Watchin' The Detectives

                                                                                             "Paradise Found: Islamic Architecture and Arts" 2005, Channel Four Television Corporation Presenter: Waldemar Januszczak    This is the first entry in our blog from a presenter I have grown to love, Waldemar Januszczak. Plucky. Punk. Opinionated. Hysterical. Poet. Humanist. Art Critic. There's a lot of words that you could use to describe his style of presenting, but I think "punk" probably fits the bill well enough. Because of him, I have gained quite a bit of reverence (and revulsion) in what the world knows as "High Art." Waldemar doesn't pull any punches, but he never over steps the bounds into bigoted or insensitive remarks. His depth of knowledge on a wide variety of art styles, and how they fit into the culture and the places they've come to define, is nigh peerless. I've laughed aloud more times at his presentation style than is probably hea

                                                                                                                          Dread Broadcasting Corporation flyer 1982                                                     Credit: Dread Broadcasting Corporation "The Last Pirates: Britain's Rebel DJs"  2017, BBC, Director: Jaimie D'Cruz  You may already know about pirate radio in the UK, whether from reading about it, or maybe you saw movie dramatization such as the 2009 film: "The Boat That Rocked." But that's not even half of the story. The first pirate station, "Radio Caroline," was broadcast from a boat sitting in International waters, (which meant regulators were unable to shut them down) yet, they were close enough for radio transmissions to reach the mainland. "Radio Caroline" went live in 1964; by 1967, there were no less than ten pirate radio stations doing the very same thing. Even decrepit anti-aircraft bases, standing on pylons in

Photo Credit: Roland Unger - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0  I really hate when they put the presenter's name in the title. In my database, the title is just Tutankhamun , with Dan Snow listed as presenter. Sadly, that title is neither unique enough to Google , nor will it get you there easily on TVDB or IMDB . But nevermind my obsession with the metadata... let's talk about the content.  Yes, this is yet another documentary about the infamous "King Tut" , but the renaissance in technology has really brought archaeology to a whole new level in the last decade. Dan Snow presents the treasures of Tutankhamun's tomb, focusing with child-like glee on the little-known back-room items as often as the famous display treasures. He would really like to convince himself (as well as the viewer) that the young Pharaoh died in battle, perhaps at Kadesh, but Raksha Dave does a great job reining his enthusiasm and forcing him to examine the evidence with impartiality. Meanwhile, e

                                       We're going to be taking a deep dive into what makes a documentary a documentary. Which, as we write this, we're realizing it's not as easy to put to words as it is to know one when you see one.  In the broadest sense of the word, a documentary is any audio/visual media meant to document an occasion or to inform the viewer on a given subject. That much we can say for certain. There are as many ways to achieve this end as there are subjects to inform the viewer about, and the objective truth is not always the aim. So let's take a look at a few types of documentaries so we can start to get closer to the heart of what makes a documentary a documentary.  Part 2. News, Current Events and the Dreaded Long Form Infomercial.   For nearly as long as we've had moving pictures, current events shorts/newsreels/infomercials have been around. The moving picture was a clever way to get ideas and news across to people who may not have known ho

                                                                                                                                                   Battle of Agincourt                    By Antoine Leduc, Sylvie Leluc et Olivier Renaudeau (dir.), D'Azincourt à Marignan. Chevaliers et bombardes, 1415-1515, Paris, Gallimard / Musée de l'armée, 2015, p. 18-19, ISBN 978-2-07-014949-0, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10026708 "The Real War of Thrones," by France 5    "The Real War of Thrones" is a ten part docu-drama about the Hundred Years War, which shaped the countries and history of Europe. As opposed to doing a ten part review of each episode, I'm going to give a quick general overview of the entire series; there's simply too much history to cover here.      Produced by France 5; the 10 part, 4 part, or 2 seasons with 4 and 6 episodes, respectively, (depending on where you see it) the series was made to capitalize on the

                                                                               We're going to be taking a deep dive into what makes a documentary a documentary. Which, as we write this, we're realizing it's not as easy to put to words as it is to know one when you see one.  In the broadest sense of the word, a documentary is any audio/visual media meant to document an occasion or to inform the viewer on a given subject. That much we can say for certain. There are as many ways to achieve this end as there are subjects to inform the viewer about, and the objective truth is not always the aim. So let's take a look at a few types of documentaries so we can start to get closer to the heart of what makes a documentary a documentary.  First up: Nature Documentaries.  The great great grand of all documentaries; the first purpose made nature documentaries came about at relatively the same time. Disney pioneered the nature programme with its True - Life Adventure   series, at abo

 The History of Weapons  By: ZDF Studios  Pt. 7 (cont. from Pt.6)                                                                                         Episode 7: War At Sea    In this episode the historians look at Greek Fire, The Ship Cannon and Torpedos.   Up first is Greek Fire. While the recipe for Greek fire is lost to us today, there's a few clues as to what it might have contained, including: Sulfur, Pitch, Bitumen, Petroleum, Naphtha, Quicklime and various other oils. (let's go with olive, since they were Greek) In the practical experiment, they build a pump that would pick up the substance, set it alight, (there's debate on whether an ignition source was needed or if it combustied upon contact with water) and propel it onto an enemy's vessel. The result of which was terrific and horrifying. As Mike Loades put it, "They had the choice between burning alive, or drowning in the sea." While the recipe for the various formulations was kept secret, it li

"The History of Weapons" By: ZDF Studios Pt. 6 (cont. from pt. 5) Episode 6:  The Power of Destruction                                                                                                  American Civil War Ketchum Explosive/Fragmentation Grenade         (note percussion cap impact detonator, wooden shaft and flights, meant to keep it moving in a                                                               straight line when thrown)    In this episode, they cover the machine gun, hand grenade and the tank.    As with the revolver, many small arms manufacturers, inventors and armorers had been working on a way to get the firepower of many men into one convenient easy-to-use firearm that could increase a single soldier's combat effectiveness on the battlefield. Many long barreled "revolving rifles" entered the market, along with clamp-on stocks that added a shoulder rest to many a Colt Pistol. Unfortunately they still used patched, round lead balls th

Hi, I'm Mandy, and I'll be your documentarian this post. I believe you've already met Erin; she's my wife, partner, cohort in crime and favorite enabler ❤️ I say enabler because I tend to think of my hobbies in terms of addiction. I've always had a tendency towards going all-in on whatever I was doing… When I started reading about physics (well, insofar as chemistry is applied physics) in seventh grade, I couldn't stop until I'd taught myself both calculus and matrix mechanics so that I could predict the decay behavior of unstable isotopes given nothing more than an atomic symbol and weight. Had I any ability to maintain focus, I might be another Einstein today, but by the time I'd learned all that I was also learning to push my poor Apple ][ past it's breaking point. Instead I turned my attention towards penny stocks, on which my father's bookie… er, broker (same guy, honestly) traded, and turned my lawn care earnings into an Apple //e by inves

"Marco Polo: The Chinese Mystery Revealed" By: Nat Geo, 2004 With Mike Yamashita Runtime: 1 Hour, 10 mins.                                                                                                By Salviati - http://urbanesalonanddayspa.com/15fa8o-marco-polo.org-cheap, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52252778   I'm going to take a break today from "The History of Weapons" series, just to break it up a bit (and so I can get the rest of the parts written, ha!) So I'm going be taking a look at Nat Geo's "Marco Polo: The Chinese Mystery Revealed." With a run-time of an hour and ten minutes, it covers a lot of ground. Quite literally. It follows Nat Geo photographer Michael Yamashita from the rumored Venice home of Marco Polo, all the way to the walls of the forbidden City, where Marco Polo ingratiated himself to the aristocracy of the day.  Supposedly a first-hand account of the travels of Marco Polo himself, m