Master and Commander

[Sandman]

Originally posted by Yeager
Why does sandman have a conservative beating the snot out of a liberal as his avatar?

[Sandman]

Thanx Toad...

[Nash]

heh.

Sand, you should just remove that avatar and replace it with scrolling text saying "The avatar that would have been here is from the movie "Office Space". He is in fact beating up on a fax machine. The would-be use of this avatar does not mean to imply that I condone violence in any way shape or form."

[Sandman]

It's gotta be close to your record for avatar induced thread hijacking.

[AKcurly]

Originally posted by Sandman
I just watched the DVD this weekend. Excellent movie.

I'm interested in reading the books, but I had no idea there were so many. Any recommendations on which books to start with?

TIA

The Hornblower series is better.  Same time period, same setting (British naval warfare.)  

curly

[takeda]

Bleh, as I said, I'm reading them both, and Hornblower loses. Same period and still a very ejoyable read, but it lacks the lavish detail, and feels more "comic book".

And Hornblower himself comes off as a pompous selfish jerk too many times. Just compare the Aubrey-Maturin (or even Aubrey-Pullings) relationship with the Hornblower-Bush one.

Well, I still keep reading both, even though us Spaniards keep getting our "stern" kicked in every book

[Dowding]

I read the first book before I watched the film and still waiting to get the others. O'Brian is very different to Hornblower, and the characters both have different flaws. Hornblower is a hard man and pretty unlikeable in a lot of respects, whereas Aubrey seems to be a little more humane.

The film is excellent. I saw it at the cinema and the creaking oak beams seem to be part of the theatre. My girlfriend wasn't that impressed with it - lack of any women or romantic crap bored her.

[AKcurly]

Originally posted by takeda
Bleh, as I said, I'm reading them both, and Hornblower loses. Same period and still a very ejoyable read, but it lacks the lavish detail, and feels more "comic book".

And Hornblower himself comes off as a pompous selfish jerk too many times. Just compare the Aubrey-Maturin (or even Aubrey-Pullings) relationship with the Hornblower-Bush one.

Well, I still keep reading both, even though us Spaniards keep getting our "stern" kicked in every book

Interesting pov.  I read one of the Patrick O'Brian books and gave the series up as a bad cause.  I felt the easy friendship the captain had with the crew and officers was bogus.

As for pompous, well, they were Brits & rulers of the known world.  At one time during the Napoleonic wars, they outfought most of the entire European world, so yeah, pompous is fair.

curly

[sling322]

I mentioned to one of my bowling partners that I wanted to read those books after I saw the movie and he informed me they are really hard to get into.  As said before, the writer's style leaves something to be desired.  If I can find some of them at the used book store I might give them a go.

[ravells]

I picked up a copy of a companion book to the Aubrey novels called A Sea of Words  which provides a glossary of many of the words and expressions used in the book - particularly the nautical terms. The books are quite readable without knowing what the terms mean (you just glide over them), but I got much more out of the books by being able to look them up.

Ravs

[Bonden]

I've read all the Aubrey/Maturin books. They can be a bit tough to "get into" but it's usually worth the wait.

Another good series of this era of sea and ships is the Dewey Lambdin series - "The King's Coat" is the first. Very entertaining..

[gofaster]

Originally posted by ravells
I picked up a copy of a companion book to the Aubrey novels called A Sea of Words  which provides a glossary of many of the words and expressions used in the book - particularly the nautical terms. The books are quite readable without knowing what the terms mean (you just glide over them), but I got much more out of the books by being able to look them up.

Ravs

Thanks for pointing that out!  I had bought "The Hornblower Companion" for precisely that same reason - to know what the characters were talking about and where in the world the ship was.  You're right - the "study aids" really help understand and enjoy the novels.

[midnight Target]

This is one of my favorite new DVD's. Can someone explain the little ritual the captain did with the midshipmen that ended with them turning around 3 times.

[Saurdaukar]

Originally posted by midnight Target
This is one of my favorite new DVD's. Can someone explain the little ritual the captain did with the midshipmen that ended with them turning around 3 times.

Also curious.

[rpm]

Just saw it on HBO. GREAT MOVIE! I actually liked Russell Crowe:eek: