[ExI] the king's speech

spike spike66 at att.net
Sun May 22 14:07:17 UTC 2011


>... On Behalf Of Eugen Leitl
Subject: Re: [ExI] the king's speech

On Sat, May 21, 2011 at 03:23:22PM -0700, Ben Zaiboc wrote:
> "spike" <spike66 at att.net> asked:
> 
> > I saw a video last night which I enjoyed greatly, The King's Speech.  
> > Did anyone here see that in a crowded theatre?
> 
> Guffaw.
> 
> Ben Zaiboc

>Didn't the US version censor out 'fuck' for something else?
--
>Eugen* Leitl 



No.  What made it interesting to me is that it had so much impact coming
from someone who doesn't usually use the word.  Great line where the speech
pathologist asked "Do you know the F word?"  Prince "F-F-F-Fornication."

The topic interested me from a controls perspective.  The stammerer's own
feedback loop somehow short circuits itself.  So if the loop is
intentionally defeated by putting on headphones with loud music, the
feedback loop is broken and the speech flow is uninterrupted.  The notion
that a 40 year old guy could retrain that feedback loop made a cool story.

Other funny stuff in a non-comedy: the American Wallis Simpson's manners
while dealing with the royals.  We have never had royalty in the states so
none of that stuff is in our corporate memory.  Mrs. Simpson orders her
boyfriend the king to go get her some more wine, shocking the other guests.

Consider the newsreel where Herr Hitler is making a speech.  Eugen we don't
know what the guy is saying, but we can tell he is an extremely effective
speaker just by the sound of it.  Then we have the contrast of the English
people being called into battle by a man who can scarcely speak at all.  It
makes one imagine the utter despair of the British subjects, many of whom
must have thought this war was already lost because of the inadequacy of its
leadership.

spike




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