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| whiskeypriest |
 Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 7:26 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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| That beiing said I enjoyed Lee Daniels's The Butler without thinking it great. Something about the whole thing made me think I was watching a movie of the week on the TV. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:17 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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I was taught that the noun, if it end with an S, takes only an apostrophe. And I wasn't raised by wolves or anything like that. Newton, Mass. -- good public schools.
Was your MOTW assessment in any way influenced by the presence of Oprah in the cast? |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:28 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
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Location: Shanghai
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:40 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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bartist wrote: I was taught that the noun, if it end with an S, takes only an apostrophe. And I wasn't raised by wolves or anything like that. Newton, Mass. -- good public schools.
Was your MOTW assessment in any way influenced by the presence of Oprah in the cast? |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:55 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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bartist wrote: I was taught that the noun, if it end with an S, takes only an apostrophe. And I wasn't raised by wolves or anything like that. Newton, Mass. -- good public schools.
Was your MOTW assessment in any way influenced by the presence of Oprah in the cast?
It seems more a matter of style. Both seem to be correct. I tend to prefer Daniels' because I find it easier to pronounce. |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 8:57 am |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
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Location: Black Hills
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My father was a journalist and often used the Chicago Manual of Style, which allows both. This is from the CMOS online Q & A page....
Quote: Q. When indicating possession of a word that ends in s, is it correct to repeat the s after using an apostrophe? For example, which is correct: “Dickens’ novel” or “Dickens’s novel”?
A. Either is correct, though we prefer the latter. Please consult 7.15–18 for a full discussion of the rules for forming the possessive of proper nouns. For a discussion of the alternative practice of simply adding an apostrophe to form the possessive of proper nouns ending in s, see paragraph 7.21.
Prefer, not require. Another grammarian website points out that, when a sentence has a lot of s and z sounds, the Strunk/White preferred usage can be harder to say, e.g. "We easily sorted Mrs. Chambers's estate papers."
Lee Daniels's's's The Butler sounds like a WFV. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 9:01 am |
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I was taught that when there is an 's' at the end of a word with a possessive, you can put the apostrophe after the 's' without another 's', or add an 's' after the apostrophe if you want to.
That's what we were taught, anyway.
Whiskey, were The Elements of Style and Modern English Usage, American books? If so, they aren't valid for English speaking countries of the United Kingdom.  |
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| carrobin |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 9:23 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 7795
Location: NYC
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| It's remarkable how much confusion apostrophes cause. "Its/it's" alone account for half the typos i run across. But names just depend on the style preference--in fact, last week the copy chief agreed with me that "John Burroughs' house" should stay as written, because "Burroughs's" was awkward--even though our style is to add the S. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 12:27 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 6916
Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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marantzo wrote: I was taught that when there is an 's' at the end of a word with a possessive, you can put the apostrophe after the 's' without another 's', or add an 's' after the apostrophe if you want to.
That's what we were taught, anyway.
Whiskey, were The Elements of Style and Modern English Usage, American books? If so, they aren't valid for English speaking countries of the United Kingdom.
Modern English Uage is, I believe, a Brit thing. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 3:20 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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| I prefer the apostrophe without the additional "s", myself. And it is the standard now taught in American education. |
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| whiskeypriest |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:10 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: "It's a Dry Heat."
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Joe Vitus wrote: I prefer the apostrophe without the additional "s", myself. And it is the standard now taught in American education. |
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I ask you, Velvel, as a rational man, which of us is possessed? |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:37 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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"The Help", "The Butler"...It might be wishful thinking, but America seems to want to reach a settlment or cast a new narrative for the post-racial era. All very nice, but these films bore me something rotten.
On the subject of apostrophes, generally, I think plurals shouldn't have a further 's' added, but other words ending in 's' can depending on whether or not it sounds natural: Jones' legacy, the dogs' food, Thomas's doubt. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:25 pm |
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"Mrs. Trovillion would turn over in her grave if she was dead."
....if she were dead. (Shame on you.) 
Was I taught incorrectly about that also?  |
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| Marc |
| Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 12:48 am |
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Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
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Please you guys/gals, go to the movies.
This site has really lost its mojo.
We're down to a dozen regular contributors. And among those, few are actually going to see new films.
When it comes time to ante-up money for the next go round, will it really be worth it?
Just sayin'... |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 3:10 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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The Great Gatsby. Does this still count as a Current Film?
What a weird film. The music video version of Gatsby.
I was caught between being horrified and amused for the first 25 minutes, which often played out like a B-52's video.
I did like Joel Edgerton as Tom (a weak spot in the Redford version).
Isla Fisher looked good as Myrtle.
Most of the principals kind of seemed like kids playing dress up.
Surprisingly the anachronistic hiphop music didn't bother me much at all, though was a little jarring once or twice. I'm not sure why they didn't just take the basic story and reinterpret it in full in modern times. That would have been more interesting I think. Or turn it into a hip hop musical set in the Depression a la Idlewild. Well, the route they chose was probably safer, but to me less interesting.
Otherwise: the framing story was pointless and kind of silly.
There was probably too much voice-over, and the Fitzgerald didn't always mesh well with the onscreen action. The second half of the film got far too caught up in plot mechanics. One problem is that both Gatsby and Daisy are tough characters to portray. So a lot comes down to Nick Carraway, who is mostly just a narrator/observer -- and Tobey M was just okay in that role. He kept reminding me of Dick York, which was a bit odd.
The set design was probably impressive but the film was so over-edited that most it couldn't be processed/appreciated. For the most part the film played as a parody or spoof for me. Some of the symbols from the book were handled in such a ham-handed and risible manner. Weird film. |
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