Birthday Party - The Second Coming

[wiseheart]

As you all know by now, LJ has decided to crash our birthday party - the original post is no longer visible. But some of us still had most of the comments in our inbox and decided to reconstruct the original party as well as we can, because we had great fun and the discussions were wonderful.

However, to avoid the same mishap occurring to us, we've decided to open up a second entry for further comments while working on rebuilding the original. We still have two days left, and we won't allow LJ to crash our party!

The original entry had 1328 comments, on 6 pages. The reconstructed party has now 500+ (all reposted within one day and a few new ones added), having reached Page 7 already.

Let's see what else can we come up with. New guests are welcome to share the fun. :)

Comments

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

I forgot to add the shows I'm watching on Hungarian TV - it rarely happens, but soemtimes, yeah. Anyway, there's this charming Victorian detective series called "The Murdock Mysteries", made in Canada, I think, in which the cops run to the crime scenes on bycicles and wear three-piece suits and melon hats, and everything we consider common knowledge or even outdated is brand new and exciting for them. I love the series!

Also, they've started to rerun "The Adventures of Pirx the Pilot", which was about the first Hungarian sci-fi series, based on the short stories of Polish sci-fi genius Stanislaw Lem. This was also the first time when a director (András Rajnai, to name him) experimented with the ten-newest achievements of filmography, just one step before computer-generated stuff and blue and green screens came around.

Of course, he had a very little budget, which he spent on the cool stuff, so that the physical sets turned out really hilarious. For example, the rocket spaceships were actually dismantled coffee machines, with the most obvious parts removed - but everyone recognized them anyway.

It's an old show that first run when I was in upper primary or the early years of secundary school, but it still has its unique charm.

[sammydragoncat]

I've never seen "The Murdock Mysteries" - it sounds good, must see if I can find it online.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

The Murdock Mysteries sounds interesting, but I don't think it ever got to tv here. I've got it on my dvd list and will hopefully see it at some point.

That sounds like a fun series - old shows have far more interesting props, but often have far more interesting stories as they are less distracted b blowing things up

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It's a really lovely show, with the different morals and yet scientific interests of the Victorian times. They even have Sir Arthur Conan doyle as a guest character - twice! - and one of Queen Victoria's grandsons, if I'm not mistaken.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

Your mention of Stanislaw Lem reminded me of this interactive 'doodle' that Google put up for the 60th anniversary of his first book publication last November. I really enjoyed it. Did you see it?

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

No, I've apparently missed it. Thanks.

Lem is a genius. One of the greatest sci-fi writers of the 20th century. It's very interesting to watch how he develops away from the obligatory happy-go-to-the-future socialist world view to darker, more complex themes. His last works are great, but also absolutely depressing.

There is a series of short stories, though, describing the adventures of two robotic engineers, Trurl and Klapantius, which is absolutely hilarious. All stoires are written from the POV of robots, and humans, if mentioned at all, are described as ugly, disgusting and treacherous creatures. Kyberiada is the title, if I'm not mistaken, although I'm not sure about the English spelling.

[solanpolarn.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a really interesting set of short stories! I will have to see about trying to get hold of them.

[sammydragoncat]

I found some ep of "The Murdock Mysteries" on youtube - I watched the first ep, I really liked it. Thank You!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

It's cute, isn't it? I calme too late to it - mid-season 1 - and so still haven't seen the beginning of it, but I love it to pieces. There is a lj comm for MM, but unfortunately, it's mostly dead.

[sammydragoncat]

I was only able to see one ep last night (I had to see Castle's new ep at 10pm), I think it was the first one - I really liked it. I'm going to have to get it on DVD, but until then I will watch what I can find on the net.