Favourite Song?

I think they are all good songs, its kinda hard to pick a favourite, but at a push I would have to say- Tell Him That It Wasn't love. It chokes me up each time I watch it!!

jupoo

To nakedraven (hi^_^ again^_^):

Well, I bet Rachel's (Rachel Ward's) attitude would be something like, "Well,
the choice was pretty clear, since Richard was gay and Bryan wasn't". ^_~
But that's her and Bryan and Richard, not Meggie and Ralph and Luke. ^_~
(And I think that Rachel and Bryan falling in love on set showed waaaaay too
much and affected the miniseries waaaaay too much! ^_~) (I also think that
David Wolper [producer] and some of the other people "in charge" had some
WEIRD ideas about what makes a good story, etc. ^_~ ["Steamy" scenes between
THE WRONG PEOPLE, THE ONES WHO AREN'T EVEN IN LOVE AND AREN'T
EVEN REALLY SUPPOSED TO BE PASSIONATELY ATTRACTED, etc., thank you
very much!!! ^_~] [Oh, and, there was this weird comment (by David Wolper, I think)
in the Hallmark Channel's 20th anniversary edition with all the bunches of comments
...something about "Rachel" being "torn between" Luke and "the priest" (okay,
point one, Meggie was NOT exactly "torn between" them, far from it [read the
book, people!!! ^_~], and point two, apparently the producer thinks that Rachel
Ward is such a great actress or something [ummmmm...tastes differ...she's okay,
but NOT my choice for that role, ideally! ^_~ good moments in it, but...!], and
point three, so he calls the actress by her real name instead of the character's
name, but as for Ralph/Richard, he doesn't even get to be called by the actor's
name OR the character's name, he's just "the priest"??? nice! sigh!). Oh, well.])

(Anyway, yes, well, as far as looks, I thought that the "choice" was pretty easy
too...they did do THAT right at least, they made Ralph look better than Luke! ^_~
[But it SHOULD be EVEN MORE obvious EVEN AT FIRST that Luke
can't hold a candle to Ralph IN GENERAL. It was immediately obvious to Meggie
in the book. She didn't even LIKE Luke as a PERSON, she thought it was peculiar
how he and Ralph could look so alike and be so different, how dare he have
Ralph's eyes and yet not have the soul behind them, etc. (it's been a while
since I last read it, but I KNOW^_~ I'm not just making that up!!! ^_~).])
(I think that, among other things, the people making the miniseries thought
that they "needed" a "reason" for Luke to be able to "win" Meggie. So they
made him sort of roughly attractive in a totally different way than Ralph.
I think they thought that he'd be a refreshing change, or something. [And
in the miniseries, the sheepshearers arriving, with their songs and everything,
are actually a very refreshing change. And I like the songs. ^_^ (Somewhat
unfortunately, they left out the bits in the book that mentioned the Clearys
singing. In the miniseries, the thorn bird's song is mentioned, there is that
BEAUTIFUL^_^ music^_^ by Henry Mancini, there is all the various church
music [chanting], and the sheepshearers sing...but the Clearys don't. [I'm not all
that fond of the Missing Years "sequel" miniseries, but it did manage to work
"Waltzing Matilda" into it. ^_~ (But I think that it also made it look like it
was mostly Luke who sang. Sigh. There DOES need to be cheerfulness^_^ and
singing^_^ but why couldn't the Clearys have been singing^_^ at home as was
briefly mentioned in the book? Sigh. [No, TV does not have to be just^_~ like
the book. But why not MORE^_^ like? =^__^=])])])

About the "repenting sins" or something on the Thorn Birds board: They should
quit picking on poor Ralph, he paid about ten thousandfold for "sins" that I
don't think are even that bad. ~_~ So did Meggie, so did most of her family.
Let the people have some peace, they've been through enough, they don't need to
get picked on by their fans! (I do really wonder, though, what on earth Colleen
McCullough would have to say about all these bizarre debates! ^_~) (Like I
finally^_~ said in the "why is Ralph better than Luke" thread, maybe they should
go argue with her, not me, I got most of my ideas about these things from her
in the first place! ^_~ [I HATE>_< being told that _I_ haven't understood the
book, BY people who, BY THEIR OWN ADMISSION, barely understood a lot of things
in it THEMSELVES, some of them!!! (SOME PEOPLE DO NOT COMPREHEND
WHAT THEY READ. ^_~ Or, as Madeleine L'Engle [another^_^ of my=^__^=
VERY^_^ favorite^_^ authors^_^] wrote, "Some people don't understand plain
ordinary love when they see it" [A Wrinkle in Time]. [Anyway, I finally^_~
figured out that I was talking to the wrong audience, so I came here instead. ^_~])

About Faldema (screen name of the girl who thinks that Mary Carson is so great
and that I'm supposedly just there to argue>_< or whatever): Well, she has her
good points, she really does. (She thinks that Ralph "ignored God's will and
set out to become cardinal" [in other words, God's will was for Ralph to love
Meggie, etc. ^_^]. BUT: She ALSO thinks that it's strange to think that Ralph was
more loving, less ultra-ambitious, etc. than Luke [who I think WAS greedy,
bratty, etc., and other things less polite to say in public (he couldn't be
BOTHERED to CARE, is his MAIN problem!!! it's not even ambition, it's just
that he's the "who cares" type!!! so he dragged someone who he didn't even
love anyway out into the middle of nowhere and basically abandoned her [to
good people, though, fortunately! ^_^ at least Anne and Luddie were nice! ^_^],
so what, according to him! GRRRRR!!! >__< [he didn't much love or care about
ANYONE, as far as I can see!!! >__<])].) Anyway, Faldema only acts/talks sort
of like Mary Carson, but what with her "preaching" to ME about how _I_ supposedly
didn't know that the IMDb boards were "peaceful" and for "enlightenment" and
"not just enlightening others, but also being enlightened" (grrrrr>__<) (well,
ACTUALLY, I=^__^= thought that MOST of us were here for FUN^_^!!!),
AND^_~ with her acting like she didn't understand the book but telling ME that _I_
didn't understand what are probably some of the deepest/truest things in it
(I said/wrote, "Their love is the very essence of the novel"! =^___^=), AND^_~
with her being such a Mary Carson fan, I was getting a little too tempted^_~
to tell her that she was sort of acting like Mary Carson in some ways (it was
beginning to be almost^_~ a cat=^__^=fight between us!!! ^_~). (I=^__^= was
also^_~ getting tempted^_~ to [at least temporarily ^_~] change my=^__^=
screen name to "Meggie Cleary deBricassart" [except^_~ that would be sort of
weird on other boards, don't you think? ^_~]. [Anyway, I think^_~ that maybe
I do like^_^ defending^_^ my=^__^= favorite^_^ characters^_^ a bit too^_~
much...but like I told Faldema, I=^__^= wanted^_^ to be the witness^_^ for the
defense and not for the prosecution (as I also told her, she was already doing
so well herself in that [the prosecution] direction! ^_~).])

Anyway...well, yes, Meggie does tell Ralph that he and Luke have a lot of the
same faults. (On the other hand, OBVIOUSLY^_~ she KNOWS^_~ that one of
them is MUCH^_~ better/nicer than the other one. ^_~ [If anyone needs further proof:
She never wanted anything to do with Luke again after she knew for sure that
she and Ralph really would love^_^ each other forever^_^ even if they couldn't
always be together. She continued to be with Ralph (in various senses of the
word "with") for the rest of his life. (I feel like saying, "If that's not marriage,
what is?" =^____^=) (Okay, I'm=^__^= one of those weird people [and I'm
pretty sure that Colleen McCullough is also ^_~] who think that being
MARRIED^_^ in SPIRIT^_^ takes priority over being "married" officially to
someone else, or to the Church, or whatever. ^_^ [And^_~ all^_~ of those who
think that the so-called "scandal" is such a big deal (old Thorn Birds thread
called "Great story, but..." and some other threads like that) can just go
soak their heads (and/or anything else, less polite, of their choosing ^_~).])

"For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain, or so says the legend."

The best...is love. (And "the essence of the novel" is that...well...if the
love is that deep, it's worth going through all the pain. ^_^)

(WHY don't MORE PEOPLE UNDERSTAND what they read??? ^_~)
(Or, at least, just recognize "plain ordinary love when they see it"
[Madeleine L'Engle ^_^].)

Madeleine L'Engle, on the subject of how real^_^ love^_^ is MORE^_^ than just
some dumb modern typical "relationship" (actually, she was talking/writing
about picture-book animals! ^_^ she also^_^ refuses to "grow up"!!! =^__^=):
"Because their love was love, and not a relationship." (Exactly. ^_^)

The essence^_^ of The Thorn Birds is love^_^...including^_^ love^_^ of
family, friends, etc. ^_^ Life is love^_^. Living is love^_^. Being is love^_^.
And even...God^_^ is love^_^. =^___^=

(At Amazon, if you go look up The Thorn Birds [book] and go to the "look inside"
part of the Modern Classics edition, you can find where the back flap on that
edition pretty much agrees with me about what the book is about. [It does call
Ralph "a man of extraordinary ambition", but it doesn't make it seem like that
has to make him necessarily a complete idiot or something. ^_~])

(Anyway, obviously, both Ralph and Luke didn't always pay enough attention to
Meggie, and they could both be said to have too much "ambition" [although I
really think that Ralph had more than that, and that Luke had less than that!
it was almost like he WASN'T even ambitious, just stuck up!!! ^_~]. But, yes,
at least Ralph LOVED^_^ her [and ANYONE who doesn't get THAT, or get that it's
REALLY IMPORTANT AND ESSENTIAL, HAS^_~ missed quite a LOT of "the very
essence of the novel"!!! ^_~]. [Also, anyone who thinks that Colleen McCullough doesn't
love^_^ the characters at LEAST as much as I do has another think coming. ^_~
I love^_^ them BECAUSE^_^ she does. ^_^ (And Meggie-as-played-by-Rachel-Ward
just wasn't nearly as lovable^_^. Or special^_^. Or nice^_^. Sigh.) (The way
most of the characters are in the book, I just want to hug^_^ them. =^___^=
[Except^_~ for a few^_~ such as Mary and Luke. ^_~ Them>_< I want to kick>_<.
They>_< were so MEAN>___<!!!] [Actually, I know^_~ that Barbara Stanwyck must^_~
have done a pretty good job, because she was very believable. ^_~ I couldn't
STAND^_~ her in ANYTHING^_~ for YEARS^_~ because of Mary Carson!!! ^_~
("Which one of your vows did you break?" etc. at the beginning, and then, later on,
much worse than that. Shut up already! ["Ah, Mary, what would I have done
without you all these past years. Your perception, your malice..." ^_~ ^_~ ^_~])
(Anyway, a few years ago I finally saw a very young Barbara Stanwyck in a very
old movie where she played Annie Oakley. ^_^ And she was actually cute. ^_^
And young. ^_^ And kind of innocent. ^_^ In a nice way. ^_^ [Maybe even a
little like Meggie. ^_^] So now I can stand her, sometimes! ^_~)])])

(Oh, by the way, the "perception and malice" thing could^_~ also^_~
sort of suit Faldema in some ways. ^_~ Because she has potential^_~
for both^_~. [She's really not a bad person, just...argumentative
and into calling those who disagree with her argumentative. ^_~])

This post is sooooo long, I should stop now...thanks^_^ for all your support^_^
etc., though! =^___^=

Kit =^___^= (purrrrrrr=^___^=)
=^___^=

THORN BIRDS FOREVER!!! (mostly^_~ the book^_^) (the miniseries too, though! ^_~)
=^___^=

I am so glad I've finally found people who love this film as much as me! I have the video and have watched it religiously every Christmas since I was about 9 (I'm now 28...). The songs are burned on my brain! I think my favourites are 'Once I was loved' and 'Protocoligorically Correct', but I ALWAYS cry when she's being driven away in the coach.
Whatever happened to Gemma Craven? She's so lovely, I don't understand why she wasn't a bigger star.
I love the scene in the palace kitchen - how do they dance on the railings? And how do they fold the sheets like that? The choreography is so witty - I reckon the film's charms are so lasting because it has such a healthy sense of irony - while having no embarrassment about indulging in all the fantasies of fairytale.