Raithe

For the other fun world news... StratFor - Catalonia declares independence ; well, more or less

This time around with David Boreanaz..

Prince Harry launches new partnership with MoD over improved mental health for Armed Forces

Out of curiosity, and to take a break from some sql, I watched an episode of Seal Team. Seems like a fairly functional "new" take on The Unit. Just this time around, it's a Seal Team, and the balance of missions away and home life and families, rather than Army Special Forces. They're weaving in the strands of the top-line team, the wives and kids, and the ****y young guy going through training who wants to get in.

As a non-sailor with some passing trivia and background knowledge.... Part of the history of sea shanties was the sailors singing them as they were doing a repetitive manual task.. Things like a group of them winding the anchor up, or such like that needed a certain amount of synchronisation. They really only came in for the age of the clipper-ships and smaller crews during the end of the 18th and through the 19th century. The modernisation of ships with automation and mechanisation of many of the functions decreased the need for the crew to handle them in those groups and it sorted of passed away. I do believe there's a certain sense of "revival" for the talent these days, but its much more of a .. hobby / history of the craft thing rather than a practical part and parcel of sailing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChawvZd-_nc&feature=youtu.be

TheWrap - "Honest Trailers" creator Andy Signore suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment Hollywood Reporter - Andy Signore accused of sexual abuse

I caught Spiderman Homecoming. Holland managed to capture the geek side of Parker without it being too awkward, and Keaton managed to combine a mixture of sympathy and ruthlessness in his portrayal of Vulture. Favreu's turn as Happy Hogan again is a nice link, but it plays a bit too much one dimensional joke to really mesh well for me. Still, I was amused by the Captain America "Patience" video at the end of the credits.

Yes, she said she ended up getting a lot of schtick from her family when they watched Firefly over that. But it is kind of amusing that for the cast it was such a trial to learn the lines and say them..that they still remember and can repeat them so many years after the show ended.

Apparently that was part of the fun for all the Mandarin phrases used in Firefly. They had a chinese-american in the writers room who spent half her time phoning up friends and family around San Francisco, Hong Kong and various points around China to chase up current slang and sayings and then fitting them into the scripts. Having them written phonetically, and recordings of how they actually sound before the cast had to try to learn them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6H6ojmBCp4

A post from an author I know, that might be worth a read and a few thoughts...