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Praetorium Honoris

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Back in Action

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After feeling très misérable for the better part of a week, I decided to extend the weekend into Monday, for the sleep that was in it. I'm glad I did, though I will, no doubt, regret the loss of a day off sometime down the road, I really needed that extra day of stay in bed and let the body heal itself. Which it does if the damage isn't too severe. No doubt my blogging brother-in-arms, the Naval Air Cowman can tell tales of such things. (Which he often does.)

So here it is, Monday evening and whilst I'm not fully mission capable just yet, I'm effective enough to get my job done. I'm also past the sharing stage of this rhinovirus encounter so I won't be infecting any co-workers with same. No doubt they would return the favor.


As I often do when down for maintenance, I like to peruse the Internet for things of interest, news items, bon mots, and other tidbits. I am finding more and more that the number of complete idiots with access to the Internet is growing by leaps and bounds. There is little civility that I can see and an absolute dearth of manners.

Those who lean towards what is often described as the "Left" are perhaps the worst. Back in the day they would best be described as "sore losers." On the gripping hand, their are many on the so-called "Right" who seem to epitomize the term "bad winners." No side has a claim to absolute truth, most wouldn't recognize it if it walked up to them and bit them in the ass.

Just sayin'.


Some time back I indicated that an upcoming movie, T-34, had piqued my interest. It looked a bit over the top, but entertaining. Here's the trailer -



I noted over the weekend that the film was available on Amazon Prime, so I watched it. There were some historical inaccuracies (of course, even Russian Hollywood, or whatever they call it there, tends to sacrifice accuracy for story, sometimes it's just crappy research that does the filmmakers in) but overall it was most entertaining. I did have one majoe headache with the version I watched.

It was dubbed over in English, and not very well I'm afraid.

I have been watching a lot of Russian TV shows and films on the Second World War (or the Great Patriotic Was as they call it) and I'm starting to get the rhythm of the Russian language. Dubbing T-34 in English hurt my enjoyment of the film. Why do that Amazon? Why? I'm sure there is a Russian version with subtitles. (Just like the trailer above.)

I like watching a movie in its original language, with subtitles if possible. Wasn't always the case in Korea. Oddest film I ever went to there was a really over the top Chinese kung fu action film, in Chinese. It did have subtitles though. Korean subtitles. So I wasn't really able to follow the plot. But as it was an action film, the plot wasn't that important though I did get the gist of it.

Dubbing a film into English is not preferred but is acceptable if it isn't totally screwed up. Which was the case with another film on Amazon Prime titled Ambushed. Based on an actual event during the wars after the break up of Yugoslavia, the original title of the film (in Croatian) is Broj 55, or Number 55 - the number of the house where the action takes place.

Film looked interesting, so I decided to watch it. About twenty minutes in I couldn't take it anymore and had to switch it off. The dubbing on the film was horrendous. The voice acting sucked and the dubbing sounded like a bunch of "actors" of limited talent reading their lines inside a sound booth. No background noise, no ambient noise at all. They even had one character, who is apparently a backwoods kind of Croatian guy, speaking with an American hillbilly accent. A bad American hillbilly accent.

Sucks when people ruin things like that. I mean I get not wanting to have to read subtitles, it does distract you from the action on the screen, but hey, at least do a decent job of it.

If anyone knows where I can get this movie in the original language, let me know. It does look interesting.

That's all for now, it's back to work for me on Tuesday. Enjoy your day.




42 comments:

  1. I hope you feel better than a Typ VIIC! I wish you the health of a Manitowoc built BALAO, at least!

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    1. I was wondering about the sub picture. I mean, if you're saying you're feeling better, showing a picture of a target about to be blown out of the water isn't the most inspiring photo.

      So, yeah, a big, beautiful US fleet boat like a Balao would be much preferable. Roomy, lots of range, not cramped and as stinky as a VII.

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    2. It's a nice painting of a sub surfacing. Period. Full stop.

      One sometimes takes what the Internet gives.

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    3. So what you're saying is sometimes a sub is just a sub. Got it!

      Delete
  2. Some very bad dubbing was done on a lot of Saturday morning cartoons, and I recall watching Oriental action flicks on the messdecks that had terrible dubbing.

    I parked "Tanks For Stalin" on my Prime list after watching the trailer. The first few minutes are in Russian, and the subtitles are in English, I plan to return to watching it later.

    Take care.

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    1. I have my eye on that one as well.

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    2. Had a chance to look at Mr. Sunshine yet? I wonder what the next social platforms will be- FB is in its heyday, or perhaps past it. Platforms seem to be age stratified.

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    3. Mr. Sunshine is on the list. I'm sure The Missus Herself has already watched it, "it" being a Korean drama which is very much in her wheelhouse.

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    4. Hmm. TfS sounds... interesting. Now if there was a movie about how Otto Skorzeny supposedly, dressed as a Russian officer, stole a T-34, that would be really interesting.

      Hate the man, but he did, supposedly, do some really weird and fascinating missions.

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    5. That Skorzeny/T-34 story is, in my estimation, apocryphal. Why steal one when there were quite a few left lying about, many still mostly intact. There's a photo somewhere of a bunch of abandoned T-34s in a muddy bog. Mud effected both sides.

      Skorzeny was a "true believer" but his story was fascinating.

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    6. Netflix has the zombie horror film, "Train to Busan" in Korean or English with the same choice in subtitles. We watched it with English turned on, and enjoyed the film.
      The only odd note was that the film's voice dubbing actors spoke in perfect idiomatically correct English, and a lifetime of movie characters have trained me to expect a French actor to have a French accent, and so on and so forth.
      Speaking of subtitles, we, well, OK, mostly me, have begun using English subtitles for English movies and TV because I don't have to max out the volume to understand what they are saying.

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    7. I turn on subtitles to avoid the whole "Would you turn that down" thing. Also some British dialects are hard to understand for this Colonial.

      As to that particular movie, no doubt I would watch it in Korean with the English subtitles. I expect Koreans to sound a certain way when they speak (English or Korean).

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  3. As for bad winners - having watched how the left treats them, I can understand where some started thinking that graciousness is a losing strategy, even if it IS a losing way to go. Just wish the right would stop it with their boneheaded maneuvers.
    Frank

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    1. Yeah, I get that. The right DOES have a lot of boneheadedness going on right now.

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  4. I saw Dr. No in Kure, Japan, with Japanese subtitles, with three shipmates.
    We were the only ones who laughed at the humorous content.
    I have experienced some of those poorly dubbings.

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    1. Japan is rather famous for that I think. I'm reminded of a number of John Wayne movies on Japanese TV back on Okinawa. Dubbed in Japanese, with some of the most poorly chosen voice actors ever. (Really, John Wayne with a high pitched voice?)

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    2. In retaliation, I saw a really badly dubbed version of the 47 Ronin story. Turned off the sound just to watch the action, since, well, the story is basically: Lord dies, badly, from some scum-sucking lord screwing him over in a most unhonorable way. The 47 samurai get peeved, turn Ronin, seek justice, die after justice is seeked. Don't really need words. Just lots of sword action.

      The Keanu Reeves version, though interesting, was rather disappointing. Why must Hollyweird inject the supernatural into what was a powerful story? The politics, backstabbing (really) and the honorable fight was enough. Oops, I'm rambling again...

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    3. Concur, the Reeves version was classic Hollyweird: overblown, over-CGIed, and overhyped.

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  5. Hey Old AFSarge;

    Great Minds think alike, LOL. I watched the same movie this past weekend and overall I liked it. They really tried to be accurate in "kitting out the soldiers". The gear looked period accurate. I saw another movie several years ago on youtube called "White Tiger". It is an interesting story. But in that one, they couldn't get a working tiger so they dressed up a JS1 as the antagonist. Actually very good movie.

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    1. Yup, saw White Tiger and I did find it entertaining. As to JS-1s mascarading as Tigers, to my knowledge there is only one operating Tiger I on the planet and that belongs to the Bovington Tank Museum. Kelly's Heroes had T-34s made up to look like Tigers. Once you've seen the real thing, nothing else will do.

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    2. "Kelly's Heroes" was the first WWII movie I saw, other than "To Hell and Back" where they tried to accurately portray all sides with proper equipment and uniforms. The Faux-Tiger was good enough. Looked like a Tiger (mostly), and definitely wasn't an M-48/49 Patton with white crosses fighting M-41 Walker Bulldogs which were supposedly Shermans.

      Plus, well, the epic 'gunfight' scene at the end of the movie...

      Now I have the sudden urge to go watch "KH".,,

      Did I say I love that movie?

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    3. It's certainly one of my favorites.

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  6. I am always, always looking for subtitled foreign movies. Especially since english subtitles are as good to me as polish ones!
    Considering I am devouring some series from the internet, I am practically left with no choice.
    Good dubbing is hard to find, but sometimes there are jewels. Polish Shrek dubbing had cream of country's comedic actors and it was glorious to hear them launch slightly tuned to our popculture jokes!

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    1. Choosing the right voice actors is critical to "getting it right." Sounds like the Polish film industry gets that.

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  7. Well...Here's some appropriate music to celebrate your return to the land of the living. Glad you're feeling better, sorry you have to go to work ;-)

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    1. Now that's some old-timey music. That there is bona fide!

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  8. In regards to your comments about Les Gauches vs Le Droits, (lefties or righties) I have noticed, after the actions of TWPE!!! and especially his "We won, get over it!" comment, that the right has kinda gotten a bee under their collective bonnet and are saying, rightly, that, well, "We won, get over it" finally. Finally. Finally it seems that the right has sluggishly gotten off it's collective rear and is starting to move in a somewhat collectively way.

    Which has always been the problem. The lefties love being Borg. They take orders from on high, from supreme Borg King or Queen, and move, act, react, as a mass. A mass with already prepared talking points, shirts, signs made up and stored, ready to hand out the instant something takes place. Like a shooting, or a supposed 'grass roots' movement, where everyone has the same shirt and the same printed signs and looks like the same people from the last 'grass roots' march...

    The right, on the other hand, are a bunch of prickly, humanophobic loners who really like their space. Bad things happen when those on the right start sounding similar, start moving in a similar fashion, and even worse things happen when they congregate for longer than it takes to get coffee and donuts. Like, well, a groundswelling political movement that is bringing 20K or more to political rallies and that's the number inside, not including the vast numbers who just show up to stand outside and listen. This is the right that is doing this.

    Bad things happen (well to leftist ideals) when the right gets together. Am enjoying this thoroughly, while watching the left increasingly go off the cliff.

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    1. Here's hoping things calm down all the way around. I'm sick of the political nonsense.

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  9. Good news! Hoping there is no relapse. +1 on civility.

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    1. Colds come and go, but I'm glad this one is behind me!

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  10. Glad you're feeling better. I could launch into a description of prostaglandin biosynthesis but I won't because I'm on my best behavior and thinking manners. Which you have the left and right of perfectly suitcased today. Best of luck finding the movie version you desire. Living as I do in a cave with trolls I don't watch the tee-vee or movies, so I've nothing useful to add to the conversation. Not that that would stop me, but -- you know -- manners. :)

    Very tidy and enjoyable post, Mi Sargento!

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  11. We're so glad you've moved through that horrid "cold-like flu" thing. It's going around here as the weather gets cold! Only in the eighties this afternoon! ;-)
    Thanks for souring the internet thing for us so we don't have to. This gives me time to watch classes on "the Great Courses" for skill sets I'll never use. But it's fun to dream.

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    1. Dreams are good. When you stop learning and lose your dreams, it means you're probably dead!

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  12. For a pretty good tank movie try " The Beast" if you haven't already seen it ...

    https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_beast_1988

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  13. I bought the original "T-34" dvd from Amazon. The dialog was in Russian with English subtitles and the film was uncut. Much more satisfying in the original format. Sam Peckinpah is alive and well in Russki-Land. BTW, my remedy for the uncommon cold is a concoction of Bushmills and Nyquil mixed 60/40 in a cocktail shaker. I have named it Bush-Quil. It may not cure you, but after three or four shots you really don't give a fat rat's ass. Also, if time and circumstances allow, head to the Manitowoc Maritime Museum north of Milwaukee. Really great old seafaring kit with a massive triple expansion steam engine on display. And, the USS Cobia is docked next to the main building for guided tours. This boat makes the Type VIIc in the basement of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry seem like cruel and unusual punishment for the German sailors during WWII. Then, head up the street to the Seamen's Restaurant for a hearty repast of brats and kraut washed down with some good lager. Highly recommended......

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    1. Sounds like I need to plan a trip to Wisconsin!

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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