How sad is this?

Boring

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Respect the privacy of the deadThis show talks about the private lives of generations of relatives. The show I watched yesterday in Australia about a woman who dug up the 3 marriage contracts of her great great grandfather just to be able to say and chuckle that "he was married 3 times" raises the issue about the privacy of the dead.At present time, NSW laws do not allow people who are not party to the marriage to get copies of marriage certificates. But if they are 30 years old, anyone, not even those related to them can. There is here a certain irony.Likewise from a certain ethical point of view, just because they are dead doesn't mean you can do whatever you like just because you can. If they were living, do you think those people would have allowed very distant relatives to pry into their lives, let alone dig up and get copies of their marriage contracts? Put yourself in the place of the dead. See how it goes.Furthermore, Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides "Article 17 1. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his honor and reputation." 2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. "Likewise, the OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data provides that "although national laws and policies may differ, Member countries have a common interest in protecting privacy and individual liberties, and in reconciling fundamental but competing values such as privacy and the free flow of information; ".Sometimes its not what we want to do with other people's lives but its what they would have wanted had they been alive

"I've never cared about my ancestors, but now that TV is involved I'll be more than happy to investigate it." And pretend that you're emotionally involved in what happened to some people you never met, 150 years ago.Having seen more than a dozen episodes, I've noticed two things about the human subjects: 1) 80% of them hope to find Irish ancestry in their family tree. Whether it be Jeremy Irons or John Hurt - or any other self-deluded, gullible thespian - the quest for negating one's own "englishness" through the process of digging out even a minute trace of Irishness: this takes precedence over everything else.Hurt was absolutely crushed (well... hurt) when he eventually found out that there wasn't an iota of Irish blood in his small Elephant Man body. He had spent his life boasting about an alleged connection to Irish nobility, as if being connected to any branch of any in-bred species of royalty were something to brag about. But it turned out to be a fantasy tale. Now John has to go through the remainder of his life knowing that he is "merely" English... What the hell is wrong with being English? Is it "unhip" due to the fact that the English were always more economically advanced than the Welsh, the Scots, and the Irish? It's an actors' thing, isn't it... To side with the "underdog". Childish.Jeremy Irons could also barely hide his disappointment. He had even stated he "felt he was Irish" simply because he "enjoy(s) spending time" in the Irish countryside! What unique logic. You really can't argue with a thespian's deduction skills. Jeremy "felt" Irish hence he must be one. If only I could live the existence of a clueless actor; there must be some primordial joy in there somewhere in spending a lifetime of not having to ever think hard about anything.2) 90% of the human subjects hope to find dirt-poor factory workers with a history of Socialist/Communist activism (incl. street protests and the like). Nothing gets those dim-witted, attention-seeking, barely educated acteurs more excited than the prospect of cementing their left-wing leanings into the minds of the viewer - as if we don't already know (or as if we care) that it is Marx whom they worship above all other awful icons.There was a middle-aged soap-opera star who was disappointed when she found out that one of her ancestors dug himself out of poverty by building a successful business! "Oh, no, he wasn't dirt poor all his life. That's no good... How am I to remain a Labour voter if one of my relatives was so well off? It's a disaster!" That sort of thing...Or are some of these actors simply afraid that BBC will fire them unless they prove their Marxiworthiness?One of the best episodes was the Colin Jackson one. He visits Jamaica and finds out that he is an unusual mix of black, white, and even Indian ancestry. He even gets his DNA analyzed, defining his racial heritage down to the last percentage point. (7% Indian, for example.) As many episodes with non-white celebrities, the episode was also highly interesting for its details relating to slavery.Another top episode was the one with Jeremy Clarkson. He belongs to a very rare breed of British actors and/or TV personalities who aren't left-wing clowns. His sarcastic comments about rabid environmentalists and their blatant folly were right up there with the best of "Penn & Teller".

I'm watching the second series of "Who Do you think you are?" and am so interested! All the personal history of the celebrity is interesting but they (the narrator,Mark Strong) gives you the general history of whatever they are talking about and me being a history lover find these parts really interesting.It also helps people with their family trees (like me) don't bother with the website they give you its useless!The person who said it should be on BBC1 was right but now it is!I hope they carry on after this second series!

The second series has been running for a few weeks. The series opened with Jeremy Paxman (for those who don't know him, he's very well known in Britain as the most hard-nosed, cynical, bullying, political interview around). He was most humbled by his family's less than spectacular background.I am posting now because last night's show featured Stephen Fry (a highly intellectual speaker, presenter and comedian). He uncovered ancestors on his father's side who were in prison or a poorhouse, and probably dies of TB. Worse, he proved that some relatives on his mother's side had been murdered in Auschwitz, and that the only evidence of his family in Surany (now in Slovakia) is an old headstone in an often vandalised Jewish cemetery. This town was once a thriving Jewish community, but now has just one Jew, a remarkably upbeat old man.Stephen Fry found a plaque an the wall outside a block of flats in Austria, which mentioned the names of former residents taken to Auschwitz. The plaque mentioned the names of members of Fry's family. This plaque, the run down cemetery, the discovery that his relatives had died in Auschwitz, and a letter written by the old man still living in Surany, all moved Stephen Fry (and me) to tears.This was a brilliant programme.