TInker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 1999; the continued Twitter dumpster fire; Dan Drezner says smart things about global south apologetics for Vladimir Putin; Cory Doctorow, Monica Potts, Ed Zitron, Shak...
The "nonaligned" movement was always pro-Soviet, going back to Nehru. I'll listen to moral guidance from any Indian who is an opponent of their Hindu-Fascist "Orbanisty" government.
The Alec Guiness original of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy may just be the best "spy story" put on film. I will give Gary Oldman props for working hard in the remake. The trust-fund babies now running Hollywood for the intergalactic widget-makers who now own it have all the intellect, creativity and talent one normally expects from those born on third base who think they hit a triple.
Considered as a faithful adaptation of the novel, the TV series is clearly superior to the movie. For example, it is much better on the British class structure, and on the declining-empire griminess and seediness of post-war Britain. The movie seemed stylized and anachronistic by comparison, a "Cool Britannia" version of the story. But I still really like it on its own terms, and I think that is what le Carré meant when he said he liked the movie's reinterpretation. And the counterpoint to your observation about the weight of time is that the movie does a great job of compressing the story without feeling rushed. There's still time to watch Smiley go swimming! Maybe you should watch it again with an open mind.
ETA: I meant that you might revise your opinion on 2nd viewing, not that you somehow had a closed mind 1st time around.
How many of those global south leaders are being bribed by some Russian oligarch or other in service of Putin's regime? How many of them have a "close personal friend" in Putin's orbit, in much the same sense that Clarence Thomas is "friends" with Harlan Crow?
While Dan is clearly accurate that Russia bear responsibility for the reduction of agricultural production and the decrease in food distribution from Ukraine breadbasket, third world nations see themselves as acting in their own interests just as the West did in the past. In general, they benefit from good trade relations with the West, Russia and China as well as any aid from them. There is also a residue of anti-western feeling left over from colonialism expressed as being independent rather than aligned. There is an old Kenyan proverb... when elephants fight, the grass suffers.
You could act in your own interest—i.e., not want to sign on to sanctions against Russia—without claiming that it is the Ukrainians who started the war...
1. Itamar Drechsler: The problem can be solved by investing in VR securities and living off of taking the credit and term transformation risk. Deposit taking is not supposed to be a sexy, lucrative business.
While the movies are interesting, John le Carre's books are always superior. 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' was the closest one to being decent, IMO.
My sunny, over-optimistic nature is such that I thought that “aggressive economic sanctions imposed by wealthy countries on Russia have generated costs, including higher food prices, for people who are far removed from the war in Ukraine" was the dumbest thing I was going to read to day, so I was blindsided by "[The problem] can be addressed with an optimal capital requirement that rises with interest rates".
Pro-cyclical capital requirements are a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad idea! And I should have thought this would be self-evident. There goes my over-optimism again.
Celia Mattison forgot "Dracula: The Series" from 1990 with Geordie Johnson as Alexander Lucard, still active in the 90s, and battling Gustav Van Helsing and his teenage niblings.
The "nonaligned" movement was always pro-Soviet, going back to Nehru. I'll listen to moral guidance from any Indian who is an opponent of their Hindu-Fascist "Orbanisty" government.
The Alec Guiness original of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy may just be the best "spy story" put on film. I will give Gary Oldman props for working hard in the remake. The trust-fund babies now running Hollywood for the intergalactic widget-makers who now own it have all the intellect, creativity and talent one normally expects from those born on third base who think they hit a triple.
Alec Guinness and Ian Richardson were amazing in Tinker Tailor. No comparison to the movie at all.
Yes indeed...
Like le Carré himself, I like both versions in different ways - I can't choose one over the other because they are incommensurate.
But you'll get no argument from me that the cast in the TV version is better. Particularly but not solely Guinness.
Agreed on the caste. But I think the mystery needs the weight of time to build...
Cast.
Considered as a faithful adaptation of the novel, the TV series is clearly superior to the movie. For example, it is much better on the British class structure, and on the declining-empire griminess and seediness of post-war Britain. The movie seemed stylized and anachronistic by comparison, a "Cool Britannia" version of the story. But I still really like it on its own terms, and I think that is what le Carré meant when he said he liked the movie's reinterpretation. And the counterpoint to your observation about the weight of time is that the movie does a great job of compressing the story without feeling rushed. There's still time to watch Smiley go swimming! Maybe you should watch it again with an open mind.
ETA: I meant that you might revise your opinion on 2nd viewing, not that you somehow had a closed mind 1st time around.
How many of those global south leaders are being bribed by some Russian oligarch or other in service of Putin's regime? How many of them have a "close personal friend" in Putin's orbit, in much the same sense that Clarence Thomas is "friends" with Harlan Crow?
How many of them are just following "tradition"?
While Dan is clearly accurate that Russia bear responsibility for the reduction of agricultural production and the decrease in food distribution from Ukraine breadbasket, third world nations see themselves as acting in their own interests just as the West did in the past. In general, they benefit from good trade relations with the West, Russia and China as well as any aid from them. There is also a residue of anti-western feeling left over from colonialism expressed as being independent rather than aligned. There is an old Kenyan proverb... when elephants fight, the grass suffers.
You could act in your own interest—i.e., not want to sign on to sanctions against Russia—without claiming that it is the Ukrainians who started the war...
Re Cattrud2: Maybe they realize that if the blue star is worth only $8, it isn't worth $8.
Very nicely put...
1. Itamar Drechsler: The problem can be solved by investing in VR securities and living off of taking the credit and term transformation risk. Deposit taking is not supposed to be a sexy, lucrative business.
While the movies are interesting, John le Carre's books are always superior. 'The Spy Who Came in from the Cold' was the closest one to being decent, IMO.
My sunny, over-optimistic nature is such that I thought that “aggressive economic sanctions imposed by wealthy countries on Russia have generated costs, including higher food prices, for people who are far removed from the war in Ukraine" was the dumbest thing I was going to read to day, so I was blindsided by "[The problem] can be addressed with an optimal capital requirement that rises with interest rates".
Pro-cyclical capital requirements are a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad idea! And I should have thought this would be self-evident. There goes my over-optimism again.
Just don't allow investing (much) in long term _fixed rate_ instruments. We supposedly learned that lesson from the S&L crisis.
Celia Mattison forgot "Dracula: The Series" from 1990 with Geordie Johnson as Alexander Lucard, still active in the 90s, and battling Gustav Van Helsing and his teenage niblings.