky Miss she is. It is easy to be generous when you have nothing to lose! Kudos also to Lady Sybil. I feel a romance brewing between our spirited rebel and the socialist chauffeur Branson! Just thinking out loud mind you, but they make a handsome couple, even though socially, their romance would not be accepted. Hmmm? Interesting plot possibility.
I will end on a great quote from the butler Mr. Carson. “What would be the point of living if we did not let life change us?” I couldn’t agree more.
The conclusion of season one of Downton Abbey airs next Sunday, January 30th with episode four. Will it be a cliffhanger?
David In Indy:
I haven't been watching it, but Eric (Chowhound) has been telling me about it and it sounds wonderful. And I just noticed Barnes & Noble is advertising the series for sale both on DVD and Blu-Ray. It's not very expensive either! 8)
http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=DVD&WRD=downton+abbey&page=&prod=univ&choice=video&query=Downton+Abbey&flag=False&ATL_lid=vU5msPIL7r&ATL_userid=vU5msPIL7r&ATL_customerid=bH5yyhFN1gmXJga3&ATL_sid=ew6ZXWeN0d&ATL_seqnum=2&ugrp=1
Aloysius J. Gleek:
Parody!!
Uptown Downstairs Abbey Part One
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5dMlXentLw&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]
&feature=youtu.be
Uptown Downstairs Abbey Part Two
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=p3YYo_5rxFE[/youtube]
[ Invalid YouTube link ] ;D ;D ;D
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