Patti,

Being a novice at all of this too, I would suggest trying Firefox.  I usually say I have Mozilla,  but I guess it's really Firefox, which is a more stripped down version of Mozilla I guess.  It seemed quicker and easier to set up.

However, as Mark R. mentioned, Firefox doesn't work as well for some things.  So I tend to use Internet Explorer (IE) if I'm going directly to a site that I feel is safe (like this one).  Although, I do have that annoying flickering IE icon, and neon-flickering words "Welcome to the Forum", in the lower left corner when I'm in IE.  (It's not the icon or the words that bother me, it's the flickering.)  When  I access the site with Firefox, there is no Icon and no "Welcome to the Forum" in the lower left corner.

With some sites the type size gets really tiny in Firefox, which makes it harder to read.

This is strange.  This thread doesn't appear when I access "Current Talk."  I've tried a couple of times now a couple of hours apart.  The only way I saw this topic was that the subject appeared as the "most recent post" for Current Talk on the website's mainpage, and I was able to access the thread from there.

Anyway, I hope the Horror Channel has success; it would certainly seem like there would be enough viewers to make it so.  I was disappointed, though, when I read on their webpage that the channel would most likely be available only to digital cable subscribers.  I have a special deal through the building where I live for cable, and everyone gets the same thing, and it isn't digital.  Even if there were a way to individually get digital, I wouldn't be able to afford it.  So although I wish the Horror Channel the best and hope DS gets a permanent home there, it's going to be a little depressing personally ...  I signed the petition/request, nevertheless.

mon dieu, however did you find this, midnite? 

Did Ms. Parker actually do a guest spot on "Baretta"?  If so, then ...

I'd also describe her writing here as breezy, effortless.

I prefer "Angelique's Descent" though.

Interesting, I just made a folder on my computer titled "Fiction," and this is the third story I've saved (the other two by E. F. Benson and Jonathan Nolan).  Not sure I'd actually save this one if it weren't by Ms. Parker ...  Er, maybe I'd better go back and check what the website said about saving or duplicating ...

Will placing her story on this particular site enhance her reputation as a writer?  I wonder ...

Thank you for calling our attention to this production, MB (I had forgotten about this when I wrote my recent Frankenstein thread  ).

Can it be that this will actually be an accurate version of Mary Shelly s novel?  What an unheard of concept!

I mean, I'm seeing the characters of Caroline, Alphonse, and William Frankenstein, Agatha, Justine, Cpt. Walton  ... (but no DeLacey by name at least ...).  "Henry" in place of "Henry Clerval," but these credit listings aren't always accurate, even in imdb.com.

The synopsis reads like a synopsis of the NOVEL. 

I don't really want to get my hopes up, but that at least is promising.

From the stills, I'd say the look is fantastic -- accurate and realistic to the period and to the novel.  (Yet a bit cleaner and tidier when compared to the somewhat grittier and realistic buildings in "Terror of Frankenstein" -- which must be viewed in the DVD release to get any idea of the actual "look" of that movie -- not quite as beautiful and glowing, even the breathtaking scenery takes on an oppressive, dull air in that version).

The cast appears very promising.  Well, the Creature does look a bit like a heavy metal band member (and its lips should be black, but that would seem only to reinforce the "goth" look they seem to have in mind).  Maybe Donald Sutherland will redeem himself after the "Salem's Lot" fiasco.  And I don't remember there being a little girl at the DeLacey cottage (but it has been years since I've read the book so maybe I'm forgetting).

Drawing together the synopsis and viewing the stills, I'd say this version has the possibility of being the best and most accurate version ever made (see my comments on the two best -- IMO -- previous attempts).

This is more of a general DVD question ...

How the heck are you supposed to get the DVD out of some of those plastic cases?  I have been purchasing DVDs occasionally for the past couple of years (even though I didn't have a DVD player when I started), and out of the 40 or so I've purchased, there are at least half a dozen different types of black plastic cases (the inside part, anyway).  With most of these, you're supposed to "press down" on the black button (or tabs) in the center, which holds the DVD in the box.

The problem I've found is that most of these still don't release the DVD.  I've tried pressing with my thumb, screwdriver, you name it.  Last night I was trying to remove "The Company of Wolves" from the package and had to literally bend the DVD to get it out.  I've had to do this with about a dozen of my DVDs, and I've read that bending a DVD is the worst thing you can do to it.  Yet I've never seen my problem addressed anywhere.

With the package I was dealing with last night, after I'd finally gotten the DVD free, I looked closely at the tab/button thing, got down at eye level with it under a bright light, pushed down with all the might in my thumb -- and it didn't depress or move the tabs a tenth of a millimeter.  I finally got out a pen knife and cut off two of the three tabs.  Amazingly, the one remaining tab is still enough to hold the DVD in place, even turning the box upside down, the DVD is held in there securely.  That's what I call a firm fastener.

I'd say that, out of all of my DVD packages, with only about half a dozen of these did the DVD pop out or lift out easily.

(P.S.  I haven't purchased any of the DS DVDs.)

Thanks for the update, Bette.  

I think Mr. Vitale needs help -- and I don't mean just a drama coach and speech coach.  (The director sounds like he has some issues, too -- although truth be told, I've heard some British directors described similarly!)

My favorite quote from the article is:

"how does a man with no stage training and a poor command of the English language wind up playing Hamlet in the middle of Hollywood? And what marketing genius suggested $35,000 billboards to advertise an 85-seat theater production? Yet, given such extravagant publicity, why didn't Hamlet learn his lines?"

But the scariest lines are the final quote from Vitale:

" 'I'm doing a national tour with a new play, a musical, and we're going to go all over the country,' he says. 'It's an Equity production with the same investors, they're big supporters. It's called Dreams.' "

Guess that Simon Russel Beale (or whatever) "Hamlet" I saw a couple of years ago wasn't quite so bad after all ...

 

They have 20 or so copies listed, ranging from $2.50 paperbacks to over $50 for original hardcovers.

It's a nifty site.  I've been looking up old Lovecraft books on there.  I haven't ordered anything yet though, but this site was highly recommended to me by a book dealer, so I would guess they're reliable.

Abebooks is indeed a reputable source, and is always my first online resource when I'm looking for out of print titles.  For example, last week I ordered the Isherwood screenplay (mass market paperback) for "Frankenstein: The True Story."  Near-fine condition, $5.

Still, not sure if I want to spend even that amount (plus postage) for the Witchcraft book unless there's a lot to the DS connections (like, say more than 1 page!).

I'd read descriptions very carefully of the condition of the book if you're at all fussy (as I am).  Abebooks is a consortium and you are dealing with many different booksellers.  For example, one book I was interested in was described as in "Very Good +" condition but then went on to describe "except for corners chewed by parrot."

Relevance to DS:  DS did their take on "Frankenstein" with the Adam storyline!  

I am interested in only two movie versions of "Frankenstein":  "Terror of Frankenstein" (aka "Victor Frankenstein") directed by Calvin Floyd in a coproduction of Ireland and Sweden.  I used to promote this version whenever the subject of movie versions of Frankenstein came up as this is the ONLY movie version that follows the book faithfully (a few things are left out, such as the Justine subplot).  However, on viewing it for about the third time (it's available on a cheap DVD, which at least looks a heck of a lot better than the print I had taped from a TV airing a few years back), I'm not sure I can enthusiastically endorse it to anyone other than those who have a great interest in Mary Shelley's novel, or perhaps to a class that is studying the novel.  The settings, scenery, and atmosphere are good, but the acting is pretty dreadful, and the Swedish accents are, well, it's hard not to laugh, especially at the Creature's accent (my apologies to any Swedes out there)!  The late British actor Nicolas Clay (Lancelot in "Excalibur") gives the film's best performance as Henry Clerval.

Dan Curtis' version, well, I bought the tape from MPI, but I just couldn't make it through the tape ... the only other film I remember not being able to make it through (though I finally did with gritty determination and at least 3 tries) is "Citizen Kane," but that's another story ...  Maybe it got better after the first hour; some day I'll give it another try when I have absolutely nothing better to do or to watch.

The version I am most enthusiastic about at this point is the 1973 NBC-TV late night two-part adaptation "Frankenstein: the True Story" with Leonard Whiting, Michael Sarrazin, Jame Mason, and Jane Seymour (and delightful cameos by Agnes Moorhead, John Gielgud, and others).  I remember being sorely disappointed in this version when I saw it while in grade school -- I had just read the novel upon my aunt's recommendation, and although the novel's philosophical themes went over my head, it was clear that the "True Story" was anything but a faithful adaptation of the novel.  Still, I remained curious about it over the years but never saw it again until a couple of years ago when the complete mini-series aired on cable.  As I watched it again and did some reading on it, I saw that this was a highly original and interesting re-visioning of the novel.   I've since learned that the characters were actually molded on the real-life circle of the Shelley's:  Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, Dr. Polidori, Claire Clairmont, et al.  So the story works on several levels.  All of this had certainly gone over my head as a kid, as did the homoerotic elements and other aspects.  I've been reading the script recently which is somewhat different from the version that aired on TV, at least in some introductory scenes with Mary, Percy, Byron, Polidori, et al.  I feel that this script, which was widely available as a mass-market paperback at the time (I think I remember seeing it at supermarket checkouts, that type of thing) inspired whomever wrote the movie "Gothick" which picked up on the Shelley circle (in a rather bizarre movie that I didn't care much for).  The script, by the way, was co-authored by Christopher Isherwood, who apparently was dissatisfied with the way the TV production was toned down or changed from his script.

I have a question regarding the recent (maybe 2 yrs ago) airing:  does anyone recall what station aired it?  I think it was AMC but can't be sure.  The airing was completely unscheduled ... people here were anticipating the Dan Curtis version, which is what the station had announed it was showing.  I know people here were disappointed at the time, but they actually were treated to a version that has been highly praised by critics and which many, many people would have given a lot to have known it was airing (people had been searching for the film or waiting for a re-airing for 30 years at that time).  I would like to contact whichever channel it was that showed it and request a re-airing so I could tape it again (I missed the very beginning last time).  Apparently this appeared on VHS a few years back in a very shortened form that completely destroyed the film's integrity.  It has not been made available on DVD.