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Gertrude Susanne


Member

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 10:38am Post subject: Fry-A-Day
If it was Stephen's decision, then I can understand as I know he is a fan of Alastair Sim.
Despite there being abundant evidence to support what Gerti said, I'm not sure whether it's entirely fair to dismiss remakes as an idea. After all, there have been numerous theatrical productions of the sam plays for centuries. I just think that the majority of bad examples (and no, I can't think of a good one either) have led to Gerti's opinion being shared by most people.


Actually I can think of a decent remake (although I haven't seen the original yet): Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear.

Oh is he? Perhaps I should indeed read Moab is my Washpot...
AlAstair - I always get it wrong :-//
What I said about remakes is my very personal opinion, I don´t expect anyone to share it ...

Cape Fear with the magnificent Robert De Niro? Loved his performance in Awakenings

here more Stephen in drag


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Anonymous


Unregistered

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 10:41am Post subject: Fry-A-Day
Stephen's love of Sim is referenced in the Paperweight article on critics.

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Gertrude Susanne


Member

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 10:56am Post subject: Fry-A-Day
I´ve been a fan only since Who do you think you are? And I have had some catching up to do... some things just seem to have slipped my mind :-//

Actually, found a reference under Close-Up as well:

Add to this a dash of the singular comic genius of Alistair Sim. The end result: an inquisitive, spiritual, humorous, eccentric character actor that is the incomparable Stephen Fry.

Well put!!
But: The web administrators got Mr Sim´s first name wrong TWICE on the same page - I´m glad that I´m not the only one (my "The Green Man" dvd states AlAstair, as you correctly spelled (or is that: spelt ?) it , Mr Steed!)

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Anonymous


Unregistered

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 11:01am Post subject: Fry-A-Day
Are you prescriptive or descriptive in your attitude to English? I suspect you are prescriptive as you once said you don't like split infinitives, in which case 'spelt' is the only permissible option for you. The average native quite happily alternates between the two, and I personally use the 'regular verb' fom.
What's wrong with split infinitives anyway? They sound less clumsy and were only proscribed by grammarians because Latin infinitives were single words rather than 'to (verb)' and prescriptives believed that English grammar should strictly follow Latin lines. Therefore a split infinitive was not allowed because a single word Latin infinitive could not possibly be splt without an infix, which didn't exist.

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Fryphile


Member *

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 4:42pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
For those of us who lack QI (because our TV programmers lack IQ), please explain. Is 'Emma' Emma Thompson?


The very same.

I think of myself as someone who is filled with love, whose only purpose in life was to achieve love. - Stephen Fry

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Fryphile


Member *

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 4:50pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
WARNING: Forearm porn.

I think of myself as someone who is filled with love, whose only purpose in life was to achieve love. - Stephen Fry

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Britannicus


Member

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 4:52pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
Is it possible, through a photo, to detach a person's arms and run away with them?

"Your room...it's CLEAN!!!"
"I prayed to God...and...it happened...but...where's my million dollars and horse!? Damn it!"

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amyl_nitrate


Member

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 5:21pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
I remember that episode. Was that the bit when Jonathan Ross was talking to him about breasts and Stephen got all embarassed and cute?
Is his watch purple there?

Yes and yes. Evidently Emma has a bad habit of flashing him

For those of us who lack QI (because our TV programmers lack IQ), please explain. Is 'Emma' Emma Thompson?

(Yes, I know I can watch QI on YouTube, but I just can't keep up.)


The photo isn't from QI, it's from an episode of Friday Night with Jonathan Ross that was on 28th October 2005. Jade Goody was on in the same episode. Stephen would say things and she didn't have a clue what he was saying. X-D X-D X-D

I still don't fully understand what a split infinitive is or even what an infinitive is. I keep looking it up but I'm still none the wiser. I know what an infinitive is in German but English no. What does descriptive and prescriptive in attitude to English mean anyway?

Assuming direct control...

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Fryed-And-Tested


Member

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 5:35pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
An infinitive is a verb in its root form, isn't it? For example, "to be", "to love", "to fry" etc.

So... a split infinitive is... I don't know...

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amyl_nitrate


Member

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 5:38pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
That's what it is in German so I guess it must be in english as well. The split part is just confusing though.

Assuming direct control...

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Anonymous


Unregistered

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 6:09pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
1) The infinitive form of a verb is the basic root form, which in English takes the form of the word 'to' in addition to the basic form. Infinitives can be used in certain grammar structures, for example when we want to indicate the purpose of an action we can use an infinitive thus: "I'm going online to look at Fryphile's latest picture" (although in American English they use - and I personally don't like it - "I'm going online and look at Fryphile's latest picture", which sounds to me like "I'm going out and don't touch the TV" i.e me do this, you do that or else) .
2) A split infinitive is an infinitive with an adverb placed between the two words. The most famous example is Captain Kirk's "To boldly go where no man has gone before".
3) Prescriptive grammar is the traditional belief that there are ancient and unbreakable rules of grammar which must be obeyed. Descriptive grammar focuses more on what people really do and makes no judgements over acceptability - it rather focuses on how meaning is still understood by speaker and listener in spite of apparent rule breaking.

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amyl_nitrate


Member

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 6:20pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
Thankyou so much for that explanation Steed. It makes much more sense now and your explanation was so much clearer.

(although in American English they use - and I personally don't like it - "I'm going online and look at Fryphile's latest picture", which sounds to me like "I'm going out and don't touch the TV" i.e me do this, you do that or else) .

Oh gawd that's awful!!!! I can't even say it it is too painful. :'(

Assuming direct control...

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Britannicus


Member

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 6:23pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
That is painful to say. Isn't it "I'm going to go online and look at Fryphile's latest picture" though? If someone said "I'm going online and look", I'd smack them.

"Your room...it's CLEAN!!!"
"I prayed to God...and...it happened...but...where's my million dollars and horse!? Damn it!"

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Betsie


Member

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 7:26pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
But I don´t really like remakes... Can anyone imagine what a remake of Peter´s Friends would be like - SHUDDER remakes are just a feeble excuse for having run out of one´s own ideas...

A-MEN, Gerti! There's a lot of creative scripts out there. Remember "The Fisher King"? And "Garden State"?

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ClareBear


Moderator

Posted Sun Jun 24th, 2007 7:35pm Post subject: Fry-A-Day
If someone said "I'm going online and look", I'd smack them.

Then I'd set fire to them.

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