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Wednesday, July 09, 2008

“John Adams” and the Power of Words

Forgive me for more jabberings about the excellent HBO series “John Adams,” but I recently bought the 3-DVD set.  And what a set it is!

I remember back about 10 years when the hottest thing in PC gaming was the first-person shooter “Doom.” For it’s time, it was the most immersive experience you could have on a computer.  And it had a funny hangover effect as well, at least for me:  After a few hours spent slaughtering Cacodemons, I’d go out in the real world and feel my senses heightened, almost a twitchy hyper-sense, waiting for a flaming skull to come around the corner to devour me.  It was pretty freaky.

So I watched the first two episodes of “John Adams” last weekend, and really listened, noticing the astoundingly high quality of the writing and dialog. Despite the stilted Old English that was common in the 1700’s, the words just flowed with an elegance and elan’ that seems sadly lacking in our day-to-day interactions today.  I’m sure this is rose-colored-glasses thinking at it’s best, but still, I started to compare my spoken words to those provided to Paul Giamatti.  It was rather like the “Doom” hangover - but considerably less violent.  And a lot more enjoyable.

Five episodes to go!

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The action slows some in the next five, but the language and joy of the acting continue.  A truly beautiful series.  The same team is producing “1776” by David Mccullough.  I hope David Morris continues as George Washington.

Posted by  on  07/10  at  02:21 PM

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