More Da Vinci Code

[altariel]

So our heroes have just been chased through the streets of Paris while driving a SmartCar. Be still my lowbrow heart! How much I would love to see The Comic Strip Presents... The Da Vinci Job.

PS Even a brainwashed product of McDonaldization like me cannot fail to notice the product placement. The hero's paean to Disney for making the beloved Mickey Mouse watch that inspired his lifelong interest in colour and symbology is a bit of a giveaway.

Comments

[communicator.livejournal.com]

Mickey Mouse watch that inspired his lifelong interest in colour and symbology

It reads funnier when filtered through your comments. At the time it just made me want to throw up.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Here's the cast list for the inevitable movie. Are we not in for a theatrical treat?

[communicator.livejournal.com]

They must have a shedload of money. Seriously, those are almost the iconic actors for those roles aren't they, French assassin=Jean Reno, Daffy brit Lord =Ian McKellan, Beautiful french heroine = Amelie. Tom Hanks, well, he's not a total hack anyway. And the writer worked on Beautiful Mind, Batman, etc. Which I don't dig that much, but they aren't utter tripe. I wonder, perhaps the film will be of a different class than the book? I probably won't go and see it though.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Not to mention Alfred Molina = wicked bishop! If that cast deliver up enough archness, it has the potential to be hugely enjoyable. I'll almost certainly go and see it, but I'll be gutted if there isn't a proper SmartCar chase.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

I wonder why Ian McKellen seems to be in such an urgent need of money...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I wonder if he's like Michael Caine, and the experience of being young, poor and out-of-work makes him constitutionally incapable of refusing any old shit that crosses his agent's desk.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to point out that Ian McKellen has shown an interest in "old shit" only since X-Men, but I take this back after having a look at all the strange TV productions in his IMDB filmography. Hey, he played John Keats, D.H. Lawrence and Adolf Hitler.

Well, at least both Ian McKellen and Michael Caine are capable of handling shit in a relatively dignified manner.

Who are they going to cast for the Albino killer, BTW?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Hey, he played John Keats, D.H. Lawrence and Adolf Hitler.

Not in the same production?!? ;-D


Who are they going to cast for the Albino killer, BTW?

Good question. Computer animated? :-)

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Computer animated?

And spoken by Andy Serkis...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Only the best will do!

[executrix.livejournal.com]

Cf. The Producers: "We have our Keats, Lawrence, AND Hitler!"

I was sort of hoping of "Deuce Bigelow, Noted Harvard Symbologist" though.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Cf. The Producers: "We have our Keats, Lawrence, AND Hitler!"

Heh!

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Are those names for real?! Sir Leigh Teabing? As usual I've not read the thing.

[temeres.livejournal.com]

Apparently 'Teabing' is an anagram of Baigent, one of the authors of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail" or whatever it's called - one of the books Brown pillaged for his background material. A law suit is in progress.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

"Leigh" is the surname of one of the other authors. Henry Lincoln, the third author, wrote the Dr Who Yeti stories. This may now be too much information.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Ah right. Thanks! I can see there is a whole load of lore out there which has completely passed me by.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Yep! At least, as temeres explains, there's a reason behind "Teabing".


As usual I've not read the thing.

Consider my posts in the nature of a public service ;-D

[temeres.livejournal.com]

There is, however, a further dimension to the name Teabing, for it gives the British character a name that combines two quintessentially British drinks, tea and Bing (though the latter seems to have followed Spangles into the black hole of nostalgia).

I'm showing my age here, aren't I?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Bing is before my time (Spangles weren't, although they were 'orrible).

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

Did anyone actually like Spangles? It seems to me that Spangles are an under-appreciated pathological case of the business model to which theoretical economists ought to pay more attention: making money by selling a sweet that tastes disgusting.

[temeres.livejournal.com]

I certainly can't remember disliking them. It was the tubes of sherbet with the stick of liquorice in them that I couldn't stand.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I loved them. Even when the cardboard went soggy.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Both Bing and Spangles are new to me but I loved those sherbet fountains.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Actually it has rather whetted my appetite.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I borrowed this copy of 'The Da Vinci Code' - I can supply a copy of 'The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail' though.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

Hmm - tempting.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

There is an illustrated Da Vinci Code out now too.

[forodwaith.livejournal.com]

Now I'm going to have the name "Surly Teabag" stuck in my head all day! Thanks (not).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Great name though!

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

LOL!! That's going to be hard to forget if I ever get round to reading it ;-D

[kendokamel.livejournal.com]

I was subjected to this book on CD last April when I rode with friends on a five and a half hour road trip. (Well, eleven hours altogether.)

The worst part was, when we got home to my house, I actually sat in the car with them for half an hour waiting for the end, and then all I could think of was, "I can't believe I listened to this whole thing for this..."

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I actually sat in the car with them for half an hour waiting for the end

*snort!*

I did this at the end of a much shorter journey into Norfolk; we sat in the car listening to local radio to find out the answer to the quiz question that had been going on throughout the show - and then they held it over till the next day!

[qatsi.livejournal.com]

Do you have any idea what it's like working with people who think this book is the height of culture?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Scarifying?

[temeres.livejournal.com]

I'll obviously have to read it again. I read thrillers for the story, not the writing, so unless it's really distractingly bad I miss all these subtle nuances.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I rarely pay attention to plot. Bad writing leaps out at me, particularly laboured exposition.

A happy birthday to you, sir!