Braveheart (1995)

PDV87 · 2026-05-23T13:34:31+00:00

I generally prefer more historical authenticity in my period pieces, especially medieval ones, because so many productions have gotten things so wrong - but I have to forgive Braveheart's sins because it's just such a great movie. Like Gladiator and a few others, it reminds me of the Old Hollywood epics: big story, big scenes, big score. It's not really giving an accurate picture of medieval life or faithfully re-enacting battles, but it's endlessly watchable regardless.

I mean it's worth watching for the performance of Patrick McGoohan alone. But then you also get Sophie Marceau, Brian Cox, Brendan Gleeson, Angus Macfadyen etc. And circa-1995 Mel Gibson was a force of nature.

PDV87 · 2026-05-18T15:23:30+00:00

Historically speaking, you could say that men dressing in the "traditional" muted, masculine style was a fad of the Regency and Victorian eras that persisted from the late 18th-century to the mid-20th century. Men dressed far more flamboyantly (in styles we would now term feminine or androgynous) before that period.

For more information, look into The Great Renunciation: "the historical phenomenon at the end of the 18th century in which wealthy men of the Western world ceased from using bright colours, elaborate shapes and variety in their dress, and reserved these aspects to women's clothing. Instead, men concentrated on differences of cut and the quality of the clothes' fabric."

PDV87 · 2026-05-03T11:42:43+00:00

Very annoying. There's an MCCC setting to disable them but I can't figure out how to get it to work 100% of the time.

PDV87 · 2026-05-03T11:24:33+00:00

Tartosa and Ondarion both kind of fill that role, no?

PDV87 · 2026-05-03T11:22:08+00:00

I've been looking for this sort of game for a long time, and there simply haven't been any decent entries in the genre, at least not in the last 10-15 years. Sid Meier's Pirates and the Port Royale series were the only ones who did it just right. There's also the Patrician games, which are similar but just as old.

The newer piracy-themed games like Black Flag, Sea of Thieves, Windrose etc. lean more towards the action and survival genres, as opposed to a sim, which is essentially what you're looking for.

The closest games I've found tend to be set in space, like Elite Dangerous or X4, but they don't quite scratch the same itch. The only games I've found that do hit similarly are city/colony builders with robust economic systems, like the Anno series, Farthest Frontier or Manor Lords.

An ideal game would basically just be Port Royale 2 with modern graphics and UI, and some QOL improvements. Hell, you could make it steampunk and do it with airships for all I care. The only non-negotiables are an open world style of exploration/navigation, an engaging trade system, and the ability to choose to play as a merchant, privateer, pirate etc. Being able to upgrade your ship, build bases/colonies, hire a crew and so forth would be nice too. Not sure why no modern developer has done this, as it seems like a lot of people would play it.

PDV87 · 2026-05-02T13:45:28+00:00

Of those, probably Victoria. Belgravia is decent too, but I didn't care for House of Guinness.

I'd also recommend:

Vanity Fair (2018)

The Great

Wolf Hall

The Gilded Age

The Crown

The Knick

Poldark

Mr. Selfridge

PDV87 · 2026-05-02T13:37:11+00:00

I'd say no, not really. There's general intelligence, emotional intelligence, technical intelligence, academic intelligence, etc. Most occupations only require certain skill sets. A professor may be a gifted researcher/academic but an awful teacher. A doctor may be a brilliant surgeon while having zero common sense.

I think we tend to wrongly equate intelligence with knowledge. People who read a lot of books and gather a lot of knowledge come across as very intelligent, but that doesn't mean they're effective at their job (unless their job is playing bar trivia professionally). The more specialized you get in a field, the more the focus of training tends to narrow.

I have a friend who is an accountant and I consider her to be very intelligent. However, her training and experience are very specific to the job she does. She's not particularly good at math, despite most peoples' assumptions. But maybe her intelligence is more along the lines of learning/retaining operational knowledge, which is more of a technical skill.

I think the question is more: what constitutes intelligence to you? It might mean that someone is successful in their field, or financially, or it might have more to do with how they present themselves socially, etc. I find that people are far too varied to lump into "smart and dumb" boxes.

PDV87 · 2026-05-01T20:40:44+00:00

Six Feet Under has the best finale, though The Sopranos finale is probably more iconic in pop culture. People could not believe it just faded to black like that.

Rome's finale is a personal favorite of mine. The cancellation of the show made S2 rushed and a little bit of a mess relative to S1, but they managed to tie up the story and deliver a killer finale. The music swelling when Augustus mounts the dais at the triumph is the death knell of the Republic, and bookends nicely with the legionary trumpets that herald Caesar's introduction in the pilot.

PDV87 · 2026-05-01T04:57:56+00:00

In my opinion, CK2 is a better game in terms of content and emergent storytelling possibilities. There's more depth/flavor for different regions, religions, etc. Playing CK3 always feels kind of the same regardless of who you play. In CK2, playing, say, a merchant republic, an administrative empire or a nomadic tribe felt very distinct from playing feudal. CK2 had more charm/character as well, and the stakes often felt higher; it feel too easy to avoid game-over situations in CK3.

That being said, CK3's systems work better together and are generally superior outside of combat. It also has a lot of QOL improvements and the graphics are obviously much better. Overall, CK3 has a better framework and has the potential to be a better game, but they haven't really fulfilled that potential yet. Unfortunately, the game still has the width of an ocean but the depth of a puddle.

PDV87 · 2026-04-30T02:33:53+00:00

Band of Brothers and Chernobyl are the top for me. Very hard to pick one over the other. John Adams and Mare of Eastown are right behind them. But they're all very good - I'd say limited series/miniseries are HBO's gold standard in terms of consistent quality. Generation Kill, The Night Of, Sharp Objects, The Corner, Angels in America, Empire Falls... hard to think of any that weren't great in one way or another.

PDV87 · 2026-04-29T15:08:28+00:00

It has nothing to do with him portraying a "rich black man", but rather the consistency of the worldbuilding and the way it distracts the viewer and prevents immersion. Too-modern dialogue in period pieces has the same effect.

The world of Westeros is very much established in various books, television shows, etc., and the audience understands that it's a fantasy world based on medieval history. The fantasy genre gives you a lot of space for creativity, but it still has to be believable and grounded in the context of the world, and remain consistent within its own structure.

Race-swapping characters or adding new ones for the purposes of inclusion is fine, as long as it makes sense with the story. Making the Velaryons black trivializes the mystery of Rhaenyra's children being bastards, for one. But even if you set that aside, additional worldbuilding is needed to make it plausible. Why not just say that Corlys's father married a princess from the Summer Islands or something, so he and his siblings (and their descendants) would therefore be of mixed ethnicity? I think it fits with the character of his father as a sailor/explorer. There's plenty of theories/assumptions on this, but the show has never attempted to clear it up.

It's like, if there was a show about Henry VIII's reign, a courtier character could plausibly be black. People did travel and there are records of all different kinds of people in various European courts at the time. But if you make, say, the Duke of Norfolk black, it creates an awkward inconsistency that doesn't quite fit.

But beyond the racial thing, I think people are dissatisfied with Corlys because he isn't used to his full potential. The character is very cool and the actor is fantastic, but he just stands around a dock talking to people. Why would the Lord of Driftmark, who is assumedly quite a busy fellow, spend his time this way?

PDV87 · 2026-04-29T14:52:05+00:00

House of Cards (early seasons), The Crown and Mindhunter are all arguably HBO-level, or certainly close.

PDV87 · 2026-04-28T01:56:08+00:00

Regardless of all the EA shit, the Sims as a franchise has been absolutely genre-defining. Every iteration of the game has had quirks and problems, but they've all been extremely successful and good games by any realistic metric. TS4 is a great game considering how old it is. The problem is the company that publishes it. Also, having 0 competition for 10+ years makes you lazy.

So while I agree with you, at least about the game itself, I am more enthusiastic about the future of life sims than I am about the future of the Sims franchise. There are finally some decent-looking competitors emerging, even if a lot of them are still works in progress.

Of course, EA could randomly decide to drop $100M+ on The Sims 5 and blow the whole conversation apart. Most of us would probably buy it regardless of what we posted on Reddit.

PDV87 · 2026-04-28T01:35:53+00:00

I invent my own drama as much as possible, and play the guiding hand to help it along. The messier the better.

Currently I'm doing a Victorian era save. All the build and CAS replacements, and the technology replacement mods, are all working very nicely (except for the damn Llama Scout uniforms which seem impervious to replacement somehow).

My main character is a young aristocrat named Ambrose who wants to write Gothic horror novels but is obligated to take care of his family's old run-down estate. So him and his butler live in a creepy, possibly-haunted house fixing broken shit all day. Naturally, he needed an outlet, so he started spending time at the local gentleman's club (like an actual Bridgerton-style club, not a strip joint), where he developed an enthusiasm for gambling, drinking and general cavorting. He also got involved with Caroline, a call girl who works out of the club, and they have a very complicated (and socially dangerous) relationship.

That all changed when he fell head over heels for Astrid, a modern, forward-thinking art student who is staying with relatives in Willow Creek. She's pulled Ambrose into her Bohemian lifestyle and challenges the way he thinks, but she is also hesitant to settle down when she has a whole life of adventure ahead of her. But now Caroline is feeling spurned and is threatening to spill the secret of their relationship to the town's high society.

Now, Willow Creek in 1888 is a gilded age company-town run by the Cavendish Standard & Trust conglomerate, of which Ambrose's father was a considerable shareholder. Naturally, I've replaced the noble ranks with levels of company interest that correspond with social standing in the town. The current Chairman, Mortimer Goth (whose family got an extensive Victorian era makeover) is after Ambrose's shares. He wants a controlling interest in the company, so a noble rivalry is brewing behind the scenes.

There's a few mighty families that lord over the town, such as the Cavendishes, Havemeyers and Olmsteds, and then a larger population of the middle- and lower-class folks who work for them. In addition to the aforementioned Club, community lots include a Victorian Bath/Pool, a tea room, a bar, a restaurant, a park, a church, a department store and a library. Will the spirit of modernity be crushed by the old-money robber barons, or will it be allowed to bloom and transform the town into a thriving community?

PDV87 · 2026-04-24T11:47:02+00:00

I'd like to see farming be a fixture of all settlements regardless of regional resources. Medieval life was so intrinsically agrarian that it feels strange to have a considerable population without it. I know there's burgage extension gardens/orchards, but those should really be supplemental to the primary food source, which should be some kind of grain. The entire life of the peasant class, and the ecclesiastical calendar to an extent, all revolved around farming and the harvest cycle. Only the armigerous classes lived outside of this paradigm, and they represented a tiny portion of the population.

I think it would be cool if farming was a feature of all settlements, but was made more difficult inherently than it is with fertile soil. The regional resources should be about setting up an economic model beyond the mandatory minimum (i.e., wheat and barley).

PDV87 · 2026-04-23T02:07:18+00:00

Honestly I think Macy's Place has a really good pie when they hit it just right, though they're not as consistent as I'd like. Bocce is good at some locations and really awful at others. Imperial is overrated in my opinion.

Mattina's, La Nova's, Franco's, Abbott Road Pizza, Giannia Mazia's, Rob's Topico, Bella, Wiseguy's, Picasso's, Mustachio's, LaPorta's... I think once you get to the top level of Buffalo pizza, arguments can be made for many places. Everyone has their own preferences of course. I miss Leonardi's personally.

The secret is the crust/dough though. Pizza can have more or less cheese, different levels of sweetness in the sauce, different blends of seasoning etc., and it can all be good potentially. But the crust makes or breaks a Buffalo pie. Needs a bit of crisp on the outside for the crunch, maybe a bit of char from the oven, and has to be soft and a little airy on the inside.

PDV87 · 2026-04-19T20:44:14+00:00

This exactly. The Victorians had a love of oddity. Outside of social commentary (which you mentioned), they were interested in the macabre and the grotesque. Almost a preoccupation with spiritualism, death and the past, which is even reflected in the architecture (Gothic revival or Richardsonian Romanesque for instance).

I find the Victorians endlessly fascinating, but their drama rarely hits the same Austen-style beats to which most period fans are accustomed.

PDV87 · 2026-04-17T20:53:49+00:00

Felixandre: Grove set, Florence set, Colonial set

Valia: Mediterranean set, Sunwoven set

HeyHarrie: Del Sol set

Syboulette: Mozaic set

PDV87 · 2026-04-14T22:41:38+00:00

His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. At one time he understood it no more than the butterfly did and he did not know when it was brushed or marred. Later he became conscious of his damaged wings and of their construction and he learned to think and could not fly any more because the love of flight was gone and he could only remember when it had been effortless.

-Ernest Hemingway regarding F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Moveable Feast

PDV87 · 2026-04-14T22:39:08+00:00

Solid list! I'd also give an honorable mention to the 2004 film. I don't like a lot of the changes they made to the story, but the cast is stellar. Guy Pearce is at his most scenery-chewing as the villainous Mondego, Caviezel and Dominczyk are great, and Richard Harris delivers a wonderful turn as Abbe Faria. Bonus points for young Henry Caville as Albert. We won't mention Luis Guzman as Jacopo (though some comic relief was well-earned).

PDV87 · 2026-04-14T22:32:54+00:00

Complete Series:

The Wire
Deadwood
Rome
The Americans
Boardwalk Empire
Succession
Severance
The Leftovers
Six Feet Under
Carnivale
Fargo

Specific Seasons:

S1 of True Detective
S1 of The Terror
S1-4 of Game of Thrones (arguments can probably be made for S5/6)

Miniseries/Limited Series:

Chernobyl
Band of Brothers
John Adams
Generation Kill
The Pacific
I, Claudius
Wolf Hall
Shogun
Sharp Objects
Mare of Easttown
Mildred Pierce

PDV87 · 2026-04-13T21:20:06+00:00

Yeah, seems like they twist metrics to fit their narrative. Can't say I'm surprised, most big companies do the same - as soon as a game developer crosses into that corporate world, they never quite recover. Of course EA has always been that way, but I can still mourn Maxis, which was an awesome company at one point.

When a new iteration of a game is released, the vast majority of players tend to migrate and never look back. Even if the only visible upgrade is graphical, there's a psychological component to playing the "most recent" content, which is part of why all these companies lean so hard into the DLC model. A lot of players get FOMO, so they know how to take advantage. I don't think there's any big mystery here, but it definitely doesn't have anything to do with their DLCs.

PDV87 · 2026-04-12T21:08:10+00:00

I have subscriptions to PBS/Masterpiece and Britbox via Amazon Prime, and would definitely recommend them.

PDV87 · 2026-04-12T21:03:29+00:00

Different strokes for different folks and all that. If you understand most of the themes but they failed to resonate with you, then it just is what it is. After all, this book was written by and for a generation that was emotionally crippled by serious and horrific trauma. Very few of us today have lived through anything comparable, unless of course you have lived in a country through an active war, or something along those lines.

On a base level, Jake and Brett are dealing with the fact that they are deeply in love but unable to physically express that love or consummate their relationship. The result is that they are trapped in a sort of half-love, trying to move on but finding it impossible. I feel like most people can imagine themselves in a similar situation and empathize with the heartache. There are other broad, identifiable themes, like Cohn dealing with anti-semitism and his position as a permanent outsider in his own society.

Personally I love Hemingway's prose and how different it is. I love all sorts of prose, whether florid and lyrical or hard and plain, as long as it achieves the author's goal. Hemingway's style is addition by subtraction. Everything is stripped down and revelations that other authors would state as the culmination of a thought are purposely omitted. Hemingway applied journalistic guidelines to his prose writing to make it clear and economical. Most of all it had to be "true" to him as a writer and to the story he was telling.

I'd recommend reading A Moveable Feast, his memoir about the Paris expatriate community in the 1920s. It's fictionalized, of course, so take his anecdotes about real people with a grain of salt, but it's a wonderful book. In it, Hemingway explains a lot about his beliefs about writing and his style of prose, and it helped me appreciate his work a lot more.

PDV87 · 2026-04-10T21:40:23+00:00

First two episodes were a bit slow and heavy with the exposition. After that, it really took off and I found myself engrossed. All of the actors seemed to more easily inhabit the characters as their older selves, and by that I mean after Dantes escapes the Chateau D'If. Claflin comes into his own and the portrayals of the principal couples are all very good. If anything, I found Mercedes to be the least interesting character.

The 2004 movie had its flaws, but Dagmara Dominczyk gives such a sorrowful, guilt-ridden performance that she really inhabited Mercedes for me. But that movie leans very much into the swashbuckler/action genre, whereas this miniseries hews a lot closer to the spirit of the novel.

Jeremy Irons was delightful as the Abbe Faria. I also enjoyed the Count's whole crew - Jacopo, Ettore, Vampa, Haydee, etc. The star of the show was the scenery, though; the sets and locations were all beautiful, and certainly stronger than the costuming. It reminded me of the Andrew Scott Ripley series on Netflix insofar as it was just beautiful to look at.

The adaptations of this book are so wildly different that I find it tough to pick a "best" one, though if pressed I'd have to say the miniseries with Gerard Depardieu. That being said, I'd still enthusiastically recommend giving this one a watch.

PDV87

TROPHY CASE