I just got back from seeing the movie Troy and heard some very nice whistles and low whistles. The whistles were great but this is a very violent movie and I’m still reeling from it. I guess its not any different today than it was then.
We haven’t come very far as a species have we.
Ronaldo
I read a review of the movie, said there were clear cut good guy bad guy roles, supposedly good for U.S psyche these days.
Now, did they have Gens or Overtons? 
Oh, I thought you meant Troy NY, which is where my office is
Funny cooincidence: when I started communicating with Glenn Schultz and got involved with whistle making, I lived in Troy, NY and he lived in Troy MI.
Appropriately, Troy has Chieftains:
http://www.gaeliccrossings.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=873
Sure we have, at least in places. Granted, humans will always be capable of incredible savagery, but a lot of us have gotten more civilized over the millennia. Genetically, we’re the same, but acculturation counts for a lot.
Would you take your kids down to the town square to watch an execution…for fun?
Would you watch a bull-baiting match? Would you breed a dog specifically so that it had properties that would make it good in a bull-baiting match?
Can you imagine yourself owning a slave? Raping one? Killing one?
Me either. We are, however, historical outliers, to say the least.
Dictyranger
(Hi, folks…still around, just damn busy. It’s grant-writing season.)
Beat me to it Glaub!
Yah, Glauber’s good at that!
Fastest keyboard in the Midwest. 
I’m more surprised at the fact that it doesn’t have uilleann pipes!
It’s the Celts, man, they were everywhere! 
dictyranger wrote:
“Would you breed a dog specifically so that it had properties that would make it good in a bull-baiting match”
Awww. bit of someone hadn’t, I wouldn’t have Buster or Wyley (their boxers). Of course, I would have rather they would have bred a few brain cells in the breed, too!!!
(sorry for the hijack)
Missy
I clicked on the link, a time-travelin, wormhole trap! I became disoriented, passed out, and woke up at the following location.
Whoops… I assumed you meant this Troy who has loads of whistles… and pipes… and bouzoukis!!
If so, they are not being true to the story as Homer told it. His version is plenty violent, though.
–Jay
If so, they are not being true to the story as Homer told it. His version is plenty violent, though.
–Jay
Agreed. There were a couple of fuzzy areas in terms of ethics in the movie.
Mostly there were a LOT of areas of the film that differed from the epics handed down. I won’t spoil the film here by listing them.
I very much enjoyed the film and rank it as one of the best. I felt as if I were watching my boyhood heros in real life. Agammemon looked and behaved about as I pictured. Achilles wasn’t quite as brooding or selfish as in The Illiad. Paris was more as I thought he would be as opposed to the Homeric concept. I always thought he was a dork.
Normally I get upset if a story isn’t told exactly the way a book tells it. But in this case I think they did a great job of bringing the point home.
I was somewhat dissapointed that Diomedes was not mentioned in the film. His Illiad character demonstrated the depths of depravity to which the soldier in war can sink. A lesson for all time. Certainly a lesson for today.
I can confirm this. I played 'em.
I’d say just the opposite…the “good guy/bad guy” rolls WEREN’T clear cut. The closest thing to a real “bad guy,” really, was Paris, who was actually written as more of a spoiled brat then anything else. Achilles and Hector were both “good guys,” each in his own way. Menelaus just wanted to avenge his honor and get his wife back. Agamemnon was an ass, so I guess you could call him “the bad guy,” but he’s really a fairly minor player in the drama, for all it was his war. Odysseus seems like a pretty good egg, but he’s also the fellow who came up with the idea of the Trojan Horse (and who talked Achilles into getting involved in the whole thing). One of the things I liked about the movie, actually, was that I felt sympathy for both Hector and Achilles (and, in the end, even a bit for poor, spoiled Paris).
Redwolf
I agree, Redwolf. There were WAY more shades of grey than I expected from a huge Hollywood epic. I liked it more than I expected I would.
In fact, I didn’t notice any whistles! Which is weird, because usually (like all of us), the second I hear a whistle, in any soundtrack anytime, it’s like my whistle alarm goes off and I think “Ah-ha! Whistles!” But I didn’t hear any. I guess I was really into the movie.
I have to say that the overwhelming display of absurdly buff male torsos (Pitt, Bana, Bloom) was, I think, supposed to be sexy but actually ended up being distracting. I mean, they looked UNREAL. Anyone else think this?
Bloom could have been more buff, frankly. He’s very thin, and looked pretty scrawny next to Bana and Pitt. I think that’s what they were trying to convey though…Paris is a pretty boy, not a fighter (as his pathetic battle with Menelaus attests!). I hear he’s bulking up a bit for his next movie.
I don’t mind a bit of buff male torso, but I would have killed for a little body hair! Seriously…can anyone possibly find men who are as smooth as women attractive? And who in ancient Greece waxed, anyway?
As far as the movie goes, I would expect career fighters, such as Achilles and Hector, to be pretty buff, and the Greeks DID tend to a minimalistic wardrobe, so I didn’t really find that all that distracting.
Redwolf
What??!!! Bloomfield was in this movie?!! What part did he play?
Steven
LOL! And you thought he just played whistles! Bet you didn’t know he’s really a prettier-than-possible 27-year-old British actor! 
Redwolf